Inrtoducing...Night Herons

YMC chats to Night Herons from Leeds.

YMC: When did you start, who are the band members?

The band is:

Clare Kelly - Vocals
Joe Armitage - Lead Guitar and Synth
Chris Warr- Guitar
Tom Kelly - Bass
Will Ashton - Drums & Backing Vocals

We had the idea of starting a band after we’d  finished our GCSE’s at school. After those exams you get rewarded with an enormous summer holiday and we all played different instruments so we decided to start messing about at these rehersal rooms next to a skipyard in Guiseley. Nobody else in our year had a band or anything at that point so we thought it would be a good thing to do. Then we realised singing was a lot harder that we’d thought so we got Clare in. We knew her already and knew she had a pretty distinctive voice so it all slotted together nicely.

YMC: What are your favourite Leeds/Bradford venues to play?

We don’t tend to play in Bradford as much as we used to in the earlier days for reasons unknown. In Leeds there’s a load of great venues to play. We’ve played at the Cockpit a few times which has always been really good. The Elbow Rooms is another good one, too. I think as long as you’re playing to a room which has an atmosphere or is relatively full then the prestige associated with the venue you’re playing in doesn’t really matter. 

YMC: How would you describe your music?

Describing your  own music when you’re in a band is never easy because whatever you say, it comes off as sounding a bit pretentious and egotistical. None of us share the same taste in music really so we all have different ideas when we write songs. I think if all the members of a band share precisely the same musical influences then there’s a danger that they just become a sort of distant tribute act which is never good.

YMC: Who are your influences?

Our influences vary massively between us all. Clare’s a fan of Fleetwood Mac and that kind of style whereas Will leans towards pop – even though he’s confessed to us on numerous occasions that Mick Fleetwood is his style icon. Then we’re into a load of bands in-between those styles really.

YMC: You've had some gigs in London, has this been positive?

Playing in London is useful. It’s great experience to play in places that you’ve never played before because that way you don’t become accustomed to one venue in one city. I think people there are perhaps more into seeing live music in London but at the same time they’re crippled by choice.  If they don’t like you they could walk next door and see another band playing. Playing in London can often sound more glamorous than it actually is, too. Some people hear the word ‘London’ and think that automatically means you’re doing well, whereas you could quite easily book a gig down there and it could be purely your band playing to a man behind a mixing desk in a grotty venue. Luckily that hasn’t happened to us so far though, whenever we've played there we've had good feedback and the crowd have been quite responsive and complimentary .

YMC: Do you have any plans to record anything?

We’re recording again in mid-February.  I think we’ll do two or three new songs which are sounding promising. They’ve both got quite integral guitar parts and a bit less synth which is good because I think synth music is sort of taking over at the moment so it’d be beneficial to go against the grain and record songs with massive guitar choruses and hooks. We’ll just see what happens when we record next and then see where that takes us and hope for the best.

Find out more on http://www.myspace.com/nightherons