An emotive force from Dublin City, now forging their sound in the heart of London, Josh Rosney, Sam Cheesmore, Morgan Beausang and Sebastian Bluestone channel the raw energy and angst spurred on by their move to the UK a few years ago, crafting a sound that’s both unapologetic and visceral. With angular guitars, catchy, heart on sleeve vocals, and relentless energy, the quartet blend elements of emo, indie, and alt rock, drawing inspiration from artists such as Title Fight, Wednesday, and Alex G to perfection.
Give us a potted history of the band
Myself (Josh) and Sam (lead guitar) moved to London from Dublin about three years ago. We had been playing music together in Ireland for years, but didn’t really have much going on when we moved. That’s probably the longest time I’ve gone without playing a gig since I was 19, and looking back, maybe it was the break I needed.
Moving country can be pretty hard, even if it is just across the pond – I must’ve been feeling fairly emo at the time because I started writing a lot of songs in that style, which I had never really done before. It took a while, but Sam and I decided to try to get a band together and start gigging again.
A year or so and about 20 gigs later is where we are now. Over the last couple of months, we’ve put out our first few singles independently. We wanted to cement ourselves in the live scene as a new band before we put out anything, which I’m glad we did. We’ve got a busy summer of gigs and maybe even some festivals (?!) as well as our debut EP ‘Baby Names’ coming out on the 27th of May.
Who inspired you to start making music
Josh: I think I always knew I wanted to write songs. My dad is a great jazz pianist, and he made sure all my siblings and I learned an instrument growing up. I think he would have preferred if I had taken up the piano, but I thought the guitar looked cooler.
Sam: Unironically Avenged Sevenfold, I wanted to play guitar like Synyster Gates.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
Josh:
Truth Club – Running from the chase
Andy Shauf – The Party
Seb(bass):
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco
Sam:
Title Fight – Floral Green
Alex g – house of sugar
If you’re trying to explain who you sound like to someone who’s never heard you, what do you say
This is a bit of a hard one. Anyone I say is probably going to be who I would like to sound like, rather than who we actually do sound like. Although early Biffy Clyro and Weezer have been mentioned a few times by people, Stereogum most recently mentioned LVL UP and Ovlov regarding our latest single.
Tell us about your new single
Our third single, ‘Voice Actor’, from our debut EP, just came out. It’s mainly about dealing with anxiety, socially and internally. We recorded the drums with our friend Pete in his little studio in Hackney Wick. The rest was pretty DIY, taking place in various home studios and bedrooms across Dublin and London. Mixed and mastered by our very own Morgan Beausang (drummer).
Where can we get hold of it
You can listen on all the streaming services! And if you don’t have them, we’re on all the free ones too; SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Nina!
Tell us how you write
I tend to write a lot of the song at home by myself, usually starting with guitar and adding vocals as I go. Then I’ll bring it to the guys, and they’ll all add their own parts in practice and work on the structure/dynamics together. We haven’t tried writing a song together from scratch yet, but it’s definitely something I want to try.
Tell us about your live show
Live shows are super important to us. As I mentioned before, we really wanted to become a tight live band before we recorded anything, and I think it really helped add to the energy of the EP. We tend to add a lot of stops, hits, and shouts to the songs live, which is good craic. There are also some softer melodic moments. I don’t love crowd chat, so I have a little sampler voice do some of that for me, too, which keeps things a little interesting.
As I’m writing this, my dream lineup would probably be Soapbox Derby, Kissing on Camera, followed by Feeble Little Horse, Truth Club, and then Wednesday headlining. It’s a bit of a long gig, though, lol.
Seb: Fine, Armlock, Kissing on Camera, MJ Lenderman
What can we expect from you in the near future
Our debut EP, ‘Baby Names’, comes out on May 27th! You can expect a lot more after that.
Tell us your favourite records that are rocking your headphones/tour bus/stereo
Josh:
This Is Lorelei – Box For Buddy, Box For Star
Cameron Winter – Heavy metal
Seb:
Lots Of Hands – Fantasy
Fine – Rocky Top Ballads
Sam:
Whirr – Raw Blue
Check out the bands new single, below
