Hunck
are a rock band from North London who have just released their new single ‘All
Dressed Up’, which is one of the songs that made it onto our August 2016
playlist. We caught up with Freddie Tyson-Brown from the band and asked him
about their new release.
“It’s
an ode to modern dating troubles. It’s about getting dressed up and getting
stood up! We’ve all been on dates where things haven’t gone right. It’s like an
everyman’s song!”
The
song is accompanied by a surprisingly good video considering its tight £60
budget. We asked Freddie how they managed this. “The limitations make it more
exciting to do. We tried to make it as exciting as we could for as little money
as possible. All we did was spend £60 on a green screen and a couple of lights,
and I already had a camera. The paper mache heads were free as we just used
copies of the Evening Standard which they give away free at all the tube
stations for free!”
The
heads, you’ll be glad to know, are still with the band. “We’re saving them for
a rainy day,” Freddie confessed, before admitting that if it was raining they
could well just melt onto their faces!
The
band members have brought different influences to the record. Whilst member
Thomas has a love of Frank Sinatra, Freddie prefers Al Boley.
Hunck
recently performed a headline show at the Lexington in London and it went
really well. “We managed to sell it out and we had a good laugh, it was a good
night!” Freddie told us about their gig, confessing their gigs are louder,
faster and more in the flesh.
Looking
ahead, Freddie revealed that they have recorded an album’s worth of material
and they hope to get this out by the end of the year. “We’ll see what happens.
We’re just constantly writing new music, seeing how it goes, and then playing
it out live, and seeing how people react to it.”
With
reaction to the new single being positive so far, things are looking great for
Hunck as a band. Looking ahead to the future Freddie would like the band to
continue playing more shows and making more music and something a little bit
different based on Freddie’s favourite sport.
“I
want to write a darts songs for the next darts season coming up at the end of
the year. Hopefully we’ll have a darts number one by the end of the year when
the World Championships happen. That’s my goal!”
Brothers
Chris and Chip Cosby and Bryan Reyes make up American band Heartracer. In one
of our favourite interviews of recent weeks, we spoke to the enthusiastic
brothers from the band ahead of them performing a live date as they revealed to
us about exciting developments in their live shows both musically and visually.
“We’ve
been expanding our live lighting set-up. Tonight will be the first time we’ll
be busting that out! We have a giant LED motion drape and a guy has been
programming the drape to each song, and we have light-bars that look like giant
light-sabres which will go with the music as well. We’re just going to
continuously keep adding onto that!”
Heartracer
have a new single out called ‘Hollow’, which they describe as a cathartic
anthem, building from a slow start to a crescendo. “By the end there’s this
emotional release or breakthrough. I’m not sure if that was entirely
intentional but we like the way it worked out.”
Inspiration
for the song came from multiple sources. Chip told us about the inspiration for
his guitar working, citing Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour and British band The
Alarm. “I’m a big fan of British music,” he confessed mentioning Bryan Ferry
and Roxy Music as their favourites. “I’m coming to over the UK in ten days to
visit friends” he revealed.
Chris
expanded on the influences, referring to them listening a lot to rock band ‘The
War on Drugs’. “It sounds like if The War on Drugs were a more electronic,
retro band. We’re trying to keep the natural instruments alive so we brought in
the acoustic guitar and Bryan’s drumming, so we think it’s turned out well.”
The
brothers are big fans of 1980s culture, which influences their music, mentioning
Tears for Fears, Simple Minds and the Pet Shop Boys. In terms of favourite
movies they talked about the John Hughes movies and also Chip’s large
collection of 1980s horror movies. “Apparently when I was brought home as a
baby he was watching Bloodsport with Jean Claude Van Damme, and that soundtrack
is incredible. I found out years later that the person who wrote the script for
the movie was called Christopher Crosby!”
Though
there will be no music video for song ‘Hollow’, there will be one for upcoming
single ‘Dream Girl’, which is taken from their upcoming EP out in September
called ‘Eat Your Heart Out’. “We’re working with a director called Lucas Krost,
who reached out to us originally about using one of our songs – Open Door, from
our ‘Summer Gold’ EP – on a short film he was making.
“He’s
been at the Cannes film festival. He drew up a script for the ‘Dream Girl’
video and though I don’t want to say too much about it there’s definitely a
political message entwined in the love story between a girl and a guy. They’re
trying to influence a senator on gun laws. As you know the United States has a
pretty big epidemic now with guns. We’re trying to hardness a point in the
video.”
The
brothers said they weren’t political as a band, though Chris does have a Political
Sciences degree. “I don’t want it to be forced. I think it can happen naturally
at times. To me the gun issue isn’t even a political one it’s a rational one.
When you have this many people getting shot every day, you don’t even need to
have a political opinion on it, you just need to think rationally.”
Moving
away to their live sound, the brothers confirmed they had a very high-energy
live sound. “We do like to make it clear that though the 80s sound influences
us it’s not as much a conscious effort on our part. That’s the era that we love
but we are a contemporary band, and live we’re like the Killers or Brandon
Flowers, with a little 1975. It’s an upbeat show, and I think we take people on
an emotional rollercoaster with some of the ballads that we do, like ‘Light of
Day’ which is probably my favourite song from our first record, which is another
song that starts slow and at the end it crescendos.
“I
get compared to the lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys a lot.”
Their
upcoming EP – ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ has been completed. “It was a very
meticulous effort. We thought it was going to be done much quicker than it was
but we wanted it to be perfect, which it obviously never will be! We worked
with Andreas on production. The core of the songs were all tracked in my home
studio and then we took everything over to him and go through each sound and
polish everything. He said it was the longest he’d worked on anything, and he’s
done full length records, and this is just a 5-song EP.
“We’ve
got a tonne more songs that we’re ready to record so we’re going to get back to
it as soon as we can!”
We
asked them if the song writing and recording process was something they enjoyed
doing, an answer that was started with emphatic yes. “If you don’t enjoy that
aspect of it then you probably should be in the business. There’s a lot of
things in the music business that isn’t too appealing but that part and
performing live are great.
“Just
the song-writing for me is my favourite part. I don’t think there’s a better
high for me in the world than when a song finally comes together.”
Having
access to a home studio has helped them with this process. When Chip returned
from California they had a clutch of songs to work on, the recorded helped by
purchasing Pro Tools. “I had no idea what I was doing, but you can see the
progression from ‘In Flight’ to ‘Summer Gold’. Everything we do is self-produced
for the most part so you can get an idea on how we’ve progressed with
song-writing and production, and I think our fans can connect with that. They
like to see our progression, that we’re not a band just shot out of the
marketing test tube! I think on our newest EP you’ll hear that even more. We’re
even more refined!”
Looking
to the future Heartracer said they’d love to come to the UK, an area that often
has a bigger appreciation for live music than necessarily on their home turf.
“It
can be tough over here!” Chris confessed. “Good music tends to have more
success in the UK. It depends on where you go. I think it’s our sound. Every
time we play people say we should be playing in Europe, playing with Coldplay
or something!”
Alongside
their hopes with Europe we asked them about their ambitions for the future. “If
there’s one thing we have it’s not a shortage of ambition. Our ambitions go way
beyond what they should. We have faith in our music and we think the songs are
there. To me the most fun things would be to tour Europe and play shows!”
For
more information on the band and to hear their music visit heartracerband.com/
We
Are Z are an indie-pop band with members from London, Paris and Toulouse who
have a new single out called ‘Goldigaz’ on the 30th September on the same day as a launch party at Cargo in Shoreditch,
London.
Here
at KBPS we spoke to member and lead singer Gabriel “Gabby” Cazes and began be
asking him to describe the new single.
“It’s
a song about money and what we do with money, all the thing that comes with the
idea of money. It describes the world of finance and drugs and, in a way, all
the negative things that can come with it.”
The
song takes inspiration from recent events and stories from people they have met
in different places. “For example you go and play in Russia and you end up in a
club with really rich people that don’t know what to do with all the power they
have, and it’s really inspiring to be around people like that!”
With
the band’s press release boasting them to be an ideal band for a post-Brexit
world, I asked them if they would be flying the flag for Europe.
“Maybe!
Why not?” he told us before moving on to talk about the themes of decadence in
the song’s video.
“It’s
like the film Wolf of Wall Street. I
think there’s an idea behind the decadence that comes with the idea of money.
Of course we can’t do anything without money so we have to deal with it; it’s
the fight between these things.”
Making
the video for ‘Goldigaz’ was, according to Gabby ‘crazy’ but fun to make, like
a two-day party. “We did a collaboration with two Icelandic directors who came
to Paris and we did two days of crazy shooting in some houses and outside
Paris, and for the occasion we dressed up as pimps and we put on wigs and
make-up and we brought fake Chinese music to throw around.
“[The
video] is quite colourful and really extreme and it was really intense, the
whole experience.”
Listening
to the music of ‘We Are Z’ makes it clear that they have a wide range of
influences. “We all come from different places in terms of music. From my side
I was raised in France so I listened to a lot of French music like Serge
Gainsbourg and then I started to listen to rhythm and blues [at quite a young
ago], American bands and roots, black music and then a phase of jazz music, and
then I started to listen to some seventies rock and roll!
“I
have modern influences too. I really like Damon Albarn and all the different
projects he does, but you can always recognise his sound, and I’d love to
achieve something like that, being recognisable but with influences.”
‘We
Are Z’ are working now on their new album called ‘Z Is Not X’. Gabby gave us an
update on the project. “We’ve finished with all the songs and we’re in the
mixing process and trying to find the visuals, which I like to work on. It’s
like being pregnant, and that the child is going to come in a few weeks and you
have to be ready for it, and you want it to be really great. But it’s really
exciting. It’s our first album and we think it’s going to be great!”
With
the album out at the start of November,
the band are taking part in a 25-date tour with Detroit rockers Electric Six in
the same month, which came about through a meeting with the band’s tour manager.
“He really liked us and he said if we want to do it it’s hear for us. We said
yes, totally. We actually opened for them in Islington last year and it went
very well, so we are excited to do this tour.
“It’s
going to be the biggest tour we have done so far, so it’s going to be very
intense and exciting!”
Describing
the band’s live sound as ‘very lively’, Gabby said the live versions make their
songs even more dynamic. “We put on a show, with costumes on stage, and we
really try to grab the crowd and make people dance. We like to make it happen!
“All
the subjects of the songs are quite heavy, observational songs about the human
zoo, so we want to party on those heavy subjects. When you come to a show, you’ll
be jumping around and seeing us going crazy and throwing fake money at the
crowd, and big explosions!”
Looking
ahead, the band are keen to continue doing more touring and perhaps festivals
next summer and touring Europe. “We’ll be writing songs, meeting the crowds,
being inspired, doing great songs and great shows. The live experience is
really important to us, and we just want to tour a lot!”
Beauty
Sleep are a three-piece dream-pop band from Belfast, made up of Ryan McGroarty,
Cheylene Murphy and Aimee Williamson. Starting up six months ago, they’ve just
released their second single and we spoke to Ryan about ‘Living Right’ and how
he would describe the track.
“It
was probably the first song we’d written as a band and we’ve only been for six
months so it’s all quite knew, so I guess it became the first song where we
were discovering the sounds we were going to make and the type of band we’re
going to be, so it’s a special song to us, and always will be.
“It’s
just joyous and explosive, and so much fun to play. I’m glad people can finally
hear it!”
We
wondered if this single was different to their first release as a band.
“We’ve
only put out one other single at this point so we’re just trying to give everyone
an overview stylistically of the different areas we’re into. When you’re a new
band it feels like you can surprise people.
“We’re
getting there now. People at some point don’t know what to expect so it’s a fun
process!”
Though
Ryan said they didn’t have any plans for a video for this release there are
exciting future ideas coming up. “We have bigger plans for our next release. We
did get some beautiful artwork from a young artist called Jack Coulter. He’s
interpreted the song as an image which is really interesting. But no plans for
a video at the moment.”
Future
plan? “It’s fun putting out a single but at this point it would be fun putting
something more substantial out there, something that runs together. I think it
will be an EP, that’s a good way to start it. So we’re going to track that
pretty soon. The songs are there.
“After
playing live, that changes you, so I guess we’ll be doing the recording in a
more live-style, so I think that will come back again to it, and we’ll make
sounds of microphones falling over and cymbals crashing, that kind of
excitement is what we’re after!”
‘Beauty
Right’ have so far done around a dozen live dates including recent festivals
and they like to do different things to keep things fresh. “We have two
different types of live set. We have one with a drummer, a friend of ours. He’s
amazing and that excitement of playing small rooms where there’s loads of
people, and it’s all happening and everyone’s moving, is really exciting, and
we do like to do that.
“But
we also have a more electronic set which has more computer elements to it, and
has drums loops, and that’s a different feeling as well. I’m not sure which is
best and sometimes we just call it depending on the show which one will be more
suitable, so it’s good to give these two different sides and presenting the
music in two very different ways.”
Gigs
for the band coming up include Belfast on the 20th August. “It’s
like a big barbecue show in the Queen’s Students’ Union with loads of local
bands we’re friends with and it’s going to be like a two-stage festival. If you’re
in Belfast that day it’s going to be really fun!
“When
people only hear recordings they never know what to expect. It’s hard to
picture a rock band, or what it is. Aimee who plays bass in the band is a visuals
designer as well so there’s a really big light show usually with lots of moving
elements. It’s coming together!”
Visual
elements are a big part of the band and how they like to put themselves across.
“We worked with this artist called Maisie Cousins on the artwork for ‘The Dark’,
our first single, which had lots of luscious shots of running colours. I guess
it was almost psychedelic imagery. We wanted to present a visual that whenever
you saw it you’d have an idea of what the band sounded like and you’d make up
your own image of what it’d be.
“I
think [music and visuals] is really important, and both complement each other,
and it’s a big part of what we want to get across.”
And
what are the future plans for the band? “A tour would be something to hope for.
Personally it’s the main reason why I’m in a band as every time I’ve been
before those experiences you have of going to places you’d never normally be,
meeting people who’d never otherwise meet, and the stories that you get, are
the things I treasure. It would be great to do these things with the band at
this time, because it’s absolutely the most exciting part in lots of ways.
“So
get out there, get on some planes and boats and play to some un-expecting
public somewhere!”
Find
out more about the band on Facebook and check out their Soundcloud where you
can hear various tracks and remixes,
offering different interpretations on their sound.
Peter
Furgiuele, Nicholas Furgiuele, Jonathon Bragg and Josh Longino make up band
Gringo Star from Atlanta. With their album ‘The Sides And In Between’ out on 26th
August via NevadoMusic we spoke to member Pete, co-founder of the band with his
brother Nick, on the eve of the band heading out on a massive two-and-a-half
month tour to talk about their new album. Their longest tour to date, Pete was
excited about their upcoming time on the road, coming twenty years after first
writing music with his brother as teenagers.
Describing
the band’s live sound as rock and roll with a bit of garage, he was keen to
emphasise their diverse sound. “We try to incorporate more than one approach
when we’re writing, so it’s a range of melodic rock and roll.”
Talking
about the record Pete told us “It’s a continuation of where we’ve been going.
We had a slightly different approach this time as we did it in our own studio
which we’ve been building for the last couple of years. Last year on tour I got
really lucky. We randomly went into a gas station which was out west in casino
country and on a whim I put twenty bucks into a slow machine and won almost
$6000 on the jackpot!
“We
were heading to LA. We have a really good engineer friend out there who has
worked on some of our past records. He helped me secure a couple of pieces of
nice audio equipment and it really helped us solidify the studio and bring the
quality up to a nice level.
“That
really helped with the overall sound of the record. We’ve done things on our
own before and it’s been a little dirtier. This one is still dirty, but it’s a
little bit cleaner!”
The
band have also been working on new arrangements and involving their friends,
incorporating instruments like a violin, saxophone and mandolin into the mix. “We
tried to be a bit orchestral and mix up the sounds.”
Gringo
Star’s latest album was recorded in a couple of months in their home studio, a
process Pete described as fun. Featuring
newish member Jonathon Bragg on drums, Pete saw the record as an evolution. “It’s
progressed more. I feel confident, we all like it, and it’s our best album yet.”
Their
own studio has given the band the freedom needed to really work on the album. “Just
having more time and less pressure to really get things how we want them [is
great]. Sometimes when you’re in the studio and you have a limited amount of
time [to record vocals] and people are waiting for you, you sometimes have to
be like ‘that’s good enough’, but with this we could spend enough time to get
vocal takes as we wanted them, which is kind of a luxury.”
With
more time for experimentation and getting a more instrumental feel thanks to
getting their friends involved, the studio seemed to have given the band more
freedom on the record, and Pete, when we asked him to pick his highlights from
the album, seemed genuinely happy with lots of the tracks, mentioning opener ‘Rotten’
alongside ‘Heading South’, ‘Get Closer’, ‘Knee Deep’, which included the
violin, and ‘Going Home’. “For me that’s a really personal song. I get a good
feeling from it. It’s called ‘Going Home’ but it actually feels like home to
me, as it’s an honest song.
“We
tried to mix things up so no two songs were the same. It’s an approach we’ve
always had, but we tried to make it so you’re listening to the same band but
not the same song ten times. So each song has its own character.
“We
like a lot of styles. We like to incorporate a lot of different rhythms and
arrangements, but there is a certain way we do things. I think there’s a common
thread they all have; it’s pretty cohesive even though we mixed it up.”
Pete
revealed a video for ‘Get Closer’ has recently been filmed and is currently
being edited ready for release soon. He talked to us about the video, created
by the same director who did the promotional video for ‘Rotten’. “He has great
ideas. He brought with him a 16mm camera, and we did it all on real film, which
we were really lucky to have the opportunity for. The video has quite a dreamy
look to it, and he used some older Kodak film and there’s still grain left on
it. It’s not an effect, it’s the natural film. It’s pretty cool and his editing
has been great so far, with some techniques to make things look slow and
frantic, but going with the music. It was done on a really sunny day and is a
really sunny video!”
And
what plans do the band have for the future? “We really hope to come to Europe,”
he told us, talking about early 2017. “Nevada Records have a branch in Europe
so we’d really like to go and support the album there. And to keep pushing on
this album.
“With
our manager and label combined I feel like we have our most cohesive team
together to go out and tour and be the best supported we have been.”
‘The
Sides And In Between’ by Gringo Star is out on 26th August via NevadoMusic.
Find out more about them via their website.
As we are now well past the half-way point of the year, here is our current countdown of the best 50 songs of the year so far, as chosen by KBPS!
50Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better (3rd June) 49The Allergies feat. Andy Cooper - Rock Rock (25th March) 48Jamie Lynn Spears - Sleepover (24th June) 47Lola Coca - GQ (22nd April) 46April Towers - Silent Fever (8th April) 45Louise Aubrie - Winter Delour (21st January) 44Skyler feat. Snoop Dogg - Fire (29th January) 43Sia feat. Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills (11th February) 42Richard Ashcroft - This Is How It Feels (1st March) 41Coldplay - Up&Up (16th May)
40Frances - Say It Again (30th June) 39Justin Timberlake - Can’t Stop the Feeling (6th May) 38Pink - Just Like Fire (16th April) 37twenty one pilots: Heathens (21st June) 36Taylor Swift - Out Of The Woods (12th January) 35Josef Salvat - Paradise (8th January) 34Rick Astley - Angels On My Side (9th June) 33Busted - Coming Home (3rd May) 32Holly Johnson - Ascension (18th March) 31Hannah Trigwell - Another Beautiful Mistake (15th April)
30Dagny - Backbeat (6th May) 29Will Joseph Cook - Girls Like Me (12th February) 28Walk the Moon - Work This Body (12th February) 27Teddybears feat. Gorilla Zoe - Best You Ever Had (8th January) 26Tegan and Sara - Boyfriend (7th April) 25MIAMIGO - Everyone I Know (18th March) 24Kirsty Churchill - Who You Gonna Call? (16th March) 23Juno im Park feat. Hannah Trigwell - Never Gonna Give You Up (28th July) 22Axwell Λ Ingrosso feat. Pharrell Williams - Dream Bigger (6th May) 21Elle King - Good Girls (3rd June)
20Florrie - Real Love (5th February) 19Jazz Mino - Suffocate (24th June) 18Ward Thomas - Guilty Flowers (29th July) 17Christine and the Queens - Tilted (26th February) 16Tiggs Da Author feat. Lady Leshurr - Run (12th January) 15Zara Larsson - Lush Life (15th January) 14DNCE - Cake By The Ocean (14th March) 13Bright Light Bright Light feat. Elton John - All In The Name (1st July 2016) 12Bastille - Good Grief (17th June) 11Rat Boy - Move (12th January) 10Tom Odell - Magnetised (15th April)
9Kaiser Chiefs - Parachute (20th June)
8Gwen Stefani - Make Me Like You (13th February)
7Nina Nesbitt - Chewing Gum (11th January)
6The Shires - Beats To Your Rhythm (29th July)
5The Strumbellas - Spirits (11th January)
4Aurora - Conqueror (11th March)
3Elle King - America’s Sweetheart (22nd April)
2Glass Animals - Life Itself (18th May)
1Travis - Magnificent Time (22nd March)
What do you think of our selection? Post your comments below and we'll follow them up in our next edition! We did ask a few of our fellow music lovers and there was love for some in our Top 50 including DNCE's 'Cake By The Ocean', Sia's 'Cheap Thrills' and Bastille's 'Good Grief' and lots for 'Tilted' by Christine and the Queens. For the rockier amongst you we had votes for Raise Your Horns - Amon Amarth; Master of the Land - Grand Magus, Suckerpuch - Delain (which got multiple recommendations) and Born to Die - Black Stone Cherry, and Sia made another appearance this time with 'Unstoppable'.
Jake Bugg appeared with 'On My Own' alongside Twenty One Pilots and 'Stressed Out', plus the collaboration between Mumford + Baaba Maa. Elsewhere was 'Once Again' by Mad Clown and Kim Na Young, Ruth B with 'Lost Boy' plus JME's 'The Very Best' and the eccentrically titled 'Party Metal' by Footprints In The Custard. So even you don't like many in my selection here are some more choices for you to check out!
Future
Generations are an alternative /Indie Pop/ Electronic band from New York and we
spoke to lead singer Eddie Gore and the other members of the band Eric, Mike,
Dylan and Devon as they travelled up to Washington DC. The band have a great new
single out called ‘Thunder in the city’.
So how would you describe
the single?
It’s
one of those songs that you listen to when you’re walking down the street and
think, this is kind of narrating my walk! It’s just a feel good song, it’s an exciting
song, it’s got a great hook. It’s all about the hook for us.
The song was written near
the end of the album recording process; what was the inspiration behind the
song?
I
was on a commute back from the city out to Long Island and it was about to
storm, and it was just a kind of surreal journey. At the time I was very happy and
thought [the storm] was cool. I’d had a good day and I thought I’d write a song
about the feeling I was having.
What was the album like to
record?
The
album was recorded over a long period of time. We recorded a lot of it in our
dorm room at University. Then we played it back and a lot of songs we had, we
added drums, synthesizers and other instruments in the studio. It was a longer,
spread out process but when we were in the studio it was really nice as we had
a positive mind-set and we were trying to be cohesive.
The album has some
distinctive artwork. How did that come about?
It
was something the record came up with. There’s another band on the label called
Decoration and I believe it was their singer’s good friend [called Nicole] and
she did a couple of different ideas, and we were drawn to this one particular
idea with the vibrant colours and the mix between new and retro.
You recently played a record
launch party at the Mercury Lounge in New York; how did that go?
It
was great, so lit! We had a packed house and everybody was having a good time,
especially us!
You have live dates coming
up this month. How would you describe your live sound?
It’s
definitely fuller, more guitar and bass-guitar heavy than the album. Like any
album that’s brought to life is fuller and louder. We always say it has more of
an edge and more energy to it live. It’s a different experience live, which is
our goal.
So how did you all meet?
Four
of us met at University. Myself [Eddie], Mike and Eric met in freshmen year in
our dorm, and Dylan we met on Craigslist. We’re very thankful that he’s not
murdered us yet. Shout out to not murdering people. And now we live together!
Dylan:
I have murdered but decided I’m going to ride with these guys.
Speaking of living
arrangements, I believe you all share a flat together. What’s it like making
music together and living together?
It’s
great. We’re always sharing music that’s inspiring us. We don’t have much time
when we’re all in the apartment together but when we are we’re usually just
hanging out and listening to music, and sharing with each other. Have you heard
this, have you heard that. It’s been good to open each other up to different
styles of music.
Do you have any big
ambitions for the rest of 2016?
To
come across the pond, we want to come and play for you guys! We just want to
play as many gigs as possible and build our audience by playing those shows.
Some festivals next year would be nice. We just want to play as much music as
possible, that’s really our end goal.
