Riffed

We caught up with Bolton band Cuban Hexe, they've recently released their new EP 'Missile Crisis' that we advise you give a listen. Here's how our interview went down:

1) Who are Cuban Hexe?

Cuban Hexe are Alex, Lewis, Rob & Joey. Four teenagers from Bolton intent on creating art in the form of loud music.

2) You've recently released your debut EP 'Missile Crisis', tell us a little about that?

Missile Crisis is the culmination of our work over the first few months of the band. It’s essentially the four of us doing what we want and it just so happens to sound quite nice. It's gritty, it's loud and rumour has it it can cure the common cold. Check it out. Please?

3) Favourite gig of which you've played?

We’re yet to play live, but expect to see us on a stage near you in the near future. We’re going to be doing whatever we can over summer.

4) Biggest inspirations for Cuban Hexe?

We're a band predominantly influenced by blues and garage rock. Our guitar riffs hopefully reflect the likes of Zeppelin and Jack White. But ultimately our influences stretch past any single genre, from Gnarls Barkley to Turbowolf, Elvis Presley to Radkey.

5) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Realistically we see ourselves leading a new world order. Five years is more than enough time to inspire a generation.

6) What can we expect from Cuban Hexe next?

Aside from world domination, we have plenty of new song ideas brewing so expect some new songs sometime this summer. We obviously intend to make our live debut as soon as possible so we’re looking forward to that.

Cheers Cuban Hexe for the interview.

Like Cuban Hexe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cubanhexe

Or follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CubanHexe

Listen to Cuban Hexe and their new EP 'Missile Crisis' here :

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/cubanhexe

Band Camp - http://cubanhexe.bandcamp.com

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUu50Ww_bjExiCEQAXe4dmA

RIFFED x

We chatted with Cameron of Bolton band Sittin Pretty this week. This is what he had to say to us:

1) Who are Sittin Pretty?

We're a 5 piece from Bolton. We being Conor, Lewis, Cameron, George, and Jack (Soon to be Sayon, Jacks leaving).

2) Favourite gig of which you've played?

Personally, my favourite gig was the last gig we did at Blind Tiger in Bolton, not our biggest gig but our last with Jack on drums. Everyone killed it, the crowd were amazing and its was a real good send off for Jack. We've done a few other cool gigs in Manchester, Castle Hotel was a great gig we did for promo for a live video series we were involved in with the guys at GASst. The bands that night were unreal.

3) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

In five years time? Hopefully still gigging and recording music, just with a bit of luck it'll be to a few more people.

4) Who are your biggest inspirations?

As a band we get a lot of inspiration from old blues bands, bands like Hendrix, Clapton, Peter Green and newer acts like Jack White and some of the older Black Keys stuff. How much influence that has musically for us I'm not too sure.

5) What can we expect from Sittin Pretty in the future?

For the summer we're pretty quiet, just writing as much new music as possible and we'll be back to gigging at the end of August. Over the next year we'll hopefully have a new EP and be doing as many gigs as we can convince people to give us.

Huge thanks to Cameron for the interview. We are huge fans of the Bolton lads and we strongly advise you check them out.

Follow Sittin Pretty on Twitter : @SittinPretty6

Like Sittin Pretty on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SittinPrettyMusic?ref=ts&fref=ts

Listen to Sittin Pretty via Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/sittinprettymusic

RIFFED x

We spoke to Devon band Brookyln this week. The lads recently released new single 'Ashleigh',  which possesses a similar sound and style to that of The 1975 and this band have certainly got a bright future ahead of them. Due to this we caught up with Brooklyn and grabbed an interview:

1) Who are Brooklyn?

Jack on drums, Alex on bass and Josh plays guitar and sings

2) You recently released new single 'Ashleigh', tell us a little about that?

Yeah so I mean the whole song came about listening to Prince's 'I Would Die 4 U' and we really got inspired on that whole album. Around late 2013, Josh was writing a lot of very personal lyrics, scribbles and drafts, that he never really thought to use, but always kept titled under highlighted events and so this was a pretty perfect fit to use its types of lyrics for the song, Josh fell in love with the idea of a happy pop song with the twist of quiet sad story behind it. thats what we tried to in vision in our music video, It's your basic love triangle, but it's however you interpret it, we don't want to take that away from anybody, it's yours.

3) Favourite gig of which you've played?

None as of yet but thats about to change.

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

I think playing Glasto, or is that pushing it, ha.

5) What's next for Brooklyn?

We're releasing another song for free named 'Car' on Monday 16th, we hope this song won't make people blueprint who they think we are, and late summer releasing our EP but can't give anything away as of yet.

Big thanks to Brooklyn for the interview.

Like Brooklyn on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bklynuk

Or follow them on Twitter : @Bklynuk

Listen to Brooklyn via Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/officialbklyn

RIFFED x

We spoke to Eoin of Sheffield duo Drenge this week. Drenge are a band continously on the rise, they were on Later... With Jools Holland last year, they then released their debut album which went down a storm and they have a busy summer of festivals ahead of them, will their rise up the music industry's ladder ever end? We certainly hope not. This is what Eoin had to say:

1 Who are Drenge?

We’re two brothers from a mildly popular tourist village in the Peak District. We started playing music when I took a year off of education and couldn’t find any work and got really down on life.

2 You released your debut album last year, tell us a little about that?

It’s a rock album of all our earliest songs, sequenced chronologically, in the order we recorded them. The sessions span around 18 months, so as the album goes on you can hear us progress musically.

3 You've just finished a tour, how did that go?

Yeah we had a 4 date ‘tour’ last week. I basically refuse to accept that anything under two weeks is a tour, but yeah, it was fun. It’s nice to play places that don’t have a lot of live music coming through, because there’s a strong music loving community in those towns. Everyone cakes to see the opening acts, which is really rare in the bigger towns.

4 You are from Sheffield, like the Arctic Monkeys, do you reckon you can top them?

No. They’re the biggest band on the planet right now. What would be the point?

5 Plans for the future?

Festivals, tour, album, tour, festivals, tour...

Big thanks to Eoin for the interview. 

Like Drenge on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/drengeboys

And

Follow them on Twitter : @drenge

Purchase their debut album 'Drenge' via iTunes here : https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/drenge/id662118125

RIFFED x

This week we chatted to Halifax artist Oliver Pinder, the singer/songwriter is aiming to become Yorkshire's very own Jake Bugg. He's certainly going the right way about it. This is how it went down:

1) Who is Oliver Pinder?

Oliver Pinder is a singer/songwriter based in Halifax (where the bank originates from) near Leeds. I play what some may describe as upbeat acoustic music with a little bit of piano thrown in there. I’m gigging up and down the UK and loving life.

2) Favourite gig of which you've played?

My favourite gig would have to be a gig I played for a competition at Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds, it was flipping awesome and I can not wait to return this Friday supporting the fantastic King No-One.

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

I would say that seen as though five years is a long time away I could probably see myself touring either supporting or headlining and still hopefully gigging my music.

4) What can we expect in the future from you?

I am planning on releasing an EP and gigging it soon so that and lots of gigs.

 5) Who are your biggest inspirations?

The musicians that started me off would have to be Orla Gartland (mainly), Ed Sheeran and Passenger, to this day I still listen to them three acts where as I now also listen to a lot of unsigned acts like Jasmine Kennedy, Jacobean Ruff, King No-One, Luke Sital-Singh, Bipolar Sunshine and others.

Cheers to Oliver for the interview.

Like Oliver on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/OliverPinderOff

Or follow him on Twitter : @oliverpinder

Visit Oliver's webpage : http://www.oliverpinder.co.uk/

Listen to Oliver via Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/oliverpinderoff

RIFFED x

King No-One are the newest indie rock band on the market, born and bred in York, the quartet are already sending shock-waves across the industry. Due to their recent rise in popularity, they've been confirmed to play this years Humber Street Sesh in Hull once again after playing in last years event, the band have also already headlined gigs in Hull, such as the Fruit in September of last year and now know what to expect from the Hull crowd at this years Humber Street Sesh, and we expect them to go home a very happy bunch once seeing the rockers from York. Due to their recent rise of popularity we grabbed an interview with them:

1) Who are King No-One?

King No-One are a four piece Indie Rock band from York, all members being 19.

2) Are you looking forward to playing this years Humber Street Sesh?

Yes, we played last year and it was great fun. We love a good Hull crowd!

3) What can we expect from King No-One in the future?

Well, we're already on the fringes... We toured the UK with Embrace this May, got played on Sunday Brunch, headlined and sold out two dates in Leeds and York and played Leeds and Reading fest last August. We've also got a great festival circuit this year. So expect us to make our way into being a household name, a band people have heard of up and down the country, that's only near future...

4) Hull is home to some great gig venues such as the Früit, which you've already headlined in Septemberof last year, do you think you could be headlining gigs there again anytime soon?

We headlined the Fruit in September, it's a great venue. We will come back and do it again on a much bigger scale soon.

5) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

In 5 Years time we'll be 24, no doubt we'll still be in this band. So in less than two years, we've got to where we are, add another 5... We see ourselves being very busy.

Big thanks to King No-One for the interview. If you've purchased a wristband for this years Humber Street Sesh we strongly advise you go see these lads. Hull are in for a treat...

Like King No-One on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/kingno.oneband

Or follow them on Twitter : @KingNoOne2

RIFFED x

We caught up with girl band PINS and grabbed ourselves an interview with them. PINS recently dropped their debut album 'Girls Like Us', which went down a huge hit. This was followed by a tour which followed the same trend. We at RIFFED are expecting PINS to become huge, so we got ourselves an interview before they became too famous:

1) Who are PINS?

Faith, Lois, Anna, Sophie

2) Can we be expecting another album soon?

Yeah, we have one out now called 'Girls Like Us' but yeah the next one is being demoed. I wrote a lot of the lyrics today.. its the first day I've had no plans, like, this year.. it's all coming together nicely, we don't want to rush anything you know, we're approaching it a little differently to how we did the first album.. we're enjoying experimenting. I think we have a release coming out before the second album anyway, it's all up in the air right now, it's exciting!

3) You've recently been touring, how's that gone?

Wild, we got back from Europe the other day, we did some dates with Crocodiles, I miss them already. Sometimes the bands we meet aren't how I imagine them to be, they're not fun or whatever, but, Crocodiles are the real deal.

4) Are you looking forward to the festival season?

Yeah, i'm not really a festival-goer as such but i like playing them, for sure! I think our next show is Best Kept Secret in the Netherlands, i can't wait.. our friends September Girls, Honeyblood and Lyla Foy are playing on the same day as us so it will be good to catch up with them, and i can't wait to see Nightbeats, i love their records but i've not seen them live yet.

5) What's it like being in PINS?

It's mostly a real mess but i love it, i can't remember what life was like before PINS.

Huge thanks to Faith of PINS for the interview. If you haven't yet checked PINS out, we suggest you get on it.

Purchase 'Girls Like Us' via iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/girls-like-us/id683210691

Follow PINS on Twitter : @WeArePins

Or 'like' their Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/wearepins

RIFFED x

We spoke to The Walking Method this week. The band have recently released their new single 'Ghosts', a soft indie/rock song that we can see being a hit with many people. Due to this, we grabbed ourselves an interview with the London lads:

1) Who are The Walking Method?

We are an Indie Rock band from London consisting of three members; William Dorey (Lead Singer and Guitarist), Jacob Henry (Drummer) and Matthew March (Bass Guitarist).

2) Favourite song of which you've produced?

Rusty Hook.

3) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Hopefully playing more shows across the country and maybe even further afield.

4) Biggest inspirations?

Kasabian, Noel Gallagher & Arctic Monkeys

5) Who's on your usual playlist?

Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Fall Out Boy, Swim Deep, Wolf Alice, Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats, The Vaccines, The Beatles, Foals, Catfish and the Bottlemen.

Big thanks to The Walking Method for the interview.

Listen to The Walking Method via Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/user/WalkingMethod

Follow The Walking Method on Twitter : https://twitter.com/WalkingMethod

Or 'like' them on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkingMethod?fref=ts

Listen to The Walking Method via Soundcloud also : Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/thewalkingmethod

RIFFED x

We spoke to Dollhouse. They're currently working on a new single, so we got ourselves an interview with the dolls.

1) Who are Dollhouse?

We are a band originating from Stroud comprising of Will, Alf, Zak, Sam and Tom.

2) Favourite gig of which you've played?

Our favourite gig was a festival in Stroud called Site Festival, we supported Sheena (https://soundcloud.com/sheena-uk), Courtly Love, and Filthy Boy (Stranger Records). The sound was incredible, it was in a huge goods shed, and the gig was followed by a thrilling drag night; in which Dollhouse all participated.

3) What can we expect in the future from Dollhouse?

We are doing lots of gigs this summer, a few festivals are on the cards like Bristol Harbourside Festival on the 20th of July, as well as a gig at The Fleece in Bristol on the 28th of June. As well as this we are playing at Stroud Fringe Festival at the end of August.

4) Who are your biggest inspirations?

We are all huge fans of the Fat White Family, Dollhouse, TOY, July, Groove Armada, The Happy Mondays, Joy Division and David Lynch.

5) Who's on your usual playlist?

At the moment we are enjoying "Who Shot Lee Oswald?" by the Fat White Family, "Mine And Yours" by The Horrors, and the album "Mezzanine" by Massive Attack because it is simply sublime.

Cheers to Dollhouse for the interview.

Listen to Dollhouse via Soundcloud : www.soundcloud.com/bewildereduk

'Like' Dollhouse on Facebook : www.facebook.com/thedollhouseband

Unfortunately Dollhouse aren't yet on Twitter. Don't follow the girl pop band. We promise you, that isn't them.

RIFFED x

We chatted to Swiss Lips this week. An indie band from Manchester branding themselves as 'cursed pop, going straight to hell'. Barring the slogan Swiss Lips are a band on the rise, so we thought we'd interview them. This is how it went down:

1) Who are Swiss Lips?

We're still working that out.

2) Personal favourite of the tunes you've produced? and why?

I like a song called Forever off our album. It's quite a personal song and I love the melody,

3) Favourite gig of which you've played?

Fuji Rock in Japan felt like a dream!

4) Are you looking forward to the festival season?

Definitely.

5) What can we expect from Swiss Lips in the future?

An album!

6) Who are your biggest inspirations?

It changes all the time. I like people who see things differently.

7) Who's on your usual playlist?

Currently listening to Todd Terje, The Lemonheads, Then Thickens, Earl Sweatshirt, Kurt Vile.

Big thanks to Sam from Swiss Lips for the interview.

'Like' Swiss Lips on Facebook : Facebook.com/swisslips

Or follow them on Twitter : @SwissLips

Listen to Swiss Lips via Youtube : YouTube.com/swisslips

RIFFED x