Rifffest is coming up shortly, so to celebrate we decided to have a chat with each of the bands playing! Next up were old favourites of ours Faux Pas – see how it went below!
By Jane Howkins
How was your 2018? Any particular highlights you can tell us about?
RU [Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar]: Yeah, 2018 was really big for us as a band. A lot of changes and scary shit but good and bad aside, the whole thing seems to be working better than ever and creatively we are really pushing ourselves, which is nice.
Is there anything in particular that you’re looking forward to in the coming year, either in your private life or as a musician?
LEWIS [Lead Guitar]: Well, the obvious thing to mention is the TV Made Me Paranoid tour in February. Touring is always a highlight of the year for me and getting to finish it by playing on a cruise to Amsterdam for Made in Hull is something that will be keeping me up for weeks like a kid at Christmas. Following that, I’m as excited as ever to get back into the studio. I feel with every session we push ourselves more and more to be as creative as possible and to stretch our musicianship both individually and as a unit.
You’re playing at Rifffest soon; are you excited for that?
JOEY [Drums]: Immensely! Not only will it be our first gig of the year, but we’ll be sharing the stage with some phenomenal bands including Hands Off Gretel and Brooders, who at this point are basically our musical siblings. We’re also very excited to see everyone else of course, from Bloodhounds up to False Advertising and everyone would be silly to miss out on a line-up like this.
How will Rifffest be different to a normal show, and what can people expect from one of your shows in general? Were you already friends with or fans of the other bands on the line-up?
LEWIS: The Rifffest line-up is a wet dream for me. Over the last year or so we have gigged and partied profusely with Brooders, who are three of the nicest and most talented musicians I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Hands Off Gretel have given us some fantastic opportunities this year and every show with them has been killer. It’s fantastic to see a band with such a defined image and sense of purpose in what they do. The rest of the line-up will be our first time playing with them and I can’t wait to see what they’ve got to offer. To all attending; expect a noisy night of passion and punk.
Do you have any other tour dates coming up, or any other festival shows? And which are your favourite festivals to go to, either as punters or as performers?
JOEY: We currently have several tour dates in February which now extend from our hometown of York, to Manchester, and down to London with many stops in between. Our last tour date is a part of Made in Hull, which is a cruise to Amsterdam! We were selected by the fabulous guys who run The Sesh in Hull, and put on our collectively favourite festival to play at which is Humber Street Sesh. Mark and Dan there have done so much for unsigned music; we think they should be knighted.
Have you released any new music recently? Do you have any plans to release an EP or album this year?
LEWIS: November 2018 saw the release of our newest single, SHAME, a primal, anger-fueled punk track. Our audience were overwhelmingly receptive to it and the song received track of the week on BBC Introducing York from Jericho Keys. On 1 February our next single, TV Made Me Paranoid, is coming out with both a tour and a tasty music video to compliment it, so make sure to keep an eye out! We do have plans for further releases after that, potentially an EP at some point, but we can guarantee a continuous stream of life-altering releases.
And do you have any singles planned for release in 2019? If so, what can you tell us about them?
JOEY: At the end of 2018 we announced our next single, TV Made Me Paranoid, would be released in February 2019 and there would be an accompanying tour to really hammer it home. It’s a pop song at its core, but with all the grunge-slacker goodness that everyone has come to expect from Faux Pas. And who knows, it might not be the only single we release this year…
What sort of things influence you most as musicians; and which bands and artists have you been listening to recently that you can recommend our readers to check out?
RU: As musicians? Hmm, ethos and morals are always a big thing for us, I think. I tend to stick to the rule where if you’re in an elevated light you should really try be sweet with it, great power and great responsibility and stuff like that. Other bands and artists? I guess the classics like Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Pixies; and then more recently people like Wand, Big Thief and Vulfpeck. Nowadays we are trying to one up each other by finding ridiculous music; the bands I mentioned prior are just fucking ridiculous. Check ‘em out.
What is the writing and recording process like for you? How do you start out on a track? And how have things changed in this regard since you started out?
RU: It’s generally a very cathartic experience for everyone, I hope! [Cathartic is my new word of the month.] I’m really lucky that these guys are fantastic musicians so I just have to set them up a nice scenario they can mess around with, and there’s a really nice understanding at the minute. Everyone really trusts each other to try stuff out even if it doesn’t always come off as you intended; the times it does are really fucking sweet. I can’t really say much for how we used to write; it just didn’t feel like much compared to now but I’m really bad for looking forward too much and pissing on the past. Recording is beautiful, really, really exciting in a childish way. It’s like getting to bring something to life and when everyone comes together it feels like you’ve really accomplished something. Again, these guys are great so in the studio it’s shweet.
Any last words for your fans?
ARTHUR [Bass]: It’s been amazing spending time with these beauties over the past few months. The shows so far have been an absolute blast and we have some mega tunes in the works so make sure you get out there at every available stop on the tour to see us. The work everyone puts in is incredible and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.