Interview

Interview: RedFaces

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First published January 2018. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

A corrupted hard drive left us thinking this interview was lost forever. Fortunately, a minor miracle occured over the Christmas period enabling us to FINALLY get our interview with RedFaces up. WHAT an amazing band they are, knowledgeably, nice and extremely talented. Here’s our chat with Isaac and Charlie from the band…

You formed in 2012 which now seems like absolutely ages away, can you briefly describe your journey from there to now?

Isaac: There wasn’t one specific turning point really, we did a gig at the Leadmill in Sheffield in our hometown in Sheffield. Our managers came and saw us there and saw something in us… possibly Harry’s face. 

Charlie: There’s been points in our career where we’ve been pushed more, though every show is like a stepping stone.

Isaac: We recently played Community Festival at Finsbury Park in London which was a huge gig and got us a lot of exposure. A lot of people have started buying tickets to see us now, with this tour being the first one which is really selling out well.

This tour definitely feels like a step up in the world, some of the venues are quite a big deal…

Charlie: It’s gonna be good… Apart from half way through when you have a massive hangover and you’ve lost all your clothes and don’t really know where you are!

Isaac: Yeah it’s definitely a good feeling going around the whole of the UK playing our songs to people who want to hear them, it’s a bit different to festivals in that sense.

Charlie: People are also interested in the stuff they haven’t heard. We have a 45 minute set too with a lot of new songs and different vibes and lyrical themes.

Can you describe your sound in three words?

Isaac: I don’t know!

Charlie: 09 Fifa Emo!

Who would you say are your biggest inspirations?

Charlie: The first musical inspiration I remember was Michael Jackson. I was completely drawn to the way he wrote and recorded his demos. He wrote it all with his voice and beatboxed into the recordings all of the top off his head! His melodies were gorgeous, lyrics were great so yeah i’d say he was the first inspiration for me.

It feels like RedFaces’ production qualities are quite high, would you agree?

Isaac: Yeah! Recently we got into an Australian band named Tame Impala who we appreciate for their production. The drums on that were very much like dance music, we wanted to try replicate that style.

Do you prefer being in the studio or playing live?

Isaac: I like them both really…

Charlie: We gel a lot more as a four piece in the studio but everything has its own different feeling. 

Isaac: We’re really creative in the studio and experiment a lot with lyrics and melody, trying to make things not as straight forward as they seem.

Charlie: We have our own home studio to make demos so going from there to a real studio allows us to know what we need to do.

We love latest single “Take It Or Leave It,” what can you tell us about it?

Isaac: I feel like it changed during its development, it was written very recently in about March this year just after our “Kerosene” tour. 

We’d been listening non stop to Mark Ronson’s new album which has all these killer grooves on it so I wanted to do something like that. I wrote the riff and slowly it metamorphosed into the song it is now. The aim was to write an indie record with roots in different places. 

Charlie: People seem to shy away from pop music, guitar bands especially. There’s nothing wrong with pulling inspiration from whats in the charts.

There’s definitely a lot of differentiation in your sound, would you agree?

Isaac: I was reading an article earlier about the term landfill indie. The vibe was that its alright to be generic… No its not! Don’t show people that you’re not creative. A lot of people want the lifestyle of being in a band, music isn’t really the priority for them but to us it is. Just be as creative as you can in a band really!

Charlie: You can be generic but be aware that that’s gonna get you scrutiny from other people. It’s a harder line to tread. Don’t live for the actual lifestyle.

Is there anywhere where you’re really excited to play on this tour?

Charlie: Newcastle, everyone there has a good personality. The accent is great too and cheap beer.

What can we expect from a RedFaces live set?

Isaac: Lots of nudity… We were gonna dress up as the ghostbusters too! A lot of people know us for being intense and energetic so the main thing we want to do is bring more depth to our sound. 

There’s a song in the set which is slower, where the lyrics are more profound. We basically want this tour to establish us as musicians as well as a good live act.

What does the next 6 months have in store for RedFaces?

Charlie: I think more single release in order to give our fans what they actually want!

Isaac: It’s impossible to say which the next single will be, we could write something in the meantime to blow whatever is planned into the water!

Where would you like the band to be in 5 years time?

Isaac: The main aim is to make records which people can relate to and take inspiration from. 

Charlie: We wanna be playing to a lot more people at bigger places but still enjoy what we’re doing. As long as we’re still doing what we like at the end of the day!

First published January 2018. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

Interview: Bang Bang Romeo

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First published October 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

This Feeling’s ‘Alive’ tour has been nothing short of biblical, a turning point which proves that an underground scene is soon to shatter the glass ceiling. It is only a matter of time!

We caught up with Bang Bang Romeo before their set at Nottingham’s Glee Club. The band have gone from strength to strength ever since we first caught them as innocent, albeit slightly drunk 18 year olds on our first night out at the Amersham Arms almost two years ago. They are destined to huge stages and with media support and fan base ever growing we can only imagine such an impressive rise to the top is nothing short of inevitable.

Eudaemonia: We first saw you a few years back at the Amersham Arms in South East London, what has the journey been like to get from there to this point now?

Anastasia: We have a new management team and have signed to Solo? Music Agency so the opportunity is flying and we’ve taken them by both hands and taken things on board. The music as well is developing especially whilst we have been recording our debut album. Our sound is exactly where we want it to be now which puts more confidence in us confidence for live shows. Our fan base has been growing which feels really good, people are starting to click on a dig it like we are.

Ross: From that Amersham Arms gig we’ve just kept digging haven’t we, its been really hard graft.

Richard: It was one of the first This Feeling gigs and we got offered Isle Of Weight festival off it. It feels mad that it was two or three years ago.

Ross: We ended up with Solo Agency who run the festival after than and they got us on the Big Top this year.

Anastasia: To be fair we haven’t had a break since that point, honestly we’ve been non stop.

Eudaemonia: You guys honestly feel like one of the most committed live bands going, will you ever feel like you’ll get to a point where you would want to take a few months out to recover?

Ross: Yeah probably on Sunday after the ‘Alive’ tour finishes!

Anastasia: We have mates in bands who say they’ll take time out to be in the studio though we’ve been touring whilst recording our debut album. It has been so hands on but we’ve had so much exciting news that we don’t think we’ll be stopping for a while. Its a good kind of busy because its a good kind of progression, as long as the slope is going upwards then were happy to not rest.

Richard: These days as well you cant let any side of the band get forgotten about. We’re recording, playing live and doing social media at the same time to keep the hype. You cant build a buzz whilst you’re quiet.

Anastasia: Even though we have management id say we are a very DIY band too. All our posters and artwork are by Richard, it is never anyone other than us on social media. Planning tours and all that kind of stuff comes into it too, we’re very much behind the scenes. We may be on stage for half an hour a night but there are twenty-three other hours in the day.

Ross: Rich was in ‘Baby Driver’ in the middle of all this too!

Eudaemonia: Hearing “Invitation” and “Johannesburg” were big moments, would you say your sound has developed since then? Especially considering the release of Natural Born Astronaut

Anastasia: Yeah, I think we’ve always have “Natural Born Astronaut”-esque style in our sound but our new production team and producers have really given us the opportunity to put our dreams onto record and give us the opportunity to show what we’ve been dreaming of.

Eudaemonia: It all seems really professional doesnt it?

Anastasia: Yeah, even down to the equipment, the mic’s, amps and recording systems. Its all made in house by John… Everything really is within the Bang Bang Romeo bubble!

Eudaemonia: What was it like taking Natural Born Astronaut from an idea to the massive release which it seems to be growing into now?

Ross: it came from an acoustic idea to where it is now which has been amazing.

Anastasia: Ross came to us with it acoustically, you can hear his little girl in the background and we were all just like: “Ross… Where the fuck does this stuff come from?” It developed and we were able to build on it and put it down. It has been really well received and we keep getting good news about it especially on the radio. It has been added to playlists on Radio X and has shown a different side to us as a band too. We’re not all dark and angry and it has shown a lighter side to us.

Eudaemonia: What can we expect from the Bang Bang Romeo live show?

Anastasia: We’ve started smoking human bones on stage much like Marilyn Manson. Nah we don’t do that just for the record! It’s all emotional, passionate theatre. It’s not just the music, we want people to go away with a song in their head. Its probably more intense and engaging with a few surprises thrown in there too alongside our new light show.

Eudaemonia: How has the This Feeling ‘Alive’ Tour been like so far? It feels bigger and really special to be part of…

Anastasia: It has been great and to be on the first one has been really special. We’ve got a proper bromance going on with BlackWaters now. Every band have been at a high level every night which has been rare, we are blown away by the two other bands every night. For us it has been great because we get to gig and see them each night. Playing venues we haven’t ever played before to a crowd who we didn’t even know knew the words to each song has been so special. It has been good and we’ve been able to expand as a band.

Eudaemonia: Its cool to see bands who are at the top of their game and constantly improving, it feels like something which will be talked about as a turning point in years to come right?

Richard: In the first meeting with Mikey Jonns he mentioned that grime has made a scene where everybody supports each other which is ultimately why the genre is at the top of the charts. Whilst that is something which he has been doing in the underground for a long time, this tour is about getting our music right up there in bigger venues and pushing it into peoples faces.

Eudaemonia: Do you reckon our kind of music will be trapped in the underground for much longer?

Anastasia: There’s only so long until that glass ceiling will be shattered. The industry will have to give way at some point, it isn’t going to have a choice!

Eudaemonia: What can we expect from Bang Bang Romeo in the coming 6 months?

Anastasia: There’s new and exciting things happening behind the scenes. We have a few finishing touches to add to the album and we think it’ll come out next year. There’ll definitely be another single beforehand though, if not two. We also have the video for “Natural Born Astronaut” coming out in the next couple of weeks too which stars Ross’ little boy Noah who is a really cool little actor!

Finally, where would you like to see the band in 5 years time?

Ross: Probably in space really!

Anastasia: Either inner earth or space… I think we’d love to gig Albert Hall five nights in a row before or Glastonbury. We want to save that for the first time the band play there.

Richard: We’d love to have about two albums out by then too.

First published October 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

Interview: The Shimmer Band

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First published October 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

This Feeling’s ‘Alive’ tour has been nothing short of biblical, a turning point which proves that an underground scene is soon to shatter the glass ceiling. It is only a matter of time!

We caught up with Tom Newman from The Shimmer Band before their headline set at Nottingham’s Glee Club. The Bristol formed band have been one of our favourites for a while now, their sound is positive and infectious. Their mesmerising talents mean they are destined to the top. Check out our words below:

Eudaemonia: I think there’s only 4 dates left or so now, but how has the This Feeling ‘Alive’ Tour been for you guys?

Tom Newman : It has been been really good man. Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol have been the standouts. Particularly Leeds on Monday, that was a really good one.

Eudaemonia: It feels like a coming of age as such for both The Shimmer Band and This Feeling.

Tom Newman : Yeah, it feels like the culmination of a lot of hard work from Mike Johnns and all the people who work for This Feeling, the London show will be a good celebration. 

They’ve spent over ten years working at building this brand to promote new music and give young bands the opportunity they wouldn’t normally get. Now it seems to be bubbling up into mainstream consciousness and people are becoming really aware of it now. It is a good source for good new music.

All their nights out are always good fun and a good laugh. If you’re into guitar music then it really is the place to be!

Eudaemonia: What has it been like to play bigger venues on this tour. We last saw you at Camden Assembly and honestly thought the floor was gonna fall through. It must be a bit different?

Tom Newman : It’s a pretty big step, that Camden Assembly gig was one of my favourite gigs we’ve ever done. I was surprised by it because we didn’t know what to expect, we turned up and it sold out with loads of people outside trying to get in. That’s what you want man!

The Electric Ballroom is a big old venue and its gonna be great on Saturday. Our music suits a big stage, as much as I love playing these sweaty little rooms. When theres a big PA our music sounds and travels better.

Eudaemonia: Freedom and Sunkick are huge anthems, has it been a journey since releasing them to where the band is at now?

Tom Newman : We sometimes struggle to fit them in the building! We’ve been gigging since we put out Shoot Me Baby and Freedom last year. We’ve been doing everything and its been good fun.

Eudaemonia: What has the reception for the new single “Ya Ya (Uh Oh)” been like?

Tom Newman: It’s been good, I think its freaked people out but you’ve gotta mix it up and try different things. It’s only a single and its still us playing it. Hopefully itll stand next to the other ones. All of our tunes have a little bit of a weirdness to them, even Sunkick isnt just a straight rock song.

Eudaemonia: Thats what makes you guys so individual. Shimmer Band sets are notorious for high energy and euphoria…

Tom Newman: We just wanna incite as much carnage as possible, get everyone bouncing around and moving. We enjoyed touring with Cabbage as we got to play to a crowd every single night which was good. It depends on the gig, sometimes supporting is really good – such as supporting Stereophonics at Cardiff City’s stadium which felt insane. 

We headlined Camden Assembly and that was one of my favourite gigs ever. 

Eudaemonia: You’ve played a tonne of festivals this year too, do you enjoy playing those?

Tom Newman: Yeah they’ve grown on me, I was always unsure because you dont get to soundcheck. we have so much going on so like a good soundcheck but we’ve got used to it now. We have a good technician who knows what hes doing. 

I really like festivals now, we did TRNSMT and Isle of Wight with The Feeling which was really good. We also did Truck Festival, Id never heard of it but we played the second stage which was huge, there were fucking loads of people there. It was a cool little festival.

Eudaemonia: What three words describe the sound of The Shimmer Band?

Tom Newman: Euphoric, Explsive and Positive.

Eudaemonia: Finally, what can we expect following the end of this tour?

Tom Newman: Its definitely a turning point. After this we will record a whole album, a proper debut. We’re gonna take our time on it, not rush and get it right. once thats ready we’ll go from there. We really want people to dig it!

First published October 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

Interview: John Hassall & The April Rainers

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First published March 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.

We were fortunate enough to catch up with the wonderful John Hassall and the April Rainers before their gig at Leicester’s Soundhouse. The project takes on a slightly different sound to John’s other band,The Libertines, and in many ways is a wonderful, idyllic reflection of life in Denmark. The band’s debut album “Wheels To Idyll” is currently streaming on Spotify. 

How did The April Rainers come about?

John: We’ve actually been going for a fairly long time, for about three years. It basically started after I met James in Denmark and then we met Jakob and Erlend. I moved to Denmark in 2008 and so it has been quite a long time since we started especially considering we only released the first song at the end of last year. Now we have the album coming out.

I read that James was working in a bar in Aarhus. How did it go from that to then being a band?

James: I knew that John was somewhere in Aarhus so I tried to keep my eye out for him.

John: He was stalking me!

James: I’m actually a big fan of John’s other band, Yeti (if you don’t know them you should definitely check them out). “Never Lose Your Sense Of Wonder” was a song I played in the pub the night we first met. I knew he was around and bumped into him one day and invited me to his wife’s poetry club where I played a few days later.

Jakob: Did you take a selfie with John when you first met?

James: No I withheld from that, though I was a massive Yeti fan. Playing on one of John’s song was pretty weird.

John: It was a pretty massive coincidence to meet the only Yeti fan in the world in your hometown in Denmark. But yeah thats how it started pretty much, it was very fortuitous that we met each other and we clicked very well.

It seems like it started as more of a creative collective of musicians, were you always aiming to release music as a band?

John: My intention was always to do an album. But you never know what’s round the corner because you meet someone and things take a different turn. I knew when I moved to Denmark that I was going to write some songs.

“Wheels To Idyll” is out officially next week, if you could describe that album in three words what would they be?

John: Optimistic, Joyful, Creative.

James: Mellifluous, varied and… wank! No, floral.

Thats an aura which I got when listening, really positive and optimistic. Is that a vibe you wanted to pursue?

John: My intention was to create something that is positive and optimistic. If I am going to spend time writing a song which takes some time then I want to do something that I enjoy. 

Someone actually asked me the other day, an artist friend called Ed who always does really dark depressing art. He asked to swap, I do something dark and depressing and he’ll do something positive and it didn’t work out at all. I find it hard, maybe I should try do something like that at some point. 

At the same time you don’t have to be positive in a song to be positive, you can have a slightly dark song which is still optimistic but a bit under the surface.

James: Its about what it is used for, one of my favourite artists is Elliot Smith whom everyone thinks is a depressing song writer yet i’ve never got that from what he has written. Likewise I don’t listen to happy music and get happy, i’m not that manipulable. It is about how it is interpreted by the individual.

John: It boils down to hope really and how far you can translate such hope into a song. It doesn’t have to be “happy clappy.”

The word which hit me is idyllic, it feels like it was made for a wondrous world and everything seems a bit more positive when listening to it…

John: it is quite pastoral and idyllic, thats pretty much what I wanted to relate to and feel in my life.

James: Theres lots of spaces and meadows…

John: It’s not as if every song is about that but its about optimism more than anything and trying to find that in your life and putting it into a song.

Did anyone in particular influence you whilst writing “Wheels To Idyll?”

John: Yeah loads of stuff, personally i’m a big fan of The Beatles, The Zombies and stuff like that. There are different influences there though it doesnt sound anything like them.

One of the songs which impressed us most was “Intercity 125,” what can you tell us about that particular song?

John: I always bang on about this but the idea of the album is about going to see my Granny in the countryside. That song was about taking the train on my own as a kid. It is basically trying to sincerely relate what I was seeing and feeling at the time into a song.

How do you feel this current tour is going?

John: For me it has been really great actually, just driving about the English and Welsh countryside in our massive van. For me it feels like a realisation of everything I wanted to achieve on the album and it has been ideal.

How has travelling to cities which aren’t traditionally toured in before?

James: I am from a town in Kent called Medway which is pretty colourful so i’m quite familiar with towns like Bedford for example where everything isn’t as clean cut and I kinda like that in many ways. I think places like London are great to play in but a lot of people who live there are in a different zone in their heads as well as with who they are.

Erlend: It’s been great man, I’ve never been to Bedford or Cardiff. There was a Polish discothek next to the venue in Bedford and a fight broke out five minutes before the gig. A guy got his teeth knocked out which was quite disturbing.

James: It’s a bit weird being in England in general because living in Denmark you realise just how gated and safe it is. 

John: They call it the duck pond because when you are in Denmark it is a really high quality of living and everything is very civilised. 

Do you feel like an idyllic album could have been written in somewhere such as London?

John: No I don’t think so. It’s not to say I cant experience the same feelings being in London, you can feel as much joy there as in Denmark.

Obviously you supported Peter Doherty last year in quite large venues, do you feel different coming back to smaller, yet equally nice pub sized venues such as Leicester’s Soundhouse?

James: I think there’s more pressure in a venue such as the Soundhouse. I get more nervous playing smaller venues than I do playing big places. Hackney Empire is the biggest place I’ve ever played, it was like a sea of people.

Erlend: Playing in venues such as this now is what we’re used to having played in other bands.

John: I love doing those big gigs, it was a great pleasure and privilege playing at Hackney Empire.

Beyond this tour, do you have anymore touring commitments in support of the album?

John: We have a couple of festival coming up and we’ll be coming back to the UK to play some more again as well as in our hometown and probably Copenhagen.

Will there be a second album coming? Would it pursue a similar sound to the first?

John: Yeah definitely, I think it would be impossible to keep the same vibe and I certainly wouldn’t try and do that. I think it should come organically, I’ve forced it a little bit sometimes and you can feel that. It has to have heart in it!

Where would you like to see the band in five years time?

James: At the bottom of the ocean!

John: I would like to see us being able to get paid a bit of money to be doing what its doing and to have people getting into the band and appreciate what we are doing.

First published March 2017. Now part of ‘The Best Of Eudaemonia.’ More info via the ABOUT page.