And Also The Trees

Shj (Simon Huw Jones) and JJ (Justin Jones)

-1. You were formed in the British countryside. Your band has a name that obviously relates to nature. You have once said that you were totally influenced by the landscape. So, are And Also The Trees a “green” band? Are you into ecology? How do you see all the destruction that it’ s been happening to the environment because of humans? 



Shj– When we gave ourselves this name trees meant no more to us than small hard shelled insects meant to John, Paul, George and Ringo. But, personally speaking, as time passed trees started to mean more and more to me, to a point where I have felt quite obsessive about some of them. My concern for the well being of the environment moved in tandem with this love of trees and nature… it’s something I’ve felt very strongly about long before term ‘global warming’ came into everyday use.  But these issues enter into our music only obliquely, if at all.  It's really not our aim to express our personal beliefs and opinions through AATT.  If, however, through writing about the beauty or power of nature in any of its countless forms we can increase anyone’s awareness or appreciation of it ... we would of course be very grateful and proud.

-2. In the beginning, And Also The Trees were involved with The Cure. What is you relationship now with Robert Smith and The Cure?

JJ- I still keep in touch with Robert from time to time, and he still follows our releases and remains enthusiastic. We haven’t really worked together for many years; they just became so popular that they exist within a different kind of parallel universe. However something makes me think that one-day our career paths will cross again. 



-3. What happened between 1998 and 2003? 



JJ- Yes it was a time where we put down AATT for a few years and did other things. The whole nucleus kind of exploded and we geographically found ourselves far apart leading very different lives than we had before. I think it was good to have that time to think about AATT and how we wanted to move forward. The creative path had reached a conclusion and it was time to ask questions about creativity. Like: Why? How? And Where? 
What came out was a re-alignment of ideas and this became ‘Further from the truth’.

Shj– So much changed during those years that eventually there was a feeling that ‘And also the trees’ would just dissolve into the past. It was the unadulterated desire to create music that made us write another album, but it wasn't just music we needed, it was 'And also the trees' music.

-4. How did your 10th and latest album “The Rag and Bone Man” do so far? Are your fans still loyal to you, nowadays that internet and downloading rules? 


JJ- The last album (RABM) did very well and seems to have been very popular with the loyal following we have and was very well received by the press. It doesn’t appear to have been negatively affected by the internet. I think that followers of AATT like to own something physical when it comes to a Trees record. That is why we take care with the artwork and presentation. I am sure that some of our newer fans may have downloaded it from somewhere and for this reason we have just made the album available on iTunes.