Cramped Flats to Creative Triumphs: Orphan Boy on Making Music

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, welcome boys. Dave taking us a lot to get

(00:04):
to this point, isn't it so far?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I've got you know, a busy man, two gigs.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Need to wind it down dated, May.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
What you're doing?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
You're checking?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
If your phones on side? All right? Okay?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Get him mate, get him on the part. Should have
answered it, may have got a mon fourth guest. So
I would like to start a podcast just by.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Going going back to the start with the guest getting
to know a bit about you, so orphan boy, all aside,
just a bit bit about yourselves individually.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Smithy Paul Smith CEO. Yeah, Fishmonga Grimsby traditional standard standard. Yeah,
soul Fish.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
You've done loads of jobs, aren't you.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Text us back before that, Thailand, text us back before that?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Mate. Where you're from?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Where did you grow up in Grimsby? Grew up around
Full Street area and all that?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah? Yeah, do you want to know more than that?

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's a podcast. We've got all that.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Starting off.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Always been a fan of Grinsby town, lovely music, been
in numerous bands with all different characters from Greensby than that.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, yeah, get into all that a bit later on.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Yeah, well me, I was just born in the eighties.
I suppose like we did you guys, lindsay.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, we all did.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Represent grew up, went to university in Sheffield. After that,
what do.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
You do at the university?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Did English? Ye? After that, did a variety of.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
Jobs and then was starting a career as a journalist.
I was working on the lau for newspaper and then
Awtrome boy kind of took off and we just up
sticks and went to Manchester.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
What was your first job?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
My first ever job? I think it must have been
a factory job.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
That was mine.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Dad, not even a paper Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
D was like, what do you want to do?

Speaker 3 (02:27):
I was like paper around Dad.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
To college, did plumbing. I got in a scrap with
his kid and there I've seen a big yorchard for
in bars, like pretty similar to that. Table whapped me
on the shoulder. Dislocated my shoulder so that.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
The plumbing down.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah that was it, straight on the docks. Went to
Terry Chapman's hated it, but it was pace.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
My first job was paper body. But then I finished school.
You know they finished school. My parents was like the
pressures on, you know, you've got to get a job.
I was off to Franklin in the September. But I
went to staff for us and they just throwing freeing
at Young's.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
And which one was it? Not Master Road? What's the
one behind that South Kate?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
I went? I went there? Oh my god, which one
was it was?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
It was it Young's or blue Grass?

Speaker 1 (03:27):
It was young It was South Kate, the one of
the Batah.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
It was terrible, mate, honestly got into the factory floor
and there was like picking people out and people got
sent him and I got sent home on the first
day of thought is this is this my life now?

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Then when you did get to stay it was a
load of ship.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
As well jobs back in there. Can't avoid it around,
you can. Ye. It's just the easiest job to get,
wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
And it's like the Army, you know, it's like that
half Greensbury's versions of the Army.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
It's as well we leave school to do a job,
because it's just it just I just found its home
monotonous and getting in a like six in the morning
and after like two hours I'd be like, what time
is it? And I'd always be with someone on the line.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
I say how long you've been working here? Be like
twenty two years, just not phased all by it. I
mean I just I couldn't do it.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
I just needed to do is to get out really
and yeah, so that my main thing I was driven
to do was music, especially like in my early twenties.
So even like when I had the I started the
career as a journalist, it was just music was just
at the front of my mind all the time. And
we're awfuen Boy got together like I think it was
like two thousand and five.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Early was like the Spider's Web.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
I think we've done like three or four gigs and
straight away there's a momentum to it, and I just said, right,
want I want to go get get out of Grimsby.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Most bands do that and go to London. We chose
to go to my Monter.

Speaker 5 (04:50):
Which I don't regret because I love Manchester and I
think London is so big and so many people trying
to do that that you can easily get overlooked there.
Whereas we made a few waves in Manchester.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
It was different back then though.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
On it it was like my Space was only really
kicking off, you know, like now you've got to be
like you've got to be a social media marketing guru
as well as a musician nowadays, whereas back then it
was it was about putting out records and doing gigs,
wasn't it, and building the fan base.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Called the Red Summit and the Red Coats, red Coach
buttlets at the time of my Space is like red wings, Yeah,
and my Space was like, however many followers you had
on it? Labels took an interest to that rather than
the music.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's the same now.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
Yeah, it's just yeah, it's just the easiest way to judge,
make some kind of judgment in the band is what's
the numbers, rather than spending twenty minutes listening to the music. Yeah,
So it's just that's the way it's been as long
as I can remember. Yeah, yeah, I remember my Space
coming along. I remember my cousin telling me about she's younger,
and she's like, you need to check out this think
or my Space, Like, oh what you know, I mean,

(05:57):
you don't realize what it's going to become. Yeah, that's
been the same with every single like piece of technology
that's exploded. Like I remember Spotify was around for years
and people were telling me, oh, you're on Spotify.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
I was like, what's that?

Speaker 5 (06:12):
And it's only like twenty fifteen and someone actually got
around to getting my head around it. Whereas I think
if we would have been on the ball with that
so much earlier, you knew what it was going to be.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Imagine what you could do if you kind of knew
where the technology was going to go. Live wire as
well though. He could download just torring people's music.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
You down, you download an album and then you know,
opening the file and then it's apart, like what the fuck?
Download like a U two album and it's like getting
a smashed or something, just like.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
What's been where you fucking right around? Someone sent me
when I was at work once and it was like
an email, sending an email and the clips I was like, mates,
but clips on. Honest to god, I was absolutely fucking
bright red and it.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Was just it goes from calling to how many spins
did you get through?

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Computer?

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Problem was looking I was like the first five.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Minutes for those listening are linking, it's been nice one.
So how did you both start getting into playing instruments?

Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know? Was that just three your love of music
or yeah? Mine was.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Honestly, I've always looked like my music band music and
stuff that but that phenomenon of Oasis at that time.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, not even just at that time, Like for me,
you know, I'm younger than you guys, but for me
growing up like I wanted to be Oasis.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Was that the whole identity?

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Like at school when I first started playing guitar and
got into music, properly got into music. Yeah, just was
your entire identity. Whyn't your basically dress sense on? You know,
it's blurished shit like, So that's how I got into
it really Yeah, I mean I was interested in.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
Music, but it wasn't n ttill Oasis came along that
It just really kind of it was like everything I
thought about, And then I got an acoustic guitar and
learned all the chords because it's just the music's so accessible,
not just to listen to, but to play as well.
So it's a bit like a gateway band, isn't it.
Like from also, they'd always talk about the bands they
were interested in, so that'd open those doors. Then you know,

(08:29):
a few months later you listened to the Stone Roses
or the Jam or the Beatles, and then then they'd
take you down some other routes and that's it.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
You're on you're on your way then.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
And the funny thing is, like my son who's sixteen now,
he's just had going through the same process.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Now with a wasis's exactly the same as I did.
So what Oasis of I don't know.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
I got a lot to answer for. I suppose in
a good way, do you know what I mean? Their
music has had such an impact on the culture even now,
even all these years.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Later, inspiring literally generations.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Who's the the way people dressed. You know, we're eagle
to foty matches and everyone in life was swaggering around.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (09:10):
You know they've made the rights like imprint on everything. Yeah,
we first.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Met, though, do you remember speaking of the ways? Well, no,
we never right, me and you first met remember it
was your Black Garden. No, No, I'm Dave Sheriff's yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:34):
When I first got into the guitar, I was learning
Oasis chords. It's like all the Oasist songs.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
But there's a guy called Dave Sheriff is my dad's
friend and a crossroad from the cross roadrom Smiffy bad
No Smithy. At the time I would have been fifteen,
Stiff would have been about thirty one before.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
I remember he played the blues, like fingerpicking blues, Dave Sheriff,
So I'd go around and learn a bit off him,
and he showed me some things.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
And then just one day there just it's just this.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
This bloke there with a massive smile on his face,
like like the most cheerful bloke ever, and this is
Paul's Paul Smith.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Is what you doing all right?

Speaker 2 (10:13):
And then I just remember, yeah he's because yeah, he's Uh.
At that time, me and John McCall, he had a
drum kt I was like, put it in my dad's
shed and we can have a jam what Dave Sherriff
had taught me. He was trying to teach me fingerpicking,
but I've not technical enough. I just wanted to learn. Course,
there wastes of me and John McCall started this like

(10:35):
little bank called somebody lemon chimes, I think it was.
We just used to like jam, but then Sheriff from
Byron used to be stoned and pissed, used to wear
it was jamming in the shed and used to come
over and they'll be like playing the doors stop from
the same song for about half an hour. But yeah,

(10:57):
I don't memory is better than mine, man, I can't
you know things like that.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
There's lots of stuff I've forgotten that, you know.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
I just it's good for certain things, other things like
remember were in family members birthdays and stuff.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Like that, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
So from from you know fifteen, when he picked some
the guitar hour orders and when you started, you know, gigging,
so to say, because it was awful boy in the
first band you went out and gig was We've.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Both been in bands before that, all right, yeah, yeah,
band together before often. Boy called the Infidels the.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Infidels about two thousand and three.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
This is like post Rokes, Yeah, and everyone was talking
about the Strokes and Libertines and that kind of new
wave of indie music kicking off. And then I went
joined a band called Gents that was done one Yeah,
and Danny Maka And then you went solo with Orphan Boy,
didn't you Well might set it up.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
As by stam of being in bands started. I'd say
that with John McCall, and then it went for me
Christy Day and his brother Jamie as we used to
jam in almost every Sunday Chris's house and punk songs
and then that after that, I think Redrose and the Butterstones,

(12:09):
So that was a band with Dutton but the bestie
Swallow Lum. Yeah, Lummy was like keyboard player with it.
And yeah that was good because we had like a
little we always to hang around at Butts his flat. Yeah,
it's like called Craig Butters.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Sorry, yeah, yeah yeah, and his flat was just like yeah,
it's absolutely bad in there.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
And then after that, yeah, Infidels, and then I went
on my own as awphan boy with a drum machine
with Yeah, it was Mick Jones's band, very first gig ever,
Dead Clash.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
He had a band called Carbon Silica and they was
playing with the beach Combers. Was two stages, the main room,
the side room.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
He was on with the gents. In the main room.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
I always remember Ones was I didn't want to do it,
and this last I was going out at the time,
She's like getting there and do it. I was like,
Steve Stanley come outside, and he's like.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Steve, come on, you're sell tickets. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
First I shipped myself.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
I can't I can't remember what I did, but as
I looked.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
In the distance, I just say this figure and that
Joanes stood there, big fucking long looking skeleton in the
mark that I just went to pieces. And then afterwards
he come up to me. He went, yeah, Sam, he went,
get yourself a fucking bend together. He went, fat them
drum machines off and he just took the guitar. I
thought he was going with that, and he come back down.
They'd signed my guitar and if someone took it was

(13:50):
a fucking cheap one anyway. But yeah, and then from there.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
I think your second gig was at the Winter Gardens,
won it.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
And supporting selector and yeah, and fucking hell, Christy Day
just absolutely froze. He went, I don't think I can
do it, and I went, you're fucking.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Kid in playing guitar, Chris, I ordered you at this
point then.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Useless. Probably he's about mid twenties, then no, no, I
want I was mid twenties when we went to Manchester. Yeah,
i'd have been sort of like that was not.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Long before that they want it, because this was like
two thousand and five.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Had been i'd have been probably twenty, I reckon in twenty.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
I think he's a bit older than that.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Four years older than so. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
So anyway, just there just grabbed that BG a bit
close to Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
So so then me and Christy Christy Day started like
doing this like thing and we got playing and I said, Chris,
come on, just do it, and he's like, I can't
do the backing vocals. I went fucking hell, I went
all right, just just played, just just We'll just do it.
And as we was playing, I was always like fucking
kids sort of the front was like, you're fucking ship
you like Proclaimers, And that was wearing these leather jackets,

(15:03):
tea beard jackets. Yeah, we made leather jackets on strokes jackets,
fucking cuts in the jeans and all that. And really
after that, I was like, fucking all, this is ship.
And then yeah, then it went from there, didn't It
was jamming and the spiders and then you come.

Speaker 5 (15:18):
Along, Yeah, and then it was a free piece and
then we did a gig at that put our own
gig on at the Spider's Web, and.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
It was it was rammed up the racket, up the racket. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:28):
For some reason, I don't remember this, but I remember
I was having a technical issue in the middle of
the gig, and you just kind of solved it, but
you got you got on. You played the theme tune
for Many Fools and Horses, sang it in a hoockey street.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's a great.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
As from that, you came into rehearsal and he was like,
well that's you know, I could I could really add
to this band basically, and you know, should we have
a jam? Was like fucking playing it. Coll was like yeah, yeah,
we knew how good of a musician he was and.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Buzz yeah and yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
And then we started these little nights up called Spider's
Members On, sort of like a little home Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, it was yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, So we used to do bits cast a blankers.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Well didn't we did a few years later, Yeah, we did.
We did three or four gigs there.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Is it still?

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Is it still?

Speaker 2 (16:27):
It's still going? Yeah, The Eye Energy Night.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
One of those gigs is where.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
We met Sam Simmons actually, because we got his band
on the accord. He would have been about eighteen at
the Supports Loot.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
And the original accord lineup was brilliant. Yeah, Sam, Josh
p Tarzan Blakie. Yeah, yeah, great line and one fucking brilliant.

Speaker 5 (16:50):
I love their first album as well, which I don't
think exists online or anything.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
I probably got it somewhere.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
I was going to say, if I dig for my CDs,
I probably have got it somewhere. It was an ash
tray on it.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
It was like it was a close up, like a
copied version of it. You're not got the printle garden
and just giving loads of free copy. Doing an album
launch in his garden. Yeah, he's still doing him in
his garden now.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
I think he's upgraded a bit now and he's doing
is he doing Central Oil for his singles for his album?

Speaker 1 (17:23):
He's got an album. I want to say twenty fourth
of May.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, how we remember I remember him being at
nineties once because any song? Yeah, yeah, it's fucking brilliant.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, he's playing with Adam so yeah. So when when
a boy got together? Was it just love for the music?
Was did you get together thinking we're going to make
a concerted effort to really try and make.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
It as a band. Yeah, definitely you did.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah yeah really seriously, that was there from the beginning
from the arfsolutely.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
After we see sort of like the sort of like
gigs and like locally taking off, you know, was like
fucking it.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
And Rob was like.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
He had this INCENTI He was like, right, we've got
to move out of town. We can't do it. You know,
if you want to be serviced, move out of town. So,
like say we said earlier on Chose Manchester, Rob did
the first move and then you was getting a bit
sort of like worried about you two doing it or
what is that?

Speaker 3 (18:29):
What happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I went.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
I remember going over just and crashing on my mate's
floor in a long sight for about a week, and
then every day just walking to the city center to
try and find a job, eventually getting one, and then
like got a flat and then my girlfriend at the time,
my wife now Leanne, she moved over, and then you
two moved over. We all lived in West Didsbury and

(18:52):
very very quickly just kind of like met a lot
of people on the scene, and you were really good
at just networking and meet people and just very quickly
just just kind of didn't take us long really to
it's kind of make an impression on people, start getting
good gigs and start building up a little fan base there.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
I think it was the end of that year two
thousand and five where you met my concrete it Yeah,
music bo Yeah, and then he come along in two
thousand and six, come to watch his rearse, offered us
an independent record deal and we signed that. I think
it was March time.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Smoking Band had just come in because we was in
the we had sort of bike concres like, oh, your mates,
we're going to what's it the Oyster Barclays. It's a
great little pub in Literally the Smoking Band had just
come into force. And yeah, there was twenty of us
there weren't there, and it was brilliant. We did like
the signing in front of made it a really good
sort of thing and everyone was cracking. Fact, so this

(19:51):
Bounce was going bersa getting locked out of it. Well yeah,
it's yeah, brilliant, but this is.

Speaker 5 (19:58):
The time when it's still possible to get major label
record deal as an indie band, and so we was
a bit like should we should we go independent or
should we hang Honestly, if we can get a major Obviously,
if you got a major record label behind her, it opened.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Loads of doors for you, and that was the routes
of big, big success.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
But there was a taste at the time as well
for you.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think it was.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
Just coming to the end of that, it was entering
like the landfill in the era where it was started
to become less fashionable. But yeah, bands were getting signed,
especially bands from Manchester as opposed to bands from Grimsby. Yeah,
but we chose to go independent. We just we just
liked Mike and Serra. They were you know that we
felt like they believed in us.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
And I don't regret to this.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
Day doing that because I just think, you know, because
we had a small label behind us, we were always
doing things.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
We're always active, we always had ball was always in
our court.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
We could always choose what we were going to do,
and we had people giving us a bit of money
and a bit of advice and support.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Were as opposed to a.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Lot of bands got picked up by bigger labels. Only
a small percentage of those were actually pushed. The rest
were just kind of kept on a shelf. Yeah, just
kind of just yeah, just just just kind of.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
Well, that's what happened to the Libertines, wasn't it. They
got picked up by Rough Trade, Yeah, and they got
shelved and then when strokes just blew up overnight in
the UK, rough Trade looked to their roster and was like, oh,
We've got our own answer to it already, you know.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeahs.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
You know, sometimes the market decides your fate, don't it,
or another band become in current beside your fate.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
Yeah yeah, but you don't have that kind of agency,
like you don't have that control yourself. Whereas we were
just like the label were going to prepare to try
and grow with us, and we were just gonna just
give it one hundred percent. Yeah, just put our own
gigs on there as many gigs as we could around
the UK, just hassle people trying to get better gigs,
get on festivals, get support slots, and was just chipping

(21:53):
away for ages. It was always difficult because it's all
about contacts, isn't it. And if you don't have those contacts,
you just you really after mustle hard to get the smallest.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
Even just finding a gatekeeper for a concert orpero or
something like that can be nightmare.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Can't really can what.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
We did get Glass to by of course because I
had a stage, a small stage a Glass We got to.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Play that a few times, I think when we first
moved to Manchester, though, it's like it was a bit
of a when you've been pitching old in Grimsby, you know,
then you got to Manchester's like massive, wide open space, like.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Fucking hell, this is huge.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
And I remember our very first time we went as
a band to Bay Keller and watched these bands and
it's very clicky, very scenes to me, and there was
always like kids like boof on Urdos and Air Spray,
you know, like Mantle, and then.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
We just didn't fit in.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, we didn't fit in. We didn't and then we
sort of like started, you know, people was warming to
slowly and then we ended up like you know, going
to last people to leave the parties like fucking hellies
and look like pretty wild like the Late Rooms remember
that and William Freying and the fucking it's the rogues.
You know, nobod used to go out scrapping, but that's

(23:05):
how it looked.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Us looked like scout.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Do you think obviously you had that working class aura
about it didn't Yeah, you know, to your style, your
music everything. Do you think that do you think that
Hinduja when you first got to Manchester and who's trying
to make contacts or do you think I think do
you think leaning into that it helps you?

Speaker 3 (23:20):
It kind of made you just stand out in a sense.
You know, I feel like me personally, I don't feel
like I did lean into it.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
I feel like I was trying to get away from
it a little bit. Yeah, I do feel like it
definitely helps you, no, and I think it hinders you
if you're from a working class background, because most of
the people that are the gatekeepers are from a more
of an upper middle class background, and it's only natural
that they're gonna they're going to find it harder to

(23:46):
connect with people from a different walk of life.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
I think it's just human nature, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (23:50):
So that's why I think thoors open more easily for
the people who are from a similar background. That's where
you get a lot of famous successful artists are from
the art school and from wealthy families. Also, it gives
you that kind of You've got that freedom to to
maybe take a few years out of your life and
try and not have to worry about whether.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
That just having you know, even just that immediate sort
of like who you go to for guidance. I your parents.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know, my parents didn't have the first fucking thing
about business, and they're still don't and they didn't have
the first thing about anything in that regard in terms
of promoting music and becoming successful as a musician, Like
when you are from these wealthy backgrounds, like everyone around
you is successful.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
You know, that breed success it you know.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
But I was like to forward on about that. Oh yeah,
I've whereas where we was doing it as like what
we've been used to work a lot of bands was
just like you said, there was like fucking you know,
was just doing it so that that's all I was doing,
just the band surviving. I don't know, but we was

(24:56):
doing nine to five jobs to going to London a fiesta,
getting back at like four or five in the morning
and half seven coming to you know, they were doing
nine to five job sort of thing, and that aspect
of it was Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
I think you know what I mean with.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
The difference is that is like you say, you've you've
got city bands and then you've got sort of like
a you know, like Grimsby. You know, We've just been
used to working, working and getting on with it. So yeah,
so I think in a way probably that didn't favor
us where we want as committed, you know, like where you.

Speaker 5 (25:27):
See these bands, Yeah, we weren't able to just I
mean we did a lot of gigs around the UK
and a few outside the UK as well, but we
just weren't able to go to commit to like yeah,
we're gona drop everything and go on a thirty day
tour like some bands would have been in that position,
Like especially younger bands are more in that position. We was,
I mean, we was mid twenties at this point. So
it's that our age where you have got bills to pay.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
You know, You've still got that even though you're going
to the city and you're trying to make it, you've
still got that working class mentality and yeah, yeah, like yeah,
you know, it's like as long as your bills are paid,
you can do whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
After that guy, yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
We was living like real hand to mouth, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 5 (26:04):
Like we was all was doing the call center jobs,
and we just wanted to when we got there, we
all just wanted like the most the easiest job we
could get. Basically they just keep it, pay our bills
and allow us to concentrate on the music after we
finished work. I didn't want a career that was going
to consume all of our time and energy. I remember

(26:25):
going for a job at this there's just loads of
sales jobs going on, do you know what I mean?
And I remember with a job in Manchester and the
guy got everyone in the room who was applying and
he gave this big speech about we're not going to
be normal people. We're going to be abnormal. We're going
to make millions of pounds, We're going to do We're
going to work loads of hours. You're going to do
all this and then you have to You said, now,
is there anyone in this room that doesn't want to
be part of that journey?

Speaker 3 (26:45):
And I just put my hand up.

Speaker 5 (26:48):
I don't want that kind of job. I thought this
was like a call center job. I'm sorry, he said.
He said, thank you very much for being honest, Rogerine.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
What would have happened if you just, you know, if
you didn't have the bottom to say not getting sucking?

Speaker 5 (27:03):
This is I mean, we had a really clear idea
about what we were going to do for the next
three or four years.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
We were going to give it all.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, but work at the same time, well.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
We had we had to do that, didn't we And
we didn't have the we weren'ting to be able to
live off the flats.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
Yeah, So you know, if we'd have been from Manchester,
we might have lived at a parents houses in a
few years.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
But we didn't have that option either.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
We had to just work like basement flat, absolutely disgusting.
It's just this guy, this guy called camera Camal I
think it's called Camalo. Yeah. He was like yeah, yeah,
you know. And we got in an absolutely reached to damp.
No windows or like that, but it was like, yeah,

(27:45):
fucking this is.

Speaker 5 (27:46):
Is this the Blancaster Road flat where it's like the
first bit as soon as you came in was like
a bunk attack.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
No car like we had.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
We had the control of every single flat. I'm talking
is probably fifty flats. We had the control of every
single flats power. Oh wow, there was one one. We
had a party right and it was about about eleven
and the next day and Manon was in the fucking
control and just going switch that the door for his

(28:20):
bloat has come fighting for you went.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Okay, switching my fucking power off. Room just for everyone
just trying to cook a fucking chicken.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's just bed but yeah, yeah, it just crackers out,
like I had a problem with someone's in there.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
I think it's in my bedroom. And something's like and
it's come out. Yeah, don't worry.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
About I'll send someone around while you're at work. I
was like, yeah, And I come home and had a
dartboard in my bedroom. I come over and see two
scouts has just playing what you're doing. It's like, oh, yeah,
yeah anywhere. I mean, yeah, I just wanted to go
through it all.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, there's just don't just scal screw No. It's good.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Used to like it because it was a bit of
a bit of a party flat, so everyone could sort
of like go back there, you know, do what you
want in the basement. No one can hear you. But yeah,
it gets the time when you.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
Think, yeah, you're going to do that for a few years,
I suppose you start to get tired of it, don't you.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, he's training and yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
So how long after the band got together did you
start recording Shop Lowcome.

Speaker 5 (29:33):
We recorded that in two thousand and seven, Robert Robert Snow,
Chris Snow, Yeah, Noise Box Studios. But we've already had
a lot of the songs written. I mean some of
the songs, like we still play some of the songs
that we didn't have very first gig. Do you know
what I mean, like Satellites and Awfume Boy and mister

(29:53):
Stevens was on there, and then the song that eventually
became Black and White. Few we did that, it was
a different version, didn't what was it?

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Crazy days?

Speaker 3 (30:01):
You sound? What are you have no memory of that?

Speaker 5 (30:06):
Our first single was Trophies of Love and that did
pretty well, to be honest, Like that was end of
two thousand and six and Steve Matt was like the
main DJ. This is like the what that is if
you want to get in any show, it's his show
Radio one on Wednesday night whoever it was, And I remember.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Release week it got on Steve Lamark.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
I didn't listen to it, but people were telling me
about it, like and then remember the night after I
just put a Radio one on about six o'clock just
wonder if all will we play it again? It just
came on and in the flat and then he gave
it a big speel afters about how how much he
liked it and what a great song it was. And
then at that point like like my missus Leanne turned

(30:47):
to me when she was she couldn't believe it's like
you're gonna make it?

Speaker 3 (30:50):
And I was like, yeah, maybe we are.

Speaker 1 (30:51):

Speaker 5 (30:52):
Because everything was just this was our first single was
we started to get a fan base together. Things were
really bubbling.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
There's a good scene in Manchester that was and it
felt really exciting. And then he didn't really plays that
much after that. He did plays on and off, but
it never really Like.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
I remember we were supporting Peak Do Rhythm Factory in London.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
No that that want the Peak dockety gig. He came
to watch us when we played there. That's right, we
had the interview.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, when he came up and he was like, boys,
how are you doing? Yeah, I come to see Yeah,
you're on the show tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
That this sounds like I feel like we had an
interview on his show and I feel like we didn't
do a very good interview.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
We didn't we do it. We just we froze. Were
just on about like edg Jogs and stuff like that,
and he's like, probably thinking, Jos, I can always remember
the edg Jogs getting mentioned. He was like and he
looked at us like that.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Got to do what he was He was a peak
of addiction, thinking these weird.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Like that that like we had a foot in the door.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Then Yeah, maybe we blew it a little bit with
that interview, but that was like a first interview. We
just didn't have any practice, not thought about it. We
just went to London, did a gig and air let's
go do an interview. Yeah, I feel like it was
a bit rough as well. Usually yeah just always on over,
you know what I mean. And I feel like, yeah,
that was maybe a missed opportunity. But after that we

(32:21):
got support from John Kennedy, who was quite a big DJ.
He played some Frontier and Holderly Edge quite a lot.
Eventually we started to get in with the enemy and
they'd started to write about us and review our albums.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
That that woman I think she's died now and he
isn't in the DJ really good she was, Yeah, she
was quite a bit.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah Nightingale was it.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, she was like really into us.

Speaker 5 (32:46):
So we was getting quite a lot of radio play
for an independent band, and it was just it just
kind of bubbled along, Like we got got to that
point with Steven Mattur It's just it was simmering and
it's going to boil over and it's gonna we're gonna
blow any minute, and it just kept simmering and simmering, simmering,
and then eventually you start to think maybe it's not
going to happen. And when we put out the second album,
Passion Pain Loyally, what yeah was.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
That this was twenty ten.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
We thought we had a really strong batch of songs,
Like we thought the first album was quite punky but experimental,
but this.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
We dropped it to sort of like because I remember
saying too when I was like, well, just I think
rather than shot local to me, when I listened to it,
I think really raw. We did it live.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
You recorded album live as opposed.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so you all played in the
room at the same time tracking it and then it
just got mixed the master.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (33:38):
Well we know we overpos that, but basically we didn't
do it to a click so it wasn't all like
programmed and it around it.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Yeah, just basically we just made it hard for the producer.
Earlier we did We didn't know about the process. We
just went we want to do it this way, this
is how we work and how and where did you
do that? Sorry? His Noisebox Studios is that in Manchester, Manchester?
Still the guy that.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
One Christmas yeah, yeah, about well just getting into Passion
Pain and Loyally Yeah yeah, So I we come to
the sort of like agreement. I said, look, it sounds
for me, it sounds a lot better as a as
an album and more fuller if Rob was just the songwriter,

(34:23):
you know, because I think when I listened to Shot Locally,
I was like saying, it raw, but there's the separation.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Of like me, it sounded like two or three different bands.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
A yeah, yeah. There was no sort of like stability
of like, oh yeah, this is you know when you
listen to.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
It was It wasn't like an album that I'd been
written start to finish a piece of music.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
In that sense the songs.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
You know, I've got a song, you know, like this
kind of thing, and it would just collaborate, collaborating them
all together. Where it was Passion Pain Loyally was like
you say, it's what remember, Like we took a bit
of time after.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
That's fine.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
After Shop Local we did we went away and got
a synth, didn't we because we were like we felt
like the guitar thing was coming to an end, like
people were losing People were a bit like sneary about
it in the press, like, oh, there's another indie band
kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
So we felt like we need to do something different.
So we got a synth.

Speaker 5 (35:17):
We couldn't play it, but we figured, you know what,
we it's figured something out with it. And we had
a lot of dancy stuff, didn't we like shapes and.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Another one of yours animals and just it was it was.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
It was seemed to be going in two directions, like
a like a dancy direction which we could have gone in,
and then like more of a songwriter direction with more
Anthemix sound.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
We just kind of chose that route.

Speaker 5 (35:41):
In the end, and we we just we got a
lot of good songs out of that last like letter
for Annie and pop song and.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Pop songs great.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
It's one of the biggest songs and i'd say one
of your crowd favorites.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, I mean so yeah. When we put that out,
I really thought, this is the one people are going
to have to This is you know what I mean.
Can't argue with that. And then it came out and
it was just like nothing happened, Like no one was.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
It won't getting a lot of play, it won't getting
a lot of press, and it's just it just things
just kept carrying on as they were, you know, I
mean I started to think maybe maybe it's not going
to happen at that point, you know, I mean I don't.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
Know, you just you do start to lose art a
little bit.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
Yeah, Yeah, especially like the grind that you're put into
it to even putting out one song. Do you know
it's a grinding it from start to finish, from writing
it to performing it, to recording it to relate y. Yeah,
the money, time effort, the emails you've sent out, all
the bullshit that comes about.

Speaker 5 (36:35):
Like you said earlier, there's so much of what you
do now is like it's five percent creative and it's admin.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Yeah, you're forced to be, you know, content manager, social
media manager. It's it's ridiculous, but everyone's assets. So it's
like you either get get involved with it or you're
going to miss out. Yeah, going back to pop song,
But what was the inspiration behind that? I think I
get what the song is about in a sense, but
what was the inspiration? Was there anything going on with

(37:03):
the band at the time that kind of inspired the
meining behind that?

Speaker 5 (37:06):
What we were talking about earlier with the feeling a
little bit that the industry was very upper middle class
and we didn't.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
We weren't, so we just felt like we were. They
were never gonna embrace us.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Did pop song, I've always had this in this in
the pop song was kind of like a little bit
based on that. On them two lads from Virgin who
came to Yeah, and this was absolutely I couldnt get
MA had around them. There's these two lads, right, the
uncle worked at.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Virgin was it Virgin?

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah, and they came down to Manchester. Yeah, and they
came down to Manchester to watch the heartbreaks and heartbreaks.

Speaker 5 (37:53):
And they were a great bands and they were younger
than us in a bit, you know, that looking and
just a bit more.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Well they had like the singer did
but work with Barbery and that they had that whole
modeling pretty boy yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Ones, I think it's like run yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
And things like that. But yeah, getting back onto that,
there was these two lads, two young lads, save looking
and you can't get a conversation out of him about
music because all that was there for there was just
like they've been sent by the uncle and all I
was there.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
I was like, oh yeah, I wait for Rgin trying to.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Get trying to get them roll basically, and you know,
you're trying to spark conversating and they had no background.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
I remember having having a chat with a couple of them,
So I don't want to like, I'm not trying to
dehumanize or anything like that. Were there were nice lads,
but I just what I was thinking at the time
was like the world we come from, that is there's
millions of people. Yeah, and if you can connect with that,

(38:56):
that world, that working class world, you can, you know,
potentially make a lot of money, like Oatist did. That's
why Wastis exploded so much because there wasn't really many
working class bands like that. So when one comes along
that connects with lots of people, it just kind of
cleans up way. Because I felt like the labels were
missing a trick by being quite insular and just being

(39:18):
quite cronious about who they were going to sign and
open the doors.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
It was through the enemy.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
If the enemy championed the band in the magazine, everyone
dived on them, do you know what I mean? Everyone
wanted to know them.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
You know.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
It's like I just felt if you had a bit
of vision and maybe just thought like maybe this music
could achieve something and get maybe give bands like it
was a bit of a chance, or maybe they just
didn't like us.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
There is always.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
But it's almost like, but what's better? Was it better
then than it is now? Because at least then you
was getting somewhere on the merit of your music. Do
you not the merit of your following non social media?
I think so is it better then?

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Do you know?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
I think my theory on that is is like now
people are independently just doing stuff on their own. You
don't need these labels. I mean, there's a lot of
artists that that JK is from me. He's got his
massive you know, he's not got his own leg. He
just runs it all himself. He does really well out
of it, Like called JK is from Birmingham and he's
got like it's kind of like a bit drill kind

(40:23):
of thing. A right, Okay, it's not my bag, but
his story is really good, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (40:28):
And that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
You know, there's there's a lot of artists but they're
not needing these labels, you know, because labels they tend
to chew back to They just take your money off
you chew you up and then you know, split you out.
So if you're if your own, like now you've got
that opportunity to do it, whereas back then, I don't
think that like the internet.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
And that one. Well, there is another thing I wish
we'd done.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
I wish then that we'd learned how to record ourselves,
like like I can we can do that now?

Speaker 3 (40:58):
It just would have opened up so many more.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
We just got stuff done so much more quickly, rather
than having to pay for studio time, you know, Mike
was shelling out for studio time and and then wait
for the you know, you'd go in the studio, you
have like two days in there, and then you go
away and you come back and you wait for it
to get sent to, you listen to it, you send
an email backs and what about can we try this?

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Can we try that? And it's just such a long process.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
See I love that. I love that process.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I love it. But now we could do it ourselves
with our own.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, don't get me wrong, Like with Heler, we could
do it ourselves.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
But we just wouldn't, you know, because we we romanticize
over the idea of like cherry picking the studio we
want to go to yeah, you know, chatting to the producer,
getting a vibe from them that like initial discussion or
what do you think to this, and finding ideas back
and forth, and then you build up that buzz to
get in there and then you're all there. For I
love that, Yeah, yeah, for me, it's part of the

(41:54):
whole musical process. That's one of my favorite Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
Yeah. But as in like like now, like what you're doing,
it's the aspect that you can just go straight into
central all and record because where it's like yeah, it's
it's the software like your Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Think that's what a lot of artists are doing as well.
So oh yeah, yeah, that's.

Speaker 5 (42:17):
You're a little bit of disadvantage because you're not as
productive as you could be.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
But I get it.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
I mean, you can't beat the expertise of a good producer.
Well if you know, they're probably going to do a
better job than than the band is that call themselves.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
So we went to that one in Garvin Monaghan in
wolver Rampton. That's the first time I've ever sort of
like it's the first time I've ever witnessed sort of
like doing We was in there, in and out really quick,
I thought and it just dos like free takes of everything.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
And it was the you could put everything into place
like auto tune your voice and you know that kind
of thing, wasn't it. And that's the first time ever
ever recorded and sort of like oh yeah that you know,
technology is advanced now sort of if.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
You don't have to actually be good singing, you can
tune the voice for I mean, yeah, there was one
what song we did record with him? And it well,
there's one song remember that?

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Yeah, I still don't like you can actually.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Early remember.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Tune is fun And.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
We did some Rob Distant, Yeah, did some recording Rob
Distant in our old band and me and my vest
was producing one of the songs on that.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah, great great guy.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
Excellent musician as well, phenomenal producer as well. Some of
the stuff he could do is people. But we was
mixing this song and we like moved the syllable, like
pitched it a couple of octaves up, and it's like
we played it to Rob one night and he was
like just going back a bit, what was that? You know,
like he couldn't compend it because it sounded so natural,

(43:59):
but he couldn't compare because he knew we would not
have done it. Yeah, it's like his voice good fun.
But so Passion, Pain and Loyally. What year was that
when you do that? Twenty ten?

Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah, yeah, so you was it twenty seventeen where you
guys went on a break or was it sooner than that?

Speaker 3 (44:14):
We had two breaks?

Speaker 5 (44:16):
Really, like after Passion Paying Loyally, at that point, I'd
kind of moved back home because I'd had my son Dominic,
So like, did.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
You have him in Manchester then come back here or
you came back here? We came back to have him
you wanted to sort of raise him here?

Speaker 5 (44:29):
Yeah, set up and then you know, became a teacher
and started a normal life kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
So at that point of you kind of I was
checking out at that point. Yeah, yeah, you knew what
you knew within yourself. You'd reached a point where.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
Probably what to keep going didn't Yeah yeah, yeah, it's
kind of me just like I felt like after Passion,
Paying Lowly didn't didn't kind of blow up. I thought, well,
not going to top that, so what what what would
we do now? And then like we had a final
Lether gig twenty eleven at the Beach Coma was just
a mental gig, really, I mean it's footage of it.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
It's just crazy.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Someone this lad called stay right. He got he fell
over in the mosh put it right and he was
on all fours and this fucking people's booting him. This
bouncer was scragging him around going up.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
You know, he really injured his ankle and it snapped.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
He snapped his shad and clean absolute clean is But
that gig was just I hated it because it was
just uncontrolled.

Speaker 5 (45:28):
It was.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Controlled. I mean the rat hand.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Now your gigs, yeah, well I can imagine I can
imagine that awful Boy's clientele. You know, in the prime
ten twelve years ago.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
The crowds were just bonkers and that's what made me
think like there's something in the music that's worth pursuing,
because people were just like buzzing for it, you know.
I mean it's almost like I felt like at times
the music was bigger than the venue, Like it just
it's like the venue was bursting with the kind of city,
especially the gigs in Manchester and Cleeforbes, but even like

(46:03):
in places like Scum.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Forb or if we go up to Scotland.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Yeah, you feel when you play there, don't.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Yeah, you feel coffee indup when you're there, don't.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Yeah, we have done a few times.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
Yeah, looking back at that beach Camra gig, it makes
me wondering how like I think about like it looks
like it's all like a bit of a peek there.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
So it was a bit of a daft thing to
end it at that point.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
But back at the time, back back then, I just
didn't have the time young well, the baby and then
another one on the way a year or so after that,
so I just want able to do it.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
Sounds like it's got a bit like work for you mate,
do you know what I mean? Well, it does, and
I feel like I have to like check myself sometimes
and go, this is getting.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
A bit too too a lot of gigs, don't you
It becomes we have.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Done a lot.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, But it's like it's kind of
sometimes like you're only talking to like sort of something
out you're meeting up in rehearsing and you're not like
hanging out of each other. Do you know, it's quite
You get to like, I think I need to put
the fun back in it, do you know what I mean,
it sounds like you kind of lost the fun you was.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
You was grinding and grinding, but you won't getting that
returning one. We had fun.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I'll tell you, we had a fun in the Manchester
Days that I couldn't, you know, I couldn't. You can't
get any wilder than that for me, do you know
what I mean?

Speaker 4 (47:18):
It was like, yeah, yeah, what's the wildest story you've
got from the Manchester Days?

Speaker 2 (47:27):
A teacher?

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Now, Robert, Yeah, just rob on there for this one though.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
I'll tell you it was very in this hotel room.

Speaker 4 (47:41):
And any story that starts with me and Christy Day
was in this hotel room. You know you're going to
get canceled and.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
This big, big light. I was just sat there like
I'm going to go into detail. And then around the
Christy Christy days of the ball at naked, absolutely nothing
con right, looked like a water bomb body, And what
the fuck you do?

Speaker 3 (48:07):
When he went taking a picture? I went, obviously, what
are you doing it for?

Speaker 5 (48:12):
You?

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Went our manager at the time, Money Lee. It not
long managed us. He went to send it to Monnie Lee.
Fucking hell. I went down and he'd sent this picture
of him and nothing cold didn't realize they've done it.
And then Monney found it like quite funny and he
started printing all these pictures T shirts, Christy naked on it.
Who's going fucking ballistic? He was like, oh my god,
but that's that's that's timid. But yeah, wild times, like

(48:37):
just staying up for days.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
You know.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
I just remembers having lots of car trouble, my my,
just logistical problems and nightmares.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
And things like that. Money in London, in London, Yeah,
tell her. Yeah, we did a gig in London, like
just before Christmas. Remember where I am.

Speaker 5 (48:55):
It was at Metro Bi and Oxford Street, just before
I went stage. Chris went because christ was and he went,
I've lost my carkeays don't where they are?

Speaker 3 (49:02):
All right, okay? And then I remember always with the gig,
I was thinking, this is a bit of a problem.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Trying to perform, and it was like it was pretty
bad weather as well.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
We could I had a Chris had a fiesta and
I had a fiesta.

Speaker 5 (49:19):
So my fister Key actually got in his car opened
the door but it once once that ignition, so we
could get in the car and we just kind of
were just squashed in the back of this fiesta, like
it was so cold, couldn't get the eating on or anything.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
We had, was just like cuddling each other all night,
just like for warm you know.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
I mean I remember going six in the morning, like
I went to McDonald's and I was like early stages
of hypophermia underneath the blower and the toilet, was trying
to warm myself up.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
And then how do we get home?

Speaker 2 (49:46):
They managed to get get a locksmith, came out, charged
the fortune in charge the fortune and Mike's on Soo Square,
like right in the middle of London, the traffic ward
and was going round around.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
What are you guys doing here? It was like, yeah,
we fucking we lost the carca in the car.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
We know, did he ever find the case?

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Listen to this, the uncanniness of this, it's like a
millions of one. Right. So anyway, two years later we
did A year later we did a gig at the
Metro Bar and this bouncer went and he's your car
key mate, no ship. Honestly, it was like you're kicking
all that time. He must have had him in his pocket.
He must have thought. I bet he was locking out

(50:25):
watching a lot sat in the car like horrible. All
the way home that window there was no eating in
the car was as well. Yeah, absolutely bolted. But yeah,
even like we did this tour like Scotland and that
was that was just all the way to Aberdeen. Yeah
it was good, but Aberdeen was the last gig and
we had to drive home from there and it was
absolutely horrific.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
One.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
Yeah, HeLa played in the Nest last year, played bel Well,
you know, obviously we'ven't been so far away. I was
like I'm going to I'm going to drive up there
with the misses. But we went up a couple of
days before in like can't on a lock on that,
you know. Yeah, had a really nice time, but I
totaled my car a few weeks before that day after
docks Fest, on the Friday of docks Fst weekend, we

(51:09):
supported the viewing Lincoln and I was driving back from
supporting the view and my car broke down on the
A forty six near Lincoln Netline. It's like fox, So
I've got Kate to pick me up next day.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
With docks Fest steaming all fucking day Sunday for best
go get this car off the side of the road.
Wentz go get it, ended up totaling it, smashing it
up complete right off. Yeah yeah, So got paid out
and bought this fit punt over for a grand see
what happens. And they drove it to Vanessa same week,

(51:40):
literally got it and I even told the boo I
was getting off. I was like, oh, best be all
right and taking it to Vanessa this week.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
He was like.

Speaker 4 (51:48):
It sound it's been alright since Yeah, that's the one.
I said, So anyway, sorry mate, back.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
To the same, Like, yeah, Miles, you do on the road.
Stuff like that just happens on time. Like we always
had cracked cars as well. We never even had a van,
do you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (52:05):
Like it was just it was literally like in the
pop song lyrics unshored or for driving glass that forward
car right, I can always granted his car, Yeah, the
room one and you you went.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I bought it off anyway, this escort absolutely, it is
like a banger.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
I bought off him. One morning.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
I come down the car back, I was like, where
is it out of all the smart cars in.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
This car park that got micked?

Speaker 2 (52:32):
He got used in the braid really straight up on
the jewel was in with and shot I got.

Speaker 5 (52:36):
A phone call as we were going to gig in France.
The police say, we found your car. Yeah it's can
you come and get it. It's the engine still running.

Speaker 6 (52:45):
The engine still on the dart board in the back
of mate. Oh Porsches and stuff like that, And I
was like the escort got mixed and used.

Speaker 5 (52:57):
And we were just really like like slap dash and
ramshackle all the time, like on stage where our equipment
was rubbish, I remember, And.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
We just didn't. We just didn't.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
We liked being like that, like the drive bat so
you spill a pipe and they the keyboard. Honestly, it
just went fucking into like and it's doing Shanghai and
it's just going for ages going. Then everyone was looking
at us going was like, we don't know how to
stop fucking health.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I remember we were like to do something for.

Speaker 5 (53:36):
Man's football teams will get bands to kind of do
a bit of promo for him.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
Yeah, and it was a bit of a corporate thing.

Speaker 5 (53:43):
So we were asked to do a gig for man
City in the middle of Market Street in Manchester, set
up a little stage so those people were shopping like
Saturday afternoon and there's like a man City banner and everything,
and we just, yeah, we'll do it.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
It can't might be good to get in with them
and get some free stuff or whatever.

Speaker 5 (53:59):
We just walked up like we had a keyboard and
I was like, no keyboard stand, So I'm just going
to take an ironing board. I just thought it would
be funny and a bit like quirky to be having
a keyboard on an ironing board.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
And I just remember we got there and the guy
was like, you're not taking an ironing board on stage.
We just weren't. We just didn't get it, you know
what I mean? This is corporate kind of it's meant
to look cool and where they're being just idiots, do
you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Pulling up to gigs and stuff like that, and just
people like seeing us pulling up and.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Have a tour bus. Yeah, this is all used to
tell everyone that we are our own tall boys. People
thought we were like dead famous, Yeah, come back.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Home, and people like, honest to God, like propably wanted
to know and stuff like the thought was in Manchester
was famous. It fucking wanted in the basement. Yeah, I
was twenty five for about five years, fucking Telegraph Prince
Paul Smith twenty five years ago. It's been twenty five
las five, but yeah, it's just it was it was

(55:03):
absolutely scarcy, you know, just preor mental light. It make
a really good story. It's like it reminds me a
bit like you've seen Anvil, the the heavy documentary on Anvil.
Absolutely a little. It reminds me a little bit of that. Yeah,
obviously they're on a bigger scale light, but it was,
you know, the chaoticness.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
And well just the kind of just the Anvil like this.
They're in the forties but they're still going and.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
They're just like living normal lives and trying to be
an heavy metal band on the side.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
And they've been going for years and years. And back
in the day they were on festivals with big bands
and stuff, but it.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Was between them and Metallica. They was there was they
was deemed to be the big big band, Universal Records
and everyone one of them. Yeah, and all of a
sudden Metallica come on the scene, stole the thunder and
then it all went down from and the lead singer
was like he was doing delivering meals on wheels and.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
That kind of thing, and and it.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Just the store is absolute brilliant hour and then the
last picture of the thing, it shows him there playing
this massive crowd in some were like Japan and there's
about thousands and it's good. But yeah, it's just kind
of right. The story of that reminds me of us
in a little way, do you know what I mean? Now,
it's sort of like you get these you get these promises,

(56:19):
and you it faced you you're disarting, but then you
get used to being disharting quite a lot, and it's
like it becomes the norm.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
We had.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
With the Ellen de general Show. We got sent this contract,
so we was on this CD complimentary CD in America
on this magazine, and the producer of someone at the
Ellen de Generes's show, which yeah you know they're going
to news, pops on as a needle clip basically. So
what it was for for every ten seconds of this

(56:50):
needle clip got played, so laies and gentlemen, David Beckham,
what's on? But it was two thousand, six hundred dollars,
so we think, fucking this goes on for like three
d and sixty.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
I remember watching the Ellen Show a lot.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
That was and it was like this massive thing, like
you know, to sign all his contracts with like the
Halfway House and all, and it was like, fucking hell,
this is it, this is this is our big moment America.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
Beforet it arrived in the strange that that's that's what
it was.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
It was just.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Absolutely but it's these kinds of things, and it was
like that what was that.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
What called not in all record not in publishers where
we we and Mike cong we had a bit of
a They was interested in us and they ad like
we said a.

Speaker 5 (57:46):
Lot of like just kind of flirting with englishes and
other management. We stayed with my cancer the whole time.
And then Whennie Lee joined in, like the fight not
the kind of second phase of the band, which is
after we did our last gig, just called it a day,
we moved back home, and then.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
A year later we started up again. That is that
when Sam came on. Yeah, not long after that we
got Sam in because we thought.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
So when just just get a bit of an idea.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
So when after you broke up after passion, pain and loyally,
did you then go, oh, we should get back together
and and do coastal towns or was it or was
it just like we're all missing it?

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Let's get the band back together. Did you write a
lot of the songs? I remember telling me he wrote
quite a lot of the songs.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Was it Passion, pain or Coastal at the.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
Hasty Lane?

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Hasty Lane? Yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
Did a few there because obviously I mentioned a place
called Hasty Lanes in quite a lot of songs.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Yeah, that was more passion paying loyally. It's just like
a little lay by him.

Speaker 5 (58:46):
I was staying at a place in Altringham for a
while and there's a little lay by on the way
to work called Hasty Lane, and that's what used to
pack up and practice singing and writing songs for a bit.

Speaker 6 (58:55):
So that was that.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
But yeah, so that was past were playing lately.

Speaker 5 (59:00):
But then going forward to the next phase, we got
we got the Enemy spot didn't That's why we reformed. Basically,
I was kind of done with it, and then Chris
was just he just wanted to keep going and he
was like any little bit of attention on social media,
he would make a big fuss of it. And then
finally like Tom Clark from the Enemy had said something

(59:21):
about us, like gave us a bit of praise online,
and Chris contacted him got us a gig with them,
so then I was like, okay, Christ.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
Together that it was a great gig. I mean then
we did a few gigs with him and there was
just really you know, good lads and.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Their farewell tour and who else was on that was
just a girl on that No.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
That was remember, it was just various bans one we did.
We did about six or seven gigs with him over
the course of a couple of years.

Speaker 5 (59:52):
The baby Shambles tall them, We did a few baby shambles. Yeah,
just thinking about the enemy as well. It's what I
was mentioning earlier about leaning into that working class image
that Tom Clark does so well. Like I remember being
backstage and you know, the Enemy's music is very like
in your face kind of raucous India, isn't it. So

(01:00:13):
he's got a very much that's his kind of crowd
and very working class crowd, and he's not like that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
What he's off. What it's like on stage, it's different,
isn't it. He's quiet.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
I remember he was playing like breamim rahapsody on the
piano and he's very like articulate and he you know,
and then he gets out there and it's like it's
like Liam Galladal, you know what I mean, he plays
that well, like he knows his audience and he leans
into it and he gets you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
It's quiet, really really quiet, and he's like it's not
that big as well in it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
I remember was after the Manchester Academy game and was like,
you just have a look at that windroom minute and
see how many people is outside.

Speaker 3 (01:00:56):
I was like, fine, why and he's like, right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
We need to get a taxi fucking sorted so I
can get it. And he was he had a little
bit of an issue. I think he had a bit
of anxiety.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
And then we did a gig in Stockton and I
remember yearing to him there and he was like, I'm
not going to come watch it because of that, because
of the crowd situation.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Yeah, that would affect some people. Want Yeah, because we
get a bit with our crowd. We say it, we
do the yard.

Speaker 5 (01:01:26):
There's like I'm not going out there because people just
talk to you constantly and we don't want to be rude,
but you just you get kind of mind with a
lot and.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
I think where possible as well. It's it's it's better
for yourself if you've got somewhere to disconnect. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
And your first sort of introduction to the crowd is
when you go out and if you've got an opportunity
and it's better. Yeah, not just that as all, but
you can get yourself in his own, don't you like?
And that that's some of the funnest times being in

(01:01:54):
abandoned it when you're all like getting Yeah, you're getting
revved up and you're having a couple of tenners and
you know you're getting warmed up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
I need all looked really bad pop so low and robile,
keep it going. Yeah, carry on mate, why not? Yeah,
I'll tell you what really happened. Get lost here, you

(01:02:21):
know where it is.

Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
I'm going to get into the weeds about about Coastal
Tones from it anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
So now Smith is taking a pit stop. So yeah,
Coastal Tones? How did that come about? Then you said
some of it was a hasty line of it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
At the time.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
I don't remember them writing them before. I remember like
having a lot of bits of stuff that not didn't
get finished. And then when we reformed, we came back
to it. It's just the three of us to begin with,
and I remember doing and I just remember really wanting
some saxophone on a few songs. I just think saxophone
sounds great. And I mentioned the record album Didn't Didn't earlier.

(01:03:11):
So their first album has a great song on it
called the Assembly, and I remember saying to Sam Simmons,
who plays the saxophone on that, and he's like Sam Carlton.
I was like, oh, Soam Carlton's recorded the album right, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Sounds very talented, great producer, and he just does.

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
All sorts, and so I kind of like strategically groomed
him a little bit. I thought, right, let's get him
to do some live recordings for us, because just some demos.
Let's get him to do some demos and we'll just
kind of feel him, sound him out and see what
it's like. So we did that and then he kind of,
you know, it's just very easy going, easy to get
on with. So he kind of fitted him well. So

(01:03:49):
then we asked him do you want to do you
want to join as a fourth member because we just
needed to expand the sound a bit. We were doing
songs that were very hard to do as a three piece,
like I couldn't really play the key board, for example,
not very well. So I was playing the pop song
riff and singing all those lyrics and it was just difficult.
We couldn't make it sound big enough like it does

(01:04:09):
on the record. So we needed the fourth member and
Sam could take you know, he could do all the
jobs we needed to add that bit of musical savvy
to what we were doing, and he could record us
as well, which made it a lot easier.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
He recorded the full album.

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (01:04:25):
Mean we did it very much like bits and bobs
in different locations, but obviously he was the one at
the helm for the duration, and we had we just
had a bit more of a of an idea of
what we wanted it to sound like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
So more than the other two albums, it feels like
a whole piece.

Speaker 5 (01:04:42):
It's got a vibe to it, it's got kind of
a I guess it's very much an album about because
we all live back home.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
At that point, I was just going to get into that.

Speaker 4 (01:04:50):
It's very for me, that album, it's very nostalgic of
where we're from. Yeah, And I don't know why you've
managed to capture that, because I listened to it the
other day. You know I'm not album in a while,
but listening to it, it's quintessentially Clee Thoughts and Grimsby,
isn't I Yeah, you think.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
Yeah, I genuinely do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
And I don't know if that's just because I know
you guys, and maybe then the album name kind of
gives it that hint as well.

Speaker 5 (01:05:13):
But to me, it's like, I like songs that I've
got a melancholy feel to them, and I tried to
capture that. I think we had a song on Passion
Paying Loately called Harbor Lights, which was like the blueprint
for Coastal Tones really, so what that song sounds like
is what the whole Coastal Tones album ended up sounding
like for me. Yeah, And there was just a lot

(01:05:36):
more focus with that than with the other records, which
were lots of different styles mixed in.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
So we were really pleased with it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:42):
And by that point, I think this was like twenty fifteen,
we weren't really expecting to make it at.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
That point because we were too old to be considered.

Speaker 5 (01:05:53):
By the industry then, and we had normal jobs and
families and stuff like that, so we just weren't going
to be feasible to go and do a European tour
or something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
So we I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:06:04):
You kind of have like two voices in your head,
one telling you that you know, the realistic voice, and
another one saying, but maybe what what what if this happens?
What you never know kind of thing, And it's almost
like a little bit of a religion in a way,
like you know, if you think about it, it's probably
not possible, but it's more fun to think the other wage,
and it's more fun to believe in the story, and.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
That kind of keeps you going.

Speaker 5 (01:06:29):
I mean, we would even if it was impossible for
us to be successful, we would probably just do it
anyway because we enjoy making the music. But there's there
is always a chance that something unbelievable could happen, and
it could fall in the right person's.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
Hands at the right time, or it could blow up online.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
As you just never know.

Speaker 4 (01:06:45):
You just never know, and you and you'll never get
presented the opportunity unless you're consistent. Yeah, but like you said,
as long as it brings your happiness and you find
it fulfilling.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yeah, then then you've made it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
And yeah, well that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
The way, that's the way I say, anyway, if nothing
ever came of it, I've had a fucking blast doing it.

Speaker 5 (01:07:02):
I think I think a lot of bands and artists
and creatives need to appreciate that more.

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
I mean, I don't know what it's like to be
you know it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Is back now. Yeah, anyway, I'll be honest with you.
I'm disgusted mate what he's just told me. Sorry, carry on.

Speaker 5 (01:07:24):
Yeah, I'm just saying it's the for me, like making
the music is the most enjoyable bit, you know, Like
the way we work, I know, like I'd write a
lot of the songs, the lyrics and that well, it's
dead collaborative. Will often like Smiffy and Crystal will a
jam summer out, like they'll have a little bass and
drum beat at the play around and I'm like, okay,

(01:07:46):
let me put something to that and then we'll take it.
We'll record it on a phone, take it away, listen
to it, share it, come up with ideas and we'll
all chip in with ideas and obviously Sam as well.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
So yeah, that's that's for me.

Speaker 5 (01:08:00):
That's the best bit of it, seeing the music happen
and seeing it appear out of there.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
Sam was a massive.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Influence, and he's like he brought a lot to the table.
Play a saxophone, you can play out And the.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
Thing about Sam is for someone who can do it,
play all sorts. He just he wants to be If
you just said to him, right, just press that all
that key down for the entire song.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
He'd be all right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:22):
Yeah, he's fine. He's like, yeah, that means I can
get pissed now. It must just be like so easy
for him to play our stuff. I mean some of
the songs you're just literally just playing the same chord
all the way through.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
It's that simple.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
Yeah, he's a great guitarist as well, and you can
just shred.

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
His brothers as well.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
He made his brother I have made his probably long time.

Speaker 4 (01:08:42):
Was the talented the musician as well. Yeah, well it
was when I was younger. I don't if he keeps
it up anymore. Not seeing him in here. It's probably
ten years or so.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
I remember watching some there was the Spider's Web and
he did it, did a cover of the song.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
I can't what it was, and it won't go.

Speaker 2 (01:09:00):
As soon as he finished the song, you went on
the mic way that ship want it, it's to you
missus Robinson Simon, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, he's yeah,
he's like a bit of a bit of a breath
fresh air to have, you know, come along with us.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
Yeah, reinvigorating as well.

Speaker 3 (01:09:22):
Like it just kind of smooths out our sound a bit.

Speaker 5 (01:09:25):
And I was a lot of like our sound was
quite angular at the start, and now it's a bit
more I don't know, it's a.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Bit more fuller, a bit more commercial, maybe a bit.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
More mature, yeah yeah, mature, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
A bit more layered.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
But we don't like playing the socks, does he?

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
He hates it. He hates playing the saxophone.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
How do you get to that point where you fucking
can play an instrument' they But but you don't want to.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
You know. Like I said, I think he just finds
it hard work and he just wants to be chilling out.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
And yeah, I say, I say, yeah, wants ride. Yeah,
basically it should be a singer. Then got the easiest, right, then.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
Says often boy, got anything planned for the future, or
I know you've got this festival on twenty fourth of August,
haven't you. Yeah, Cleffork's Cricket Club.

Speaker 5 (01:10:14):
So yeah, I'd like to maybe come on again at
some point and talk about that. I mean, yeah, yeah,
I think I've got really like looking forward to I
think it's going.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
To be a big event for the town, definitely, mate.

Speaker 5 (01:10:25):
I mean, we want to play Docs again at some
point because those Docs gigs, with those reunique gigs we
did a couple of years ago were brilliant. We've done
the Yardbirds last three years and sold that out and
I don't know, probably play there again at some point.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
I was the most recent on twenty eighth December on
that Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
It's good really kids Spirit and last Wonder Kids. Yeah,
I was that was a good Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
Yeah, I was at the one before and I've obviously
he was.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
That's the first proper time I've like watched them fully,
you know, yeah, really really good.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
They got a cool vibean't yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
Guitarist Sam is good character. He's he plays with Zach
as well, his brilliant, brilliant musician and he's yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:11:08):
Yeah, Mint are coming on to do the gig later
on in the air, so they'll probably come on and
do I imagine him and Sam will come on. Sam
will come on and there a pair of characters, aren't there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Good like I say, it's like absolutely brilliant songs really
really like big great musician.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
There's so many good bands in Grimsby at the minute.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
I mean, I remember, yeah, I can always remember Zach
when I worked in clothes shop and Zach coming. He
used to pop in and yards me all the time.
And he's a really young kid after advice and I
was just stick at it mate. Yeah he did, you
know what I mean. I was like quite proud of
what he did, you know, because he's developed from this
this like young kid into this band. What for me,

(01:11:50):
he was making brilliant songs.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
Yeah, it was the basis in my first ever band.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
I think we was like fifteen and he was thirteen
or something. Yeah, yeah, tiny.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
It's like I said, because from a small town, you
see a lot of you know, a lot of sorry,
a lot of people's you know in the link into
other bands, you know, and it's good. It's good that
you know people have you know, Sam Simmons even played
now band, an't they.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
It's getting to the point now where every fucking band
in town is like the traveling, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
That's what massive live.

Speaker 5 (01:12:26):
It's just like one big family and it's like Grimsby
is like a bit of an island from the rest
of the country. Like I think I've said this beerfore
and interview. But because there's no big city thereby, that's sucking.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
All the nightlife a satellite. Yeah, we just have to
just stick around and make a scene here.

Speaker 5 (01:12:41):
But the flip side of that is people don't pay
much attention for what to what's going on in Grimsby,
which is a shame because great bands.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
Now it's I think I had a little bit of
a lull and now it's like it's really strong.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
You know, it died of death for a good ten years,
but everyone's got back into it. Probably every episode. I
everyone's like it's popping off.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Now, even even like you like say like Leon Blanchard,
he's now coming back. Yeah, you know, it's kids, you know,
it's it's good to see sort of thing, you know.
Like I wish there was a few more the older bands.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
Of younger bands.

Speaker 5 (01:13:21):
I mean, I know, you've got like ever in revival
re els. Yea, there isn't the same appetite in that generation.
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
I don't know why. I just maybe music is just
not as important to people as it was to us.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
But look at look at look at the state of
like today's music. There's no guitar bands out is the wekended.
I don't even I can't even name one song. But
that's the kind of actually kind of big guitar band
at the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
And you know, I guess it's been done a lot though,
and it that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
It'll come back around there on, it will come forward circle.
I think, I'll be honest, I think we're on the
precipice of something at the minute. I feel like more
guitar music gaining more traction, like band like bands like
Lottery when I was getting a number one, you know,
things like that. Yeah, yeah, there's like there is And
I don't know whether it's just like there's enough to
go around for everyone, but it does seem like there

(01:14:14):
is something genuinely there for guitar music at the like
there's no shortage of gigs.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Yeah, because I mean, for me, music at the minute
like what I don't really like listening to much of it.
But it's shock it ship there's no there's nothing there.

Speaker 5 (01:14:28):
It's like there's no it's hard to say it because
there's so much music out there.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
I mean there's probably stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:14:33):
There's probably brilliant stuff that we're not aware of that
we could just get on the phone right now and
I've listened to it if you only knew about it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
Yeah, you've got the saying is at the minute that
he's like, that's what coming out of prison and then
the just turning into like artists they're inside, right, and
you know it's like quite a few like ye prison
prison rapper.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
People you've just men mate, this is this is just sold.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
This is like you know when you just feed smith. Yeah,
but now it's like he sends as sort of like
evolving too. You'll see something and you go oh and
it sort of like pings your interest and then you
start noticing all these things like and you know it's yeah,
it's just I don't know. It just seems to be
a bit of a scene at the minute, like people

(01:15:23):
coming out of prison, and.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Maybe that's what he needed to do.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
That we need to.

Speaker 4 (01:15:28):
Got a gig in the whole next month, I reckon
we'll just kick off. No such thing as the Adelphi
is that it's pretty sma. Yeah yeah, yeah, great, great, Yeah,
there's there's not changed either. Yeah, there's an order on.
I think the Rods of Docks are headlining it all right.

(01:15:51):
I think Revival on it as well.

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
Yeah, that's one right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
When we played the Adelphie that was one of our
first it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
Was like a fourth gig our first out of town
on it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:00):
It was we made a demo of it, didn't we
which still got and that was the demo that we
just kind of like gave to everyone when we got
to Manchester.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
Sunder's art.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
I've not heard that we did a cover of Boots.
It's good, but it's rough, you know what I mean.
It sounds it sounds really uh live. Yeah, it's good,
it's good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
I am I say recently, it's probably a couple of
years ago. My dad was like, I've got got some
random ceed easy or is it?

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
And he gave me.

Speaker 4 (01:16:26):
One of them was like the session files from the
first ever EP I recorded, first ever band.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
It's called the Allies. It was me, Josh, Josh Pearson
and three others.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:16:38):
One of the songs it's called the Filth and it's
about the police running away from the police and stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:16:44):
And rob Bywater recorded the c P and it's you know,
for me, that was the first time I've ever recorded anything,
you know, I've never recorded a fucking thing, and then
got in and recorded the c P. Were recorded it
on the docs at the Yeah, the old room, you know,
I'm on the crossroads. Yeah, yeah, well I don't know Abar,
but Simon Millwood.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Used to say, yeah, Miller yeah. For a while, yeah, yeah, this.

Speaker 4 (01:17:12):
We were so bad on the c P that the
only way Rob could save it is by putting a
heavy reverb over every channel, so it sounds like you're
listening to the song under water. But I remember at
the time we were working buzzing with that, our first
body of work.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
You know, it was a lot of share.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
I've got it burned onto a d V. They actually
but there was me Christy Day and Admams was in
the band called Tokyo Jose. Yeah, and we played what
Tokyo Jose?

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Tokyo Jose.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
Yeah, there's a night club.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
It's like my fucking password at work, that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
There was a nightclub called Tokyo Joe's just under the flyover,
which is now I think it's the Food Kitchen, and
that used to be a night club called Tokyo Jose.
Used to hear all the stories about like the older
kids whosed to around bulls used to go, they have
like all that Prodigy played there and cal Cox and
all these DJs and and I was like eighty eight

(01:18:07):
was a bit of an era for like, you know,
when he was hearing all this stuff. So yeah, Toko
Joe's eighty eight and oh god, yeah it's it's funny
to listen to. But we did like all like covers,
like the JAT. I was massively into the jam Jam
did the verve so on. It did add some of
her own songs, but it's like you're saying, watching that, Yeah,

(01:18:29):
that was awkward playing the guitar light.

Speaker 3 (01:18:32):
That's that nervous. I was on the side like that
just didn't move all days.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
Like, oh gig, just doing like that. But yeah, it's
a buzz, isn't it. I'd love to be young again
and doing it all.

Speaker 1 (01:18:42):
You know, I have another runner with all the knowledge
of goden you know what I mean, and having that
foresight of like if I get into this, it's going
to be fucking amazing, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
Yeah, yeah, I think I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:18:55):
If you did it with a wisdom of old age,
you probably won't do it in the same way, you'd
probably miss out on a that's crazy stuff that you
would have done simply because you don't know what you're doing,
you know what I mean, Like I don't know, you
probably wouldn't. That went about the London gigs earlier, finishing
work at free, driving to London hoping that so and
so from Banana Records is going to turn up, like.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
Getting paid fifty quid and driving back. You'd only do
that if you're young and stupid. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
Your front was and development, Yeah, that's best almost where
we played it was that was that Rhythm Factory. When
was it La Marca? I don't know anyway, And this
the guy who put the gig on, he was like,
I could say around the boocket, He's going on, we
need to get some change for the support bands, and
he give us like fucking twelve quid or something like that.

(01:19:42):
That's not going to And it was this poor bloke
lad stood there who played guitar ramp and who's having
to get the boss was like, yeah, mate, there's the
money gold get yourself a taxi or Someone's like so.

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
I mean, just there's no money in it. So I
think sometimes you have to just be in it for
like the right reasons. And I think I think almost
the fact that there's less money in music now could
be a good thing, because it's gonna it's gonna whittle
down the people that are really passionate about doing people
that would just do it anyway, even if they know
there's going to be like pot of gold at the

(01:20:13):
end of the rainbow.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:20:16):
It's like when I was playing in bands before, when
I was younger, I didn't make nothing pennies. I think
the most ever monspans I got rob Bywall was playing
the Country and I played guitar on a few of
his songs and gonna give me like a hundred quid.

Speaker 3 (01:20:29):
I couldn't believe it, you know. I was like sixteen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:31):
I was like, I played, I played half the world
away for this, you know. But then now this time round,
I don't know if it's fluke, but we seem to
be doing all right in terms of money. We seem
to get some Yeah, yeah, it seemed to be doing
all right in terms of there's not I mean, we
put out quite a bit of music, done quite a
few music videos and things like that, and we've not

(01:20:52):
really had to reach into our own pockets.

Speaker 3 (01:20:55):
Much for that. Go if you could sell fun, that's
that's what you as for.

Speaker 5 (01:20:59):
Really.

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think, like I say, gigs, the
money nowadays is like I say, I've always always in
me I had thought record labels was there's nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:21:09):

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
You don't earn money off them? Publishing deals, yes, there
they're your bigguns. I mean from bloody Manchester. I can't
remember his name. He got his one of his songs
on a Coca Cola advert and he fucking hit like
a million that was him, like a.

Speaker 3 (01:21:23):
Lot of in it, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (01:21:25):
I do think as well sometimes that if we'd have
got a bit further and maybe got to the league above,
we would have been not in a worse situation because
we would have been like doing that as a job.
But for most musicians who do it as their job,
they just eking a living out, I mean barely scraping by.
So hard to do it they have to. You have
to gig turk constantly. Yeah, and it's not made. It's

(01:21:48):
perhaps not the the nice lifestyle that you think it was.

Speaker 2 (01:21:51):
Energetic, you know, like it's tiring, it's tiring. Yeah, I
mean I look at like the likes of like, you know,
you met Jaggerson's fucking a the get they.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
Get to a level there where everything is taken care of,
where forgot guitarists.

Speaker 1 (01:22:05):
Like, yeah, yeah, they're not dragging a fucking am from
the top floor of Central just to get it in
the back of your Yeah, but it's worth it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:17):
Yeah, Honestly, I'd never looked back and go, fucking know
what you know? That to me is like it's been
a journey and I've always said it like a brilliant book.
The stories. There's a lot of stories there.

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
Were you know, just yeah, there's any publishers listening, and
you want to publish the story of.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
It was like he was into sort of like crime writing.
This is honestly actually it was a big meet and
he got into us and he was like, I really
want to write a book on your lads, And I
was looking at.

Speaker 3 (01:22:52):
His like that catalog.

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
I was thinking, it's like writing about the crazy and stuff,
like what do you want to write about?

Speaker 1 (01:22:57):
What's because he met Christy May.

Speaker 2 (01:23:03):
There's a book on Yeah, if we had have been
doing this full time, we had made it Christy.

Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
Day will be dead now he won't be alive.

Speaker 4 (01:23:12):
Keith Maing two points out right, lads, we'll we'll wrap
it up there. Yeah, had a good time, but yeah
we'll definitely get you back on in the future. But
twenty fourth August Cleave Hap's Cricket Club, Orphan Boy headlining.

Speaker 5 (01:23:29):
Yeah, it's not been announced yet, so I don't know
whether I should say.

Speaker 1 (01:23:34):
Well, when are you announcing it? Because this will be.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
Our month, February there is the plan.

Speaker 4 (01:23:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can talk about that. Yeah, okay, yeah,
we can talk about it because this will come out
some of the time.

Speaker 3 (01:23:43):
Yeah. Cool.

Speaker 5 (01:23:44):
Well aw from Boy, Healer, Shines, Ever Mint, Sam Simmons,
loads of bands he liked.

Speaker 3 (01:23:52):
All all the yeah, not all the bands. The Cosmic
get Away would but not everyone's been able to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
But it's going to be an absolute the lower and
the Cosmic good. Yeah, really good.

Speaker 1 (01:24:03):
Yeah, yeah, really really good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:05):
That's what I'm saying that the bands around here of it. Yeah,
you can't knock any of them. It's just like fucking
really really it's good, really good scene. Good to say,
and you're going to get my little techno thing coming along.
Tokyo it's called marry Me. You know, I've got this

(01:24:28):
slight little vision what I want to do this share
Like I say, his last call, Tory had a jam
with Verge, you know, really knows what she's doing. So
I don't know how we're going to do it, but
that's going to I've got a lot of equipment, a
lot of yeah, so to see what happens. Yeah, cables,
four way plugs, you know, yeah, sockets.

Speaker 5 (01:24:50):
Well, if we're plugging our so uh side projects, Shines
are also releasing, you're not allowed to do the next
next three months, let I say the album or single
about half an album? Got but half an album with
another few songs to make up the phone that we're
working on.

Speaker 1 (01:25:10):
When can people expect that?

Speaker 5 (01:25:11):
That's probably going to be end of March, early April
times start putting new stuff out, So yeah, watch this space.

Speaker 1 (01:25:18):
Nice one mate. Well, well and welcome to come on
and plug whatever you got going on.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
Yes, thanks for having us.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
But and if if you like we've heard today, he'd
like and subscribe

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