diff --git a/src/numpydantic/interface/interface.py b/src/numpydantic/interface/interface.py
index 825c4c1..3dfc596 100644
--- a/src/numpydantic/interface/interface.py
+++ b/src/numpydantic/interface/interface.py
@@ -154,13 +154,23 @@ class Interface(ABC, Generic[T]):
         """
         Find the interface that should be used for this array based on its input type
         """
-        matches = [i for i in cls.interfaces() if i.check(array)]
+        # first try and find a non-numpy interface, since the numpy interface
+        # will try and load the array into memory in its check method
+        interfaces = cls.interfaces()
+        non_np_interfaces = [i for i in interfaces if i.__name__ != "NumpyInterface"]
+        np_interface = [i for i in interfaces if i.__name__ == "NumpyInterface"][0]
+
+        matches = [i for i in non_np_interfaces if i.check(array)]
         if len(matches) > 1:
             msg = f"More than one interface matches input {array}:\n"
             msg += "\n".join([f"  - {i}" for i in matches])
             raise ValueError(msg)
         elif len(matches) == 0:
-            raise ValueError(f"No matching interfaces found for input {array}")
+            # now try the numpy interface
+            if np_interface.check(array):
+                return np_interface
+            else:
+                raise ValueError(f"No matching interfaces found for input {array}")
         else:
             return matches[0]
 
diff --git a/src/numpydantic/interface/numpy.py b/src/numpydantic/interface/numpy.py
index d7f6676..5ee988a 100644
--- a/src/numpydantic/interface/numpy.py
+++ b/src/numpydantic/interface/numpy.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class NumpyInterface(Interface):
 
     input_types = (ndarray, list)
     return_type = ndarray
-    priority = -1
+    priority = -999
     """
     The numpy interface is usually the interface of last resort.
     We want to use any more specific interface that we might have,
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class NumpyInterface(Interface):
             try:
                 _ = np.array(array)
                 return True
-            except TypeError:
+            except Exception:
                 return False
 
     def before_validation(self, array: Any) -> ndarray:
diff --git a/tests/test_interface/test_interface.py b/tests/test_interface/test_interface.py
index bbafb7a..337ec93 100644
--- a/tests/test_interface/test_interface.py
+++ b/tests/test_interface/test_interface.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def test_interface_match_error(interfaces):
         assert "Interface2" in e
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError) as e:
-        Interface.match("hey")
+        Interface.match([[1, 2, 3], ["hey"]])
         assert "No matching interfaces" in e
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError) as e: