Marisa (frontperson) Liam (bass), Alex (drums) and Alez (guitar) talk about the journey of making these albums, as well as revealing their plans for the future.
They’ve been on tour for months, which Alez admits is, “busy, hard work but is all repaid by the hour and a half we spend on stage”, Liam agrees, “Yeah, 100%. We’ve kind of become more of a well-oiled machine, which is great and makes playing live on stage much easier, with great support acts!”
Marisa says, “we have quite a lot going on. We use backing tracks and we’ve got our new lights that are triggered by our songs. We do everything ourselves with the help of a few good friends that basically give up their time for free. A lot goes into it, so it’s been amazing to see how that all works in real time, and connecting with our fans is everything!”
One of the ways they’re connecting with fans, aside from playing live, is by putting together a live album, which Marisa says “is a different experience of the songs” and Liam says has been “a long-time coming but really nice to finally have it coming to fruition […] We love the rock, we love the heavy stuff, but if it’s a song is good, it’ll work on any version”
The album was recorded at the famous Abbey Road studios, with Alez recalling, “I remember arriving and it was really exciting even just walking the zebra crossing” but because of the tight schedule, Liam admits that they barely had time to think about where they were. “We went in, and we had one day to record as much as we could.”
Alex explains, “The best way to record a song is to be able to play it for two years live and let it grow into what it really feels like, and that is what a lot of those songs [on the live album] became. They’re a lot heavier but a lot lighter in parts and have that natural feeling”.
When asked whether the band all saw themselves going in the direction they have, they each had an interesting take, with Liam saying that it was Marisa who “wrote the songs originally and we kind of went into the studio, and then it was about finding the sound and finding who the band was in the studio, which is a difficult thing to do […] We want to push ourselves into not sounding the same all the time” Marisa highlights that, “They’re not standard songs either, I don’t think it’s obvious rock. We can’t really pigeon-hole it, and that’s where we struggle. We’re like, “what are we?”
Despite not really having a clear genre, Alex says, “It’s a good thing to not be able to go “this is us”, but it’s definitely changed, we were aiming for a Nirvana sound when we into the studio originally […] but then it’s changed because different musicians and different styles are brought in, and we get to know more music as we get play with other musicians and bands. We’ve been introduced to a lot of bands that we wouldn’t have been normally. There’s a fantastic sound for the second album and we’ve already got stuff written for the third album”
Mentioning of a third album didn’t go amiss, and considering the popularity of their second album, (which is only a year old) anticipation is already high for them to release the next. But when can we expect a third album from them?
Marisa says, “realistically, it’s tour first” as the other three bandmember nod in agreement, “but we’re ready to write again. We’ll be taking time off from touring constantly so we can write. We’ve basically planned our next year out, to give us time to write”.
Speaking of their plan, Marisa touches on what the rest of 2025 looks like for them, “So we’ve got the first single from the live album coming out on the 2nd May, which marks the one-year anniversary of our second album ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’, which obviously got to number one, so we wanted to celebrate it! The full album will come out on the 4th July […] We’re also finishing some stripped songs from album two, so we’ll start drip feeding those” Alex jokes, “we play [the stripped songs] exactly the same, but we just play them naked!”
These stripped versions are rooted into the band’s history, thanks to the 2020 lockdown. Alex explains, “before I joined, Marisa and Liam, during Covid, were doing a lot of acoustic livestreams and keeping the ball rolling”. Alez agrees, “It’s so interesting to listen to the same song in a stripped version […] especially adding things like 12-string guitars, violins and cellos which give the songs different vibes. We always think about evolving things”
Although they’re looking to focus on writing, Marisa says, “If a support tour comes or if we can get an EU tour booked, that’s also what we’re working towards. So they’re our next steps”
Make sure to listen to ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ and watch their socials for more news about ‘Live – Studio 3’!
Kai Palmer
If you enjoyed reading this article, please consider buying us a coffee. The money from this pot goes towards the ever increasing yearly costs of running and hosting the site, and our "Writer Of The Month" cash prize!
