How does it feel to have won this competition?
Tom (lead guitar): Incredible!
Ben (vocals):The best feeling ever, I can’t believe it.
Nadeem (drums): Yeah, especially because the bands tonight were all so good!
Were you suffering with nerves, seeing as this was the final?
B: I was a little bit nervous beforehand, but once we started playing there’s just this rush of enjoyment.
Rob (bass): That’s normal for us, we always tend to be nervous before we play but you get over it quite quickly.
Some of you were obviously less nervous – I saw you [Nadeem] on your way to the bar just before you started!
N: [laughs] I think it’s more important to have fun when you’re doing something like this, people were here to watch us have a good time and that’s a pretty great feeling.
Was this the first time you’d played before so many people or do you gig quite often?
N: We played in this competition last year.
B: [interrupting] Less successfully!
N: We’ve been gigging for about a year and half now. It all seems to be going in the right direction: the venue, the sound, the audience are all getting bigger and better.
T: The crowd plays such an important part in how you feel on stage so that sort of reaction is brilliant.
How do you all feel about the Battle of the Bands process?
T: It’s very well organised, you have to give Bailrigg FM props for that!
B: I think it’s a really important to have, there aren’t many proper live music events on campus so to have all of these little gigs over the space of a couple of weeks is really fun.
R: I know a lot of people who give Lancaster flack for its lack of live music so it is nice to have this sort of showcase to prove them wrong.
Do you think that Lancaster would benefit as a city and a university from having a dedicated music venue?
N: Yes! 100% percent. Personally, I’m surprised that the Great Hall complex isn’t used in that way more often, because that’s a space which would be so good for gigs and it’s just never used.
B: There’s a book somewhere that lists all the bands that have played or used to play here; I read that The Stone Roses have played in The Sugarhouse, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen. It’s just such a shame that doesn’t really happen anymore.
R: Only last summer at Pendle Extrav there was a stage with bands on, and everyone was loving it – so it’s not like anyone can say that there’s no demand because people are clearly interested in this kind of thing.
How did The Trip come together as a band?
N: It started off as a duo, then slowly grew up.
B: Yeah, me and Tom lived together in first year and I remember stumbling into his room and seeing the guitar, and then hearing him playing I was like ‘Wow, this is a guy I’d want to be in a band with! He’s too good for me to let him go and play with anyone else’.
T: We ended up just playing Oasis together all the time!
N: Me and Rob started in a different band, but that never had a name and it never went anywhere and people left. I can’t remember how we found you guys, we were probably drunk!
B: You both ended up in my kitchen at some point – either getting drunk or doing maths – and I found out you could play and before you knew it we’d formed a band.
How would you define your style as a band, who are your inspirations?
B: Not sure where to start!
N: The Stone Roses is definitely one.
R: Yeah, we’ve fully ripped a song off from them so we need to give them some credit somewhere! Their song ‘Fool’s Gold’ is really similar to a song we’ve called ‘Clever Silver’ [laughs]. I think the one song that everyone really seems to enjoy us playing is ‘Free Bird’ [Lynyrd Skynyrd], because Tom is so much better than our last guitarists!
N – It’s hard to nail us down to one genre, we all grew up on different things – Rob loves rap, I’m really into R&B and Ben likes really melodic stuff like U2 and Coldplay.
What are the plans for The Trip now that you’ve won Battle of the Bands?
N – We’ve got three or four singles in the pipeline, ready to come out soon!
B – The big problem is that we’ve got people leaving this year, and going in different directions.
R – I don’t think you can find a band that’s as spread out as we are! So it’s gonna be hard
N – Theres still plenty of the year left so we just have to try and make that count!
B – If we get a record deal next term, we’ll be sorted! [laughs]
You’ve got a shot at that now with the studio-time you won tonight, hope it all goes well!
