In Conversation With Little Man Tate

Sheffield indie-rockers - Little Man Tate - have just released their first studio album in fifteen years, Welcome To The Rest Of Your Life, which followed on from the release of the band’s new single Undercover Lovers and a UK headline tour in the autumn. Picking up right where they left off, Welcome To The Rest Of Your Life sees Little Man Tate deftly tap into the band’s original unremitting magic with a fresh, fully-grown twist. We caught up with frontman, Jon Windle, to see what the band have planned.



Hi, how are you all?

We’re all good, thanks! I'm just getting ready for the release of the new album. 

You are back! Are you all ready and excited?

Definitely! We’ve been a long time away, so it’s great to be back and have the opportunity to make and play music again. 

The new album is called Welcome to the Rest Of Your Life... Tell us about the title...

Such a lot has happened between our second album Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy and splitting up in 2009. We’ve all been on different journeys over the last 15 years and faced lots of different challenges, both good and bad, just like everyone else. It just felt like a great title as we all enter a new chapter of our lives, both musically and personally, and I’m sure people can relate to it. 

And the album itself...

We’ve consciously tried not to venture too far away from what made us popular back in the day, but at the same time, a lot has changed in 15 years—both music taste and subject matter. We’ve taken a different approach this time by working with producer Martin Smith, who’s really pushed us and brought some great ideas on board to help get the best out of what we can do and make the songs the best they can be. All in all, if you liked the first two albums, we’re pretty confident you’ll like this one. Same LMT vibe with new and interesting stories to tell!

How did you pick Undercover Lovers as an album teaser?

We felt that Undercover Lovers was the most logical link between LMT of 2009 and LMT of 2023/24, and it leads people into the album nicely and gives the fans a feel of what it’s all about. 

Which other songs on the album are you most excited for people to hear?

All of them! It’s hard to pick as they’re all still really fresh to us, and we pick out something different every time we listen to it. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t just sit there listening to our own album again and again, but we’ve definitely had to listen to it a fair few times between mixes and mastering, and we’ve not been put off any yet! 

Looking back over your career, are there any unfulfilled ambitions?

First time around, I think we finished with lots of unfulfilled ambitions and often questioned what might have been. At that time, it just felt like the right thing for us to do for one reason or another. 

However, this time around, the only goals we’ve set for ourselves are to enjoy each other’s company and making music together, and we hope our incredible fans carry on the love and support they’ve shown us for nearly two decades, since 2005. We’ll go as far as our fans can take us and stick around as long as people want us. 

And if you could team up with one artist for a collab, who would you choose? 

Dead or alive??

I don’t want to go with the obvious answers, as there’s so many to choose from, like John Lennon’s and Michael Jackson’s. 

My dad was, and still is, a massive Billy Fury fan, so if Billy Fury were still alive, I’d have to choose him for my dad.

From a Yorkshire point of view, a quality Yorkshire collab would be Jon from Reverend and the Makers, Jonny from The Reytons, and me—we could call ourselves Jon, Jon, and Jonny!