INTRODUCING: The Fontaines

Local band The Fontaines have produced two EP’s in just 10 months with the help of a new member and supportive fans.So I joined them in their rehearsals to find out a bit more…

I was pleasantly surprised as I entered the Attic’s rehearsal rooms, Mowbray Street, Sheffield, where I was gate crashing The Fontaines’ weekly band practice. From the outside it looked like a cold, dingy abandoned old building, but I soon made myself comfortable on the sofa whilst they set up ready for a warm up song before we got going.

The Band

The Fontaines consists of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Joe St Ledger, aged 17, lead guitarist Alex Tood, 17, 18-year-old Oliver Clark on the drums, and 16-year-old ‘baby of the band’ is their bassist, Tom Nugent, however much he tried to convince me he was 36.

There have also been two more recent additions to the band; 16-year-old Ellie Rockliff on the trumpet, and saxophonist Jo Woodcock, aged 17.

Ellie warned that they are an immature bunch, they certainly don’t take themselves too seriously and it was refreshing to meet a band that are having so much fun whilst undoubtedly working hard to get where they want to be.

Jo could not make it today, as she had “chopped half of her finger off”, pretty problematic for a saxophone player even if it was a slight exaggeration, and just a cut. As Ellie explained how she did it at work, suddenly the boys burst into The Human League’s classic “she was working as a waitress in a cocktail ba-aaar”.

Joining us too was Harris – who couldn’t quite determine his role, toying between “fan, silent member and groupie” but eventually settling for “friend of the band”.

The Fontaines original line up formed around September 2013, but as Joe so bluntly put it; “up until January we were really terrible, but then Tom came along and he’s actually talented, which made all the difference.”

The Music

In the space of those 10 months the Fontaines have managed to record an impressive two EPs: Santiago Skyline and their newest release which came out on November 21, Velvet.

“We think of ourselves as the next Arctic monkeys”, Tom blurted out, but the laughter that followed prove that this was indeed a joke.

The majority of their lyrics are the work of Joe and Tom; influenced by bands such as Little Comets and Circa Waves.

Joe described the newer tracks as more “musically interesting” – he said the older stuff was simpler, whereas this, although still sounding like the same band was much more fun yet challenging to play.

They also had the addition of the horns this time around, which Ellie said really helped their sound move forward – cue the accusations of her “blowing her own trumpet.”

The recording process sounded intense; “one day in and we want to kill each other”… but 48 hours and 3 gallons of tea later, with even the sound of clinking spoons from tea being made appearing in the track Cerowyn, it was done. And despite the disagreements, it was also described as two of the best days of their time as a band due to the achievement they felt when it was complete.

Santiago Skyline and Velvet are both now available to buy on iTunes, and whilst “music is not about money, on the other hand being poor – being below the breadline or unable to afford to power our amps is not ideal,” so they are aiming to break-even this year through sales.

Around £2000 has been spent over the past year on things such as rehearsals and studio time, and as sixth form students, it’s a struggle. Three of them having jobs has helped though, and they joked that if they shared between them there would be enough for everyone – with half of the band having two jobs and the other with none.

But their hard work and budgeting will hopefully pay off, with Joe planning a gap year once he finishes school to work in order to help fund the band.

The live shows

The Fontaines have done a number of local shows over 2014 – playing to around 400 people at Sheffield’s O2 Academy in March. “We were the main support but nearly everyone left after us, so that was a bit awkward.

“There were people trying to crowd surf and failing miserably, people pressed up against the barrier, it was surreal. And Alex lay down and played a solo.” He argued that this was less of a highlight for him however, upon realising that he needed to somehow get up whilst still playing.

But their largest show to date and collective ultimate highlight as a band was when they played to a fully sold out Plug in November – celebrating the release of their latest EP.

“It was so exciting to be able to buy the listings poster; which says ‘sold out’ over the Fontaines, right near the likes of Catfish & the Bottlemen who played Plug the week after us.”

Despite other bands having more likes on Facebook, Ellie said that a lot of their fans come to see them play regularly, and are really dedicated.

And she is not wrong – one fan has actually had lyrics from their song Santiago Skyline tattooed on his leg. For a band only in their early days – that’s pretty bizarre.

Gigs can too be stressful though, and although they said the chance to play Tramlines festival was an amazing opportunity, by the end of it and after fitting six gigs into three days, Joe had no voice and Tom’s fingers were wrecked with blisters.

Tom said: “Most of our best memories are the trips”. He then went on to reminisce about the time that the band nearly left him behind in order to make a gig on time. “Our parents got so pissed off with taking us out that we now have to lug our stuff around ourselves on public transport, and it took some getting used to.”

The Future

On March 6^th 2015, the day of their first official single release for ‘1984’, The Fontaines are headlining what will be their biggest gig yet at Sheffield’s iconic venue The Leadmill.

The furthest they have played so far is Selby – where the boys admit to often spending time wandering around looking for the weirdest street names.

But they will soon be venturing out of Yorkshire, with plans of a mini tour this year that will hopefully hit cities including London, Manchester and Leeds, and of course ending in Sheffield, to tie in nicely with their release of their first single.

Time was ticking and the band had rehearsals to get back to – but Tom had one thing to add “I just want to say that I think we’re all quite excited about being in a band, it’s just really great and lots of good things have come of it.

The band and crew are just one big family, and I wish them the best of luck.

There are more bands from Sheffield than the Arctic Monkeys

Ask people to name a band from Sheffield and I can pretty much guarantee they will say the Arctic Monkeys. Not without reason of course, as they quite clearly are one of the biggest acts to come from here. But sometimes you just want to hear some new music so I’ve been hunting around online and as a result have found a few new Sheffield based bands that I’d like to recommend.

And the best thing about new musicians is that their gigs are pretty much always at student friendly prices. Even Bastille only cost us £10, and they now all of a sudden have a number one album and single that beat the likes of Emile Sande and Bruno Mars. This makes it highly likely that their tickets will cost around triple the price by this time next year, so if you can get in there and see bands when they’re just starting out, you could save a lot.

Polkadodge

Polkadodge are a 4 piece band I recently discovered on Facebook. When searching local gig listings or venue pages looking for support acts, the name popped up a few times so I thought I’d have a listen.

The group of Sheffield lads have an easy listening, pop punk type sound and I’d say if you’re a fan of bands such as Kids in glass houses or All time low, then these are for you. Their catchy choruses and chants of woah oh oh oh’s in songs like ‘Catfish’, are sure to have you hooked and create a great atmosphere at a live gig. 

They can often be found performing at various venues around Sheffield and are also supporting local band  ‘Bromheads’ tomorrow night (25th April) at Leadmill, where tickets are just £8.

They are gathering a good following through social networking, and have recently been signed to Sound-Hub Records. They’ve posted a few songs on their Soundcloud page, and a clip of the bands latest recording called ‘Borderline’ can be heard there and pre-ordered now through their Facebook. So if you want to hear about their latest gigs and music keep an eye out on there too. 

Liberty Ship

I was just browsing the Leadmill Facebook page when I spotted that these guys are currently on tour supporting King Charles and as a big fan of his I thought they might be worth checking out.

Turns out I was correct, as these guys, coming from Sheffield have a really great indie-pop sound to them. The first song I listened to, ‘Further’ is a slower one, but it still managed to draw me in straight away with the lead singer having one of those voices you could just listen to all day. They have a really refreshing and easy listening sound that could appeal to everyone. And without actually having many songs up online at the minute they have still managed to gather a huge fanbase on their Facebook and YouTube pages, most likely through the vast amount of gigs they’ve done all around the country.

If you like what you’ve heard, be sure to check them out on Facebook to hear about their gigs and new music.

Take The Seven

Take The Seven are a 5-piece alternative rock band based around Chesterfield, North Derbyshire and Sheffield.

On checking out Take The Seven’s soundcloud page, I found that although they might be slightly heavier than the other bands I’ve mentioned so far, they’ve actually done some really good covers of Adele and Taylor Swift. Their version of ‘Set fire to the rain’ exposed them to a huge audience and really showcases the vocalist’s talent.

Despite having only been formed for under two years, they’ve managed to grab support slots with acts such as Senses Fail and My Passion, and their debut 7-track EP ‘Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious’ is out now and can be heard on www.taketheseven.com.

They are also playing at Sheffield o2 Academy soon, tickets for which can be found here (and they’re only £6!) as well as various gigs around Chesterfield.

The Natterjacks

Ok, so I actually only first listened to these guys around an hour ago and I’m already hooked. As ‘Cold Sets In’ began playing I found myself instantly being reminded of Mumford and Sons, what with the acoustic but fast paced and catchy guitar intro. It could definitely be said that they maybe sound a bit too similar… but I’m sure  they wouldn’t class that as an insult, and these guys can certainly pull it off as the vocals are amazing. It’s hard to believe that they started out doing pop punk covers before getting their inspiration from such a different style of music, but they definitely made the right choice as they suit it perfectly. They have a lot of songs up already on their soundcloud page, so have a listen.

They were also recently featured on BBC introducing, performing 3 of their tracks and have managed to reach nearly 150,000 views in just two months. And the greatest thing I’ve found about this band is that their live vocals are 100% as great as in their recorded tracks. In my opinion, definitely my best musical discovery of the day and I’ll certainly be keeping up with them on Facebook and trying to make it to a local gig, especially after sadly realising they actually played in Sheffield’s Lava Lounge just last week!

Tramlines Festival

Some of you may have heard about Sheffield’s annual music festival Tramlines. It’s now in it’s fifth year, and for just £6 a day from the 19th – 21st July you can access around 70 venues across the city hosting 100’s of musicians from all genres.

There was some controversy over the festival charging at all, as it’s usually completely free but due to the council’s funding cuts of around £30 million overall, they had no choice but to charge a small amount in order for the festival to run.

After last year having the likes of Alt-J and We Are Scientists, the excitement is building for the locals of Sheffield to find out who they have lined up for 2013.

Today they have announced the first set of acts as you can see in the poster, and the rest of the lineup so far can be found here.

The lineup so far features Duke Dumont, who are currently in the charts at number 4 with their single with A.M.E, ‘Need U’, which 3 weeks ago entered the top 40 at number 1.

A lot of the acts are only just becoming known in the music scene so if you haven’t heard of many, it could be worth checking them out because this time last year that’s where Alt-J were; and now look at them.

So if you’re into the festival scene but your student budget isn’t allowing you to attend the likes of Glastonbury or Leeds, then get yourselves back to Sheffield for Tramlines. Half of the festival fun is about the drunken antics with your friends, so presuming you have your student accommodation for over the summer it’ll work out to be a fun and cheap way to do something different with your weekend, as well as discovering some new music.

To keep up to date with new announcements and ticket information, follow them on their twitter page: @tramlines.