Meet The Band: Clay

Leeds band Clay came into being in June 2014, and consist of songwriting brothers Joe and Jack Harvey, bass player Rob Gration, a childhood friend, and Danny Armitage.

The bands track  Sun Dance  was picked up by Zane Lowe back in 2014, who played it BBC Radio 1 as one of his last ever Next Hype features.The track was also featured on prime-time HBO show Ballers in the USA starring Dwayne Johnson shortly after.

Since then the band have gone on to release two more tracks, Oxygen and Stay Calm!, both of which have been received with the same acclaim from the likes of Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart at BBC Radio 1, their debut EP, Heaven was released on July 15 and they will be heading out on tour shortly with a date at Cardiff’s Moon Club scheduled for August 8.

How did Clay come together as a band and where did the name come from?
Clay came together primarily as a result of a collective ambition to get out of suburban Leeds and see the world. The band comprises of two brothers, me (Joe) and Jack. We'd been writing together for some time and it was only when we approached Rob and Danny, who we met through mutual friends, that the body of work we had amassed started to become a coherent set of songs. Unfortunately, there isn't a particularly interesting story behind the name! One syllable all the way, though.

How would you describe your sound?
This question never gets easier. I'm sure most bands would agree but it's particularly difficult for us. Perhaps that's a good thing. It's an eclectic mix really, we don't directly try to emulate anybody in particular, although I think we're subconsciously influenced definitely by modern pop music. We listen from everything from Stormzy to Tears for Fears so I'd like to say somewhere between that, whatever that means!

You’ve just released your debut EP, can you tell us about It?
Its called the Heaven EP! I wholeheartedly see it as our best work yet. The songs are ambitious in every way, we channeled the modern pop production we obsess over and made it truly unique. Lyrically, it's very direct and honest and I think that's really going to connect with people. The content is about isolation and ambition so it's pretty universal. We can't wait to get it out.

You’ll be playing Cardiff, is this your first Wales’ show and are you looking forward to it?
Yeah it's our first Wales show which we're buzzing about! It's strange because we record in Wales and our producer, Gethin, is from Pontypool, but we've never done a show there. It's still a surreal prospect for us that our music is being received so well in places that we've never played. It's almost as if the songs have traveled further than us which is very humbling.
 
Finally what are you listening to at the moment?
I think it's important to have an evolving music taste so we listen to whatever is current, be it what we hear on the radio, or discover online. I think that's particularly important in this day and age, where everything is instantly accessible. Our music needs to reflect modern life and culture, and I think dwelling too much on old music can be damaging to a band nowadays. We're really digging new American band LANY at the mo.

• Visit moonclub.net for booking details.
• A version of this Q&A by Andy Howells appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment section The Guide on July 22, 2016

September Girls Return With Age Of Indignation - Q&A With Paula Cullen

FORMED in Dublin in 2011 September Girls were named after the Big Star song (by way of The Bangles), September Girls and share songwriting and vocal duties amongst each of the band members. Comprising Paula Cullen on bass, Caoimhe Derwin and Jessie Ward O’Sullivan on guitar, Lauren Kerchner on keys and drummer Sarah Grimes, they recently released their follow up to 2014's Cursing The Sea entitled Age of Indignation.As opposed to their debut album, which was recorded mainly at home, Age of Indignation was recorded at Dublin’s Orphan Studios, lending it a more assured, powerful sound.

The album coincides with a UK tour which sees the band play Cardiff’s Moon Club on May 20. Andy Howells recently put questions to Paula from the band.

Its been two years since your debut Cursing The Sea, how was your first album received?
It was remarkably well received which was a lovely surprise to us. By the time it was released, a lot of the songs felt really old to us, so it was nice to see them being viewed in a new light.

How have you progressed as a group since the debut albums release?
If we wanted to replicate what we did two years ago with the first album, I think it would have been easy for us to knock out another one in a similar vein and not mess with the formula too much. However, the decision to move in the direction that we did was entirely conscious. We knew we might alienate some of the people who liked the first album in doing so, but it was important for us artistically to change.

Have you had a particular highlight along the way?
I think my personal highlight was our American road trip on the way to SXSW this year. We drove from LA to Austin, stopping off in the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree and Roswell. We got to visit the Joshua Tree Inn where Gram Parsons died, which sounds like a pretty macabre destination for a day trip, but it was really special. That, and Bobby Gillespie coming to one of our London gigs when the first album was released.

Age Of Indignation, is your latest release, can you give us a bit of background to it?
The main themes of our album are Ireland, feminism & religion, the Catholic Church being the focus of a couple of songs. ‘Catholic Guilt’ for example deals with anger towards the Catholic Church, particularly from the viewpoint of being a woman.

The Catholic Church in Ireland still exerts a patriarchal force over women’s bodily autonomy, (evident from our draconian abortion laws) something which would be unthinkable in most other progressive countries. This force is exerted by the same Catholic Church who covered up years of child sexual abuse by its members. ‘Jaw On The Floor’ is inspired by past generations of feminists, as well as the 1916 Rising in Ireland and equal rights activists all over the world. It is frustrating to see that while we’ve come a long way in terms of equality, we have a long way to go. There are forces who continue to push agendas to uphold privilege and the status quo, as well as the spread of misinformation about the meaning of words such as “feminism”.

Other themes on the album include domestic violence & victim blaming, the vacuousness of social media and the norm of the straight white male being intrinsically ingrained in the bones of all society.

There’s a bit of a darker sound, this time around to the recordings, whats the inspiration behind that?
I think the music followed the lead of the lyrical themes this time around for sure, I don’t think it was that way on the first album. I know that personally, I had ideas and lyrics for songs before I wrote the music. I think last time around, I fitted the lyrics into the music which was already written. I think this album has more of a concept than the last so it made sense to do it that way.

September Girls will shortly be back out on tour, what can fans expect if they’ve never seen you play live before?
We are a bit louder and harsher live than our recorded output might suggest. We usually get quite immersed in the music as the show goes on and there will be a lot of shouting and hair flying about.

What are you listening to at the moment?
Flying Burrito Brothers, Breadwoman, Cate Le Bon, Earth, Parquet Courts.

Where can people find out more about September Girls?
septembergirls.tumblr.com or facebook.com/septembergirls

• A version of this Q&A by Andy Howells appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide during May 2016

Meet The Band: Flowers

London trio Flowers, are back this month with their second album Everybody's Dying to Meet You. Over the course of ten intensely thrilling pop songs, singer Rachel Kennedy’s ethereal vocals and Sam Ayres textured guitar are backed by the powerful, metronomic beat of drummer Jordan Hockley.

Flowers began with Sam’s year-long search for a singer, and when he posted one last fateful advert, stating he wanted to make pop songs like "early Madonna through a broken tape machine", this led him to Rachel. Their initial demos were polished up by none other than Bernard Butler, and turned into their album debut Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do released in 2013.

For Everybody’s Dying to Meet You the band retreated to Bark Studios in Walthamstow to work with producer Brian O’Shaughnessy. They are also currently touring the UK and will play Cardiff’s Moon Club on March 4. Andy Howells recently put questions to Rachel Kennedy from the group.

Who are you and how did you come together?
We're Flowers, individually Sam, Rachel and Jordan. Sam formed the band, he'd known Jordan in college and remembered he was a really good drummer, and he found me through an ad looking for a singer!

Where are you from?
Sam and I are from London, Jordan's moved around all over the place but now he lives in London too.

How would you describe your music style?
Sometimes noisy indie pop.

What's been your best live experience?
There have been a lot of different "best"s... For example, we did a show in New York a couple of years ago and we thought it was the WORST we'd ever sounded, but it went down the best ever with the crowd, maybe because they'd been waiting a long time to see us there, so even though we thought it was a disaster at the time the audience's reaction made it one of our favourite ever shows, I guess the flood of relief helped!

Can you tell us about your new album Everybody’s Dying to Meet You?
Yes we're very excited everyone gets to hear this album soon! It always seems like an eternity between the time you finish recording an album and the time everyone gets to hear it, by the time it comes out we've gone through being really excited about it and then a bit nervous about it and we start second guessing a lot of things. It's a great feeling when people have positive reactions to it, makes us feel a bit less crazy for making it in the first place! This album sounds quintessentially like "Flowers", to us at least. It's a mixture of our home demo sort of sound, lo-fi and tapey, and our live sound. Our first album came out sounding a lot cleaner and more polished than we'd hoped, so it's nice to get the more analog sound we love on this album.

You're touring shortly are you looking forward to that?
Yes very much, we love touring! And we're very happy that we'll be seeing more of the UK on this tour. It's great revisiting places we've been before and seeing so many friendly faces, and it's also very exciting turning up somewhere new, and having no idea whether one or a hundred people will turn up, getting to meet them and talk about music, play for them, and go to the next place, you feel like a nomad for a couple of weeks and it's wonderful. We'd never want to come home if it wasn't for our dog!

What can people expect from your forthcoming Cardiff gig?
Lots of new songs, and a few old ones too, it's near the end of the tour so you guys will have us at our peak performance (nicely warmed up, but not too exhausted and ill yet)!

Will there be more visits to Wales?
We’ll definitely be back yes! We've been lucky enough to play Cardiff a few times actually, so next time it'd be great to play some different places in Wales too, it's so beautiful there.

Where can people hear your music?
The best hub for information is our Facebook, - we often put up links to new songs there, as well as information about shows etc. You can also go to our Soundcloud for songs or if you have Spotify we're on there too! (or just search for "Flowers", we're the first artist listed under "Brandon Flowers")

• Andy Howells is a freelance entertainment writer.
• A version of this Q&A appears in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement, The Guide, on March 4, 2016.

Meet The Band: Fickle Friends

Fickle Friends aka Natti Shiner, Sam Morris, Jack Harry, Christopher Hall and Jack Wilson have been cutting their teeth the old fashioned way, with 2 years of solid touring, including sets at major festivals such as Bestival, BBC R1 Big Weekend and Secret Garden Party, not to mention a sold-out show at Dingwalls in London in November. All the long drives and late nights have paid off, forging Fickle Friends into a slick polished monster of a live band. This hard work also helped catch the attention of Polydor Records, who signed the band in January 2016.

Away from the stage the band has been whipping up a frenzy in the blogosphere and were the most written about unsigned artist of 2014 according to accumulator Hype Machine, and have even picked up over 5 million plays on Spotify across their debut singles - with Say No More even making it onto the BBC Radio 1 Introducing Playlist.

The band have announced a 28 date UK headline tour off the back of their shimmering single Say No More. Already a favourite at the band’s live shows, the track is a feel-good anthem combining 80s-flavoured synths and a glorious fresh indie-pop sound. The tour will also give fans an opportunity to hear new music from their forthcoming debut album. The band play Cardiff's Moon club on February 3.

Andy Howells put questions to vocalist Natti earlier this week.

Who are you and how did you come together?
We are Fickle Friends and the band formed a couple years back when we were a bunch of uni students who wanted to play indie pop music... so we did... and we did it badly for a while. Then we got a bit better Ha!

Where are you from?
BRIGHTON BABY!

How would you describe your music style?
Indie disco pop with an 80's tinge.

What’s been your best live experience?
Either playing in Holland at a festival/safari park. We played to 2500 amazing people and then went and hung out with giraffes. It was definitely memorable. Our last London headline at Dingwalls was a pretty incredible experience...mainly because it was the 'game changer' for us and certainly our best live performance to date. Just felt like everything we had worked so hard for over the past few years had led up to that moment. Was pretty emosh. Ha.

What are you working on at the moment?
We've just finished writing our album, and recorded our next single before heading out on our mammoth UK tour!

Where can people hear your music?
Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud... you name it... we're on it!

Where can we see you live?
We're playing sunny Cardiff next month! Feb 3rd...Moon Club...Come down for a boogie and some good vibes ;)

• Andy Howells is a freelance writer. A version of this interview appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide on January 29, 2016.
• Check out Fickle Friends Bandcamp page

Meet The Band: Restorations

After a whirlwind winter and spring full of touring in the United States, Philadelphia’s Restorations will finally make their way back across the pond for a headlining summer run throughout the UK including a date on July 11 at Cardiff's Moon Club with Crazy Arm and Sam Russo for support. .

A marriage of big sounds and meaty songwriting, Restorations’ third full length, LP3, swept the music community off its feet upon initial release back in October 2014, with standout single Separate Songs leading the charge. Both the song and album have received high praise from NPR, Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, PAPER, Noisey, Grantland, Stereogum and The A.V. Club. With LP3, Restorations has taken every potential cliché and tossed them out the window to create the most memorable and standout record of their career to date.

Andy Howells recently put questions to Jou Loudon from the band

Who are you and how did you come together?
My name’s Jon and I play guitar and sing in a band called Restorations. We got together in 2008ish after our old bands broke up.

Where are you from?
All of us are from Philadelphia.

How would you describe your music style?
Post-Americana

What’s been your best live experience?
For our band: our record release show last fall at the First Unitarian Church basement in Philadelphia.
For me personally: Any time I saw Bear Vs Shark play in the mid 2000s.

You have a new single and album coming soon can you tell us more about that?
Our record LP3 came out last fall on SideOneDummy records. We recorded it in Philly with our good friend Jon Low. We’ve been touring quite a bit this past year off of it and really enjoy playing these songs in a live environment.

You’re touring shortly are you looking forward to that?
I can’t wait. The last time we came through the UK was fantastic. Hoping to re-live the experience.

What can people expect from your forthcoming Cardiff gig?
We’ll be playing songs from all of our albums and going a little longer than usual. We’ve got our dear friends Crazy Arm and Sam Russo as support. It’s going to be great. Our second Welsh show ever.

Will you be playing anymore Wales dates in the future?
Nothing concrete at the moment, but we’ll definitely be back. We played Le Pub in Newport previously and also had a lovely time.

Where can people hear your music?
restorations.bandcamp.com has our entire discography and links to physical copies from there.

• Visit Restorations official website
• A version of this Q&A by Andy Howells appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide on July 3, 2015.