Maybe it’s a sign of things to come when a York band releases a single on a York label, recorded at a York studio, that will be shortly used nationally to advertise one of York’s biggest events. From this Wednesday, listen out for Lost Trends’ single DJ as it plays over the top of Channel 4 Racing’s adverts for Ebor Festival. Taking place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Ebor is the jewel in York Racecourse’s crown. We caught up with the band to find out the full story.
By Graeme Smith
Your single DJ has been selected to be the soundtrack of Channel 4’s advert for York Races. How did the opportunity come about?
It was all a little bit surreal to be honest. We just received an email from Channel 4 saying they thought the track would work great on their promo and the fact we were a York band was perfect. I asked them how they found the song. We’ve only just released the video on YouTube and hadn’t properly released the song. They said they googled York bands and read a few good reviews and stories about us and, as soon as they heard the song, they wanted it.
How would you describe how you’re feeling right now?
We are all feeling pretty good about it. To have our song used on an advert that so many people could see is amazing. Also, York races and especially the Ebor Festival are such big events in the York calendar it’s great to be a part of that. It’s given us new energy in the band as well. We are all friends and playing and writing music together has always been fun but it can also be a lot of hard work and at times can seem like you aren’t getting anywhere with it. There are so many amazing bands out there that never get heard so for us this is something we are really proud of.
Why do you think Channel 4 chose your song?
The song has great tempo and a lot of energy. It’s also got a really catchy riff which I think are the main reasons why Channel 4 chose it. It’s weird because I wrote the riff years ago and could never get it working, it was always hard to turn in to a song because it felt like everything you added to it took away from the riff. I think you find that when you write a really good hook. You have to find a way to not over use it and give the song structure. Anyway, at practice one night I just started playing it and everything came together. We wrote the song in about 20 minutes including the break.
The single has been a group effort, tell us about who else has been involved.
Well, our friends from The Entertainment Company were setting up their own studio called Dr Shakamoto’s so we went and recorded our EP Dark Disco there. The studio is brilliant and it was so easy working with them. We had the same ideas and they let us experiment with our sound and I think it shows with what we accomplished. They talked about setting up a label. The funny thing is Dr Shakamoto was a character from a Vic and Bob sketch so they tweeted Vic Reeves asking if they could use the name for their studio/label. He tweeted back saying yes which was pretty cool.
They wanted to get us involved so the next step was a music video, with Rodrigo Thomaz filming us in the studio and mixing it up with some footage of us live in York and in Camden, we had our video. We remastered the song and changed a couple of small things from the EP version and the rest is history.
The video shoot – ohoto courtesy of the band
York band, recorded at a York studio, released on a York label for York’s biggest race meeting now being shown on Channel 4… sounds like it was meant to be!
What’s your opinion of the York music scene at the moment?
The talent in York is amazing. We have been gigging for about two years now and the music coming out of York is incredible. That’s why we are so proud our song was chosen. York already has legends like Chris Helme and Rick Witter to be proud of. We supported Chris Helme one time and he was so good and such a nice guy. Then it has so many amazing bands. Just to name a few we have gigged with: Bull, Broken Skulls, Boss Caine, Zak Ford, …And The Hangnails. We played the same stage as Hello Operator at Apollo Festival and those guys are awesome. Then there are festivals like Apollo Festival that keep getting bigger. It’s a great time to be involved in the York music scene and it’s something the people of York should be proud of. Even just walking through town and listening to the standard of buskers shows how much talent is in York.
DJ
Lost Trends
Video directed and filmed by Rodrigo Thomaz at Dr Shakamoto’s
Video via Youtube
What’s next for Lost Trends?
World domination, haha! We are going to record our first album. We have loads of songs and are always writing new ones so we want to get them recorded.
Any last words for the fans?
We just want to say thanks for the support. We love writing and playing music that’s why we do it, but to have people connect with it and really enjoy it is amazing.