FEATURE:
Spotlight
PHOTO CREDIT: Piran Aston
solo female artists for many of my Spotlight features lately, so I thought it was time I introduced a great band. The Lounge Society are a terrific young band who are already making waves. It must be frustrating not to be able to play gigs and get the music out there. They are so energetic and fresh; one suspects this current lockdown has been a pretty tough time for them! With hopes that gigs can resume in the summer, I bet they are gearing up to make up for lost time! I want to bring in a few interviews they have conducted – just so we can get to know they better and see where they are heading next. In June last year, the band spoke with New Sounds Mag. We got to discover how they sort of got started:
“Hailing from Hebden Bridge, The Lounge Society are a post punk group I caught merely by accident. They were supporting another group (The Wants), and blew them out the water (even if it was only to 30 people – shameful). Their set consisted of a myriad of sounds, collageing a number of influences atop of each other. I quoted the below about their performance:
‘One track sounds a bit like the Talking Heads covering The Beatles ‘Taxman’. The bass line is quite close admittedly, although it is made up for in their delivery. An erratic, off kilter, funky guitar is up centre, and the vocals are post punky. A bit like Mark E Smith of ‘The Fall’. No surprises when they are northern based. I don’t like to put names to it as they change faster than Bowie’s hair did. Another track has these psychedelicy, yet krautrockey sounds all over it in the guitar pedals. Try combining Neu with the opening cut on The Small Faces ‘Ogdens Nut Gone Flake’. All I can say is I think Dan Carey would get a kick out of recording them”.
I think that they are releasing the E.P., Silk for the Starving, on 18th June. That will be very interesting to hear. Their new single, Cain’s Heresy, is a terrific cut that signals great things for the guys. In another introduction feature, the band recall memories from their first show:
“FTR: For those who don’t know who are The Lounge Society?
Four misfits, from the West Yorkshire moors. The antidote to the 1975.
FTR: What can you remember about your first show?
Fucking awful haircuts. It was at our local ‘The Golden Lion’ in Todmorden which is a great venue. Musically we were actually quite ‘Loungey’ then which we certainly aren’t now. Safe to say both the trims and the tunes have improved. We owe that venue a lot, really set us on our path.
FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?
To us music was the only real option. Done right, it can be pretty bloody powerful. It’s what we all love doing, and it’s a hell of a lot better than sitting on our arses in front of the telly”.
I would encourage people to follow The Lounge Society on social media if you have not done so already. All the links are at the bottom. I think that the northern band will have a very successful and productive 2021, despite the fact things are still on-hold for a few more months at least.
I was interesting to discover more about the group’s songwriting process and what it is like being based in an area of the country synonymous with great music. The band spoke to Gourmet Gigs about those points:
“Who is the songwriter and who writes the lyrics?
It’s a really collaborative process. Usually one of us will play a guitar riff at rehearsal and we just jam it until something comes of it and then over time we’ll change bits to get it perfect. The lyrics usually come last but we often spend months working on them. A lot of the lyrics to our songs that we’ve played live for ages have changed three or four times.
And where do you go to rehearse?
We rehearse up in Archie’s attic. We owe Archie’s parents (and neighbours) a hell of a lot for letting us make a racket.
Hebden Bridge and in general the Calder Valley has build up quite a rep for music. Do you feel this has had an influence on you? Do you feel like you are part of a music community? Why do you think that there is so much talent around where you live?
Local bands have definitely influenced us. Going to the early Orielles’ gigs at our local venue in Hebden Bridge, The Trades, inspired us all massively – that’s what made us want to be in a band really. The idea of getting out of the valley and into the cities like Manchester has definitely been a cause of young people to form bands to play at venues in Manchester.
Right now is it difficult while everyone is isolating… but how are you coping? Are you writing, or rehearsing via Zoom or whatever?
We’re all doing alright, we’ve been having sporadic video chats to discuss ideas and plans for the future. All of us have all been getting ideas together so that when we can get back to rehearsing again we can hopefully get some new stuff written quite quickly.
When lockdown is over, what’s The Lounge Society’s next step?
Getting back to gigging, writing and rehearsing is definitely our priority but also recording single two and hopefully getting that out as soon as possible.
If you could choose, which festivals would you like to perform at?
We’re all huge fans of Green Man Festival which has sadly just been cancelled but we’re hoping to play there, along with other festivals, next year”.
I shall wrap things up in a bit, but I want to bring in an interesting feature from NME. I think that The Lounge Society are one of those bands that can live up to the hype. They have their own sound and direction and, when it comes to making an early impression, the guys have definitely wasted no time in making themselves heard!
I think The Lounge Society are a quintessential live band. I reckon they are going to be feeling the stress of a lack of gigs more than most bands. That said, they are brewing great music in lockdown and, when gigs do resume, the demand to see them will be huge! I will finish by bringing in an NME interview. The band were asked about their connection to live music and what happens next for them:
“You mentioned making a dent in everything you do, that certainly comes through in the listen, you could say there’s a lot of bands sounding the same in the post-punk sphere…
“Absolutely and I think we’re trying to be as far from that as possible. We all believe that music should have an impact if you have that opportunity, music can be a real force for change or at least change within the listener at the very least. To try and have an impact was our goal, so we set out with the direct lyrics and the driving tune to get what we want to express as clearly as possible. We didn’t want to warm into anything, we wanted to get out of the gates as quickly and as dramatically as possible.”
Your identity as a band does embrace a locality, is that important to you?
“We try to filter our local geography and the nature of where we are into our music. From the physical landscape, especially in winter, the brutal rolling hills and the driving rain to being in the valley which obviously does have a disconnect from other areas, you can feel stuck at times however nice it can be, it does become a little bubble that you can feel trapped in. There is a sense of making your own fun, as a teenager it’s almost your duty. Rehearsing and writing songs was where we got most of our joy from, just being mates leaving school and focussing on the band felt amazing. We’ve tried to keep that energy and spirit through everything we do.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Piran Asto
Your music is very much written for live shows, have the circumstances made you more determined to keep that energy and spirit alive in the recordings?
“We’ve had to grit our teeth a little bit without having the energy of an audience in front of us and we’ve had to create that ourselves. Recently when we’ve been rehearsing we’ve essentially been gigging to one another and putting everything into it. When we’re writing and rehearsing tunes we have to imagine there’s an audience in front of us but we’ve doubled down and put as much energy into everything as we possibly can despite there not being anyone in the room.”
It’s still very early days but what are the next steps now?
“We want to build things up but we also want to keep people on their toes, we don’t have much intention of repeating ourselves and so if we can keep it fresh in most things we do then we’ve accomplished our main goal. I think we set out to make sure people can’t really put their finger on us, we like to keep people guessing while still being true to ourselves which is a big task but we give it a go. For example our first two tracks are both very separate in terms of the instrumentation and vibe, we’re hoping to do that a third time and forever really”.
Do yourself a favour and investigate the amazing The Lounge Society. I think they are one of this year’s most-promising acts. Judging what they have delivered so far, and I know they are going to be a band who endure and influence others in years to come! When the lockdown doors are unlocked and The Lounge Society are unleashed into the wild, that will be…
QUITE something to witness!
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