Our very own Ellie Witt caught up with our band of the week ‘COURTS’ to understand the challenges facing a new band, and what happens when you combine grime with Happy Mondays.
Q. Can you describe your music to us in one sentence?
A. Hip-hop influenced music.
Q. How much do they you think your sound is a product of your upbringing in Essex?
A. The music doesn’t really have anything to do with where we’re from but the lyrics have
because they’re relevant to our lives.
Q. What do you think the biggest challenge facing new bands is today?
A. Probably trying to get people to come and see you live and stay interested in you. People in general don’t seem to take much notice of you unless you have a lot of media interest. We rely on the people who search for new music, but there doesn’t seem to be enough people doing that, or maybe they have and just don’t like us.
Q. You recently had a lineup change, how has having a sibling involved changed the dynamic of the band?
A. Well there’s less stress now because all four of us want to do this for a living, but there’s some brotherly bickering, which is to be expected.
Q. What is the favourite venue you have played so far?
A. Locally The Castlemayne in Basildon just because we’ve had some good gigs there and further out would be The Fly in London.
Q. What music are you listening to at the moment, any recommendations of other great Essex bands we should check out?
A. Joe has had Prince on repeat in his car for months and its doing our heads in now. Chris listens to a lot of grime. Dan’s been listening to Warpaint and Happy Mondays. Luke’s been listening to Pink Floyd and Prince. Dan and Lukes brother Reece is the frontman of a band called Raquels. Their EP will be out soon.
Q. Why did you decide to give your debut EP away for free? Do you plan to do this again?
A. Because more people will download it if it’s for free than pay for it. And at the stage we’re at it’s more important to get as many people to listen to us as possible rather than making money. We don’t plan on doing the same again, we’re hoping to get some sort of deal with what ever we release next. We’d love to keep putting music out for free but unfortunately we need to get paid at some point.
[bandcamp album=4136878839 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]
Q. What’s next on the horizon for COURTS?
A. At the moment we’re concentrating on writing and recording new songs. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to play a few festivals this year and generally just become more known. There’s enough new songs floating about to do another EP, we just plan to keep doing what we’re doing and see what happens.
Q. If there was one band you could collaborate with who would it be?
A. Rage Against The Machine.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-58-36lSqG4&w=640&h=480]
Q. What three things would you take with you if you were on a desert island?
A. Just a Ray Mears survival book.
Related articles:
First Impressions Count. The importance of brand for your band
