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Live Interview: Tin Pigeons at Jimmy’s

Walking down the stairs into the neon-lit basement of Jimmy’s to meet indie duo The Tin Pigeons ahead of the final show of their ‘You’re No Fun’ tour, I became painfully aware that I might be interrupting their sound check.

Nevertheless I waited for a slight lull in the music before completing my descent and introducing myself, which was met with an enormous grin from frontman Fraser. This tells you all you need to know about the Rutland-based duo, that they are genuinely one of the nicest bands you could ever hope to interview.

Whilst watching the rest of the sound check, I was particularly struck by the performance of their fantastic latest single You’re No Fun. The song combines the upbeat synth-driven indie rock from bands like Blossoms with the self-reflective lyrics from the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen, making arguably one of 2018’s best indie releases.

The Tin Pigeons were first catapulted into success during 2016, after a song from their debut EP Sparks was playlisted as Radio 1’s track of the week, something that the duo still can hardly believe to this day. What followed was a massive festival tour, including a much-coveted slot on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds, and lasting level of national recognition.

Talking to them about their numerous festival appearances, it was clear that festivals are one of their favourite places to perform and, according to Fraser, “one of the nicest things about playing music in the UK” in general. They are also both clearly in love with touring, with Fraser estimating they’ve done at least 150 shows this year alone.

When I bring up their latest tour, which took the pair around the length and breadth of the country from Brighton all the way up to Glasgow, their obvious enthusiasm shines through yet again. As we discuss their touring musical choices, Tom explains their growing fondness for Bob the Builder on account of their vehicle of choice being a white transit van. In addition to their attempt to create a ‘musical wrap’ by only playing songs with the names of burrito ingredients in the title.

Their unique brand of ‘bouncy’ indie music has proved to be a fascination for me, so I was intrigued to find out more about its origins in their musical choices whilst growing up. Whilst Fraser’s weren’t particularly surprising with the likes of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell amongst his favourites, Tom’s were almost unbelievable. Starting with the revelation that he used to be a Goth and continuing with his inspiration to play bass coming mainly from Korn and Limp Bizkit.

Sticking with the theme of their music, something I was also struck by is the autobiographical nature of their lyrics with each song almost being a self-contained story from their lives. When I put this to them, Fraser, attempting to not be too ‘wankery’ as he put it, explained that their music is usually based on a mood or a vibe so it has to be something that they’ve experienced.

Finally, given their extensive touring schedule in 2018, I wondered if there would be any respite in 2019 but this was quickly met by Fraser explaining their plan to get straight back out on tour again in the spring. Followed by them both agreeing that it is ultimately the best part of being in a band (except for the frequent visits to McDonalds).

 

Interview and written piece by Josh Sandy

Live Interview: Saint Sister at The Castle Hotel

Saint Sister is an Irish electro-folk duo comprised of Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre. On Friday 14th December they played Castle Hotel in Manchester. This venue itself created an intimate setting and feel to the evening, enhanced by captivating harmonies and sounds created by the duo.

The two met at Trinity College Dublin. Doherty recalled, “We were both in Trinity at the same time and met towards the end of our degrees, and we both were looking to make music in some capacity – I didn’t even know what kind. It was that weird time after college. But Morgan reached out and we just went for it. We just started playing together and did what felt most natural, which at the start was just using our two voices and using the harp, and we built it from there. That was about four years ago now.”

Their Manchester gig did not feature their band who often play with them. However, if one were to close their eyes during the set you would not believe you were listening to only two people.

The duo created loops onstage comprised of voices, harp and thumping rhythms, producing a sound that filled the entire room. The emotion and meaning behind their songs are evident when they play, and this held the attention of the audience fully throughout the one hour set. The audience remained in complete silence other than to applaud and cheer after every song. MacIntyre, who writes the lyrics, stated “All the songs are emotional for me and all of them ring true and that stops them from going stale”. In particular, McIntyre says she enjoys playing ‘The Mater’ live, due to its stripped back and intimate nature; “It’s the easiest one for me to tap into the reasons why I wrote it. Because it’s quite a sad song, it doesn’t ever feel like I have to work hard to get into that mood when I’m singing it and trying to deliver it in the appropriate way.”

Manchester’s show was not the most intimate the duo has played throughout their tour, which began in September. Doherty recounted that during a show in Mullumbimby in Australia there was a power outage, “There had been a tropical storm. It just happened as we landed, maybe an hour before our show. So, when we walked in to set up, [nothing was working]. The whole town was out, so [it wasn’t] our fault… I feel like everyone becomes very forgiving in that instance; when all of a sudden it’s everyone’s [problem] to deal with together. There was a guy in the audience just shining a torch up at us. Everyone else was just so quiet, and they sang along if we were playing a cover. They were really with us, even though they probably couldn’t hear a thing!”

Saint Sister’s songs all tell a story, and not just through the lyrics. The instrumentation feels like an extension to the stories told, complimenting the lyrics wonderfully. Doherty explained “We do quite separate things; Morgan focuses on lyrics with the melody a lot of the time, and I’ll work on production or instrumentation and arrangement. We come together quite early on in a song. We both have different roles, and it works well”.

Saint Sister have a unique sound that is a perfect representation of Ireland in 2018; it’s modern but the folk roots are still prevalent. The duo finished their set with a beautiful acapella cover of The Cranberries’ ‘Dreams’. Doherty and MacIntyre’s voices blend together to create rich harmonies, and this cover perfectly highlighted that.

It is clear The Cranberries’ music has had an influence on Saint Sister. When asked which artists they are currently listening to, MacIntyre described a game taught to them by Ciaran Lavery, who opened for Saint Sister during a number of dates on their tour. “He introduced us to a game called ‘Good Song, Better Song’, where you just think of the best song you could possibly think of. My first one was ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits. You think it’s the best song, and then someone comes up with an even better song, and you just keep going. [It’s] good because it can go off in different genres, and then someone [throws] a curveball. We also do this thing, we call it ‘Irish Hour’ and everyone has to pick only Irish acts.”

Saint Sister’s debut album ‘Shape of Silence’ came out in October 2018; if you have not already listened to it, you are missing out. Saint Sister is one to watch.

by Hannah Montgomery

Live Interview: lovelytheband at O2 Apollo

“If we can bond with them as people, then the music will come second”

Sat round the table at the back of their tour bus, lovelytheband seem pretty content. After all, they’ve just come off of a sell-out headline tour of the US, have just broken two-and-a-half-million monthly listeners on Spotify and are beginning their support of Five Seconds of Summer on the European leg of a world tour.

But they seem pretty relaxed about it all, and conversation kicks off by discussing the McDonald’s they’d just picked up off the Stockport Road. “It’s much better here, for sure. It doesn’t make me feel like I want to die afterwards,” tells Mitchy Collins, the band’s frontman, as he drapes himself over the bus’s jet-black leather sofas.

And this sparks debate, in fact. Drummer Sam Price, with long fizzy hair that suit his eccentric scientist glasses, perks up in his chair: “Real talk! You guys have the best sweet chilli sauce. Plus, I didn’t even realise that my drink didn’t have ice, or my fries didn’t have salt!”

The mood they’re giving off is one of comfortability; they seem just as worried by the contents of their lunch as they do by the prospect of opening for Five Seconds of Summer. And now, having just arrived in the northwest after two dates in Scotland, lovelytheband are now preparing for almost four weeks on a European circuit: from Manchester to Milan, Madrid to Munich. “On this tour, when we have days off, we’ll be able to see quite a bit”, guitarist Jordan Greenwald says with an air of anticipation in his voice. “Usually, we don’t get to see much of the cities, but we are excited particularly to get involved in the UK culture.”

After the success of their headline tour Broken Like Me, covering the length and breadth of the United States, lovelytheband – with their spangling guitar riffs and glitzy earworms – now play second fiddle to one of the world’s biggest bands. “It’s definitely different to playing your own show,” Greenwald says. “Having come off the back of a headline tour for a month-and-a-half, the first show back is a switch back into ‘support mode’. For example, we don’t have any of our own lights and the fans aren’t there specifically for us, so we find we have to win people over.”

The strategy of how to win over a new crowd is discussed among the four of us. Mitchy Collins tells: “I found that, for example with lights on your own tour, you can use them to your artistic advantage. When you have just a wash light on just us three members of the band, you really have to ‘bring it’ for a half hour.”

Prince interjects with a drummer’s perspective: “I found I used our lights as a crutch – I wouldn’t have to go all out 1000% for every second of the show as we had our own strobes and big moments of black-out, so you can kind of let that speak for itself. I have to change the way I perform as a drummer, I literally have to flail my arms more!”

A queue of young girls that stretches as far as the eye can see is now growing around the venue, just meters away from where we speak, and the faintest activity in and out of their bus prompts everything from chatters to screams. And it seems lovelytheband, who’ve previously been criticised for producing no more than ‘manufactured pop’, are incredibly conscious of the responsibility their song-writing has.

Prince expresses this: “If we can bond with [our fans] as people, then the music will come second.” Song-writer Collins jumps in: “This record is just what I felt I had to write at the time and the product of what I needed to say. Thankfully, we’re fortunate that we can help other people through our songs and that our fans are able to connect with it and find solace in it – that’s special.”

lovelytheband perform at O2 Apollo, Manchester

And the LA-born trio make clear, on numerous occasions, their respect and admiration for Five Seconds of Summer, who invited to join them on this tour. From performing a near-pitch-perfect cover of every teenage girl’s party anthem ‘Mr. Brightside’ in an attempt to rouse the audience for their successors, to the open admission that they’re certainly not the main-event: “The general nature of seeing a new band for the first time means that you might not fall in love with our music right on the spot,” tells Greenwald. “I think it’s more about working out ‘Oh, do I like this band?” and then they’re likely to check us out. We realise they’re not all here for us.”

lovelytheband open their thirty-minute set with ‘Make You Feel Pretty’: bright track with an impossibly catchy hook, before ‘Broken’ – what Collins describes as the band’s mission statement. “It’s all-encompassing of who we are. It’s the [song] that, if someone asked how our band sounded and what it stood for, I’d show them Broken – it represents us both lyrically and musically.”

This further emphasises the clear onus they’ve put on themselves to deliver music with a punch in its message: “[This record] is all the s*** that I probably should have dealt with earlier in my life, imported into sixteen songs,” Collins continues. “Its impossible to not feel them as I sing them – and I want that to come across.”

“The most courageous thing you can do is ask for help,” Collins preaches to the sell-out crowd of teenagers before signing off with ‘Broken’, that gets everyone singing in unison. Lovelytheband have sparky verses and catchy choruses that will entice you in, indeed their jovial stage presence might sell you a show, but the message in their music is what’ll keep you around.

 

Review by Adam MacDonald

Live Review: Kamaal Williams at Gorilla

It is unusual to enter a concert and be greeted by a completely silent room. At first, I thought the first act hadn’t started yet and the crowd wasn’t feeling very talkative after a busy Tuesday. Then the ethereal sound of Madison McFerrins voice filled up the entire space under Gorilla’s industrial railway arch. As more layers of her voice appeared, I realised she was using a loop pedal to create acapella melodies over which she would eventually sing. The crowd were encapsulated by her ability to craft her tracks with her voice as the only instrument. It would be easy to think that she was performing with multiple performers if I wasn’t watching it live. She also included the crowd and set a nice buzz for the rest of the night. It was a much-appreciated start to the evening and brought a soulful female twist and a new discovery for me. She’s an artist I will be following from now on.

Next up was the main event, Kamaal Williams: with Henry Wu on the keys, Josh McKenzie aka McKnasty on the drums and Pete Martin on Bass. From the first few notes I could tell these three were going to work well together and I was excited to hear what was in stall. The crowd was quickly whisked into motion with fast paced drum beats and skilled keywork. This would be the theme for the first half of the performance: a jazzy fusion that people couldn’t help but dance to.

There was a clear artistic relationship between Henry and Pete, they seemed to be challenging one-another with high intensity, pushing the speed and complexity of their sound to a high energy crescendo at multiple points. Around half-way into the performance a repetitive loop was played on the keys, blending jazz with house music. It’s something I haven’t seen live before and by body noticed before I did. I found myself dancing with a two-step, thinking that this wouldn’t go too far awry in the second room of bona fide techno night.

With that in mind, the performance was not fast paced throughout, with a guest appearance from the Manchester based duo Konny Kon and Tyler Daley, otherwise known as Children of Zeus. They managed to incorporate singing into a performance which I was expecting to be strictly instrumental. With hip hop and soul influences, the crowd certainly sounded impressed.

Next up on the stage was Mansur Brown, he was a welcome addition to the stage. He brought a mature, dignified prescience with a calmer flow compared to the start of the set. This worked extremely well and introduced yet another dimension to the performance.

There was many members and a high amount of energy on stage – each member had different vibe but it came together in the music, giving a multi-faceted performance that I’m very glad to have seen.

Review by Adam McCarthy

Interview: You Me At Six

You Me at Six have recently released their sixth studio album, aptly named VI. I
had the pleasure of speaking to lead guitarist Max Helyer about their new album
and their upcoming tour for Fuse FM.

Alana: First of all I’d just like to say thank you so much for taking the time to talk
to us at Fuse, it’s brilliant to be able to chat to you.

Max: ‘No worries, anytime’

A: So we’re talking about your new album and I feel like with this album
there’s a lot of energy and it kind of feels like a breath of fresh air. Do you
personally and as a band, feel proud of the album you’ve created?

M: ‘To be honest with you, you’ve absolutely nailed it on the head there Alana, it was
like a breath of fresh air for us as a band, ‘cause we were challenging ourselves to
listen and try and do something different and take inspiration from the music we
listen to which is quite a wide dynamic you know of how much different styles of
music we listen to so we tried to incorporate that into our record and like you
said really have fun with it music’s supposed to be about having fun and enjoying
yourself and I think that really does come across in the songs we’ve written for
this record. To be honest with you it was just a great experience and it all came
very naturally and the whole record was really formed around the space of 2
months, the majority of the record, so I think that shows we were on to
something. We were just having a great time being around each other, writing
and creating music in different ways that we’ve never done before.’

A: You’ve gone for a few different sounds in the album. Fast Forward is
rockier then you’ve got Back Again, which is slightly more indie sounding
and then 3AM where you’ve got synths and more of a pop sound. Is there a
reason that you wanted to get in a mix of different sounds?

M: ‘I think we’ve always had that element in our band but maybe to not the extremes people have heard like this before. I think really the most important thing was just capturing energy and moments and times in our
life that were going on in the last year or so and putting it down into music. Fast
Forward is quite an upbeat rock, quite loud in your face one but that was a time
when there was personal stuff going on in our lives, hence the reason you want
to fast forward through, you wanna get through some bad stuff and come out the
other side and it’s gonna be good. I think we had to match that kind of lyrical
content with the energy of the music as well and we felt something like rockier
was the right direction with that but then Back Again definitely, for me the
reason that song came from was trying to get a Friday night feeling going, when
people are switching off from Friday from work and going ‘right I’m going down
the pub and I’m going to get myself a gin and tonic and I’m going to have a great
weekend’, that sums up that song and same kind of with 3am as well it’s like,
who hasn’t had a night going out ‘til 3am and having a drunken stumble home
and just going through your phone, like I think everybody can kind of relate to
these moments in their life, we just kind of have our own way of interpreting
that.

A: You’ve said that there were times when you had personal stuff going on,
are there any songs on the album that stood out as being particularly
challenging to make?

M: ‘I would say a challenging song was I.O.U. It’s a bit of mix-mash throughout that
song, it’s kind of got a bit of funk, it’s got rock and a bit of hip hop all into it and
it’s sections and for us we have the ideas we’re like ‘this sounds really good’ but
it was kind of gluing the puzzle together, getting it all perfectly in tact and like
‘how do we link this section to this section?’ and that was something that really
kind of happened in the studio. It was very natural but that was great because
when we worked on this record with a guy called Dan Austin he heard and
understood the vision that we had for that song and he was challenging us as
well, which enhanced the song and made it a better song. So that was definitely
one of the more challenging songs that we had to do on this record but one of the
best ones I think in my opinion.’

A: You’re also going on tour in November, are you excited to get back on the
road again?

M: ‘Yeah definitely. For us playing live shows is like our bread and butter,
something we’ve always done and we’ve been doing it for about 12/13 years
now so for us live shows are really important, and I think that’s where people
can understand. I think if you like us on record you’ll love us even more live. I
think there’s a bit more of an energy that doesn’t maybe sometimes cross over
onto our record. And we’re also doing a 10 year anniversary tour for our first
record and the response to that has been overwhelming, we’re all humbly
surprised by that and to see that there’s a record that we’ve made that’s stood
the test of time for 10 years and people still want to see that is something that
we’re all very proud of.’

A: And you’re playing in Manchester on the 23rd and 24th of November at the
Victoria Warehouse which is a great venue so hopefully you’ll have a lot of fun there. Is there a particular place you love playing?

M: ‘We’re looking forward to playing Manchester because we’ve actually never
played the warehouse before. We’ve done all the academy’s, we’ve done the
Apollo a fair few times now and we’ve done the Manchester Arena as well so for
us to play a new venue in Manchester, I think we’re all sitting there being like
‘let’s see how this goes’ ‘cause we’ve heard great reviews about the venue from
friends and bands who’ve played it before and said it’s one of the best shows on
tour.’

A: As you’ve said you’ve been a band for a pretty long time, does it ever get
tough spending a lot of time together and how do you stay grounded as a
band?

M: ‘I would say we’re like a band of brothers to be honest with you. Our friendship
and our bond has grown strength to strength over the years. We’ve gone through
good times, we’ve gone through bad times and I think that’s kind of developed us
into the band and who we are, you know, when you have all those things that
happen in your life. We’ve done it from a very early age, we started the band
when we were like 15/16 so I think we’ve grown together and I classify them as
my family now and even all their mums and dads, it’s all extended family. So to
us we have a great time doing what we do and I think that’s the most important
thing and I think that’s the reason why our new record sounds fun and energetic
because that’s our outlook on life just have fun and enjoy yourself. You know
we’re very lucky to be making music after all this time so you know let’s just
enjoy it as much as we can.’

A: Has there ever been anything go catastrophically wrong whilst you’ve performed?

M: ‘There’s definitely been a few moments in our career, I won’t tell you all of them
but the one I remember recently, it was about last year or the year before when
we played Reading Festival and we had a massive power cut during our set but
the one thing that was working was Josh’s microphone so he did an acapella of
one of our songs while we were all waiting for the power to come back but it
kind of created this moment like it was a memorable point and we got all the
crowd singing along and it was just one of those things we looked at and we
didn’t even need the music, people were so in the zone that they were just like
‘yeh we’re into this’ it’s so different you know, so you can turn bad things that
happen on stage into great moments.  You’ve got to keep on your toes when you’re playing live, you encounter many
things, it’s just how you react and deal with it.’

A: Well it sounds like you saved it. I reckon you wereall right in the end.

M: ‘Yeh… we definitely were.’

You Me at Six perform in Manchester at the O2 Victoria Warehouse on the 23rd and 24th of November and their sixth studio album VI is out now. I reckon they’ve done more than all right

Interview by Alana Cook

News Around Fuse #3

2018 is here. Fuse FM is back.

We’ve got some big plans for the next semester, so as ever, keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

We start with the re-freshers fair in Academy, where if you’re new to student media you can come chat to us about what it’s like to be involved with Fuse FM, Fuse TV or The Mancunion. That’s Tuesday, 30th January.

The day after, training re-opens. This is essential for all new and returning shows, and shows in Carrill House will also be able to see their set-up before they get going. Remember, if you had a show in semester one, you need to re-apply in semester two. Show Applications are now live, and run until the 2nd February. Head over to the Fuse FM Facebook Presenters Group to apply.

2018 is here. Fuse FM is back.