Rarely have I heard a band’s sound that belies their age quite as much as L’objectif. Listening to their tracks seemed incongruous to then having to arrange an interview with their lead singer, Saul Kane, to coincide with him having finished school.
In truth, though, the Leeds outfit are evidently old heads on young shoulders, aware of how they want to sound and – excusez a la francais pun – their objective.
That’s in large part due to the fact that Saul, who only turned 18 last week, formed the band with best mate Louis Bullock when they were just 12. They’ve since used lockdown as an incubator to add guitarist Dan Richardson and bassist Ezra Glennon and go on to hone their sound.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, adding retrospective significance to old footage or tunes. I’m talking of course of nostalgia. Take old videos of Oasis, Blur (or, more recently, the current documentary on Kanye West). We might think we know greatness when we see or hear it – but very often, it can be something that’s revised.
With L’objectif, who are still in their teenage years and are already supporting Everything Everything in Leeds and London later this year, keep your eyes and ears on them right now. You’re already witnessing something remarkable.
Here’s Saul on how the band formed, being the front man and the meaning (or lack) of some of their tracks.
How are you? Have you finished school for the day?
Yep, I’ve finished. It’s half-term now.
Good – a bit of a break…
We’ve got mocks straight after, so it’s not that much of a break…
How are you balancing the school-band life?
It’s pretty tough. Sometimes what’s required clashes with exams and stuff, so it’s quite difficult, but it’s over soon so that’s what I’m looking forward to – then it’s full steam ahead.
Good luck with them… let’s go back to when you knew you wanted to be in a band. What made you want to form one?
I’ve always been really into performing and loved bands – that’s what I was listening to and wanted to replicate what I saw. I met Louis and at the time was happy to just do a guitar and drum thing, with no other members so I could have full control. We could just do the beat and play live. Over time it’s obviously developed.
Which bands did you watch and think, “that’s what I want to do”?
Arctic Monkeys were the first ones. My dad got me into bands like The Stone Roses. But then I saw Arctic Monkeys play Glastonbury and I thought, “that’s sick, I want to do something like that.” Then there was The Strokes as well. It was guitar bands first that really kicked it off.
How did you decide on your band name?
When I was in French lessons in year eight, they’d give the title of what you have to learn – the objective of the day’s lesson, which is obviously l’objectif. I was staring at that all the time, whilst being bored out of my mind.
I can’t really speak any French, but Dan [Richardson], our guitarist, is French, so it made it seem like we intentionally meant it. But it’s just because I was staring at the word a lot. Then obviously, I looked into its meaning – goals and achieving things – and I was drawn to it.
You’re still a band relatively in your infancy, despite your mature sound. What was lockdown like for you?
It was the pivotal point of us actually doing anything. The band came together just before lockdown; it had been just me and Louis and it came to a bit of a halt. We had all these ideas of what we wanted to do – but we couldn’t really do it as a two-piece and didn’t really know how to get a sound we wanted.
Then lockdown hit and me and Louis started doing demos. I would send him the songs and started learning how to produce. He’d stick his electronic drums on it and we started doing that and getting better. For a while, it was going well so we started promoting it ourselves. That’s really when things kicked off.
Then, a couple of weeks after the rest of the band members joined, we did our first gig; literally days after that, we got signed. So it was pretty fast. Lockdown for us was actually a great time – well, obviously it was shit for most people – but it was good for the band and creativity because it started what you see as L’objectif now.
Did you have a moment where you thought “we’ve got something here – this sounds quite good”?
Probably the first or second practice. It felt like the best time we’d done a practice. We were really getting on and gelling. The chemistry was there. We were just better friends for some reason, and all had energy.
It’s good in a band to not be scared to perform in front of your mates. I think that’s a big thing. A lot of people are a bit scared. And I was for ages; but to be yourself, perform, and go for it live with four people is really special. As soon as it was the second practice, and we were going at it, I knew it would be good, and that it was gonna work.
Do you revel in being the front man?
Yes, love it. I’ve always really been into being the front man. I’ve still got levels to my performance that can go up even more. But I’m getting into it. I think when you play more, you perform how you want to just because of confidence – it just drips off you when you’re ready to go for it.
What do people at school make of it all? You must be absolute rock stars…
Nah, it’s just high school, innit: they don’t like people in bands or doing something different, so we used to get a lot of stick. I think now we’re actually doing well, though, they don’t necessarily compliment us all the time, but they’re more positive about it.
A lot of people that used to take the piss out of us, come up to us now and say, “I really like your song and I stick it on in the car.” But we’re not treated like rock stars. Teachers sometimes have a go at us because we need to focus on our studies. They’re supportive but also want us to do the work; it’s a bit of both.
Let’s talk about ‘Same Thing’, your recent single. What’s it about, in your words?
Honestly, I have no idea. Well, I do have an idea after looking back and analysing it, but at first I just have to get my thoughts out on a page, so each line has a different meaning. For me it has a bit of swag to it. It was about feeling like you’re messing things up but then the chorus is about not doubting yourself. It’s like there’s two different halves to the song: the verse is about feeling a bit sorry for yourself and then the chorus is saying actually “shut up” and kind of shunning that way of thinking.
That’s what I’ve got from looking back, but at the time it could have meant loads of different things. I guess it’s such an old song now, and it’s just come out that you kind of lose what you felt the meaning was in the first place.
How do you write your lyrics then? Is there an intention behind what you write or is it more free flowing?
It’s a bit of both; sometimes I’m inspired by a style of lyric writing by a band I’ve seen. Or a topic. But other times, if I’ve got a melody, it just goes straight on the paper and then I edit afterwards. I get my thoughts out and make it sound good first because I’ve got a knack for it. I’ve always been into writing poetry; but then I might look back and think, “actually, that’s a bit rubbish” and I chop it until I’m happy with it.
And what about ‘Drive in Mind’. Does that have a meaning to it?
Oh, yeah, ‘Drive in Mind’ does… Because in lockdown you couldn’t go to the cinema, so we went to a drive-in cinema, and I guess that must have been in my head. I was thinking of a drive-in cinema but for someone’s thoughts, which are on a massive screen with all the cars watching it. The song’s just about reoccurring thoughts, but then the actual name itself is that idea of what someone’s thoughts are at a cinema. It’s a weird concept, a kind of creepy vibe.
How did you guys end up signing with Chess Club Records?
They did this thing on Twitter called Feedback Friday, which is a BBC Introducing… thing. You send your songs and then people in the comments can criticise and compliment them. This special one had industry professionals to review them. Louis had his fingers at the ready to send our songs the moment they tweeted. So he sent it in, and ours was the first reply, so was the first one that popped up for the A&R manager from Chess Club.
All the other ones then came through, but he remembered our name because he thought it was strange. So he flipped back, had a listen, and tweeted back at us saying, “I love it, sounds really good. Keep going, guys.” We thought that was sick, but that it would be it. Then an hour later, we got an email, and they wanted a meeting. That’s how we got signed.
So a lot has happened for you, in such a short time – how have you dealt with that?
Yes. I guess we’d been doing it for so long it wasn’t like we were unprepared. We were ready to do it. But I suppose in the time it actually happened, in terms of things really kicking off – getting the band members, signing, doing gigs – it was weird, from having had ages of not really doing anything.
And you’ll be supporting Everything Everything at their Leeds and London shows. How do you feel: daunted? Excited? Nervous?
Very excited. They’ll be our biggest shows ever. We’re obviously a bit nervous for it. But we’re not scared to do anything. I honestly think we would revel in playing anywhere or supporting any band. We’ve just got that energy I guess that we’re really excited to do things; and if you’re excited to do things then you’re going to perform well. I say that, then I might see people in the O2 Academy and think it’s a bit much…
What are your ambitions? What’s l’objectif?
In the short-term, it’s to play loads of gigs and get recognised as a live band. But also just make more music, and release more. It’s weird because I’m always writing songs so the stuff you put out is really old compared to what you’re actually doing now.
We just want to do more stuff, basically: play live as a band full-time. That’s the aim. When we leave sixth form, we just want to go and give it some. And we want to do well, so hopefully we do.
And what’s in store for 2022?
We’ve got stuff coming. Definitely. We’ll have an EP out soon, I think.
