Riffed

We chatted to The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco recently. After previously featuring on BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing, Fiasco have released their latest EP, 'Cruise Control', and were willing to speak to us about it. 

1 Who are The 1957 Tail Fin-Fiasco?

If we could tell you, we would. Donny Osmond's lawyers are scary dudes. We broke the terms of the injunction once and now our manager only has 3 fingers on his left hand. Had, I mean. He passed.

2 You've recently released your 'Cruise Control' EP, tell us a little about this?

Lyrically it's an exploration of Scientology, a portrait of an urban cowboy and his trusty steed, a list of life stuff and a drinking song for use in cheap chain pubs. Musically it's early 70s New York, London and L.A. in a bucket. Unless you're one of Donny's lawyers in which case I don't know what you're talking about.

3 You've received airplay from stations such as BBC 6 Music, how does it feel to hear your tracks on the radio?

It feels ace. We've played on lots of other people's records and heard them on the radio but that made us feel dirty and ashamed. Now we just feel dirty, which is better.

4 Where do see yourselves in 5 years time?

The usual places - pound-shop windows, streaky pub toilet mirrors and reflected in the Thames at dawn.

5 What's next for The 1957 Tail Fin-Fiasco?

We've been good boys, so Her Majesty may be lifting the injunction soon - in which case we can go public for live gigs, a whole album and a sack race down The Strand.

Huge thanks to The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco for the interview. 

Visit The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco's webpage: http://the1957tail-finfiasco.com

And

Follow them on Twitter: @tailfinfiasco / https://twitter.com/tailfinfiasco

And

Like them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-1957-Tail-Fin-Fiasco/

Purchase the 'Cruise Control' EP via Bandcamp:

http://the1957tail-finfiasco.bandcamp.com

RIFFED x 

We caught up with EPISODES recently, the quartet from the south coast are set to released their debut single 'Tangent' on the 28th July and were up for chat about it. 

1 Who are EPISODES?

EPISODES are four piece indie band from Brighton.

2 Your debut single 'Tangent' is set to be released on the 28th July on iTunes, tell us a little about this?

Because we were all new to each other at first we found writing pretty hard, but after a few months of writing and re-writing lyrics, our musical chemistry became more fluid and it gave us the idea for what our first single would be about - going off on a Tangent whilst trying to write.

3 Who are your biggest inspirations?

We are all very much inspired by Foals and Last Dinosaurs, and we'd like to think we've produced our own sound.

4 Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

Still writing and playing music together, but obviously we'd like to think of ourselves playing glasto at some point soon..

5 What's next for EPISODES?

We've actually already recorded our next single, thanks to Ryan Gorringe at Manor House Studios, so that should be released in a few months time. We just hope to continue writing and playing bigger headline shows.

Big thanks to EPISODES for the interview. 

Listen to EPISODES debut single 'Tangent' via Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/episodesmusic.com/tangent ;

Follow EPISODES on Twitter: @EPISODESmusic / https://twitter.com/EPISODESmusic

And 

Like EPISODES on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpisodesBrighton

RIFFED x

High Tyde chatted to us recently, the Brighton based band have recently released their latest track 'Karibu' and were on hand to tell us a little about it.

1 Who are High Tyde?

High Tyde are four piece tropical/indie band from Brighton. 

2 You've recently released your new track 'Karibu', tell us a little about this?

'Karibu' was inspired when our drummer Louis was on holiday. He recorded a bird tweeting a melody and that's were it came from. 

3 Who are your biggest inspirations?

Our inspirations are Bill, Frank The Cat, DDS, Karibu Chirperson, 5D. 

4 Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

In 5 years time... touring, playing bigger festivals and releasing more music. But in-between walking my dog, of course.

5 What's next for High Tyde?

Well we're playing a bunch of summer shows which you can find out about on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We're also going to be in the studio writing more material.

Big thanks to High Tyde for the interview. 

Follow High Tyde on Twitter: @wearehightyde / https://twitter.com/wearehightyde

And

Like High Tyde on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearehightyde

Listen to High Tyde's new track 'Karibu' via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/wearehightyde/karibu and Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4-XGodLhc

RIFFED x

We chatted to confusingly-titled three piece, The Four Fours this week. Chris, Matt and Rich are set to release their debut double a-side single featuring 'Count To Ten' and 'Messing With History' this coming Monday and were on hand to tell us a little about it.

1 Who are The Four Fours?

Chris, Matt and Rich. Three extraordinary gents. Chris writes the music, Matt writes the lyrics, Rich is at the helm of the mixing desk. We all have a go at the composition and production, it's all quite diplomatic for three baboons!

2 You're set to release your debut double a-side single featuring 'Count To Ten' and 'Messing With History' this Monday, tell us a little about this?

Following us all playing in a math rock band we wanted to make some direct rock music. So we went for it really and embraced what came. 'Count To Ten' was the first track we wrote and recorded. It got lots of plays and nice comments on Soundcloud and that spurred us on to write more tracks and plan our debut release. We decided to do a double a-side, which is something that loads of bands used to do but is not so common nowadays. As we're self releasing it is a little easier for us to release two tracks at the same time rather than just one. Hopefully people will like both. Plus both tracks have their individual merits and show a good mix of our influences.

3 You made the video four 'Count To Ten' by yourselves, how did this go?

It was a new experience for us. We used a GoPro camera, which is popular with extreme sports enthusiasts. It's compact, can be fixed to pretty much anything, and shoots in high resolution. We recorded us playing the track a dozen times or so (including band's-eye view), all to a click so the footage would be in time. Then we edited it all together. We were quite proud of the final video, not bad for a bunch of amateur directors! You can see it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmlbdfezEs4

4 Will anything be set to follow 'Count To Ten' and 'Messing With History' in the near future?

We are planning to record an album, carrying on the DIY ethic we plan to record it ourselves. We'll probably release another single or two in the meantime, but we're defiantly planning on doing an album! It's a real target for us! Releases aside, we're planning to get out and do some gigs, but with our twist. So it might be some shows around Halloween with us all dressed as zombies. We'd also like to make another video and are hatching ideas for that.

5 What's next for The Four Fours?

We are really excited to pick up some press and airplay at the moment ahead of 'Count To Ten' / 'Messing With History' being released, but we are also gearing up to go back into the studio later in the month to get some new songs recorded.

Huge thanks to The Four Fours for the interview. 

The Four Fours debut double a-side single featuring 'Count To Ten' and 'Messing With History' is out Monday and will be available on  iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

Visit The Four Fours official Webpage: www.thefourfours.com

Follow The Four Fours on Twitter: @thefourfours / https://twitter.com/thefourfours

And

Like The Four Fours on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefourfours

Listen to The Four Fours via Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/thefourfours and Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmlbdfezEs4

RIFFED x

We spoke to Careless Sons this week. The band from Manchester, Cambridge and London have recently released their new single 'Wasted Avenue' and were willing to chat to us about it. 

1) Who are Careless Sons?

Ric, Rob, Ben and Dickon - hailing from Manchester, Cambridge and London - formed across university and music college in 2013 to search for the ever illusive out.

2) You've recently released your new single 'Wasted Avenue', tell us a little about that?

Wasted Avenue is a blue print for self sabotage. Procrastination personified. A cheating, finger pointing, tantrum throwing excuse of a valentine to yesterday, getting off on its own whimpering affectations to nostalgia with a twisted thirst for introspective schadenfreude.

3) Favourite gig of which you've played?

The Wasted Avenue single launch at The Islington last month was immense. Packed, sweaty, euphoric, reciprocated and vindicating.

4) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Writing better songs, playing bigger shows and, despite what the protagonist in Wasted Avenue may think about it, hopefully living in relative comfort.

5) What can we expect from Careless Sons in the near future?

We have our first UK tour coming up in October supporting the heart squeezingly talented Lux Lisbon in celebration of the forthcoming release of our first E.P. More details to follow very soon so watch this space!

Huge thanks to Careless Sons for the interview. 

Listen to Careless Sons new single 'Wasted Avenue' via Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CarelessSons and Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/carelesssons

Follow Carless Sons on Twitter: @CarelessSons / https://twitter.com/CarelessSons

And

Like them on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Careless.Sons

Also

Visit Carless Sons official webpage: http://www.CarelessSons.com

RIFFED x

Recently we introduced you to Grimsby band The Brookes, and featured them in our Top 5 Artists To Watch For 2014. Well, we caught up with lead guitarist Jamie Craw again this week as The Brookes have just announced their biggest gig to date, supporting The Swiines in Scunthorpe this November. Jamie was on hand to tell us a little about their forthcoming gig and what's next for The Brookes. 

1 How's things be going for The Brookes since our last interview?

Nice to speak to you again. It's been quite quiet to be honest. We played a gig at The Barcy down Cleethorpes which I thought was a pretty good gig to be fair. But yeah just booking gigs for the future, taking it easy at the minute.

2 You've just announced your biggest gig to date, supporting The Swiines in Scunthorpe this November, how did this come about?

Yeah we're buzzing about that. I saw The Swiines back in February supporting Jake Bugg, and I've been a massive fan since. It's just crazy how you can go from seeing a band who would soon become one of your favourites, to actually being on the bill with them supporting them. Yeah it will be good to meet them and play with them, really looking forward to it. I was just chatting away to this promoter trying to worm my way into getting a slot at a festival they had going on, and he said the bill was full. I asked what other slots he's got spare and just like that he offered us a slot supporting The Swiines, simple as that.

3 You've also announced gigs in Nottingham and Sheffield for this year, are you looking forward to these?

I'm really looking forward to this Nottingham gig. The lads we're supporting have told us it's completely sold out. It's in like the basement of a pub or something, small capacity, but it's going to be one of those proper sweaty face to face with the crowd gigs I imagine.

4 You revealed that you'll begin work on the follow up to 'Taking Over' very soon, what can we expect?

Like I've said to everybody else, expect bigger, better, faster, and louder. We're buzzing to get this one released, when you listen to Taking Over, then listen to L.S, you'll just be like 'shit'. The difference is unreal really. The lyrics are more advanced and there's more going on as a whole, 2 guitars etc.

5 What's next for The Brookes?

Complete domination of the music industry.

Big thanks to Jamie for the interview. 

You can purchase tickets for The Brookes gigs in Nottingham, Sheffield and the date with The Swiines in Scunthorpe this November via contacting the band: 

Twitter : @TheBrookesUK / https://twitter.com/TheBrookesUK

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TheBrookesUK

Email: [email protected]

Webpage: http://thebrookes.wix.com/thebrookesuk / http://thebrookesuk.tumblr.com/

And

Listen to The Brookes 'Taking Over' EP on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH09eVWKlZOZG13J0YdoveQ and Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebrookesmusic

RIFFED x

We chatted to Garden this week. The 'super-group' have recently released their debut track 'Blind Vipers' and were on hand to tell us a little about it. This is how it went down:

1 Who are Garden?

Garden are a rock super-group made from members of Heavy Waves, Bad Moon and (the gone but never forgotten) Wide Eyed. I'd had this idea for ages and finally found a line up that I thought could give it the colour it needed. So we got together some jams and now we're recording.

2 You've recently released your debut track 'Blind Viper', tell us a little about that?

It came from a riff idea Paddy wrote when we had bombarded him with this Flats song. We just imagined a kind of bleakly heavy repetitive bit of doom that just lazily drips in to more spacious tangents. I'd call it a sleazy piece. It's weird that it's our first release because as much as we enjoyed writing it and enjoy playing it, its oddly absent of certain things that reflect our future song ideas.

3 Who are Garden's biggest inspirations?

Firstly, Black Sabbath. I always imagined this band as a much simpler thing, like I basically wanted to write some hardcore punk that was driven by psychedelia and doom. Vocally I'd say I take influence from bands like Purple Mercy, Pissed Jeans and maybe some more Jim Morrison type shit. But what makes this band so interesting to play in is that the others come from totally different angles, Aaron likes loads of math rock and gets hard from anything with a dodgy time signature. Luke has an admiration for like grunge and surf music (see his band Heavy Waves). Thom and I have played music together for years, he listens exclusively to Bill Withers. Paddy just loves class hip hop like The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. So as you can tell when your dealing with a mad collage of what people dig its a lot less about who influences us but what. Writing is becoming challenging in the most interesting way yet for me personally. Over all though we all just love God Damn, I think they were my proof that something so obscene might just work.

4 Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

Dead.

5 What's next for Garden?

We have a show on the 19th with a band called Milk Teeth in Birmingham that we're excited about and have a couple of other shows to announce soon. Its our first show since our debut at the actress and bishop so it will be cool to play again. Other than that we are finishing off a set off three songs that were putting out in September.

Huge thanks to Garden for the interview. 

Listen to Garden's debut track 'Blind Vipers' via Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9uk8aTK6J8&feature=youtu.be

Follow Garden on Twitter: @gardenzeband

And

Visit Garden's webpage on Tumblr: gardenband.tumblr.com

RIFFED x

This week RIFFED chatted to 16 year old singer/songwriter Danny Aspinall. As he states within the interview, Aspinall offers something different, an element of rock, to the occasionally bland acoustic game. This is how it went down:

1) Who is Danny Aspinall?

I am 16 year old singer/songwriter from the North of England, bringing an element of rock to the acoustic singer/songwriter genre. 

2) Favourite gig of which you've played?

I played a really fun gig at my local pub last month. Which has probably been my favourite to date due to the liveliness of the crowd. The audience plays an important role in my live performances, and thus I think I'll always judge a show by its crowd rather than venue. I do however, have a gig lined up on my birthday later this month which I'm very excited for... I see that becoming my favourite gig I've played!

3) Who are your biggest inspirations?

This is an interesting one. The way I see it, I have three main inspirations. First and foremost, Bon Jovi. They're the reason I started doing what I do; I remember watching a clip on YouTube of 'Livin On A Prayer' live from Wembley Stadium, and thinking "woah, that's what I want to do!" From that moment on I became, and indeed remain, a bit of a Bon Jovi 'Die-Hard', and for around 2 years they were the only band I listened to. Much of my stage performance and presence is down to things I've picked up from studying Jon Bon Jovi, who's really mastered the role of being an entertainer. A couple of years ago, my music taste began to branch out a little more and I started exploring the catalogues of the 'legends'. That's when I discovered Bruce Springsteen. For me, Springsteen is without a doubt the greatest songwriter of all time. From a songwriters point of view, he's my sole source of inspiration. This can be both a blessing and a burden; I pick up techniques and ideas from studying Springsteen's lyrics, however more often than not want to throw my lyrics straight in the trash when comparing them to a master class such as 'Thunder Road'. My third and final inspiration is Frank Turner. I was introduced to his music by my girlfriend early this year and I really connected to it as it is so relevant to what I'm doing. Similar to how I am an acoustic songwriter with classic rock routes, Frank Turner is an acoustic songwriter with punk roots. The way he's managed to adopt a new style whilst in some degree sticking to his roots is something I can learn from.

4) Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

A lot can happen in the space of 5 years. There's been talks of very exciting prospects including much bigger stages in the near future. I'm lucky enough to live near Leeds which has a thriving music scene, so at the very least I'd like to establish some sort of name for myself on the Leeds music scene.

5) What's next for Danny Aspinall?

As mentioned, there's exciting prospects ahead! For now, I'm enjoying doing what I'm doing, working the local scene and getting to meet a lot of great people. Over this coming summer I hope to spread to a little bit of a wider audience, and keep climbing up the ladder of the industry step by step. I'm currently writing new material to join my current single, 'The Road', and would eventually like to get round to recording an EP in the near future. I can't guarantee what's going to happen next, but I can ensure you that I'm incredibly excited about wherever this road will take me.

Huge thanks to Danny Aspinall for the interview.

Danny is offering a free download of his new single 'The Road', download via the link: http://api.artistlink.com/home/widgets/209529/account_fan_transactions/new?brand=mtv

Follow Danny Aspinall on Twitter: @Danny_Aspinall

And

Like Danny's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/dannyaspinallmusic

Also visit Danny Aspinall's official webpage: www.dannyaspinall.com

RIFFED x

Lilac Pin caught up with us recently. The Glasgow duo have recently uploaded some new tracks to Soundcloud, such as 'Easy' and were on hand to tell us a little about them.

1 Who are Lilac Pin?

Lilac Pin are a duo from Glasgow.

2 You've recently uploaded to Soundcloud a new track, 'Easy', tell us a little about that?

It's a song where we tried to marry an organic sound with electro, with a progression that requires extra attention from the listener.

3 Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

We see ourselves in 5 years time still writing and performing music to the best of our ability and to keep progressing. Anything else positive that comes along with that is just a bonus.

4 What's next for Lilac Pin?

What's next for us is to write our debut album, and to perform live a lot lot more. 

Thank you very much Lilac Pin for the interview.

Listen to Lilac Pin's new track 'Easy' via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lilacpin

Follow Lilac Pin on Twitter: @LILACPIN / https://twitter.com/LILACPIN

And

Like Lilac Pin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilacpin

RIFFED x

We chatted to Alex Moir recently. The singer/songwriter has recently released his new single 'Like Ted Dexter', and the video to coincide with it and was on hand to tell us a little about it. This is how it went down: 

1 Who is Alex Moir?

I'm a writer, performer and a multi instrumentalist. I create stories and arrange music around them.

2 You've recently released new single 'Like Ted Dexter' and it's video, tell us a little about that?

I wrote 'Like Ted Dexter' after listening to a lot of Empire of the Sun and watching videos of me and my friends whilst cleaning out my old phone. It encompasses the idea that you can start over any time you want but to enjoy your ongoing success and accomplishments.

3 Favourite gig of which you've played?

I supported Benjamin Francis-Leftwich at the HMV institute in Birmingham - that was spectacular due to the amount of people there.

4 Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I see myself sitting on the top of the charts with an Ivor Novello and at least one Brit award/Mercury Prize. What's the point in creating something and working hard, if you're not going to get the recognition you deserve for it?

5 What's next for Alex Moir?

I'm in the process of creating a series of live acoustic videos & also making another music video for my next track. Then I'll release my first EP and continue to gig but with a band.

Huge thanks to Alex for the interview.

You can download for free and listen to Alex Moir's new single 'Like Ted Dexter' here: http://alexmoirofficial.com/like-ted-dexter-free-download/

Follow Alex Moir on Twitter: @alexmoir / https://twitter.com/alexmoir

And

Like Alex Moir on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexmoirofficial

Visit Alex's official webpage: http://alexmoirofficial.com/

RIFFED x