KBPS Interview - The Society

The Society are an exciting new indie-pop band from the North West, made up of Harry, Lew, Tayte & Jason. We got a chance to speak to lead guitarist Lew Whalley ahead of the release of their debut single ‘Begging’ which is available to pre-order now, with a release date of September 16^th. Our first question was, of course, what the single is like.

“It’s a new direction for us,” Lew told us. “Over the years we’ve been more of a classic guitar-driven indie band, but with this song we thought we’d draw on some pop influences.

“Over the years myself and Harry especially have bene influenced by pop artists, even dance music to a degree, so we thought we’d try and mix that in as well!”

The idea behind this change of direction came naturally to them. “We went into the studio with an idea. When we first took Begging into the studio it was more guitar-driven than it is on the final recording. We started playing with different ideas, playing with a bit of synth to see how that sounds, change the guitar a bit, and tied it into the drum more, and the bass is driving it as well.

“It’s quite dance-inspired, drawing on stuff we’ve heard from years ago, Clubland even. We mixed a lot of ideas together in the studio and that was the result.”

Lyrically the song was written mostly by Harry, and Lew told us it comes across as a love song but with more of a beat to it. “If you listen to the lyrics it’s a tale of heartbreak, relationships not working out, that sort of thing.”

Visually the single is accompanied by promo shots of the band which involve flares. Taken in Lew’s home town of Wigan, not far from his house, we were keen to find out more about this shoot. “It was my idea. I said let’s get outside, do something a bit different as opposed to the standard stood-against-the-wall staring-into-the-camera sort of thing.

“Harry came up with the flare idea. We’re both big into football and bands like the Courteeners, and obviously when you go to one of their gigs and at football matches there are flares everywhere. It was an idea we had kicking around and we tied it into the shoot.”

A video for Begging is due soon but there’s still footage to be collected, with the plan being to get some live shots from the band’s upcoming gig at Manchester’s Soup Kitchen, with the video appearing hand-in-hand with the song’s release later this month. “It will give us a bit more exposure online.”

With their live date mentioned we wanted to know what the band’s live sound was like compared to their studio work. “There’s not as much electronic stuff with the live performance, at least not yet. We have plans to include more of that but at the moment it’s just two guitars, bass and drums. We’re trying to grow our influences, to introduce more pop aspects so each song isn’t just a guitar-led indie track. Begging is the poppiest song we’ve got at the moment.

“We’ve still got various songs that are still quite guitar-driven, but more that are pop-inspired with a jangly sound. It’s actually quite a diverse set at the moment so we’re looking forward to playing it live!”

Looking forward to the gig and making it something “people will remember for a long time”, the band are also getting involved with a project called Musicians Against Homelessness which will see them performing soon at the Live Room. “That’s been organised for quite a while. Obviously it’s a great cause that we’re happy to be involved with. It’s a cracking little venue, the line-up looks brilliant, and it has been organised by some great people from Northern Exposure. As soon as we got asked we were well up for that one!”

Looking ahead to the future, there are plans for an album release around this time next year. Another track has been recorded but is currently being tweaked and mastered, and this may become a single. “We’re going to wait until we get the new mix back, see how that sounds, and take it from there. If not we’ll get back into the studio and record new things.

“It’s just working towards that album next year, getting as much studio time under our belt. Get some nice new songs recorded for the album!”

For future ambitions Lew hopes for the song to be picked up by even more radio stations. “We’re looking towards a big break where somebody will pick the song up, and it’ll take off from there. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes with promotion. My personal goal is to get the song heard by as many people as possible!”

Visit the Society's website for more information.