Talk Of The Town: Silverfish
In the midst of a ‘mini-tour’ and university deadlines, Silverfish sat down with Joseph Macaulay to discuss the Leeds music scene, their identity as a band, and world-wide domination.
At the end of last month, I had the opportunity to see Silverfish in a sweaty and intimate affair at Leeds’s Oporto. For a band with only a handful of released tracks, I was struck immediately by how fully formed they sounded. Through their half hour long set, they showcased a diverse cast of songs that sold me on their sound. I met up with them to find out more.
Comprised of Tom Gannon (vocals), George Bolger (drums), Oliver Mullan (Lead Guitar) and Ben Norton (Bass, Synth), the four-piece formed at The University of Leeds in 2021. Following a gig at the University Union, the band found their feet playing in Leeds, as well as nights in London, Manchester and Liverpool, and an appearance at Y Not Festival. In October, they released their third single ‘Serpentine’.
We talked first about them starting out at the university. ‘BandSoc definitely helped in the initial stages’, says Bolger, but following their first appearances, they’ve had to make their own luck. They tell me of the surprise they have encountered in telling people they are a Uni of Leeds band; typically, the University’s more academic focus means that the majority of bands come from Leeds Beckett or the Leeds Conservatoire. ‘They have huge gigs at the union, but there’s not a scheme with the University to get university bands supporting’, points out Gannon. Such a relationship would seem prudent in developing a band who are undoubtedly a product of Leeds University.
As their name evokes images of the Leeds student living that brought them together, so too does their sound reflect the city. The multifaceted music scene of Leeds has proven to be the ideal environment for nurturing them. As Mullan describes it: ‘There’s so much good stuff from the conservatoire, so many good jazz musicians, it’s not just one genre. Hopefully, there never is a Leeds sound because then people would feel constricted to that’.
It’s clear that the band themselves do not feel constricted to any rigid sound. At the gig, each song was distinct, leaving attempts to liken them to anyone else an exercise in futility. Yet in these twists and turns, there remained a cohesive signature: the Silverfish sound is definitely alive!
‘There’s not a set mould for Leeds’, says Bolger, and conversation turns to the role of Leeds as a music hub. ‘It’s an underdog scene… it gets very overlooked because there’s cities like London or Manchester where it seems there’s more going on’, adds Mullan. English Teacher are inevitably mentioned as flag-bearers, but it’s bands like Silverfish that really help carve out a deeper established scene. It’s their live performances that they enjoy most, they say, and where they can begin to make a name for themselves as a band.
Referencing Charlie XCX (very media savvy lads), Norton mentions how the pop icon believes that ‘one song can have so many iterations’ and that playing live gives them the opportunity to experiment with their songs. This was evident at the gig, where they produced extended breakdowns and live embellishments worthy of a much more mature outfit. He describes how the band try to ‘hit a spot where [their music] is accessible to a wide audience, we’re not playing jazz, not yet… We’re slowly adding elements that make it sound a little bit more interesting.’ An intermittent use of synth – played by Norton simultaneously with his bass – added this complexity and gave depth to their performance. ‘The textures [of the synth] … stimulate more interesting songwriting’, he says. Indeed, every song has something interesting from the drums to the guitar hooks and vocals. They won’t settle for average.
Looking to the future, the lads want to keep gigging. Off the back of a year-long hiatus, they’ve hit the ground running with a string of dates forming a ‘mini-tour’. Next year, they intend on putting out their first EP, and from the songs they have played to the public it’s clear they have the momentum and songwriting ability to do so. After finishing uni, the question that all young bands face must be answered: ‘are we moving to London?’ Time will tell, but for now they are enjoying playing and writing. As Gannon jokes about ‘world-wide domination’, I can’t help but feel that in Leeds at the very least they will leave their mark. One thing’s for certain – Silverfish have come crawling emphatically out of the woodwork.
Words by Joseph Macaulay
