Sonic The Comic Interview

Sonic The Comic will be headlining the next Youth Anthems gig and I couldn’t be happier about it.  The duo play computer game influenced indie-pop/punk and will get you dancing and thinking in equal measure.  Lovely music played by lovely people!  Here’s a little bit information about them, so get familiar and then get down the front when they play.

What are your names and where do you come from?

I’m Stef, from Wolverhampton, and she is Sarah, from Northampton.

What’s the history of Sonic The Comic and what’s with the name?

We started writing little cute twee indie-pop songs together when we starting hanging out in a romantic capacity, and over time we’ve gotten a tiny bit less twee and now we sound like a bit of a shouty indie-pop videogame band! We’ve just finished our second album Atoms, and it’s actually really good!

The name came from finding out that we were both huge fans of the UK Sonic the Comic comic in our separate childhoods, and it just seemed like a good name to have as our band name. I’m secretly wondering whether we’ll ever be told to stop using the name.

Making music, making computer games, making comics, making videos, making drawings. What came first for you two and how do you actually find any time to play computer games??

Sarah is arty through and through, she arts all the time. She is an artist first and when I can get her away from her desk we occasionally manage to write songs. I’ve always been music first and make computer game-y music in my spare time. We started making a videogame but really didn’t get far – it’s still on our to-do list!

Sarah always has her PS Vita close by so she plays loads of quick games on Binding of Isaac, which she is basically obsessed with. I play loads of different things but I got really into Dragon Age Inquisition recently which was a really nice big RPG game. I guess we fit videogames into all the spare slivers of time that we get!

What sort of bands do you normally play with and what sort of places do you usually play?

We play with indie-pop bands mainly! In little cool venues and living rooms and bars. One day I’d like to play an outdoor festival stage maybe!

What bands would you consider an influence?

We’re both really into a guy called Fishboy from Denton, Texas. He writes really great songs with great overarching storylines and really good lyrics. I’ve always been a big fan of Los Campesinos and Johnny Foreigner and I think that definitely shows up in places – Los Campesinos especially ignited my love for shouty vocals and bleepy synths. I really like Hop Along and would love to write stuff like them – they’re pretty special. I got into Ted Leo and the Pharmacists recently too, let’s say those as well. Oh! I really love Trust Fund too at the moment, Ellis writes the best choruses.

OK tops… Top three bands, cakes and computer games?

Stef Bands – Hop Along, Brand New, Johnny Foreigner Cake – Jaffa, French Fancies, Chocolate Fudge Games – Dragon Age Inquisition, Final Fantasy IX, WWE 2K15

Sarah Bands – The Mountain Goats, Barenaked Ladies, Alkaline Trio Cake – Sarah’s Mum’s Chocolate Cake x 3 Games – Binding of Isaac Rebirth, Digimon World, Borderlands 2

Finnmark! Interview

At our gig on May 10th we have the phenomenal local indie-popsters Finnmark! playing.  Here’s a quick introduction to them..!

What’s your name and where do you come from?

Is that a Blind Date reference? Well Cilla, we’re Finnmark! and we’re from Leeds!

Nice reference spotting!  Where does the Scandinavian love stem from? Is it the shared cold temperature with Leeds?

When the band first stared I (Edward) was hanging around in Sweden quite a lot (the band actually started in Gothenburg), and the first songs were written around that time, and Scandinavia crept into the songs and the bands aesthetic.

What bands would you see as the top influences for Finnmark! ? (I’m hearing a lot of Divine Comedy and Magnetic Fields?)

Well there are two bands that are staples of our DJ sets! Yeah, we love both of them. There is also a strong Field Mice and Another Sunny Day influence, along with some Scandinavian bands like Northern Portrait and Cats on Fire.

Why the exclamation mark? Do you shout a lot?

It makes you pronounce Finnmark! the correct way! It’s purely grammatical!

Top three ice cream flavours?

I, Edward, can’t really eat ice cream, only the soy one, and that is nearly always vanilla, so I will go for a classic Neopolitan. Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate.

Favourite Scandinavian fact?

Scandinavia publish more books per capita than any other are in the world!

What Leeds band should we all go out and listen to right away?

The Seven Inches!

Closing words?

Buy a guitar, write some songs, start a band

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Patrick Craig Interview

On May 10th we have Leeds via Kingston’s Patrick Craig opening proceedings for us so I thought we should find out a bit more about this chap before he brings his folk-punk sound to our ears…

Could you introduce yourself and tell us how you ended up playing guitar in Leeds?

Hello. I’m Patrick. I’ve been playing guitar since I was a kid, and gigging since I was 16. In 2012 I moved to Leeds to start a degree at Leeds College of Music, and thats how I’m here.

What are the positives and negatives of being a solo performer rather than being in a band?

Positives – I can take gigs without having to check stuff. I don’t have to split the rider with anyone. I don’t argue with bandmates.

Negatives – it’s quite lonely. You make friends on the road touring and that but sitting on the last train at Manchester Airport at 2am with broken headphones isn’t that fun. And my brain is dull, so i just argue with myself…

How does being an artist in Leeds compare to other places you might have lived?

I’m from south west London, and there is a cool local scene there, but its a little limited, because its not too hard to head into town or anywhere else for shows, so there isn’t the diversity in the concentrated area that there is in Leeds. I think in Leeds there is much more of a DIY ethic in that bands just want to play, rather than have moved to London to find management. I’ve never had a bad show in Leeds either, the audience has always been lovely, whereas I’ve had a few rude people in the past in other venues.

What would you recommendations be for other bands/performers both in Leeds and the rest of the UK be right now?

My favourite local bands at the moment are Trudy and Irish Boxing. They’re some friends from Uni so I’ve seen them from the beginning, but they’re both great bands. Another recommendation would be Sanchez vs. Fighter Pilot, who are an amazing band in Kingston. They’ve got a great local fancies, but as soon as they hit they’re going to hit hard, so make sure you check them out.

What advice would you give to people who wanted to pick up an instrument and start off as a musician?

Start. Just do it. It’s going to be tough, you’re going to get frustrated, but do it. And do whatever makes you happy with it. You want to play Bach sonatas on piano? Put the work in and it’ll pay off. You want to write punk songs on two strings of an acoustic guitar? Exactly the same. There’s no trick to getting into it, or a secret thing to do that makes it easier, you just have to do it.

Best gig you’ve been to in the last six months?

I went to see Tiny Moving Parts, Into It. Over It. and Modern Baseball not that long ago at the Brudenell. That was a crazy show, some amazing musicians playing some great songs.

Top three gigs attended?

My top three gigs where I just sat and watched the headliner with awe:

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly – Final tour, Brudenell Social Club September 2014 – I cried, I’m not going to lie. Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager is an album that hit me at the right time, and was one of my first major influences.

 

Andrew Jackson Jihad – The Fighting Cocks October 2014 – I’d only heard a little bit of them before I got booked for the show. So I listened to a bit more, and actually managed to catch an in-store from the frontman Sean before the show. Acoustic he was great, but as a band they were incredible. It was a tiny room, and the perfect atmosphere for an amazing show.

 

Beans On Toast – New Slang July 2014 – An education in crowd control. A perfect showman completely owning the room, and getting everyone involved.