A Band that’s Big in the Suburbs: Interview with art-pop band Welly

Do you remember your Year 6 school disco? It’s too early to leave, so stay with me, dear Reader. The dance floor rammed with your classmates, the memories of your hometown looking too much like a world out of a Where’s Wally puzzle, the endless queue of kids outside the corner shop fiending for Lucozade and that one unbranded 50p chocolate bar 10 minutes before the school bell goes. All of these small life dramas are taken for granted when bands consider writing music about where they are from and what life experience they have to bring forth in whatever repackaged version of grungy post-punk they have bleed their fingers over. What even is the term ‘gentrified pop’? Pop surely can’t be gentrified anymore than it already is, you may say to yourself, draped in an Idles or Black Country New Road tee (ironic), IPA in hand and permanently frowning over your lack of Hinge matches. I get it; a subculture of Leeds students may not at all be phased with joy as a primary emotion in music about the world outside, without feeling guilty.

Allow me to introduce you to Welly, pop’s answer to social commentary about the latest drama in your local village Facebook group. If you were getting bored of listening to whiny love songs and wished that somebody would just write a song about the bins not being collected, this band from the suburbs might just be the answer to your boredom. With their debut album Big in the Suburbs dropping on March 21st, this band has come in hot with live sets incorporating magic shows, shoe stealing and cowbells? But on a wildly windy Friday afternoon, I dodge the comically scary obstacle course that temporarily erupted in Woodhouse Moor to hunch over my laptop and chat on Zoom with frontman Elliot.

On the surface, there’s so much of British culture oozing out of their music that it’s quite easy to compare Welly to Britpop pioneers Pulp or even Blur. “I was hearing people singing about the supermarket and common people. It’s not so much that I am inspired by Britpop, it’s that I am inspired by the sort of ‘cottage industry’, the sort of hobbyist element of British life. I can speak quite candidly about school discos, playing knock n’ run – that’s where it comes from.” Inspiration for building the world of Welly is very visual and all in his surroundings. “The suburbs to me are as much of a muse to me, as a lover would be a painter or daffodils were to Wordsworth. I find a dead end street with pretty little gardens and really nosy neighbours.”

Take their music video for album opener ‘Big in the Suburbs’ as an example for how CBBC unknowingly defined a generation, idolising the Dick and Dom’s and Horrid Henry brats in the room. “I always liked how Madness do their music videos. In ‘House of Fun’, one of them is a clown, one of them is a jester, and a barber. Whatever the song is, they always play the roles of the characters in the song.” 

Self-produced by the band, the perfectionism of releasing a debut album is one that most bands have to succumb to. “The album is really homemade. We made it a year ago now, all by ourselves at my dad’s house. Now that’s finished and I keep thinking of what I could have done differently, I compensate with the visuals. The day we were mixing the album, we were saying ‘we could have done this, we could have done this’. I’d rather just get stuff out or else it would never go anywhere.” But a debut project is meant to be raw. It’s a band at their most authentic. “We’re very proud of it, and it’s what a debut album should sound like.”

There’s an ever evolving image of what a debut album is supposed to be and whether it aligns with a band’s message. Narratively, this debut album is very centered on a caricature Southern suburb, zooming in on all the gossip and happenings of everyday people. I ask if there is already a sequel written for the saga. “Album 2 was written before we even signed the record deal, we’re just not sure on what it will sound like yet. I want to focus more on fast food, junk food and instant gratification culture. The 3rd album will be the prog rock Genesis project that no one really wants to listen to.” Soon, there’ll be a cosmopolitan city of sound made up of the band’s sound, whether that’s them hoping to pursue hyperpop or even a baroque project. “It’s about throwing stuff at the wall and I was lucky that the first thing I threw at the wall stuck, which is what Welly is.”

For now, the album opens with its titular track ‘Big in the Suburbs’, opening up the world of Welly with a formal introduction of ‘Welcome to the brand new great British zoo’. I got some further insight on the rest of the tracks. “‘Home for the Weekend’ was the first song that started the project. I never really felt homesick but I was always really gagging to leave home, which for me is a suburbia outside of Southampton. When I moved to Brighton for university, I suddenly went ‘oh I quite miss it’. Bizarrely, I had a seizure and spent hours in Brighton A&E and that’s when I came up with ‘Big in the Suburbs.’ ‘Knock and Run’ is a rip off of the macarena if you listen close enough. There’s also sadder slower songs and it isn’t just all a big joke. Hopefully, if you have already written Welly off, there might be something there to surprise you.” 

Hopefully, none of you have yet. You could argue there’s a strong self-awareness to the music, and most of today’s guitar music expresses a deep need for social commentary on the state of the world, but in a more pessimistic and often overdone way. The difference with Welly is the amount of fun and comedy they exude on stage, and they succeed in striking a balance between wit and sincerity when making music sound really British. “It’s far more pessimistic and less arty than it used to be in the 80s. It feels like the music now is shouting at me. Yeah, but could you embellish it?”

Formed in Brighton, there were many grassroots venues that they owe their start to and continue to praise. “Places like The Green Door Store, The Prince Albert and Hope and Ruin, all that lot. Heartbreakers and The Joiners (Southampton) too.” The scene seems to have become a tight-knit community where their DIY project flourished way more than it could in a glorified London. I don’t think Welly would have got off the ground in London, but in Brighton, it’s not like we could bring our friends to shows because we didn’t know anybody when we moved here. We sort of had to put on our shows and play gobby to get people’s attention, which is how we made those friends through gigs. It’s a very accommodating place and I think they’re up for something kind of odd.”

There’s so much about not being a London centric band anymore. Playing in London is impossible. Welly’s recently announced seaside tour or previous North/South tours showcase their passion to play in small, dingy venues that reach the smaller, more neglected pockets of the music industry around the country. 

“You’re way better off trying to be the biggest band in Leeds than be bottom of the bill in London. We are playing to all of our friends, we played in Nottingham with 5 other bands and they were all having so much more fun than any prick in Hoxton. If you go to Falmouth, they have such a great scene there and what’s great for a touring band like ours is that their biggest band will support. Same thing in Huddersfield, Shrewsbury, Swansea. We get to meet their community. There’s 5 bands, they’ve all got the same drummer, they’re all having so much more fun than working in a coffee shop 9-5 just to play once a year at The George Tavern. Move out, have fun somewhere else. Brighton, if anything, is one of the bigger and harder ones.”

And with that, a toast to our beloved local music scenes. It’s Welly’s reimagined world of what would happen if Horrid Henry grew up with his band, and we’re all living in it.

Written by Eszter Vida

Independent Venue Week: won’t you take me to Regtown ’25?

It was born out of the blessed poetry of Lipps Inc. Had they known when they wrote ‘Funkytown’ back in 1970, that they actually proposed a culturally, spiritually, enlightened definitive question in their pulsating chorus: ‘oh won’t you take me to Regtown 2025?’ Little did they know of their influence on independent Leeds based record label Private Regcords, taking on their grandest gesture yet and booking out the entirety of Hyde Park Book Club to celebrate DIY small festivals and local talent galore.

Mr James Vardy, CEO of Private Regcords, and the puppeteer behind the 15 acts on his lineup proposed such a musical coup on the beloved student hotspot this past Independent Venue Week, in effort to celebrate a variation of local experimental, indie, art-pop, jazz and everything in between. This special day of collaboration could not have been met with a more sanctimonious response, selling out on general admission tickets and flogging T-shirts like evangelical pedlars in the freezing cold to raise funds for an awesome night. These days not many startup festivals can financially upkeep themselves, and the struggle to meet the nail biting margin for a necessary profit to continue consumes most creative projects with inaccessibility, bankruptcy and the fearful reminder of the state live music is in. So the fact that we have events like this means that our community has struck gold on its legacy for culture. 

It’s within these third spaces that musicians are not only playing to one another, but praising each other’s work in recognition of being equals on a lineup, curated by people who love local music. And not only did they party until Leeds’ City Councils temporary 2am curfew extension – oh no. If you want to get involved and continue spreading the message of DIY events, head on down every Sunday at 10am to the new Hangover Sessions in the Snug Room of Hyde Park Book Club, where the record label hosts stripped back performances as cures for your post-Saturday shenanigans. I know it cured my post-Regtown festival blues.

Written by Eszter Vida

Sports Team come out of the Wardrobe with a bang

On the run of their ‘Boys These Days’ tour, Eszter Vida reviews their art rock/post-punk band’s sold out return to Leeds’ iconic The Wardrobe.

Our story begins in 2021. Post-pandemic. Neighbourhood Weekender in Warrington. The 2 most depressing combinations of places and times to be alive, set right on the field I used to get pissed on to speakers blaring Arctic Monkeys, aged 16. Alex Rice launching himself into a crowd of Twitter fiends, because let’s face it – no lad from Warrington is ever self-identifying with the Cambridge grads uniformed in polo sweatshirts (but we’ll return to my point on target audiences later, don’t snap at me just yet). It feels like Sports Team are always there for the satire of it all just when we need them.

Now 2024. We’re still in the thick of political turmoil. The Wardrobe in Leeds. Sports Team always seems to be on a run of following up a multitude of global disasters with a new album cycle each time, and I think that oddly sums up the nature of this band. Without being too ambiguous, post-punk bands are now having to keep up with the times, in fear of cancellation or industry plant comparisons. God forbid, we want more authenticity from label backed artists.

Known for their dynamic, high energy sets, Sports Team are a band that play into the satire of being a British band. It’s no wonder that the home city of Gang of Four at a venue right next to a music university producing an identical entourage of bands sells out in an instant. But in this live setting, the performance felt like we were all in on the joke, poking fun of privilege and everyone’s individual place in the current state-of-affairs. We’re a long way from Aldershot, but Leeds is exactly the melting pot where indie bands thrive upon the legacy of the ones that came before them in its historic scene. It’s only the merry homecoming of drummer Al Greenwood.

The support for this tour reflects the best of up-coming bands, brewed in the same art-rock sphere. Mary in the Junkyard is no exception, with their gothic, new wave sound and their magnetic hold on the crowd. The room quickly filled in anticipation, whether you were swarming at the front, warming up at the bar or clawing through the awkward staircase barriers that lead to the pit section of the Wardrobe.

Bursting on first with ‘Camel Crew’, they knew to play to their dedicated fans’ appetites and to feed them well with their classics. The crowd instantly connected with old favourites like ‘Happy (God’s Own Country)’, ‘Lander’ and of course, ‘M5’. There was not an air molecule between us all in the pit as the room exploded into madness and the camaraderie of the band on stage sweeped the room entirely.

Building up heat for their 3rd album Boys These Days, I can safely say it’s one to look forward to just from the recent single release of ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’. It’s Rice’s facade and the irony of the lyrics he sings that embraces their unapologetic nature of leaning to more new wave and pop influences like Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music. The rest of the instrumentalists, composed of Greenwood on drums, Rob Knaggs on vocals and guitar, bassist Oli Dewdney are the centre of pushing the tempo while keyboardist Ben Mack debuts flashy synthesisers next to the other tracks’ signature punchy riffs, played by guitarist Henry Young. The live performances can be unpredictable, and tonight’s setlist of new and old shows testament to embracing their evolving sound as a group.

Some memorable moments from being in the crowd: getting bit in the mosh pit, the lack of deodorant, the erupting combat in the pit. You couldn’t get this from any other band’s tour. The two most optimistic conclusions: Sports Team are back with a promising third record and there’s nothing that sums up the relief of seeing them back in action than the tweet used by the band to announce this tour in the first place below. 

Image Credit: Instagram via @sportsteam

Words by Eszter Vida

Hyde Park Book Club? It’s Nothing that Dolores Forever can’t sell out!

Eszter Vida reviews Dolores Forever’s sold out headline show at Hyde Park Book Club.

‘Shut up and eat the pasta!’ Dolores Forever is back in town, and you just had to be there. Saving Leeds as best ‘till last for the UK leg of their tour, the indie-pop collective graced the stage with pure unapologetic fun on a sold-out Sunday night. The duo, composed of Hanna Wilson and Julia Fabrin, made a ½ homecoming show back to Wilson’s roots in a tightly-packed basement of our beloved Hyde Park Book Club.

A swarm of eager fans, awaiting their entrance as they were welcomed by the support act Pet Snake. But just gone 8:45pm, a light brush of shuffling passed my shoulder, and the train of performers slipped by on my right. There was never an overrated 4th wall of performance to begin with, as we experienced the priceless intimacy of what you wouldn’t get at any larger venues.

It’s hard to define genre in today’s age of music, but Dolores Forever weaves their influences together marvellously, refining 80s pop disciplines with a modernised DIY/indie take on post-pandemic/ 21st century narratives of experiencing the world as a young person. The release of their debut album It’s Nothing marked a pinnacle point in their career and defining sound, oozing with a synthy alt-pop essence comparable to contemporaries Sharon Van Etten, Holly Humberstone and even bedroom-pop acts like Soccer Mommy and experimental pop legend Caroline Polachek. 

Moments of splendour involved their surprisingly euphoric lyric ‘Shut up and eat the pasta’ from old-time favourite ‘Someday Best’ in a very liberating act of screaming along with the rest of the audience. “The ‘angry women energy’. I fucking see you.” A statement made by Wilson that was nothing short of the drive reflected back on stage as the audience received them with the same passion. In an effort to avoid boxing their sound into the category of bedroom-pop, tracks like ‘Why Are You Not Scared Yet?’ and ‘Concrete’ are proof that their sound reflects more than just the anxiety of being 20-something; in fact, there’s a darker thematic presence of resentment and discontent. It’s something that translates to the crowd during their live set, the dedicated front row bouncing up and down as the chorus of closer ‘Not Now Kids’ hits.

For more emotive bangers, ‘Split Lip’ was my personal favourite of the night. Stripping back from the more in-your-face angst, this track is one that makes you well up in the most unexpected way, specifically when they sang lines that directly addresses you in that small room: ‘you don’t have to give yourself a split lip, you don’t have to beat yourself up over it, you know I hate seeing you like this?’ Each chorus feels louder, boomier as the drums reverberate, the band reaching further into your soul like a best friend would.

Concluding on an endless applause and significantly more endless merch queue (support small artists!), you could say there’s promise behind their very fitting stage name that the feeling you are left with could last forever. If I was an etymologist, their Spanish first name ‘Dolores’, meaning ‘pain’, isn’t forever, and that’s the ephemeral beauty of their music connecting with fans, also evident in their patient post-show goodbyes to their fans.

For fans of: Sharon Van Etten, Holly Humberstone, Bleachers.

Words by Eszter Vida

CRASH celebrate 1 Year of The Next Big Thing

Bored of the monotony of today’s big names in music, leaving you looking for the next big thing? Well, look no further than what’s on your doorstep. The team at Crash Records have been way ahead of you in spotlighting the best emerging talent, every week across their platforms and offering them free/donation based gigs in store. What was once a place of just buying black PVC has now turned into an eventful artistic showcase, squeezing drum kits, congas and tripping over wires in the clutter of musical memorabilia. 

A 1st birthday calls for a party, so how should we celebrate? Evacuate the shop floor and put on a sold-out show. The 1 year anniversary gig at Oporto not only commemorates the running of this honourable title bestowed on almost 100 artists, but has a rich line-up composed from their roster of Next Big Thingers. Names like Coal Mob, Private Reg and Eva Kiss all brought their individuality, with some pounding their tunes into your ears while they selfishly wore massive ear muffs, while others chose to bring more of an unplugged, intimate vibe. Some were swinging off the Oporto’s mirrorball… not quite, but we were almost pouring into the rest of the bar from the quaint gig room. Surely, this is a statement on our close-knit music scene.

Speaking to the creator Matthew himself, he stresses for both local artists and avid music fans to get involved. ‘It’s really important to support local talent. This opportunity brings them into a community of really supportive artists who help each other out. Without community all these people wouldn’t be here’ as he refers to the sell-out gig. Follow Crash and get involved!

Words by Eszter Vida

Kaeto’s INTRO to alt-pop stardom is just the beginning

Eszter Vida interviews London-based artist Kaeto on her debut mixtape ‘INTRO’ as she navigates us through her songwriting process, working on its visuals collaboratively and infusing different genres, as well as touring the UK with The Last Dinner Party.

O2 Academy Leeds, early autumn. The eclipsed sun sets over the tranquil sky. The air begins to bite you, turning colder by the second. The wind pulses intrusively in your hair, and the streetlights prematurely beam into the colours of a certain je ne sais quoi, only comparable to a scene from Blade Runner. Wearing my heavy blue headphones, Bob Dylan-style leather jacket with hands mimicking his Freewheelin’ album cover, I am shuffling down the hill from Hyde Park towards the city centre, until a little old me finds herself in the dressing room of O2 Academy. It was one crazy alternative way of pre-ing for the recently Mercury-nominated The Last Dinner Party’s headline tour, sharing an ephemerally short quarter of an hour with the opening act, Kaeto.

As Brat Summer fades into a distant dream, your playlists may be looking for something slightly more ambient, something more sombre, as we approach the colder months. Enter ‘Sad Girl Autumn’, a phenomenon brought to life by our generation’s self-indulgent collaging of itself through Pinterest boards and Instagram posts, but mostly for the obsessive purpose of repurposing and recycling the cultures of the past. There’s a heavy sense of this feeling attached to Kaeto’s debut mixtape INTRO, an all-embracing example of collaging and feeling through music.

The rising London-based artist recollects her memories of her school years and growing up in Leeds, using the internet as an outlet to share her passion for music before moving down to the big city, aged only 15. ‘I spent a lot of time singing in school productions and uploading videos of myself singing to YouTube’. The formative years of an artist, especially today, showcase the different experimentations of style and changes from childhood influences. ‘I did a Kelly Clarkson cover where I was moving my hands, and then everyone at school found it’. A generation defined by social media, what feels like the apocalyptic death to identity as a teenager expressing herself so early on, has since built the foundations of Kaeto’s genre-fluid style combined with elusive performance art at her live shows.

Creativity and freedom of expression becomes the core of her musical ventures, one that is aided in connecting with your surroundings. ‘We would write a lot on the rooftop amongst all these sunsets and colours in the sky.’ She says this, as she shows me souvenir snapshots of Sevillian lilac skies that acted as a studio space during her mixtape recording process earlier this year. The geographical landscape and music swiftly blend to form her aesthetic, illuminating the euphoric imagery of joy and self-reflective memory. Thanks to the intricate layers of soaring synths and low droning, there’s an element of cinema attached to the reeling quality of her songs, echoing the personal moment of an introspective train ride. ‘There’s a thing that happens to your brain when you look closely at something and disengage on a creative loop. We came away from that trip with so many more ideas than we would really, because you write in a studio.’

Both the music and visuals feel inherently interconnected, and Kaeto cites her collaborative partners who help capture her visual ideas. ‘I’ve ended up with a lot of friends who are talented cinematographers.’ This is just another layer to the importance of being part of a particular supportive hub of musicians, as she recounts the opportunity of being able to make endlessly content, amalgamating into a sort of musical treasure chest because of this networking. She speaks less about the opportunity to tour with The Last Dinner Party and more on the gratitude and excitement of forming friendship with lead singer, Abigail Morris, through the sheer coincidence of rehearsing at the same establishment. ‘First time we met we were both rehearsing in Premises, and we knew we were both going on tour together, so we sent each other messages like ‘Yay, you at Premises today?’ and we grabbed lunch together.’

Image Credit: Chuff Media

Quintessential is this theme of the personal and emotion, both conveyed in her new release INTRO; a raw, expressive take on trip-hop, electronic and dance music that was born from the idea of solely making music, without thinking about making an album. Albums and the releasing of music has changed, and the music of our generation has held this collaging status, specifically as her take on genre aligns with the idea that ‘the way we consume music is no longer genre bound.’ It’s almost as if her music’s intention is achieving this boundaryless feeling, not by design. She quotes the greats like Caroline Polachek and David Byrne (Talking Heads) on how album artwork used to signal genre and how music develops in the space it is played for. So where and how exactly would you listen to Kaeto’s music if we were to apply her personal philosophy?

‘Music is a communication of emotion, and so it’s by virtue that’s what music is to me, it’s how I feel.’ The opening track ‘U R Mine’ felt very Fiona Apple in a way, the bright reverberating pianos open with a dramatic, yearnful tone to her mixtape. A lover of unusual voices, if you tried fusing the of trip-hop and shoegaze you would only be cracking the surface of her sound. We discussed our love for the latter genre as she cited some of the artists, who we both gushed over. ‘Slowdive. Anything 90s shoegaze or like The Cranberries, The Sundays, that’s my shit.’ Her vocals always feel very soft, free and playful like they do in these genres, yet she doesn’t leave you with a predictable take, with the production style being also comparable to the likes of Portishead. The mixtape later flourishes into tracks like ‘KISS ME’ and ‘CARRY YOU’ that showcase more duality and flirtation, closing with the grandiosity of a dance track like ‘YOMM’. There is a lot of heart and heavy inward introspection, but also with the desire to party and enjoy youth. She comments on this duality and the purpose of making music; ‘It’s how I enjoy myself, it’s how I indulge in my morbid sadness, it’s definitely the lens through which I experience the world.’ Feeling through music becomes intangible. ‘Sometimes a song or a sound has encapsulated how you feel in a way that there are no words attached.’ There’s no overthinking when you are being authentically yourself, something we can marvel at with Kaeto’s ethereal stage presence and bold, individualist identity as an artist.

With the recent resurgence to dance music, Kaeto’s mixtape couldn’t arrive in a timelier fashion as an alterantive, adding to the wave by infusing electronica, bedroom-pop and eclectic lo-fi sounds that you couldn’t pin down to one lonely genre as the outcome of her writing process. ‘I would love to do more concept storytelling, but at the moment the way that I write doesn’t really call for that, because I very much write what comes from my subconscious.’ There’s clearly more to come. Afterall, an INTRO is foundational to the other parts to accompany an artist’s story beyond the ephemeral horizon she has begun to paint in hypnotic colours, reeling us into her world of nostalgia and writings of self-exploration.

A Freshers’ Guide to Club Nights in Leeds

So, you’ve come to Leeds, you want to avoid club wristband scams or just escape the Leeds locals at all costs, while hoping to do a full week bender – I mean, partying and having fun! Well, Leeds has not failed you; here is a full week of club nights tailored just for the freshers.

Bobby’s Disco – The Warehouse

What else are you doing on a Monday night but dancing to ABBA at Bobby’s? Cheesy disco galore, kick your week off with a wholesome night out at the maze of a venue that is The Warehouse. A random bathtub? Check. 2 toilets in one cubicle? It’s a bit odd but it exists. There’s no better way than to celebrate a night of new friendships than to the soundtrack of upbeat disco anthems.

Dry Dock Karaoke Night – Dry Dock, Tuesdays

Something for those who hate the awkward dancing and sardines atmosphere of clubbing, karaoke at Dry Dock is another cheap, popular alternative that students eat up. More singing does not mean any less dancing however, unless you’re stuck in the queue for 3 hours. There’s plenty of time to warm up and await your turn, and it’s only located across the dual carriageway next to Leeds Beckett, where your dreams of being the next vocal powerhouse lives on for one night only. 

Mischief Wednesdays – The Warehouse

Exclusively reserved for specific LUU society members, you’re lucky to have made the finish line to Mischief if you have been challenged to survive some of those infamous sports society initiations. With its own name echoing the chaotic vibes, Mischief Wednesday hosts the most feral groups and individuals inside one tightly packed industrial building. Special mention to Walkabout as the most dedicated Wednesday night out goers start here for the cheap drinks; just be smart and beat the queue for entry.

Boogaloo Wednesday – Belgrave Music Hall, Wednesday 18th/25th

Last year’s newcomer at Belgrave, the hippy sister of Bobby’s has grown to be a standout night for 70/80/90s dance tunes among the swirling smoke of incense and hanging peace sign decorations. As standard, Belgrave serves as a student friendly venue for the dwellings of your typical arts students in the day, serving the best pizzas on the block. The multi-functional venue is also crowned with a romantic rooftop terrace that’s guaranteed to be filled to the brim every forthcoming Wednesday night. 

Indie Thursdays – O2 Academy Leeds, Thursday 19th/26th

Bring out your high tops, pair them with your knee socks and throw on a leather jacket; if you’re a bit too quirky for pop music, the mystical aura of sweat and dark fruits awaits you. If AM is your bible, then it will become a ritual for you to attend the recurring nights at Indie Thursdays, but don’t be surprised if you end up getting a free membership by the end of first year. Get your dancing shoes ready for a night of well-loved indie bangers. The very first are always in the main arena, so a bit less sweat and slightly larger smoking area.

Full Fat Thursdays – Old Red Bus Station, Thursday 26th

With Thursdays being the most divisive night, the other half of Leeds would argue that a wild and crammed night of house music is far more elite at Old Red. It’s worth mentioning that despite being a musically diverse city, not many nights do grime/drill. So, Full Fat it may be for you with a mixed bag of some rooms being packed and others being more reliably quieter. The best part? You may not need a kebab order after the night has ended; you get free donuts and sweet treats handed out to you upon entry.

Fruity Fridays – LUU Stylus, Friday 27th

If there’s a time you can go Fruity Fridays, it’s once and it’s in Freshers. Haters are just mad that it is the cheapest place to drink for students, so don’t listen to the bad rep of it being too cheesy. A club night best loved by performance and media societies, you even have the luxury of multiple rooms or themed nights throughout the year, right in the safety and heart of campus. Armed with floating fruit decorations, it’s a night every Leeds student has some interesting story to take away from. 

Quickfire Mentions: 

  • Any event at Beaver Works – Special occasions call for the one-off spectacles here. Whether it’s the Better Days all-day festival or Halloween Cirque du Soul specials, the distance is far enough from the city centre that what happens at Beaver Works stays there in that club’s fairground…
  • Projekt, O2 Academy Leeds – Saturday nights may seem like they lack student events, but that’s probably because you’re not a house fan. There’s always the entertaining smoking area if it’s not for you and your mates are dragging you there.
  • Any event at Space or Carousel – No Pryzm? No problem. This is where the contents of it spills every Friday/Saturday night as a replacement. Best route to follow after some pre-drinks in Hedley Verity, commonly nicknamed as ‘Disco Spoons’ for the almost sci-fi explosion of a dancefloor that appears when the staff just move the high chairs out of the way and a makeshift DJ booth is launched in the middle of a family-friendly Wetherspoons.
  • The Key Club to The Stone Roses pipeline – Some may say it’s the most adventurous trip of their short lifetimes, others have nowhere else they can go to until 6am. Scrap the premise of this whole article; if you’re with the right people, anywhere is good right? It will definitely be an experience.
  • Sela Bar/ Wax Bar, New Briggate – Born in the wrong generation? We get it, you listen to 80s new wave, you drink £9 doubles, you’re not like the rest of us until you wake up to find 50 different versions of yourself at these bars. No shame, I was just like you too once.

New Events:

  • Hot Pot Tuesday, Distrikt – 24th September for house, disco and techno
  • Shakedown Fridays, Headrow House – 27th September for funk, soul, motown and disco

*Come to the first Music and Clubs section meeting for discounted tickets for both Hot Pot Tuesday and Shakedown Friday!

Mercury Prize is not just a win for Leeds’ English Teacher, but a win for the North and its rising bands

The first non-London band in a decade to win the Mercury Prize just so happens to be a band the Leeds scene all know and love. Forget the champagne, get the Kirkstall Ales – we’re celebrating a huge win for Leeds as its resident indie/post-punk quartet English Teacher swooped in for the 2024 Mercury Prize with their debut album This Could Be Texas. Beating out fellow newcomers and established legends alike, the band came up against Radio 6 Music favourites The Last Dinner Party, Leeds neighbours Corinne Bailey Rae and Nia Archives, as well as established legends Beth Gibbons, proving that bands are in fact making a comeback into critically well-received spheres. Winning on the condition of their “originality and character”, the raw resurgence of the post-punk and indie band sound has not been an easy one and required more ambition and grassroots funding than it exists.

The crafted genius of ‘This Could Be Texas’ explores just that, with themes of the mundane issues in everyday society, rejecting authority, the spirit of showing disdain towards prejudice all enveloped into a bright, reflective soundscape, one that attaches itself to a hopeless landscape of survival mode. Formed at Leeds Conservatoire, this ‘winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation’ was praised by the judges, and the defiant, gravelly quality is what makes their sound so distinct, with Fontaines voice a documentation of the many obstacles they’ve faced and conquered. Even NME dubbed them as a ‘vital voice from the heart of UK guitar music’ finding a swift balance of humour and sincerity in Lily Fontaine’s observational lyricism of post-pandemic youth. In an industry that is starving for rising bands, it’s been incredibly satisfying to see their growing success recognised by such a distinguished board of critics and judges.

As someone once new to the Leeds scene, English Teacher has always been a staple of the 2020’s guitar rock scene. The release of the Theo Verney version of ‘R&B’ marked a turning point, having reworked their dream-pop image from their days as local university band Frank to a more self-assured and esteemed version of themselves. It was a track I grew obsessed with for its heavy baseline, ballsy utterances of contempt and chaotic noise rock essence. I’m only echoing what the judges said about the band having played a part in redefining the traditional guitar band sound. Something they sadly missed out that represents English Teacher to the core was that the track and forthcoming EP Polyawkward, the work that tugged them into their major label signing, wouldn’t have existed without the support of music:leeds arts council funding. the latter which many in the local scene have pointed out no longer exists at this moment.

English Teacher have built a slow and steady success and did all the right things a band is told to do, all while half the music industry works against the independent sector. Their success is not just the final boss of Island Records’ endless cash flow as a major label, but the unity of their beloved home of Leeds. A community driven by the backing of independent label executives, radio presenters, promoters, venue owners, sound engineers, artists and family members. All of these roles are cogs to the great machine that produced such a stellar debut album, raw with integrity that the well-oiled luxury of corporate couldn’t capture without working with bands of grassroots origins in the first place.

But it isn’t a unique experience, just one that Lily Fontaine can now consistently and so passionately advocate on behalf of her other contemporaries, as the band maintains their gratitude for their musical birthplace. Notably, she herself has been loudly advocating for more arts funding and has spoken in parliament. It’s clear their contributions to grassroots music only add another substantial layer of ethos as a band, and the northern music communities will be championing them for their loyalty and advocacy for change.

The horrific figures on how arts funding reduction has impacted the North and other working class areas disproportionately are undeniable yet overlooked; introducing radio stations have been cut, resources that are crucial for new bands to allow them to platform their music. No other band has won since 2014 (Dead, Young Fathers of Edinburgh/West Africa) who haven’t had the invaluable, privileged connection to the capital. In 2023, 75% of nominated mercury winners were Londoners. As the foundations of local music scenes crumble, we need now more than ever more than awareness but action, as bands like English Teacher are proof to these tiny pockets of the North, where blossoming talents serve unnoticed by funding, there are plenty hidden gems who can go further and follow in the footsteps to becoming music royalty, despite not having the privilege of living next door to Buckingham Palace. Their win is a classic reminder that great bands can be born in pubs and small line-ups, if the general public and big music bosses want them to be. They will also have the creative freedom to go beyond whatever Britpop working class stereotype is imposed upon them.

Gone are the days when the working class were pigeonholed as one cookie-cut aesthetic of the common and easily impersonated for a middle-class artist’s relatable authenticity. No, that’s still a huge problem in indie music, so it shouldn’t go unnoticed when actual working class people come through the pipeline. It remains interesting that the first Northern band to win in a decade is a band that focuses on mostly social and political content, and opens up a debate for how future wins are decided. Is it Northern culture only seen as valuable for counterculture or is all music inherently political?

Written and edited by Eszter Vida

For Your Sins Debuts Dea Matrona’s Entrance into Rock Scene

Eszter Vida reviews irish rock duo Dea Matrona’s debut album as they are venture into the territory of pop and rock music with their stellar debut album For Your Sins.

Let me introduce you to your favourite band: Dea Matrona. The duo, composed of Orlaith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn, plummeted into the country-rock industry with their eagerly anticipated debut album For Your Sins. The catchy pop-rock album makes a sweeping statement on its themes of intoxicating love and frenzy with a passionate blend of their indie-rock, pop and disco influences, topped off by their individuating Irish identity.

I stumbled on them, as you do with most rising acts nowadays, through their Instagram reels, specifically a viral clip of them covering fellow Irish heroes The Cranberries. It seems this identity becomes a foundation in many of the songs, along with their mythological name derived from the Celtic goddess depicting the alluded divine femininity of their aura. While their style is very derivative of classic rock, the duo equally boasts their love of country legends like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain soundtracking their coming together many years ago as friends and in constructing this passion project.

The opening track lures you into a brooding 90s Matrix vibe. ‘Stuck on You’ as an apt opener kicks off the LP with an unapologetic attitude of wanting somebody and feeling the unshakeable urge in being lured into an existential questioning of passion and sin. It’s a catchy, femme-fatale type of track with a trilling guitar and bass riff that mirrors the apocalyptic zeitgeist of the album, which becomes even more evident in songs like ‘Red Button’ with the impending doom of staccato guitar, especially in the fiery lyrical imagery of the bridge section. They certainly embody the idea of having nothing to lose and layer up with a smoky demeanour on the bold follow up ‘Stamp On It’. This shapes the album’s more classic 70s rock side of glimmering Beach Boys-esque backing vocals and distorted guitars. Declarations of ‘just like a treasure, you belong to my collection’ and ‘you’re my religion, baby come and put a stamp on it’ don’t suggest but scream desire while songs like ‘So Damn Dangerous’ offer a heavier, grittier take, with influences of their more modern contemporaries of Arctic Monkey’s AM era coming through.

The best way to absorb somebody’s music for the first time is to see them live, which is why I went down to Vinyl Whistle on a Saturday morning to see their acoustic set before their headline at The Wardrobe. Their spirit performing live really shone through as you get to experience their unique inspirations of stories behind songs like ‘Did Nobody Ever Love You?’, a funky and biting response to Mollie “being pissed off”, as put it in their own words.

image credit: Sonic PR

Something else that was great to experience live was what we hear on the informal B side of the album. Their more country-folk, ‘breeze in your hair’ type of road trip songs that bring their harmonies bring together in a stunningly symbiotic way echo the vibe of California girl rock groups like HAIM. ‘Glory, Glory (I am free)’ represents the duo’s togetherness with a country-folk, There’s a good mix of easy-listening and breezy tracks on this record, like ‘Won’t Feel Like This Forever’, which encapsulate the humble campfire nature of how these songs are carefully crafted with heartfelt stories on the trials and tribulations of youth and entering a whole new realm of life and music. Their success comes after years of busking and their musical progression from obsessing over their country influences, a key signal found among the bluesy riffs in the likes of ‘Dead Man’s Heart’. The whimsical pop track ‘Every Night I Want You’ is another stand out that is definitely a song reserved for the summer, with 60s style backing ‘doos’ and ‘woos’ sang in a more upbeat disposition.

My favourite track on the album must be their dark, moonlit closer ‘Black Rain’, which rounds off a gloomy yet suggestive nod to the uncertainty of the future. If ‘Stuck on You’ represents dusk, this song is the moonlight after sunset as the significant duality of these tracks ties up the broody imagery, which is effervescently witchy and Stevie Nicks coded. Lyrics like ‘the weather’s changing and my body’s changing’, the song feels almost transformative and paranormal as the band described in other publications that its meaning resembles “that feeling when your heart sinks”, leaving us on a narratively ominous ending.

Already touring venues like Leeds’ Wardrobe and opening at BST Hyde Park shows for Sheryl Crow, success is on the sunny horizon for this group. For fans of Heart, Fleetwood Mac and potentially Abba, this is for people who enjoy fun and fearless experimenting with the blending of genres, which has helped shaped the duo’s roaringly distinct sound, enriching the sound of today’s indie-rock spheres. 

Dea Matrona’s debut album For Your Sins is out now on all platforms for streaming and purchasing.

Words by Eszter Vida