The Echoes Interview

When you hear Cheltenham, the first thing that comes to mind isn't pop/rock, so it was truly refreshing to hear this mix of styles in the music of 'the echoes', and not to find another band to fit with a particular genre as most new bands in this day and age.

Still tired after a four hour journey into Leicester, band members Adam Goddard on bass guitar, Charlie Pilsworth on drums, Chris Capewell on lead guitar and vocals and Myk Elliott on rhythm guitar and vocals, took time out for an interview as I caught up with 'the echoes' on their TIH tour, right before their gig at the 'shed' in Leicester...

So, how are you finding your day so far?

Actually, really tired after that journey. (Leicester motorways weren't kind to us) but we're good, and a little bit excited about the week. tonight, could be interesting. but, the rest of the week is gonna be good, it's going to be fairly quiet but it's gonna be very good, we're gonna have fun!, so we're feeling good.

Is it the first time that you’ve played in Leicester?

Second time, yeah, second time in Leicester, second time here as well. Its good, its a good place to be, last time we played here, it sort of filled up on it's own, it's a Monday night so god knows, don't know if anyone's gonna show up, we might not even go...(laughs)

I've noticed that there have been a few band member changes over time, do you think this has had a big influence on the way you all work?

We've only had one line up change, basically we got a new bassist, Adam Goddard, he fits the sound a lot better, the sound we were trying to develop our old sound into, we recorded and, he was coming up with stuff all over the place, and it just sort of fitted, sounds right, fits better, he's got more, mentally with it all.

Well, who would you say influenced you most on your music?

Unit Six, Tonight's Goodbye. Yeh, Tonight's Goodbye, 'no longer'. Bands like Futures, there's a band called "Lights and Sounds" that we like a lot. It's like a pop sound, but a heavy pop sound, so it's, more accessible.

It's hard for us to get a gig as well, since there's not a lot of bands that do the same style, we're either to pop for a bill, or we're to rocky, and not indie enough, so influences like New Found Glory. Anyone who's played pop punk really...

What types of people usually come to your gigs?

Some gigs, we get a variety, like, old and new, ages ago, we had some people like, 40, like, all ages really. It's danceable, so, a younger audience that generally do like it, but we get a few, older people that like it, its pretty accessible. We think so anyway, we hope so!

It seems very accessible, well, I like it so...

oh thank you very much!

So, what would you say has been your favourite venue so far?

Erm, favourite venue, Dublin castle in Camden, its wicked, doing it again on Friday so, hopefully it lives up to the same expectations, it's just, one of those things, I mean, Coldplay played there, and Arctic monkeys did their video there, and you walk in and your like, oh, I recognise it, and you get on stage and it just, fills up and people are just stood there dancing to it and we're like, your not my friend, you don't have to do that. We do like, our local venue, and gigs in Cheltenham, which is one of our favourites, 'cause our first gig was there, and we always get a good turnout, 'cause it's in Cheltenham where we're from, then again, Gloucester, which is like, 10 min's from Cheltenham, in Guildhall, we supported Igloo and Hartley there, which, went down the pan, but still good..... we had fun anyway, oh, and The Shed obviously, that's why we came back for round two... to play to an empty room.....(laughs)

What are you up to when your not playing music nowadays?

(Chris+Charlie) We're at uni, doing a popular music degree, just started, really really boring, but, hopefully will get better. (Myk+Adam) Me and Adam are at Gloucester College doing music, I'm doing music technology, and he's doing.... music, yeh, slandered music....so we're all doing musically based stuff....

I would have guessed that...(laughs)

Yeh...(laughs)... we just do the normal stuff, go out for drinks, hang out with our friends, (have a few more drinks...)... yeh, Myks taken up skating...recently, it's, very cool, he's got the bruises and cuts to prove it as well. But yeh, we just chill... Facebook, to much time on Facebook.

Yeh, I can relate to that (laughs).....well, Do you have a particular track of yours, that you recommend to maybe, first time listeners to your music?

In the Scene!, The tracks on our CD, probably our most accessible.... we've got a few old tracks that are still quite popular, but, we base our sound more on the four tracks we've got out now, (CD: what juliet says, goes: sticks and stones: save me: in this scene)

the last track, In the Scene, that's probably our flag tune at the moment.

How did you first form as a band?

I love this one!, (Chris) me and Myk used to be Prefects at school right, (good start), ha, yeh, and we were stood there, talking to each other, and I was like talking about guitar, and he was like, oh, I play guitar, and I was like, oh yeh, me to!, and we were like, we should start a band!, so we recruited this lad over here (points to Charlie), they knew each other for ages (points to Myk and Charlie), we had this old bassist, and we sorta jammed together in a bedroom, like, for ages using a karaoke machine (laughs), then Adam was in a band, that split up, so, we knew him and when it came to the fact, that we needed to change our line up, for whatever reason, we knew that he's the man for the job. He literally came off stage with another band and we just asked him, do you want to be in our band instead?...then we had to say, by the way we recorded and we're going on tour, and it might cost you a fair bit of money but, yeh.... (laughs)

(laughs) Lovely....so, do you have any particular claims to fame?

Erm, oh... Radio 1, yeh, we were on Radio 1, been on Radio 1 a few times, erm, there's a thing where we're from that's called Wired, and we headlined that, we did it like, what? 4....3 or 4.... times, and its like 450 capacity in there. It like, sold out so.....Oh, and our roadies claim to fame would be page 3 of the sun (kit off!...laughs)... his names James Herbert, (laughs) we haven't really got many claims to fame, that's why we're here.....(laughs)

Ok....Forgetting the venue, what would you say is your favourite gig that you’ve played so far?

As this group, we've played like, one gig before, (and the wedding!) oh, yeh 2... 2 gigs yeh, (of course Myk got the brides name wrong...laughs)... yeh, he was like, oh congratulations to you bla bla bla, and we're like, 'mate, that's the wrong name!'...but erm, my favourite gig we've ever played at, was, at Guildhall, it was Wired again, cause, we played this gig with Igloo and Hartley, and we were like, s***, this is like the biggest gig we've ever got, we've got to go mad and have a mental show!... and then, basically we blew it, and it was just c***, and then the one after (wired) we were just like, right, we need to just go, full speed, so we did, and it was just wicked. (balls to the walls...) yeh, balls were thrown at walls that day (laughs)... I guess we've had a lot of s*** gigs, (quick talk us up.... laughs) well yeh, we try to make the most out of all of them, like, even if there's no one there, were still like, putting on a show, having a good time, we won't let it drop just cause no ones there, even if there's only one person there, its like, yeh, go on then, so, yeh, were out to impress you tonight...

Oh thanks, ha, but i'm sure there will be others...

yeh, (laughs)... we play for each other as well, we play, of each other, so its like, if I turn around and he's having a good time, and he's having a good time and he's having a good time, then it doesn't matter, yeh, just like seeing each others faces and messing about, but playing properly of course.

You have a lot of gigs coming up, and from what I saw three On Saturday!, how do you deal with the workload?

The workload in terms of gigs is not that strenuous. Today we've like sat around, eaten some birthday cake. It's all the stuff before the gig which is hardest, setting it up, getting the tickets and promoting it, and phoning everyone, and all that side of it is the hard bit, (now its our week of fun) yeh, now all the hard works done we can just go out there and have fun, so,that's how we handle it, it's like, we're just gonna have fun regardless of where we are....

Sounds good... ok, obvious question but, Where would you like to be this time next year?

This will be good actually (back at The Shed... laughs)... I dunno, working our way up probably, yeh, probably making this a career, as a job, not having to do college, we'd like to be supporting a band, that we've looked up to, opening on their tour, instead of like, trying to do it all ourself...

Like who?

Like... Futures... (that would be amazing).... we would like to play some more festivals, and just, get more exposure really, that's what we're doing this week mainly, (we'd also like to get a new bassist.... laughs.....)

Aww, that's nice... (laughs)

we're gonna change him once a year (laughs)... keep it fresh....

Not up to throwing tv's out of windows yet then?

Yeh, that's what we do in our spare time... (laughs)... we could be if the t.v was damaged and we didn't get paid or something.... we could tell you some stories about hotel rooms... (ohhhhh) we cant look at at each other properly...(laughs, or be in the same room for 5 mins)... should probably move on from that now.....

(laughs) Ok...And lastly, as a mention to the readers, its Myks birthday!, are you doing anything nice to celebrate?

Yehhhh, happy birthday Myk....erm, not sure yet, not from round here so we don't really know where to go, but the student night, apparently...yeh, we just wanna have a laugh, but not be too bad as we've got a four hour drive... yeh we had four hour today to get here, yeh, we've got the show to do first, that's how the celebrating starts, feel free to come out with us if you like!... I'm really looking forward to the gig on Saturday cause it's the home talent gig, three gigs in the same day, and the last gigs at the Pigs, which is our local, and which is the CD launch as well, it's gonna be good...

Well, I would like to wish you a very happy day from the jitty!

Ahhh, thanks, and thanks for the happy birthday...

Well thanks very much for your time and it was really nice speaking to you. And I cant wait to see how things go for you guys!

http://www.myspace.com/theechoesmusic

By chantelle calow