It’s time again for another installment of My First Time, the series where I ask some of my favorite bands to share stories about their musical “firsts.” Everything from the first song they ever wrote to the response they got when they first played their songs for their family. It’s all here.

This time we’re joined by Noah and the Whale, an band that blew me away about a year ago and continues to impress to this day. I’ve yet to get to see them live, but this Q&A helped me get to know them a little better.

My First Time …with Noah and the Whale

First record you bought
Reef, Glow.

First record that changed your life
Best of The Beach Boys.

First concert that blew you away
Beck, Reading festival many moons ago.

First time playing live
Ever: some sort of primary school piano concert. Awkward.

As Noah and the Whale proper: to about 8 people at the Betsy Trotwood in Farringdon, London.

First tour (horror stories, unexpectedly great shows, etc)
First proper tour was in a white van up and down the UK for about a fortnight. We had never met our Scottish our manager before and he spent most of our first 5 hours together driving us north aggressively swearing down his mobile phone and smoking what looked an enormous doobie with very little attention directed at the road ahead. He turned out to be pretty cool.

First instrument you learned and/or first piece of equipment you loved
Piano.

First band you were a part of
Nuclear Toads. If you had an instrument you were in. At 12 years old I think we numbered about 15.

First awesome thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Free Twiglets. It took about 2 years.

First horrible things that happened solely because you were in a band
Too many free twiglets.

First musical obsession (band, song, singer, genre or otherwise)
Probably singing along to the Beach Boys in our family car on summer holidays by the Welsh seaside.