The first of a new batch of Band of the Day articles, kicking off with an English band who have a French name…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
North and South England, but we all met at University in Sheffield.
How did you meet?
James (drums), Michael (bass) and Ludo (vocals) met up at uni over drinks and things just took off after that with Tom (guitars) and Jake (guitars) joining to complete the lineup.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Two and a half years (ish).
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
After sitting down for about three hours and going through every name under the sun, James (pretentious as ever) said Sobriquet. It’s medieval French for alias or nickname.
What are your influences?
Each of us has a pretty distinct musical taste and you’ll hear elements of all of it in our music in some way – Ludo is really into Blur, post-hardcore and experimental things; Tom’s all about really filthy metalcore and loves Architects; Jake and James love the more technical end of metal like Protest the Hero; Michael is a shameless Frank Turner fan boy.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
There’s a lively and unpredictable nature about it. We want to write catchy and melodic hooks but also want there to be a degree of technicality to it. Something that will surprise you basically.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Not particularly. We stay away from writing about relationships and politics. We think they’ve been overdone a lot and a) our girlfriends would kill us and b) you don’t really achieve much by going “fuck the system” after RATM did it decades ago.
We do seem to have a lot of religious imagery in our lyrics though, none of us are religious but it is a great inspiration for grizzly lyrics.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We’ve played tonnes. We don’t have an actual number but it must be nearing 100.
As for the shows themselves we try and keep them as energetic as possible. We have a big ethos about what live music should be and that isn’t simply playing the songs you can hear at home. Anything we can jump off, run into or scream at is how our shows usually go.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
If anyone saw Baby Godzilla/HECK it would be any of their shows. Distinctly remember while the drummer was chucking his kit into the pit to play, the guitarist was climbing up the side of the stage tent as a particularly mad moment in their show.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Fender and Orange all the way for Tom. With Jake, experimenting with homemade Frankenstein guitar creations.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We’ve just released our latest single “Eros” which is our interpretation of a pop anthem.
What are your plans for 2019?
More shows and a single or two is the plan. In the studio at the moment recording an absolute racket so that will hopefully be out shortly.
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!
Opening would have to be Clonk, they’re an absolutely amazing four piece from Nottingham who we did a weekender with recently.
Supporting is a tough one as we all have our own favourite. It would probably be between the late Arcane Roots, Code Orange or Rolo Tomasi.
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