Sundays so it’s a late-night Band of the Day again. Kick back and enjoy what’s left of the weekend with SPRINTS…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Dublin in Ireland.
How did you meet?
Long time friends at this stage, the boys all knew each other from school and growing up in the same social circle. Karla first met the gang through mutual friends years ago and they clicked immediately.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Sprints as a whole wasn’t fully formed until about April 2019 – some of the members played in bands together previously and had been writing material together. But it wasn’t until about April/May when we first started putting material and sets together to put out into the world.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Literally popped into our head one day on the way to rehearsal. We really wanted something that represented the fast paced, high energy of the music and the word sprints came to mind. Finding a name is always so tough but we slept on it for a while, and it stuck ever since.
What are your influences?
Our influences are so far ranging, we genuinely are all such music lovers that we have passions for every genre. As SPRINTS our main influences are definitely the post-punk and garage genres, bands such as IDLES, Silverbacks, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen, Fontaines DC, Girl Band – they’d definitely be heavily on repeat for us.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Every song we right is very heavily rooted in a real story. We really try to be bluntly raw and honest. Our lyrics are often spoke sung because we find it a really effective form of delivery. We pull influences from post-punk, grunge, garage and I think medling them all together we’ve managed to create something that feels like our own.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
The classic phrase is write what you know so every day life and struggles are pretty much our key driving force. From political issues and breakdowns, mental health struggles, imposter syndrome… You name it. If we’ve felt it or experienced it, we’ve probably written about it.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We live for playing live. It’s where we get our energy and drive. Writing our songs, we’re always thinking about what they’ll feel like or how they’ll manifest on stage. We’ve racked up a decent record in a short space of time, recently selling out our sophomore single launch in September and have another sold out show in February. We’re playing Other Voices, one of the most iconic Irish festivals at the end of the month also so we’re over the moon about that.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
There are many a story – from smashing glasses, confetti canons to bloody noses mid song. Nothing beats the energy of playing live.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
We’re big fender fans – Karla and Colm both play Telecasters. Karla’s is a 50’s modified Tele and Colm plays a classic Tele with two humbuckers for the extra beefy sound.
What are your plans for 2020?
We really want to just focus on putting as much music out as possible. We’re sitting on a bank of material and we really just can’t wait to get it out in the world. We have plans for releases, more merch and hopefully festivals too but if by the end of this year we have a few more songs out, we’ll be happy.
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!
The dream band would probably be someone along the lines of IDLES or The Strokes. They’re huge favourites of ours. THUMPER from Ireland are also a big favourite – incredible live band that we’d love to play a show with eventually.
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