With an effervescent mix of punchy punk cuts and undeniable musical buoyance, their experimental outlook sets them apart from the rest.
Your sound ranges from post-punk, new wave and 90’s alternative, what genre would you slot yourselves into? Or do you not like being strictly defined?
We’re not the biggest fans of being pigeonholed into a specific genre, especially as our influences change all the time. I don’t really have a clue what I’d say our genre is… The label like to call it Garage-Wave. I kind of like the sound of that. Even if it does sound little pretentious haha.
What artists do you take inspiration from?
The Clash, The Breeders, Talking Heads, Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground and DEVO to name a few.
Tell us the story behind ‘Coltrane’?
Without getting too deep, it’s basically about turning 25 and looking back at my childhood and past relationships with different people in my life and learning to forgive the past and move on with living life. My parents’ divorce was definitely an influence on the song. For some reason a lot of feelings about it all that I suppressed for years came up again a year or so ago. Probably because I'm now happily living with my girlfriend which made me see things from a different angle. It was quite a cathartic process writing the song, helping me vocalise feelings I'm not very good at articulating or communicating on a day-to-day basis.
Who does the writing?
I do a lot of the writing for our demos, then we go into a practice room and re-work them together. Tom and Dave have both had a big input with lyrics, tunes etc as well. During the first lockdown, Tom and I were sending song ideas to each other back and forth every day. I was smashing out a lot of instrumentals at the time and Tom was returning them back with a lot of lyric and melody ideas. it does vary a lot from song to song though to be honest.
What track from ‘Abstract Education’ are you most proud of?
Former Warnings Cluster is probably my favourite, but it does change depending on what mood I’m in. I love the outro of 27 Years. Coltrane probably has the most raw and honest lyrics I have ever written. I actually found it quite emotional when I was tracking the vocals. Pathetic I know!
How does it feel to get support from the likes of NME, Radio One and DIY?
It feels great! Especially as we've been using these platforms since we were kids, finding new music and obsessing over bands. NME was mad as I used to get the magazine all the time after school. My mate was in it once at a Babyshambles show and that was the coolest thing ever at the time.
Do you have any favourite up-and-coming artists you’d like to name drop?
Lily - our synth player and percussionist - plays in a band called English Teacher who are going to be making big waves in the future. Their new track 'R&B' is a huge tune.
I recently signed a lo-fi artist to my label Bam Bam Records called Honey Guide and we’ve been recording his debut recently, which is sounding great as well. Very excited to see how that turns out.
Other bands we are loving at the moment are Van Houten, Yard Act, Mush, Roxy Girls, Vraell, Far Caspian, Niall Summerton, Fuzz Lightyear, Draags, Gold Fishes, KOYO, Talkboy and many more! Leeds and Yorkshire in general is full of great DIY acts at the moment. The big cheese labels in London should really be paying attention to what’s going on in this great county.
Lana Williams
@swimdeeplana
Image: Devon Chambers
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