Local Bands

Who are your influences?

The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The La's, Oasis, The Small Faces and Bob Dylan. A certain brand of Dutch lager, rock 'n' roll, rattle 'n' soul, rock 'n' love!

We sound a bit like...

We sound like a band from the 60s, brought forward to the modern area. Given a load of Oasis amps and 10 bands from the entire history of music to listen to and then asked to make music.

Who would be a dream band member and why?

Billy Preston to add some keys to our tracks. Let It Be style. All other parts accounted for. Lennon/McCartney/Noel/Liam/White need not apply. We’re not mad on having keys but we have a great 12-bar blues that could have some added to it.

Does the city offer you enough opportunities?

Well, our city caters for its people. Maybe the people need a bit of a wake-up to good rock 'n' roll music. In our view, there is a real lull in live music. It’s as though hardly anyone wants to find new bands anymore because they can do it through the internet. As much as we’d like to stand up to the world-wide-web and not give in, its impossible not to.

What was your best gig and why?

Glastonbudget 2007. We had only just completed our line-up the week before and our set was a huge success despite the weather. Imagine arriving at a festival that is supposed to be a summery gig and all you are getting is torrential rain. It isn’t the most inspiring of situations.

When we set-up, we felt like walking away to be fair. There was three people in front of our stage. Then we hit the opening few chords and before we knew it we had 250+ watching. Always a bonus to be able to watch some random people singing along to all your words too. After, we were like "Did you see that guy in the middle?". It was crazy, he knew every word. So we changed a few just to catch him out.

What would you give up to get signed?

Jobs, social life, kidneys, blood, oxygen...

How did the band get together?

Luke Williamson (vocals) formed it in his mind prior to anyone else's knowledge. One by one new members were added but it was a long drawn out process. Luke Headland arrived on bass just weeks before Paul Iliffe on rhythm in March 2006. Between then and January 2007 we must have had near to 20 different members (mainly idiot drummers). And then Simon Walker answered our drumming prayers in January 2007 and Andy Lees came two months after with some mesmerising, Brit-pop solo stuff.

Who are the most influential figures in your life?

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and each other! There are many others and the list could be endless. But unlike a lot of bands, we all have a extremely similar ideology on what music should be. We are all turned on by the same artists.

Best band in Notts and why?

Erm, ourselves, obviously. We quite like the Vespa boys too and until a few weeks ago, we’d never heard of The Mystery Clocks but those guys have the sort of sound we can dig. And their influences are top drawer.

What are you listening to at the moment?

The La's BBC in Session and Sergeant Pepper has not been removed from my CD system in weeks. Oasis’ version of The Beatles ‘Within You Without You’ is pretty ace too.

In a fire, which album would you rescue?

Revolver! I heard a band say they wouldn't rescue The Beatles because you can borrow their albums off anyone, but this album is the blue print if you like for what people should aspire to. It’s perfect, apart from maybe Yellow Submarine.

What's the perfect night-out in Nottingham?

A night watching The Carnabys (if it were ever possible to watch ourselves) discussing the flaws of modern music with pints of Kronenberg. Hours later, Williamson quibbles over 60p with a cab driver before talking about why he is John Lennon. He points out that Liam could not possible be a reincarnation of Lennon as their lives overlapped.