WHEN THERE IS NO PLEASURE IN THIS ANYMORE, IT IS TIME TO CALL IT A DAY
A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN WELLBY OF LAST TOURIST
In 2017, a couple of like-minded friends came together to form a ‘dark wave’ band. The band, Last Tourist, emerged from the darker side of Leeds, U.K. Friends were and are John Welby (vocals and guitars) and Adam Simpson (synths). The duo recruited others and soon Last Tourist was born, and they released their debut single, “Are We Just Algorithms?” in 2020. Since then, they have released more singles, and their debut, self-titled album in 2023. The band currently consists of John Wellby (vocals and guitar), Nick Noble (second Guitar and backing vocal), Adam Simpson (synths), Jason Booth (bass) and Ethan Rudd (drums).
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with John Wellby of the band, to bring us all up to date about their new single and other things going on for the band. Wellby cleared the issue up immediately. They are not, strictly speaking, a Leeds band. “The band is split between Leeds and Manchester, you see. I’m about 15 miles away from Manchester, a suburban area near Blackpool. I moved to the Blackpool area, which is where I met Adam, and we both had the same dog and ended up walking on the same field, bumping into each other. And we started a project together. We weren’t Last Tourist at that point. We didn’t become Last Tourist until Jason, my friend who I have known most of my life, he joined to play bass. Adam Simpson is originally from Blackpool. Ironically he moved to Leeds, and I stayed in Blackpool, which is weird,” Wellby laughed. “But we commute back and forth and then we found a new drummer. Nick Noble, we met him at one of the first gigs we ever performed. He was playing with his band, as well. That is how we all met.”
For their debut album, Last Tourist had a helping hand from a well-known drummer, Simon Scott from the band Slowdive. “He was always a guest drummer. He liked our stuff, and he was mastering a couple of our tracks, and we were looking for a drummer, and he really liked our stuff, so we got him to drum on it. We were blown away, because Slowdive is one of my favourite bands.”
Their debut album earned the band a great deal of critical praise, new fans and they sold out of the vinyl pressings (orange and pink). “We put a lot of effort into it, and a lot of good things happened at the same time. We had another person who guested on the album as well. Krissy Vanderwoude, and she did some vocals, which made the songs come alive with her vocals.”
Although there is no standard creative process for the band, Wellby talked a little about how some of the songs on their debut album came together, such as “Lust”. “Well “Lust”, I started that track off. I usually start the song with a guitar part and vocal and then show it to the guys. Sometimes Adam will start something off with the synths and stuff. “Spiritual Cove”, he started that with a very soundscaping organ sound, which once he played it to me, I knew what to do straight away. Each song takes its own journey a lot of the time but because we are all doing our bit it still has its vibe of us. At certain times when things come out, it depends on what’s happening in your life. That seems to come through the music as well.”
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: LAST TOURIST – “SLOWLY FADE”
Last Tourist is releasing their new single, “Slowly Fade”, which has two Joy Division connections. Last Tourist is a group of Joy Division fans and include them in their list of influences, the main connection being, the use of an Ian Curtis interview during the song. “That is a bit of magic. In my full-time job, I fix Apple computers. A guy came in as I was writing and playing that song, putting it together, more or less the demo, I was putting everything into place and building it up. He came into my office and this other guy I was doing work for, his name is Steve Barker, and he worked on Lancashire Radio, heard the song. He did the last interview that Ian Curtis did before he died. The very last interview he did. So, I played him the track in my studio, and Steve Barker walked in and said, ‘oh wow’, and for some reason, he must have thought it had a Joy Division element to it, and he goes ‘you must check out this interview I did for BBC Lancashire Radio’ . When he heard the song, he said, ‘blooming hell, those drums are amazing.’ and I said ‘yeah, that is Paul Kehoe, who drums for Peter Hook’. He said you need to hear this interview of Ian Curtis. Of course, I said ‘yeah’ and I listened to it, and I heard that bit which I thought was poignant to the track.
The song is not intentionally a tribute to Joy Division, but I wanted his voice in there because of what the message is in the song, and he kind of says what I was trying to say in the song, and it just added to the song. It was a happy accident. But in a way, it is a tribute. They are one of my favourite bands. They are in the top five bands of all time. It is nice to have someone you have looked up to, and then Peter Hook’s drummer, who is a lonely guy.
The song is about no matter how much shit is thrown at you, you just have to make yourself stronger and not give up, kind of thing. I am not saying it so obviously. I am saying it so you can still make the track your own. At the start, you can hear Ian saying, ‘when there is no pleasure in this anymore, it is time to call it a day.’ I thought it was so poignant at the time, and I asked if I could use it, he said ‘absolutely’ and that is how that slipped in there.”
And there is one other connection to Joy Division. “As I had mentioned, the drums on the track are done by Paul Kehoe, who actually plays drums for Peter Hook. He’s so great. No pretension. He had loads of stories and stuff…he was just great. So, there is this massive connection to Joy Division and I don’t know how it happened, it just did. The whole thing just fell into place.”
Fans can look forward to their second album, which the band is currently working on. “It’s going to have a darker and more electronic vibe as well in certain places. It will still have the diversity of the first album, where there are different vibes going through, but you know it is us. It will have a darker vibe for sure. When you go through different stuff and you come out the end of it, you have to get it out of your system. A bit of anger, frustration, you have to get it out of your system. It is good for relief.
It is good for the music as well. I find that if I’m in a good place, I’ve got nothing to write,” Wellby laughed. “If things happen to you, there are a lot more things to write about.”
Artist Links
