Yorkshire Music Collective's weekend out at Rock and Rail

I've not been on Keighley Worth Vally Railway since I was a child so I thought the engines might seem small now but they are still huge! I arrived at Keighley station about 5 - the platform stage was already set up and I was waiting for the first music train to arrive. It's raining and cold and I'm feeling pretty glad that the Keighley stage is covered and the rest of the events will be indoors. The first acoustic performer of the weekend was Tim Moon. I really enjoyed this  collection of folk songs accompanied by an array of string instruments (I'm a bit too ignorant to know the names of them all) - it's so strange to be sitting on a train with live music. I am sitting in the performers coach next to the Jubilee bar and the music is piped all the way down the train. I'm thinking it might be a challenge for some performers, playing on a moving train with the speakers wobbling in front of you and jerks and stops at the stations. Not to mention a few tunnels that leave you in the pitch black dark!

I got off at Oxenhope, exchanged my ticket for a wristband and headed into the trainshed mainstage. I had been a few weeks before to see this location, it was full of trains then and I am totally blown away by the fantastic set up now in place. I'm listening to a sound check and the sound is amazing, its a real festival sound. 


First performance I catch here is a stripped down set from Ti Amo, with the lead singer Christy on acoustic guitar and vocals, backed by the drummer, Will. Its great to see that State of Error have come up to watch their friends before they head off back to headline the Keighley stage. 

Next up The Marmozets, great energetic set from this young five-piece band. Looks to me like they have a great future ahead of them.






Then a difficult choice you often face at festivals as you can't be in 2 places at once, do I watch The Mexanines or hop on the train with Ben Peel and The Wool City Folk Club? I watch a couple of  songs by The Mexanines and opt for the train, mainly as I am intrigued to see how all 8 of the Wool City Folk club are going to play their set on the small carriage. In good spirits and squashing together, they deliver a lively set to the delight of everyone on the train. 

Ben Peel & Wool City Folk Club setting up on the train

I make it back to Oxenhope in time for The Sharp Darts headline set, great performance from a band who look totally at home on the big stage. 

Sharp Darts Headlining Oxenhope Stage

Back on the train again, reaching the Keighley stage in time to catch the last couple of songs from the headliners State of Error. The crowd there are delighted with the Calderdale pop punk band who have played for an hour and a half. And so ends a really good first day.

Matt Bentley

Early start Saturday, I'm on the train at 12.30 to see Matt Bentley, who delivers a great set, accompanied by his father on a few songs. 

Mr. Gary C.

Next up is Mr. Gary C, who is joined for one song by his 5 year old son, though a little stage fright takes over. Maybe next year! I chatted to both performers when we got back to Oxenhope and they were both thrilled to have played a set on a train, or as Gary C put it, its every boys dream to play a guitar on a train.

Jack's Attic

Off into the train shed to see Jack's Attic who impress the local crowd with their psychedelic rock. I have been given a backstage pass today, the performers are being well looked after backstage, there's a buffet wagon and a carriage to chill out too. During the set changeover, I chat to You Had Me At Hello, a young Keighley band who have played earlier in the day and were thrilled by the experience.

Kath and the Mighty Menace

Next up Kath and the Mighty Menace, Leeds three-piece band. Another great performance, unfortunately the bassist is taken ill during the show, but Kath manages to finish the set by herself. Next up is Club Smith, I had seen them a few days previously in a small venue and enjoyed their set a great deal on the big stage. 

Kava Kava

The one of the acts I've most been looking forward to as I've never seen them live, Kava Kava. No disappointment here, fantastic set great funky sound, loved the live version of Bank Job one of my favourite Kava Kava songs.






I popped back stage for a quick chat with Louise Distras who has also enjoyed playing on the trains, Middleman are doing a photo shoot on one of the carriages, I'll be watching out for those. I bumped into the lovely people from Jam on Top studios who are organizing the Keighley stage. I decide I will try the fudge cake that everyone is raving about but before its my turn Middleman start to play, well worth missing out on cake for, great performance, I love Middleman, I've only seem them in small venues up to now, great to see them on the big stage too.

Jasmine Kennedy

During the changeover Jack's Attic said they were hopping on the train as they'd had an text saying there was really good band playing, so I decided to join them. There was indeed it was Silverlode who were going down a treat on the train. Caught the last part of their set and then it was Jasmine Kennedy's turn to play. I love seeing people's reaction the first time they hear Jasmine Kennedy sing, she has such an amazing voice.

Silverlode, on the train

Steve Craddock

 I didn't make it back in time for Operator 6, which was a shame as I had been looking forward to seeing them. Headline act of the Saturday was Steve Cradock, he asked for the barriers removing so everyone could get close to the stage, so it was really quite an intimate gig, finishing just in time for the last train to Keighley, with live set from Tom Hingley. Loved this bluesy set from Tom Hingley.














I start Sunday on the trains again, to see Miranda vs. The Crok, who as everyone are delighted to have played on a train. I get off for a bit at Keighley station and manage to catch a few songs by Andy Doonan and The Lightwalks, was very impressed with this set, hopefully they'll be playing in the area again soon. Back up to Oxenhope, which is a rock/punk day today, I've just missed Propane Penny and get there in time to see Sounds of Swami, who played a great set. Next up is The Yalla Yallas, I've seen Rob Galloway doing solo sets a few times and I really looking forward to seeing the whole band. Great set, cracking frontman! Last set of the weekend is Anne Marie (Skeletal Family) - brilliant set to close the weekend events.


Everything is in place to make this a great a event next year, it was the first year so attendance wasn't great, but everyone who went had a great time and all the performers were thrilled by the set up. More publicity and word of mouth should see this event grow in years to come, its such a unique idea it should be repeated.

Michelle Dalgety, Yorkshire Music Collective

YMC visits Rock and Rail

We have been for a look around the venues for the forthcoming Rock and Rail Festival that will be taking place on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway from 10 - 12 June. This is a truly unique festival with three stages, one is on a station platform, one in a carriage and one in a train shed! Its probably the first time there has been a rock festival on a steam railway.

TRAIN STAGE

This is the Jubilee carriage where the acoustic sets will be taking place over the 3 days. There is also a bar.


Performers on the trains are:


Friday 10 June


Ben Peel and The Wool City Folk Club (headline)
Halcyon Days
Den Miller
Tim Moon


Saturday 11th June


Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) (headline)
Jasmine Kennedy
Silverlode
Adam Findlay
Louise Distras
Mr. Gary C
Matt Bentley


Sunday 12th June


Annie Drury
Changing Horses
Miranda vs. The Crok

KEIGHLEY TRAIN STATION STAGE

There will be a stage on the Platform in Keighley Station, these are the performers


Friday 10th June


State of Error (Headline)
Swim with Sharks
Paper Smiles
Do Miss America


Saturday 11th June


Covered in Cool
Last Orders
Talking to Strangers
Monitor Rock
Escort Knights


Sunday 12th June


Silence Passes
My First Addiction
Andy Doonan & The Lightwalks
Keep the Drummer Happy

OXENHOPE TRAIN SHED - MAIN VENUE

This is the site of the main venue, the stage will be where the black engine is just now, all trains will be removed and the floor will be covered ready for the weekend event.

This is a huge venue, and will be equipped with a bar too.


Performers are:


Friday 10th June


Sharp Darts (Headline)
The Mexanines
Marmozets
You Had Me At Hello
Ti Amo


Saturday 11th June


STEVE CRADOCK (Headline)
Operator 6
Middleman
Kava Kava
Club Smith
Kath and The Mighty Menace
Jack's Attic
Penguin
The 27 Club


Sunday 12th June


Pray For Hayden
Propane Penny
Kill to Gain
Sounds of Swami
Yalla Yallas
Exoterik
Anne Marie Hurst


Yorkshire Music Collective will be in attendance over the weekend and will be twittering updates and chatting with the performers.


Tickets are available from the  Rock and Rail Website

YMC Backstage Interviews - TALK TO ANGELS

Yorkshire Music Collective interviews Talk to Angels backstage at Milo before their charity gig

YMC: Can you introduce yourselves and say what you play?

Talk To Angels: I'm Craig and I'm the singer, I'm Jamie and I play drums, I'm Mickey and I play keyboards, I'm Chris and I play Bass

YMC: Your doing a really special concert tonight in aid of a charity, can you tell us a bit about it?

TTA: All the proceeds from tonight and from the Christmas single we have released all go to St. Georges Crypt which is a fantastic company who do a lot for the homeless around Leeds. We went up there and we played a show not too long ago and we helped out, did some dinner lady sort of things and they were very welcoming. Its really enlightening to go somewhere like that and learn about what they do, it really does take your breath away when you realise what they do.

They are very good at this time of year with the cold and the snow it just gives people a place to go, a place to get off the streets and have a warm bed for the night and hot food.

YMC: I've seen on your facebook profile that you have been there a few times, its not just that you're putting on a gig you have implicated yourselves in the project

TTA: Well we recorded our version of Fairy Tale of New York about 3 years ago and every year we've thought about releasing it and every single year we've left it too late and this year we remembered we needed to do something with it. We thought we can't just put it out and take the money for ourselves, we need to do something more worthy so a friend of ours told us about they Crypt. So we got in touch with the Crypt and told them we were thinking of doing it and wanted to give them the proceeds and they were just blown away. So since then we've been down there a few times and made a lot of friends. There were a lot of smiley faces when we were playing a gig in the cafeteria!

YMC: I've been watching you for a few years, one of the things that most impressed me was that so young you went to SXSW festival, it must have been a huge thing for you when you were about 17

TTA: I can't remember how old we were, 18/19 maybe. We just turned old enough to be able to do things legally in England then we jetted of to America where you can't do anything legally.

YMC: You have to be 21

TTA: Maybe you can marry your sister in some states but not Texas!

YMC: Was it a positive experience, SXSW?
TTA: Yes on the whole, we had an absolute ball but bands go out there full of hopes and dreams and expect that you're going to come back with a big record deal and its not like that, its basically just a huge record industry piss-up for want of a better word to describe it. Get together! Yes so we played some shows and had a great time, its costs an absolute fortune to do it as well, we had an amazing time. I think it helped to get the band's name out there. There are so many bands out there, big names, Metallica turned up as the secret band that year, we're glad we did it - all in all we had a good time, so to answer the question yes it is positive.

YMC: Well now you are of legal age a lot more venues are open to you, have you struggled growing up in music and finding places for your fanbase to come and see you.

TTA: More recently, we never really knew what our fanbase was and to be honest we still don't, we never intend to write songs for a direct target we never write for a certain genre, the audience changes every single night we play. We've recently struggled and people say we want to get there but tonight we've sold out and people are trying to get in the venue and we are struggling to get people tickets coz there's nowhere to go, but that's a good sign for us. I think it is hard when you are young but at that time for us there was a lot more venues open because bands were so much more the in thing, where as now its sad because you see a lot of venues shutting down because I don't know maybe people don't go out because X-factor is on.

YMC: Do you think there could be a trend in young people more towards dance music than watching live bands
TTA: Not sure really, the biggest enemy is crap on Saturday night TV. But next year we want to change the way we do gigs, not just in black painted square rooms with a PA in one end and a bar in the other. We want to try and find much more unusual places to play and hopefully that will make it a lot easier for people who are under drinking age to get there as well. So far we have secured a disused swimming pool that we have permission to use, a boxing ring, an art gallery, a multi-storey carpark, a ball pool, a launderette. So we just thought it would be much more fun than your regular kind of square room with lights and sound.

YMC: I suppose its enticing people away from drink too

TTA: Yes, all the big venues in London are called the Carling this. I think also because we've done some gigs and people have said I really want to bring my younger children or my children want to come and there's not a lot of venues out there where 14 and 16 year olds can come so doing gigs like that allows the fanbase to come.

They're the future of music really. We're hoping people will get in touch with us and say we've found a perfect venue will you come and play it because we spend quite a bit of time trying to find these places. Hopefully we'll get the ball rolling but then word of mouth will mean that people get in touch and say will you come and play in our local woods, quarry, cave, anything.

YMC: I think that music is most important when you're 13-14 and start listening to your own stuff, and there is a real void for these music fans.
TTA: We're planning to fill it.

YMC: Very best of luck with that!

TTA: Thank you.


The recorded version of this interview can be found in the downloadable podcast:
http://www.podcastfm.co.uk/files/32/mp3/yubs_16th_jan_2011.mp3

YMC Backstage Interviews - Above Them

YMC :I'm backstage at the Cockpit with one of the members of Above Them, would you like to introduce yourself


Above Them: I'm Mark, I play bass in Above Them, there's also Tom and Oli but they nipped off for a shifty pint, I'm driving.


YMC: Did you enjoy the gig?


AT: Yes, it was good, its wasn't like the normal gigs we play, the venue is really big - we're more used to the back room of a pub, just DIY shows really, so we are a little bit out of our comfort zone but it was really good, I enjoyed it, good sound and people came out


YMC: How did you manage to get this gig then?


AT: Inala records who put our music out know Frank, who is promoting from Higher Rhythmn, and he got in touch and of course we agreed to play, nowt better to do on a Friday night.


YMC: Are you from Leeds?


AT: We're from Pontefract which is about 15 miles away from Leeds, so we are fairly local, its a place where we've always played a lot so we feel pretty much at home


YMC: and Wakefield I would imagine too


AT: Yes, we used to play at Escobar when it was still open, quite a lot actually when we first started going but now there's a new venue called the Hop One good venue has closed down but there's another really good one opened up, so its not a loss really, we've just kind of switched places.


YMC: Do you think its hard for bands to find places to play, especially when you're starting out?


AT: Yes, when your starting out, it depends really we're quite lucky coz a lot of our friends do DIY gigs, so it kind of just snowballed from there. The longer you go the easier it is because you have more contacts really.


YMC: How long have you been playing together?


AT: Since the winter of 2004, we were only going to do one gig, a Christmas all-dayer, and here we are 6 years later still doing it, its good fun.


YMC: Who writes the songs?


AT: All 3 of us really, Oli our guitarrist comes with an idea, maybe a lyric or something and we just build it from there. its sort of all three of us it would be a bit weird I think if was just one person coming with an idea, saying play this play that, no matter how good the songs are because we think all 3 of us should be involved


YMC: What other gigs have you got coming up?


AT: This year now we're going down to Dorking, thats about it for this year its been pretty hectic, we've been out in Europe in October.


YMC: Which countries did you go to?


AT: We went down through France, into Switzerland, we did a week in Germany and then we went to Holland, Belgium and came back home.


YMC: Was that a good experience? How was crowd reaction in the different countries?


AT: It wasn't that well attended because we're not a well known band but the people that attended liked it, its just pub gigs whereever really, if your into that you're into anything, we got well accepted everywhere and we got really well looked after I was quite surprised about that, the hospitality was unbelievable.


YMC: I've heard bands that say that before, that once you get out of the UK you're really looked after


AT: I just thought that was something everyone was just saying but it was really the case, I suppose it's like when I've put gigs on in the past and bands have been travelling and that you always try and look after them because its not much fun when you've been travelling and you don't get fed and you don't get any drinks. I'm not saying that's what we want all the time but it is nice and makes the whole experience a lot easier.


YMC: Have you got any recorded material?


AT: Yes, we did an EP in 2007 on Inhala records which are friends of ours and then we brought an album out last year also on Inhala records and then a friend in Manchester who runs a DIY label did one with us which was pressed on 12" vinyl too and we've had a couple of split 7" out with a band from Sheffield called The Amistad and another band from the States who we also did a couple of split 7" with. We are just writing a new album now and hopefully recording June time. It just depends when we can fit it in because working full time we eat our holidays up doing this so its just doing it when we can get it in.


YMC: If people want to find out more about you have myspace, facebook, etc


AT: Yes, www.myspace.com/abovethem, or just search for Above Them on facebook.


YMC: Thanks for talking to us.


AT: Thank you.

YMC Backstage Interviews - Freyed Knot

YMC chatted to Freyed Knot at the Plugged in Yorkshire gig.


YMC: We're backstage at The Cockpit with Freyed Knot who just played an absolutely fantastic set, did you enjoy that?

Freyed Knot: Yes it was great, to say it was such an early gig

YMC: Can you just introduce yourselves and say what you do in the band?

FK: I'm XP and I rap. I'm Nick and I play bass, I'm Rach and I play bari sax, I'm Ben and I play guitar, I'm Jonathan, I play drums. I'm JD and I also rap. I'm Tom and I play alto sax

YMC: With seven people in a band is it difficult to co-ordinate, all get together for practice, is it a logistical nightmare.

FK: Well we've been together for about three years now, well some are newer than others, but we're all good mates, so its not so much of a problem because its not just a professional outfit its more a bunch of friends having a good time.

YMC: Who were the original members?

FK: It started with me (XP) and JD and then we decided we needed a band and we got in touch with a mutual friend who had friends which were Nick and Jonny who were at Bradford music college and some others joined, and that was the original band and then we've gone through a few metamorphosis until we've arrived at what we've got now.

YMC: Do some of you write the music and some do the rap parts?

FK: We generally just try and thrash it out in band practices really and see what we come up with, someone will present an idea musically and it becomes something that everyone's done.

YMC: Are you from Bradford, Leeds?

FK: We're from Bradford, Leeds and Manchester and Scotland and Aberdeen and somewhere down South

YMC: What do you think of the Bradford scene at the moment? Are there enough venues?

FK: JD was on a documentary for Bradford Music saying it was dying a bit and it kind of is. Bradford's dying a bit as a city coz the council haven't been very responsible especially in creative arts and they're not very respectful of the bands who are trying to push themselves so that can be a bit of a pain. People are there, they're just under the surface but its the same for everyone making independent music right now, if you don't have a bundle of money behind you its hard to get known.

People don't like booking rap bands, they think its knife crime and urban, we got booked for a gig by an undisclosed Leeds venue for Christmas and then they unbooked us because the manager found out we were hip-hop, never listened to us before - but said we were too urban for Christmas! But when we played there, we rocked it - everyone went crazy and it was rammed. But because we're hip-hop we're violent people!

YMC: So do you play mostly in Leeds then?

FK: Yes, quite a lot in Leeds, 3 of us are based in Leeds so its easier to get around, then its West Yorkshire and beyond! wherever really just to make our reputation grow.

YMC: Do you think some cities respond better to you music, do you pick that up from audiences?

FK: Festival are usually quite good, we did a festival in the summer called Rough Beats and it was epic. It was in North Yorkshire.

YMC: I can see you going down really well at a festival

FK: Yes we did.

YMC: Well the next band are just starting so we'll have to leave it there.
FK: Bye!

Find out more about Freyed Knot on www.myspace.com/freyedknot

YMC Backstage Interviews - Serious Sam Barrett

Yorkshire Music Collective went to the Higher Rhythm & Plugged In Yorkshire present Raw Talent live at The Cockpit on Friday. It was a brilliant night with 4 excellent acts and we managed to catch a few interviews too. The recorded interviews will be played on The Yorkshire Underground Band Show on Sunday 5th December.

Here's the one we did with Serious Sam Barrett:

YMC: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your musical background

Serious Sam Barrett: I started out playing mainly blues stuff and moved into country and lots of forms of traditional music and now I'm mainly trying to write my own stuff using those traditional styles as a starting point. That's where I'm at now, I've been playing properly for about 5 or 6 years.

YMC: When did you actually first start to play?

SSB: I've always played coz my Dad was a kind of folk singer and he got me into playing a lot so I've been playing guitar since I could get my arm round one.

YMC: I believe you've played in the States as well?

SSB: Yes, I've played in the States a few times but this year I went to do SXSW and did a few shows in Tenessee as well while I was out there. I played in Nashville which was cool

YMC: What was the audience reaction to your style of music over there?

SSB: It went great, I was kind of nervous about playing in Nashville obviously being like the home of country music its a real focal point for lots of different kinds of american traditional music so that was kind of nerve wracking but it went really really well

YMC: I suppose that it would be worrying playing the kind of music that's theirs?

SSB: I guess if they'd seen me play about 5 years ago it would have been more of a problem but nowadays I play a few traditional Yorkshire folk songs and stuff like that and I try to put into my music whats its about to be from here, so I guess I've got that different angle to them, so its a bit different to them, I'm not just going up there and singing American songs.

YMC: Where do you get your inspiration to write the songs, what do you mainly write about?

SSB: Heartbreak

YMC: As all good country songs!

SSB: Yeah, a recent one I wrote is a song about my Grandad, I've written songs about being from around here and what that means, but mainly heartbreak to be honest

YMC: Are you still playing quite a lot locally as well?

SSB: Yes, I try not to play Leeds too much but pretty much everywhere else. I play a lot in the north east, like Teeside and Tyneside and Liverpool as well

YMC: Do you find it easy to get gigs outside Yorkshire?

SSB: Yes I do nowadays but I guess I've been going a while now, its not like I'm a new band starting out, thats when its hardest, when nobody knows who you are obviously is kind of tough but nowadays its ticking over pretty nicely, its going pretty good.

YMC: Do you normally play in venues that specialise in acoustic music because sometimes its a bit difficult for acoustic players coz they get put on at the beginning of the night when people are still coming in, do you find that?

SSB: It varies a hell of a lot, I do lots and lots of different kinds of gigs, like I've always played

alongside punk bands in DIY shows where I'll play first and then there will be a metal band or a punk band or a hardcore band or whatever and I've always done that and I still do a lot of that and then I'll also play in folk clubs or country music clubs, or acoustic nights. I try and play for whoever and I get away with it as well luckily, they're all good for different reasons. Its nice to play to a really attentive acoustic audience and its nice to play for a bunch of rowdy punk dudes.

YMC: Thanks for talking to us.

SSB: Thanks

You can find out more about Sam on
http://www.myspace.com/sambarrett

Introducing...Arizona Bay

YMC chats to Rob and Rhys from Arizona Bay

YMC: How did the name come about ?

Rob: All of us are big fans of the late comedian Bill Hicks, particularly Rhys and I, so we decided to name ourselves after one of his albums. His ethos on life is something that’s always rung true with us and what we hope to achieve with this band. He was always outspoken against the mass consumerist culture of the time, which doesn’t differ too much from the culture and state in which we now find ourselves.

Rhys: We also liked the premise of ‘Arizona Bay’, that idea of an earthquake wiping out the epicentre of commerce and mainstream mediocrity, of something good coming out of what would generally be considered a disaster. That album has a large musical element anyway and has already influenced some of our favourite bands, such as Tool, so we felt its themes were something we could totally get behind and hopefully reflect in our desire to make music which has its own voice and is made for ourselves, rather than the current ‘X-Factor’ trend of churning out a ‘product’ merely to make a quick buck.

Rob: It also has had the added benefit of making people think and talk about the name and what it means, which is something that’s always been important to us in the bands we love.

YMC: How many are in the band, where did you all meet?

Rob: The band consists of myself on drums, Rhys on vocals, Sam Wood on lead guitar and Oli Tsakonas on bass. We all met at Leeds Music College whilst studying music. Sam, Rhys and I have been friends since we all started at LCM, and share fairly similar music tastes, so it was inevitable we’d get together eventually.

Rhys: Sam and I had played in a blues band together before, pretty much straight after arriving in Leeds three years ago. That band quickly broke up and it wasn’t until last year that we decided to try and do something else together, with Rob. That’s when we found and auditioned Oli.

Rob: He was the first and only bass player we auditioned and fits in really well with the sound we were going for.

YMC: Who writes the songs?

Rhys: I tend to get the bare bones of songs together on my own and then bring them out for the rest of the guys to flesh out. I generally have a vague idea of where a song should end up but it’s a really collaborative working process that hopefully means we’re each putting our own stamp on each song as well as creating some sort of ‘sound’ that characterises the band.

Rob: Rhys has the most songwriting experience but we are now starting to be a far more collaborative force. I wrote the last song on our EP and we’ve now started working on material together far more than we have done in the past.

Rhys: Yeah, when the band started I already had a backlog of songs and ideas that we were able to roll with. Now we’re working a lot more on completely new material which gives everyone greater scope to contribute.

YMC: Who are your main influences?

Rob: We all come from vaguely similar musical backgrounds and therefore share a common thread with certain influences, mostly 60s and 70s bands: Sabbath, Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, etc.

Rhys: We obviously each have our own defining influences too though, for instance a lot of my songwriting influences are people like Neil Young, Tom Waits, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

Rob: Yeah, we each have our individual heroes. For me it’s Bill Ward, Vinnie Appice, John Bonham and Matt Cameron.

Rhys: Cameron’s a pretty important one given what we’re trying to do and his involvement with the 90s Seattle scene. Despite our eclectic influences I think the most prevalent are the 90s bands that we’re into. Bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees...they all still sound relevant today and are far more in tune with the mission-statement of this band. That energy and intensity is something that we hope to convey in this band too.

YMC: You're all from different parts of the UK, how does the Leeds music scene differ to where you are from?

Rob: I think Leeds is a great place to be if you’re a musician. I’m from Durham and there wasn’t really much of a scene there, so to have a city with a scene that is really geared towards all different types of live music and supporting unsigned bands is just brilliant.

Rhys: Yeah, I’m from Wales and there is a very vibrant scene there but it’s so spread out it’s really hard for new bands to really make a name for themselves. With the centre of Leeds having so many venues and promoters working it’s a lot easier for a band to establish themselves within the scene and build a fanbase provided you’re willing to work hard. It’s certainly something we’re constantly working on.

YMC: You are about to release your first EP (although with 8 tracks it could almost be considered an album), was it easy to decide which tracks to put on it? Tell us a bit about the recording process.

Rhys: The EP is really a collection of all the original material we were playing live at the time, and we decided that it would be best to record material which we’d been honing live for the past 6 months. In that way, it encapsulates the very early stages of the band forming its sound through all the songs we wrote together in the initial months we were together.

Rob: We recorded it with a couple of friends of ours, Tom Bramley and Simon Green, who we met through college. Tom really had a big hand in the mixing process and shaping of the record’s sound, and because we knew the material back to front we were really able to focus on just getting the best performance possible down.

YMC: You are now starting a mini tour, do you have plans to do a large tour at some stage?

Rob: Yeah, we’d love to. We’re hoping to begin organising something for next year as soon as we get through these current dates. This time we’re mainly focusing on The North and hitting venues in Leeds, Bolton and Liverpool amongst others, so we’d really like to expand on that and play a bit further afield next time.

Rhys: We’re predominantly a live band, and we feel like the only way to really grow as a band and build your fanbase is to play live, so we intend to do just that, as much as possible.

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