Arise, Sir…actually, they’ve probably heard that one before.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from all over but we call home split between Leeds and Manchester!
How did you meet?
We mostly met at university! We studied at the Leeds College of Music. Ellen and I (Lyndsay) were put together for a group project that only lasted a couple days. But I knew I wanted to work with her again, so I basically begged her to be in a band with me! Then we met the boys through a mixture of uni and outside friendships. It all fell into place really nicely.
How long have you been playing as a band?
About a year now!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Sir Curse sounds kinda like Circus. We wanted a play on words and homage to the genre that we’re trying to incorporate.
What are your influences?
Kate Bush is a huge musical influence. Her lyrics and showmanship really inspire us. Mr Bungle is another really interesting artist we look up to. I think we mostly get inspired by films or any form of storytelling, and you can tell as our content is such theme heavy music.
American Horror Story and The Brothers Grimm fairy tales are a huge inspiration because of their storytelling. We were just saying the other day that we can’t write as many songs if we’re happy. They’re just not as good! We need to always have some sort of downer in our life!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music is theatrical, dark, creepy and energetic! We have so many different genres that go into each song. Our debut single “Tarot” has such an upbeat gypsy energy. It almost has a drunken sailor vibe to it at the end too. It’s really fun to play around with!
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
They’re heavily based on fairytales but there’s always a sinister undertone. Imagine if Little Red Riding Hood never got saved by the lumberjack. What if Hansel and Gretel never found their way out of the oven? She’s very inspired by witches and folklore which also inspires her onstage character. Each song has a unique story to it which relates to an overall story which really comes together at gigs.
“Tarot” is about a witch reading tarot cards for a stranger and seeing a future she couldn’t have imagined would relate to that person. She’s so cocky about her ability to read people and then in walks a surprise and she’s delighted by it
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live shows are so much fun! We don’t stop until we come off stage. Bill, our guitarist, he screams into the mic at one point. We do little creepy stories in between songs and we usually get some great reactions from them. We do one just before our song “Dead Annie”, which is about a witch who is burned at the stake although she is innocent. That usually get some good reactions!
Henry, the drummer, he has such a good creepy scream and laugh! He sometimes just laughs in the middle of a set. All these little things really set the audience off. They seem to feed off our energy.
We’ve played lots of shows over the UK but we’ve always got a good reaction off our creepy, theatrical set!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Joe, our trumpet player, he has a long section in “Rabbit Holes” where he doesn’t play. So he just hopped off stage and walked to the bar to get himself and Lyndsay a pint. That was pretty hilarious. We were like “Where’s Joe off to? Oh, thanks for the pint!”
I think we should make it a regular thing. See if Joe can get a full round in before he has to come back on stage and play and awesome trumpet part.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Ellen plays a Roland Jupiter Keyboard and has all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds attached to it. Eric plays a Fender Jazz Bass guitar that has a 5 pence piece stuck inside it.
Bill plays a Fender Stratocaster, the Dave Murray signature.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our debut single “Tarot” has just come out alongside a music video! It’s taken us such a long time to bring it out but we’ve really taken our time with it and waited for the right moment. We’ve just been announced at Boomtown Fair at the same time that the single has a good buzz around it!
What are your plans for 2019?
We’re going to be playing BBC Introducing in summer and Boomtown Fair. We want to keep playing shows and keep writing music. To follow up “Tarot” we would like to do an EP towards the end of the year but for now we’re just seeing where the wind blows us!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I was going to say Hands off Gretel would be a band we would love to support, but we’ve literally just been announced as a support act for their Manchester show on the 7th of June. So that’s super exciting! So we’re gonna go really far out there and say we want to support System of a Down! We always have a good laugh with our friends in Syteria. We’d love to play another gig with them!
Header image by Solay Elibol Photography
Omg I have heard all their songs