Let’s kick the week off with some alternative-sounding goodness.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
I’m Australian but have lived in London for the past four years. Lawrence and Bill are both Brits who have lived in London for most of their lives.
How did you meet?
I came over from Sydney in 2015 to find and form a new band in London as Australia’s music industry is somewhat a dead-end. I was in an interim band with Lawrence when I first arrived where I was just playing keys, and then we both left to form TIDES as we had all the same influences and liked the same bands. We went through a few other members then recruited Bill in 2017.
How long have you been playing as a band?
It took a while for Lawrence and me to find the right members to join us, so even though we formed and began writing in 2015, our first gig as TIDES was August 5th 2017.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Lawrence came up with it and it has no meaning. We were looking for something simple and easy to remember, so after a lot of brainstorming it was the best option. It took us a while to figure it out.
What are your influences?
Our main collective influences are bands like Muse, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against the Machine and Tool, though we all have broad tastes in music which no doubt come into play. Funk, indie, djent, pop punk, electronic, blues – it’s all good.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We try not to pigeon-hole ourselves within one genre. We like to create music which is a blend of heavy riffs with more bluesy elements thrown in there, and unconventional drum patterns underneath. When writing, we often use less common time signatures, and change them throughout songs. You won’t see us writing a straight-forward 4/4 rock song.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
I write about topics which I think are important to discuss and matter a lot to me. My lyrics tend to revolve around issues like feminism, discrimination, domestic violence, capitalism, challenging the status quo and the problems I have with religion, even if my melodies sometimes convey the lyrics in a lighter way. I have a lot to say, so I naturally lean towards wanting to write about more serious subjects. I’ve never once written a happy song or one about love for this band for example, it just isn’t my style and doesn’t come naturally.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Loud, energetic and sweaty. We try to give it everything we have without holding back. Lawrence stomps around like Tom Morello, I’m usually headbanging and nearly falling over, and Bill brings a mean bass face. We’ve lost count of the amount of shows we’ve racked up.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Lawrence takes the cake with this one. When he was in uni, Ian Watkins jumped into the crowd at a Lost Prophets gig and the crowd stoles his shoes. He then went off in a huff saying “It’s not cool to steal things!” and wouldn’t finish the show. There are some much more uncool things to do than that, Ian…
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I play a Gibson Les Paul Classic Guitar, a Casio Privia PX-3 Digital Piano and recently purchased a Midi Keyboard. Lawrence uses three guitars – a Fender Telecaster, Mark Holcomb PRS and Fender Stratocaster. Bill has an Ibanez 5 string bass and a 4 string Warwick. Amps vary depending on the gig. Lawrence’s collection of guitar pedals tops them all though.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We recently released our latest single “You Know” on Spotify and other streaming sites on April 25th. Wyatt Wendels played it on Planet Rock radio in May which was rad; we’ll have the audio up for that soon. We have another single “Under This Sun” which we’ll be releasing in June which is probably our heaviest yet so keep an eye out.
What are your plans for 2019?
We’re completely DIY at this stage, so we want to expand our team and start working with a booking agent to tour as much as possible and keep building our fan base. Finding the right manager who gets what we’re going for is always on our radar too. We’ll be releasing a music video for “You Know” over summer, and we’re also going to write intensively in the next few months to keep the tunes flowing.
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?
Supporting Muse will always be a dream goal of mine, and an LA band called Dead Sara opening for us would be sick. I’m pretty obsessed with Dead Sara and met them after a show in London once, they were the nicest people! Listen to “Weatherman” if you haven’t heard them before.
TIDES: facebook | instagram | reverbnation | soundcloud | youtube
