Monday, 11 September 2017

KBPS Interview: Hydrocele

Surrey based 4 piece band Hydrocele are set to release their debut single “The Shapehshifter” on 22nd September. Previously described as “The hottest thing to come out of Surrey since Judi Dench in Pride & Prejudice”. These four fun loving rock n’rollers are starting to create a buzz around their frequent live shows. a   The band consists of  Freddie Wortley (Lead Vocals/ Guitar 18) - Neemah Wright (Guitar 20) - Jonny Faires (Bass 18) - Ian Wilson (Drums 19) who met at ACM Music College & Academy in Guildford.  

With influences as diverse as  Nothing But Thieves, The Cure, The Kooks, The Smiths, Primus, RATM, and even a bit of Free Form Jazz (blame the drummer!) the band have steadily created their own sound with brilliant songwriting and powerful riffs that are tearing up the floors wherever they play live.

We spoke to Freddie from the band and began by asking him to describe their debut single.
It’s a indie-rock summer track with big guitars! The lyrics are about the guitarist’s relationship status!

Do you songs come from inspiration from the band?
They come together from us as a band and we bring ideas to the table. The band is like a creative pot [and] we all have our own influences, whether it’s jazz or rock of funk, and everything comes together from a guitar riff or a melody or whatever. With ‘The Shapeshifter’ we wrote the vocals and the lyrics together in a bedroom after a session.



What was it like creating the music video in Menorca?
It was a great experience! We had a night of planning after a rehearsal in England and we thought it would be a cool idea to go out there. We managed to find a guy with a camera who could film it for us. We went out there and blagged our way around. We were sleeping on a boat at one point after a big night out. And then it was filming in the sea. It was a lot of work but it paid off!

As a band you’ve been described as ‘The hottest thing to come out of Surrey since Judi Dench in Pride & Prejudice’. Is that going on your gig posters?
Yes, that’ll be on all the posters!

You have an upcoming EP; how is the recording of that going?
We had a meeting with our producer a couple of weeks ago called Pete, and he sat in on our session and kind of picked the songs apart and re-arranged them, and we formed what are our strongest tracks. We’re taking them up to the studio next week in North London, recording them with him, which should be a good experience.

How do you think these songs will compare to the Shapeshifter?
We’ll see where it takes us. We’re now using a different producer and a different studio. It’s just a new experience recording in as many different places as possible, to see what we like the sound of and see where to take it.

You have live dates coming up this month; how would you describe your live set?
It’s very lively, full of energy [with] everyone sweating! It’s getting the crowd involved, a lot of fun, it gets pretty messy! Lots of energy.



How are preparations going for the live dates?
We’re ready. We’ve had our rehearsals. Ian, the drummer, has remembered the set list finally, so we’ve got that down!

What’s your favourite song to perform live?
‘It’s OK’, which we’re putting on the EP, definitely that one, and ‘The Shapeshifter’. Now that’s out there people are people up the lyrics and singing back the lyrics, which is a weird experience. And ‘It’s OK’ is a club friendly thing, so everyone’s going crazy for that!

Finally what are your ambitions for the next six months?

We’ve actually just signed a deal with a booking agent. Just to get gigs up and down the country would be brilliant. Doing a UK tour, as it were, would be brilliant, whether it’s a support tour or a headline thing, would be perfect for us. We’re taking it step by step so we’ll see what comes up. But gigs would be great!

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