After playing their support slot for Wolfgang at Joiners, The Edge caught up with the four-piece.
You’ve just played your gig at Joiners, how do you feel it all went?
It was good and we were just saying that we don’t think the crowd was quite warmed up just yet because we’re sober and they’re sober! That’s what happens when you play first, but it’s all good and we definitely enjoyed it.
How did you come to support Wolfgang in the first place?
Emails really; it’s the 21st century haha. No really, we’ve managed to secure a nice contact with the guys here and we’ve played a few shows in the past and supported some decent bands such as Cloud Control and Phoenix Foundation last year. They’ve been kind enough to give us this slot tonight which is great because Wolfgang are obviously doing really well.
You’ve listed Wolfgang as one of your influences on your page. What exactly have you been influenced by?
We’re not anywhere near as poppy as they are. I suppose we quite like a few of the elements they have, like the atmopsheric thing they’ve got going on. Me and Chris came across them a couple of years ago and they had a really early demo and we all really enjoyed that.
If you had to describe your sound in a sentence, how would you do it?
Ah the classic! Yeah, um can I have a minute…It’s sort of an alternative indie-rock with an element of modern folk in places. It’s also influenced by a lot of British music that’s current and a lot of Americana from a few years ago.
I noticed that too. I reckon you sound slightly like Band of Horses.
Ah that’s nice, that’s definitely a compliment. They’re certainly an influence. Biffy Clyro is a recent one that’s been said too. We’d consider ourselves a softer Biffy Clyro, but a heavier Band of Horses.
You’ve been on BBC Introducing South a few things as well. How have things progressed since your EP in 2010?
Well we haven’t released an EP as such. Oh the Golden Assemble one in 2010. That’s bloody ages ago! Well things have kind of changed in a way because we did that EP with a different drummer to start. I almost think of us as a different band now; we don’t realy play any of those songs any more and it’s like a different era. We’ve certainly come a long way since then and we’ve had good festival slots, a lot of good gigs and we’re working on another EP. So when that gets released it will be the more interesting time to see how things have progressed.
Have you played any festivals over the Summer?
Yep, we played Beach Break Live and we were fortunate to play the Main Stage on we did one called Nozstock as well which was…fun.
How did you find the atmosphere at Beach Break?
Oh it was really good. We were really fortunate actually. At the Main Stage we were on really early; we pretty much opened the stage after a barber shop quartet! It was great, it was raining and a crowd did gather, but on the Main Stage you can’t expect that much if you’re not a huge act. But on the second stage we were fortunate because we played right after Dizzie Rascal – not on the same stage obviously – but after he finished everyone came over for something else to do. There was an influx of people at that time and everyone was drunk as well and it was a really good atmosphere actually. It was one of the best gigs I can recall playing.
You’re hoping to release your EP soon. What else do you have planned in terms of tours?
We’re going to be really busy next month actually; we’re playing in London quite a bit and then we’ve got a five day tour at the end of October. I think we’re doing London, here [Joiners] again on the 28th, playing Wales and Birmingham…and some others somewhere.
How have you found the experience of touring recently?
We haven’t done anything too extensive, but last year we had a good ten day stint which was really good fun. Yeah it’s something that as a band, we’d love to be doing all the time. Eventually that’s one of our goals.
So, finally what is the band’s favourite colour?
Ooh the band, that’s hard. Navy? Yeah it’s got to be navy to be honest; navy is what we wear most. There’s a lot of checked shirts as well. We’re more into textures than colours; we like denim and the feel of corduroy haha!
