How did the band meet? Did any of you know each other before coming to Lancaster?
Ana: We first met each other at LIAMS’ Band Matchmaker in late 2016. For those that don’t
know what that is, imagine a sort of speed dating for musicians. Chris was on the hunt for
people to put a band together and so invited us all to have a few jams together – we
started properly as a band in January 2017. None of us knew each other before coming to
Lancaster.
Do you all have different musical inspirations? Or did you bond over a love of similar music?
Ana: We definitely all like music within similar genres, which helped us to initially work out that we would be a good fit for each other, but there is a lot of variation within that! Our music tastes are particularly eclectic which is great for adding a different spin to things, with [Matthew] Dobie’s roots in choirs and jazz, and my previous bands leaning towards a
more heavy rock sound.
Are there are gigs you’ve been to which have really inspired you?
Dobie: Amber Run and Island – because of the atmosphere they created with their music.
Ana: Green Day was the biggest inspiration for me, seeing them live was the moment I
realised that music is what I wanted to do to – so much so I even got the tour date tattoo’d on me. They used the stage so well and had loads of energy, they thought of interesting ways of having an incredible stage presence with little things like props and getting people
on stage with minimal effects and lighting.
Chris: Elbow, with the sun setting behind the stage at a very damp Reading Festival. To be
honest though I’m not a very good partner at a gig because I’m normally too busy standing
in awe wishing I could be up there to think about much else.
How did you find the process of recording the Leaves EP?
Ana: Exhausting, exciting, stressful and simultaneously the best thing we’ve ever done, all in equal measure! We really wanted the EP to explore the boundaries of our sound and we
think it achieves that well. The biggest thing, though, was how much we grew as a band
whilst we were producing it. Our ambitions of what we wanted to create expanded so
massively that we then had to spend a long time figuring out and learning how to create
the sound we wanted to create. It was a huge learning curve, all in all, and what’s really
cool is that you can hear it in the songs. ‘Leaves,’ for example, was the last track we
recorded, and you can definitely hear how much we learnt in terms of producing a song in
that track.
Lyrically, what sort of topics/themes does the EP address?
Ana: The tracks tackle different aspects of the uncertainties of young adulthood. ‘Shoulders’ incorporates a message of self-empowerment and confidence, encouraging listeners not to let others take advantage of them. ‘Leaves,’ on the other hand, addresses the idea of leaving the sheltered life of home and discovering the world and all its imperfections. There’s some love and stuff in there too, if you listen carefully, but we try and make that pretty subtle to keep the songs sounding fresh and hopefully a little different to other stuff out there.
What are your plans for the rest of this year? (More singles? Another EP? Festivals?)
Ana: Over the past year we’ve worked super hard to produce and release 6 songs in total, so this year we wanna focus a lot more on our live set. We’ll be trying to increase our reach
through gigs across the country and are currently in contact with loads of festivals for the
summer so hopefully we’ll be able to build up a pretty good portfolio of shows for the year!
The ‘Leaves’ EP is out now!
