Introducing

Elefifth (pronounced el - eh - fifth) started playing together in December 2007. Their name comes from a line in The Roots' song Dynamite! but those looking for an instant musical comparison should look towards bands like Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys.

The band's music is full of driving bass lines, low on choruses, and edgy enough to rule itself out of most radio stations' daytime playlists. Which isn't a bad thing.

"We got started around Christmas 2007," says singer and guitarist George Hudson. "We all just love playing - especially live."

The band started playing live shows around Ipswich, often with good friends CopperPilot, and by the summer of 2008 headed out on their first nationwide tour.

"We did a little UK tour in the summer which was great fun but in terms of building up a fanbase it doesn't really work. You're just playing to a bunch of people who don't know you and the crowds aren't particularly big.

"The most important thing is to try and build a fanbase up locally rather than just playing all over the place, which we've sort of done."

Despite the likes of The Steamboat, The Swan and McGinty's doing all they can to support a live music scene, George says Ipswich can be a tough place to build a following.

"It's not a particularly vibrant place when it comes to live music but there's some really good bands about - including CopperPilot and It's a Trap.

"There are some really good venues to play but I think Ipswich doesn't have the buzz - people don't go out to see live music. Rosalita are getting big, though, so maybe they'll help create a buzz and make a name for Ipswich and get more people interested.

"There's loads of people into this sort of music but maybe not enough who are aware that there's such good bands available to see locally.

"Maybe we need some bands who are big on the live scene already, get some local bands to support them, and really get people to notice Ipswich as a live music town."

As well as their live shows, Elefifth are spreading their music via a three track demo recorded in June 2008.

George is responsible for writing most of the band's lyrics and also for the falsetto delivery that appears on tracks including 16 Weeks.

"We used to do a lot more falsetto but I took it out a bit because someone said we sounded too much like the Klaxons.

"IP1 Magazine did an article about us and then they scrapped it because of this. I went through a phase of loving the Klaxons so I guess I wanted some of our music to be dancey, and new ravey.

"They'd written a really good review about us too. But it was a fair point and I took it on."

Word of warning

Despite Elefifth having been around for less than a year, George says the band have already learned plenty about a music industry he describes as "brutal".

One such lesson is the importance of keeping a level head when offered gigs in London or elsewhere around the country.

"We've had our fair share of mishaps. We played a gig in central London - brilliant location and loads of people there.

"There were six acts on and the guy who was hosting it was totally unorganised. He put us on last after this acoustic guy who drove everyone away because he was really bad.

"We played the first four songs of our set, the atmosphere was buzzing, really great but he came over and told us to stop due to noise regulations.

"We had to pay a £60 parking ticket too, plus petrol just to get kicked off stage half way through our set. It's just brutal."

George considers this a valuable learning experience but advises other bands to do their research.

"There's been a number of times where we've done an out of town gig and it's not been what we thought it was going to be, purely because we haven't looked into it enough.

"The advice I'd give is when you're booking out of town gigs, especially where you've got to pay money to get there, you've really got to look into the venue and the night.

"If you go to London and you think you're going to get a massive crowd and you haven't looked into it and it's a dead place you're going to be disappointed.

"We've played our fair share of gigs out of town where no one's been there - or just as many people as your average night in Ipswich - and the venue has booked you because they haven't got a big enough crowd.

"It's harsh but that's the way it is. We're now very selective about what gigs we play."