For brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence – better known as Dance duo Disclosure – life has thrown them success after success. In the midst of finding commercial and critical acclaim, touring the world, playing at sold out shows and festivals, it seems miraculous that they have time to breathe. Meeting the siblings though, they remain grounded, upbeat, and above all, boisterous – as you would expect from a couple lads in their twenties. We spoke to the boys about their career together, their sense of style, as well as what they get up to in their down time.

Has the dynamic of your relationship changed over the course of your career?

Howard: Yeah, 100%. I think mainly because we’ve become adults since then – we weren’t adults when we started this. I was fifteen and Guy was just eighteen. So naturally with brothers, the relationship changes when you get older for sure. But I don’t know if that’s particularly bad.
Guy: Probably would have changed anyway… Who knows how though. It’s definitely been good for us. We didn’t not like each other but we weren’t super super close when we were kids, and now we are, so it’s definitely good. It’s like the opposite of most brothers.

Who have you guys enjoyed collaborating with most?

G: Hard to say, we’re definitely closest with Sam [Smith]. For a number of reasons, one being that we see him all the time because he’s managed by the same people as us and we’re really good friends. So if there’s ever any parties or celebratory events we’re always together. He’s the only one we’ve collaborated with twice, so I guess that too.
H: I think it’s also because he was one of the earliest sessions we did.
G: We can also relate to each other a lot, because although he became way bigger than us and massive in a totally different world, the pop world, we both came up at the same time, from the same song.

What do you guys do when you’re trying to get away from it all?

G: Well, that’s the thing we haven’t really had a break for the whole time. We’ve been pretty non stop. So next year is going to be the first real break. The shows stop around the end of October; we then have a few DJ sets until the end of the year. But next year we’re going to do what Sam [Smith]’s done this year and kind of disappear for a bit. We don’t really know what we’re doing, make it up as we go along.
H: We’ll find out.
G: We’re definitely going to be writing for sure. But maybe not immediately, we’re going to do other life stuff for a bit.
H: I think we will be writing the normal way as opposed to what we did before, which was like: write the whole album in six months go go go! Every single day we will just write when an idea comes, so its much more organic.
G: And in different situations as well, every album we’ve written so far we’ve written in a different place. Like the first one we wrote back at home where we’re from, in our dad’s auction house in Surrey. I see this album being made all over the world in different places with different people. Rather than bringing people to us, we might go to them and see some cool places and meet some new people. It’s all about changing it up, which is as far as we’ve got in terms of making plans. We don’t want to think about it too much just yet, because we haven’t really gotten an idea yet and we don’t really want the idea yet. Because then we will have to start writing, its better not to have it yet as we will just want to get it done. I think its important that we take a bit of a break. It been seven years pretty much of non-stop.

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If not music, what would you guys be doing?

H: I used to do windsurfing. Probably do that, that was quite fun.
G: So, you would be a professional windsurfer?
H: Yeah an Olympic windsurfer.
H: So you’d be out there now?
G: I would!
H: He was pretty good, what did you get? What level?
H: I got all the levels! I could instruct windsurfing.
G: Maybe he would be a windsurfing instructor and I’d be a drum teacher.
H: Not in music though, right?
G: Yeah, that’s true! Working in a pub then, or a clothes shop.

Do either of you remember the first T-Shirt you’ve ever bought yourself?

H: Yeah, I remember, back when I was doing windsurfing, it was my main thing at that point. It was a Billabong T-Shirt. Was like navy blue and it said Billabong across the chest and I thought it was like the coolest thing I’ve ever worn. It made sense at the beach.
G: I think mine would be like an England shirt. The England football shirt or something like that. Like the whole kit. I remember having one. Or like a slipknot hoodie, I remember having one but I’m not sure if I bought it. I might have been given it. So I’ll go with the England T-Shirt.

Photography by Philipp Raheem

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