Hi, and how are you all on this chilly January day?
Dan: Hi, I’m good thank you, I’ve got a morning coffee helping me beat the cold.
Andy: Hola, yeah good thanks! these cold mornings arr tough but it can
only get warmer :-/ hopefully. Emma: Hello!
We are seeing the band at the Portland Arms in Cambridge on Friday, what can we expect?
Dan: Yes it’s about a month since our last gig so we’re excited about playing. We’ll be playing some of the songs from our new album along with a few of the older ones thrown in for good measure.
Andy: You better be ready! It's gonna be off the hook.
Tell us a bit about the band, how long have you been together, how did
you all become ‘a band’ in the first place?
Dan: it was about 7 years ago, the band I was in had played a gig with the band Emma was in, and after that we kept in touch. Those bands stopped when people moved away for Uni and things, so we started playing and writing together instead.
Andy I was playing in a band with my brother at the time and I asked him if he fancied playing with us as well, he did and things seemed to click pretty well between the three of us.
It’s a really nice picture on the cover of your album ‘Our of Sight,
Out of Town’ who created that and what was the idea around the album
title?
Andy: The 'Out of sight, out of town' cover art was done by Rosie Miles a friend of ours. She originally made the video for our song 'Suitcase' earlier last year - we all loved her artwork and the animation she made for the video - we wanted her to be involved in the artwork for the new album!
According to Wiki, you formed in 2005 …. so 6-7 years later, what changes have you seen in the music industry and have they either helped or hindered your progress.
Dan: When we started out there was the big ‘myspace’ thing going on, where unknown bands could be heard by anyone and people were directly in touch with them. We used it to help get our first few Sheffield gigs, before that we’d really been playing in the small towns around where we were from, but the internet and the way music is accessed are always changing and different things have taken over that role now.
Emma: Also for the first few years we didn't really know where we fitted - playing empty gigs with random bands etc then when we found the Sheffield record label Thee SPC and they liked us and put us in touch with a whole nationwide DIY Indiepop scene and suddenly we were playing to more people and they were lovely people and with bands that we loved too!
What are your aims and ambitions for the next five years?
Dan: We’ve not really made any big plans, we’ve talked about doing some recording and really just making the most of it whilst we enjoy doing it, then see what comes along.
Sheffield has been the home of many fine bands and artists. Is there something in the water that aids musicians and, are there any influences in your music that, are a direct result of your home city?
Dan: We relocated there from Buxton, Derbyshire when Andy moved to Sheffield for Uni and Emma moved to York. Sheffield is a great city for music; there are some really good bands and there’s some really cool venues to play. One band, Nat Johnson and The Figureheads, have had a big influence on us, both on the things we play and the advice they’ve given us. Its always fun playing gigs with them.
Favourite album of 2011 and why?
Dan: The Lovely Eggs – Cob Dominos, it’s got this raw power that get’s you’re blood racing, topped with great melodies. There are some real gems on it.
Andy: Kid Canaveral - Shouting at Wildlife, These guys are great! - a real good mixture of indie pop tempos and topics; and there CD seems to sound better really loud!
Emma: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake. Obvious I know but so amazing!
Who would you most like to tour with and are there any bands that you would closely align your sound to?
Emma: I think we'd be too intimidated touring with big famous bands we admire too much. The touring we've done with bands we know has been such fun! The gigs we've done with Kid Canaveral have been great. Also Shrag and Allo Darlin' are always a pleasure to gig with.
Is there one piece of advice you would like to give to new artists starting out today?
Dan: I’d say if you’re from a small town then pick a city near you and focus on playing there and being part of it. That was something that took us a couple of years to figure out but helped us a lot when we did.
Andy: Don't let negative feedback get you down, you should use it to better yourselves - better your technique or style. Recognise your strengths when you have something that works.
Emma: Write lots of songs and don't try and be anybody but yourself!
We recently ran an interview with Stacey of the Lexington in London and, she told us that venues in London are in competition for bands not vice versa. If that is the case, what do you look for when choosing a venue to play?
Dan: I never thought of it like that, I guess I just presumed there were a million bands out there all wanting to play the same gigs! We’re always up for playing new places but at the same time there’s venues we like that we find ourselves playing at again and again, I can’t count how many times we’ve played the Lexington! Really if we’re available then we want to play but it’s more the other bands and the promoter that really swing it for us
Emma: I didn't know that! That's a funny way round. As Dan said the promoters and other bands make a big difference. The Lexington gigs are always good though.
