On Saturday, March 17th, Deadbeat Echoes supported ‘80s/‘90s alternative rock band Inspiral Carpets in Holmfirth, home to Last of the Summer Wine, and, of course, the venue, The Picturedrome. "Originally, the Picturedrome was known as the Holme Valley Theatre and was opened on Easter Monday, March 1st 1913," so as you can imagine it is a beautiful turn of the century building capable of holding approximately 750, and the night was a sell-out.
QRO: So guys can you introduce yourselves from left to right?
Jack Fearon: Hi I am Jack; I play the guitar and sing in the band.
Andy Brown: Andy Brown; I play guitar.
Mike Newton: Hi I’m Mike; I do bass.
Tom Webster: Hi it’s Tom; I play drums and backing vocals.
QRO: Nice to meet you. How long have you guys been together?
MN: About three years.
JF: With this line up, eight months with Andy.
QRO: How are you finding being with the band, Andy?
AB: It’s great mate; love it.
QRO: What sort of circuit were you guys doing before doing these big tours?
MN: Just gigs here and there like around Manchester and Liverpool.
JF: We have done some with smaller touring bands that SJM get in touch with us to the opening slot for, nothing too big, but nothing tiny.
QRO: Tell me a bit about the band and how you got into it?
Mike, Tom and Jack: School.
QRO: So did you all go to the same school then?
TW: Us three did; Andy didn’t.
AB: I didn’t go to school with these three; I was in another band with my brother called Scoundrels.
QRO: So I heard you were in London last night at Koko. How was it?
AB: It was ace.
JF: The venue was brilliant.
QRO: I heard it was full.
All: Yea it was sold out.
TW: Yea it was sold out; it was pretty full for us.
JF: Which we were really happy about; had like two tears in my eye going on stage – was great.
QRO: So what sort of style do you guys go for?
MN: We just jam; we don’t try.
JF: We have always had an influence from Noise, we like loads of sounds, like so many effects going around. I use seven delay peddles to the sound.
AB: With loads of mad guitar parts.
JF: It mostly starts from jamming; we don’t go in with a set list.
MN: Like someone will have a riff and play it, and hope something sounds good over it.
QRO: Who writes the lyrics?
MN: All of us, Jack mostly, though, but it’s all quite like a group thing, it’s very ‘groupy’.
JF: If it’s a pie, it’s a quarter.
QRO: Have you guys been over this end before or this your first time?
All: No, first time.
AB: We have played Leeds before.
QRO: Where in Leeds did you play?
TW: Nation of Shopkeepers.
JF: It’s a really mad little venue; it’s like a café, but then they have bands like Pulled Apart By Horses and bands like Fucked Up (QRO live review) playing.
QRO: You wouldn’t expect it when you go in?
JF: No, You think oh that’s a nice little café, then a guy from Fucked Up running round with his top off.
QRO: So do each of you have different influences?
All: Yea.
QRO: So how does a jam start if you all have different influences?
MN: We normally have someone think of a riff or Tom will do a drumbeat, and we think, ‘That sounds good, so let’s work on that.’
QRO: Have you got a proper practice room or are you still you auntie’s garage?
AB: No, we practice in a venue; sometime we go to a practice rooms if we can get in.
JF: The key influences of the band are like ‘90s music favourite band are like the Charlatans and Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen (QRO live review), but I am very influenced by punk and hardcore punk, so I think the grittiness and the nastiness comes from that side. To me music has gotta be raw; there’s a lot of good commercial bands out there but my favourite kind is the raw kind.
QRO: So how did you get discovered and how are you moving forward?
TW: The single comes out on Monday, 19/03/12.
JF: People just liked us, like how Tom Dunn [manager] came across us, we just supported one of his old bands and he said he would really like to work with us, and since then it’s just progressed and progressed thanks to John Robb and the guy from Primary Talent, they have helped us along as well.
QRO: Great stuff sounds like you got great backing behind you, how many dates were on this tour?
JF: Five dates.
AB: They said it was eight, ha-ha…
QRO: What next for you lads?
MN: We are playing Liverpool on Friday.
JF: But recording-wise, there’s a guy that’s doing live sound for Plan B, Lana Del Rey (QRO album review) and U2 (QRO album review) that’s promised us studio time to record an album’s worth of material, because he thinks it could go somewhere.
QRO: Have you seen an increase in fans since doing this tour?
All: Yea, massively.
JF: Yea, it’s crazy – the phone won’t stop vibrating with updates from Twitter and Facebook; there was one guy who watched from the side of the stage saying how brilliant we are and that we are going to do big things.
AB: We’ve had reviewers dancing at the front of the stage as they’re writing stuff down -it’s unreal.
QRO: What are your long-term plans other than the album? Do have you more bookings?
AB: We are just waiting to get picked up by a label at the minute.
QRO: Are you lads looking forward to playing [The Picturedrome], then?
All: Yea it’s a good venue – looking forward to it.
QRO: You have been on tour with Inspiral Carpets (QRO review) – have they been looking after you?
MN: Yea, they have they have been a laugh – they have taken us under their wing.
TW: They’re a good bunch, dead funny.
QRO: Going back to the album, how many songs have you done?
JF: Ten.
TW: The set we are going to do, there is only eight songs in it, three of them are brand new tunes, and one of them hasn’t been recorded yet.
JF: Going back to the album, we already got the songs – it’s just fleshing them out and getting them tight.
QRO: Finally where do you guys see yourselves in a couple of years?
JF: Doing this but going on last instead of first.
AB: Fingers crossed.
If you search on Google you won’t find one bad review. Everyone who has seen them has said the greatest things about them.
Well thanks for letting me interview you and I look forward to seeing you on stage.
