Written and Edited by Eve Moat
Interview Questions by Eve Moat
Photography by Eve Moat

Big, small, local or worldwide? I caught up with the immense Leeds band The Pigeon Detectives at Tramlines Festival 2024 to talk about festival crowds, grassroots venues, and how it feels to have your music played in your local pub…

Answers by Dave Best (bass and backing vocals) and Ryan Wilson (guitar).

I saw you at Y Not Festival last year and you were moved from a tent to the main stage. The crowd was the biggest I had seen the whole weekend. How did it feel to have that kind of crowd response?

Dave: Oh it’s amazing. The same thing happened yesterday actually. We were at Truck Festival down in Oxfordshire. We were supposed to be doing a smaller one, then they moved us up to main stage. Yeah, when you’ve been doing it this long you don’t know what reception you’re gonna get or how many people are gonna turn up, or if people even know you still exist, but when we got out there, the crowd were absolutely amazing and its a brilliant feeling. If the crowd’s there, we know we’ll be able to win them over at a festival. We love it.

Ryan: The band formed back in 2004 and the first album was 2007, so having people still enjoying the music now is really good. It’s weird ‘cos you don’t really know what to expect sometimes. We live in our own bubble in a way. We released an album last year and it actually did well. It charted in the top 40, and its our best selling album since the one in 2010. You stop and think, “oh so people actually like us”. Getting bumped up from a tent ‘cos the demand was so high, I think the promoters need to put their ear to the ground a little bit more. In a couple years time, it’ll be 20 years since our first album, which is a long, long time. If I had a child 20 years ago, it’d be a full on adult, it’s mad. We’re quite humbled by it and I think at this stage of our careers, we appreciate it more.

That’s great to hear! As a paper from Leeds, as you are yourselves, our readers would love to know how Leeds has influenced you over the years. Does your music still connect to the city or do your influences have changed?

Dave: Well we all live in Leeds and the music revolves around our shared life experience. Leeds has influenced everything we’ve done, ‘cos we’re from the city, we still live in the city, we love the city. The first album was written about debauched nights in the city. the last few albums were not exactly that sort of thing but we were still influenced by our environment. We love Leeds. We go to the Leeds football. Go watch local Leeds bands, and the scene’s always flourishing. We were never one of them bands that wanted to migrate down to London. We’re too tight northerners to go pay for the price of beer down there.

Ryan: No, we don’t wanna pay the price of a pint in London. Leeds is a really cool sort of city. Its our forever home is Leeds.

In terms of your lyrics, your songs have some very striking and memorable lyrics. How do you come up with these? What process makes for a hit track?

Dave: I don’t think there is a process that would definitely make a hit track. You never know what’s gonna land lyrically. If a listener can hear themself in a track, that’s always good ‘cos they relate to it more. A catchy lyric’s really important. Ollie, who writes most of our stuff, he’s got a really good eye and ear from melody and lyrics. For someone who’s quite antisocial, he makes quite widespread lyrics [laughs].

Ryan: The process is never, “oh I need to write about this subject to make this song cool or relevant”. A lot of lyrics are quite split between Matt and Ollie. Ollie will start the lyric and Matt will finish it. Matt therefore will interpret it in his way. The songs can then sometimes go in a slightly different direction to what Ollie probably first thought. Makes it quite unique two people working on it like that. Nothing is pre-empted. Just go with the flow really.

That’s interesting to know, ‘cos when you listen to a song you don’t think its disjointed or as if two people have written it. It all seems to flow together.

Band: Yeah.

I know many of our readers will have heard your music at Leeds club nights, namely Indie Thursdays at the Leeds O2 Academy. Have you ever heard your music played at a club night? How does it feel to know that people listen to your music up and down the country and even worldwide?

Ryan: Yeah we’ve definitely heard it a lot. Depends how many beers we’ve had to how we react. A lot of beers we might be dancing. If we haven’t, we kind of step away to the side. Obviously it’s really nice. We’ve known a few people over the years who’ve run club nights, and we’re friends with them. We also know a lot of DJs in Leeds and they say our songs always go down well. Even some of our newer music is enjoyed by the crowds at those nights ‘cos we’ve not moved away from indie music so they work in those indie club nights and indie environments. It is nice to hear your own songs. Bit weird at first but 15-17 years later you get used to it.

Dave: Yeah it’s funny when you go into a local pub and sometimes they’ll purposefully play songs ‘cos they know you’ve come in [laughter]. Like you go grab a beer and you hear one of your songs come on. We get that all the time when we go to The Coach. I think everyone from our town is really proud of us, so its nice to know that.

How did you deal with that at first? When did it stop being weird?

Ryan: I think one of the first of our songs that I heard played was one of the early singles and Steve Lamacq played it on his evening radio show. He’s a great guy. We were all in a car coming back from a rehearsal session and it was so surreal hearing that. It was really special. It is still nice to hear our tracks back now.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing today and why?

Dave: I wanna see a bit of Yard Act. I’m old these days so I don’t get to go to many gigs so festivals are always a really good excuse to catch bands you’ve hear a lot about but not managed to see. They’re from Leeds as well so go and support them. Excited to seeing them, I’ve heard they’re really good. My mum really wants to see Snow Patrol so I’ll take her to see them too.

Ryan: I saw a bit of Yard Act yesterday at Truck, so I kinda got my fix last night. I’d quite like to catch The Human League, but we clash with them. 86TVs would be great to see. Felix, their frontman, used to be in The Maccabees, and we did a lot with them over the years. I even told him, “I was really sad when you guys split up”, so it would be nice to catch his new band.

Dave: They’re on now, so I think you’ve missed them.

Ryan: Okay, so I won’t be seeing them [laughs]. Maybe another time.

Eve: They’re on The Leadmill Stage.

Dave: Yeah, its quite close to here.

Ryan: Okay, so I might be able to run over and catch the last few songs. Maximo Park are a great band too, and they were good earlier.

Finally, what is your favourite thing about Sheffield?

Dave: The Leadmill. We love it. We’ve played it since we first started playing gigs and the people there have always looked after us. The atmosphere in there is always amazing. If we can, we’ll always go back to The Leadmill. I know that there’s talk of a takeover and stuff recently, but they’ve always been so good to us. They took up a section of the floor to replace it and they gave us and engraved section of the floor ‘cos we’ve played it so much. Every time we come and play The Leadmill it is always a special occasion.

Ryan: Them venues are a dying breed unfortunately. They are what help the grassroots bands come through and I know they’re fighting to survive at the moment and I hope that they do. We need more venues like them, and they’re the best thing for music in Sheffield in my opinion.

I think that’s a great point to end on, so thank you for speaking to me and good luck with the set later. I’ll be watching on from the crowd.

Band: Cheers. Thank you!

Thank you very much to Ryan and Dave of The Pigeon Detectives, and we wish you another happy 20 years of music making, and many more to come!

Written and Edited by Eve Moat
Interview Questions by Eve Moat
Photography by Eve Moat

Breaking onto the music scene just like they’ve ‘Broken Biscuits’, English Teacher tell all about Leeds, the future and their newest album This Could Be Texas.

Eve: Welcome back to The Gryphon’s coverage of Tramlines 2024. I’m here with English Teacher. Do you each want to introduce yourselves?

Band: Hi, I’m Douglas. I’m Lewis. I’m Lily. I’m Nick.

Eve: Lovely to speak to you all.

Our readers at The Gryphon would love to hear more about your influences from the Leeds and West Yorkshire local area. How does where you are from affect your music? And how do you focus your music towards your listeners?

Lily: Well you moved to Leeds for the music didn’t you?

Lewis: Yeah, I mean, the Leeds music scene has always been pretty thriving. Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I picked Leeds, ‘cos a lot of the bands at the time I was really into, like around 2015/16, like Hookworms, loads of those type of bands. It has always been a very thriving music scene.

Nick: Yeah [laughter ensues]

Lily: I mean, I dunno who I’m inspired by in terms of who’s there now, but I like a lot of bands there now. I can’t think on the spot.

Lewis: I suppose a lot of the local bands that we like, in a way, subconsciously, inspire us even if we don’t realise.

Lily: Agree.

Eve: I suppose a lot of the time, the hubs of music get put as like Manchester or London, but places like Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield have a lot going for them as well, so coming out of there shows that you don’t have to be in Manchester or London.

As I said prior to this interview, I attended your independent venues day set in Hebden Bridge. How does playing in a small intimate venue compare to a festival of this size?

Lewis: I guess we’ll find out.

Lily: It is two different beasts, isn’t it? Playing a show where it’s just you, you know that everyone there is gonna like your music. Whereas people at a festival, people might just be coming to see you for the first time, or, you know, they’ve heard about you from a friend, ‘cos they’re going or whatever. Sometimes I think it’s more nerve-wracking.

Douglas: It is definitely more anxiety-inducing. It’s a bit more like the unknown. You don’t really know who’s gonna be there and who isn’t.

Nick: Like you said, at Hebden Bridge, people are there just to see us.

Ok cool. I wanted to ask: how do you curate such a unique sound? When I listen to your music, I don’t think you would fit into a box or a genre specifically. So, what’s the “magic ingredient”?

Lewis: I mean that’s really nice.

Lily: That’s really nice.

Lewis: So thank you.

Eve: You’re welcome.

Lewis: What is the magic ingredient?

Nick: Not really knowing ourselves.

Lily: Yeah probably.

Douglas: Yeah, just chucking shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. We know about as much as you! [laughter from all]

Nick: A lot of when we record is voice recordings like this. For me, it’s all based on intuition. It is not very cerebral. It is just what comes out of these hands. Isn’t that nice? [Lily laughs]

So just kind of seeing what fits together the best?

Band: Yeah.

Lewis: Very rarely come out and say “right, this is what we’re gonna do”, and kinda like lay it out.

What’s next for English Teacher? You have been announced to be up for the Mercury Prize, congratulations by the way.

Band: Thank you!

How does this change your future trajectory or any future plans? Or is this like another string to your bow?

Douglas: Definitely another string to our bow. I feel like it’s too early to tell how it will change our trajectory, but it can only be a good thing. Yeah, we’re just touring. Touring a lot. Then working on album two. Doing the same old thing.

Lily: Trying to get that second Mercury nomination

[laughs]

How do you think the first album has been received? Has it gone well?

Douglas: Weirdly well. Exceeded any kind of expectations on how it could’ve gone. Did not expect that.

Nick: The ball is still very much rolling.

Lily: Several months later. What, it was April we put it out, now it’s, I don’t even know, July, and it still feels like it came out yesterday, and we’re still deep in the release of it, which is a good thing. Its not faded away too quickly.

Nice! What advice would you give to up-and-coming artists, especially those in the north, or those who aren’t in large hubs such as cities like Manchester or London?

Lewis: I’d say don’t stress too much about having to go to London. Focus on your own local scene. be involved building that up.

Lily: Yeah, that’s good advice. Definitely.

Thank you for speaking to me.

Band: No, thanks for having us!

Here at The Gryphon, all of our fingers are crossed for that win at the Mercury Prize: Album of the Year Awards in the next few days!

Written and Edited by Eve Moat
Interview Questions by Eve Moat
Photography by Eve Moat

Sheffield icons The Everly Pregnant Brothers have a heartfelt chat, full of laughter and jokes, just like always…

Answers by Pete McKee (ukulele, backing vocals and keys), Kieran Wardle (lead vocals) and Simon Williams (bass).

Eve: Hello, welcome back to The Gryphon’s coverage of Tramlines 2024 and I’m here with The Everly Pregnant Brothers.

Band: Woooo!

Eve: Would you like to all introduce yourselves?

Kieran: Hi. My name is Kieran.

Simon: I’m Simon.

Pete: And I’m Pete.

I’m going to ask you a few questions. I won’t take up too much of your time. Now that you have yourself as the new lead vocalist, how has this changed the band’s sound? How has the music shifted, or has it remained the same? And what has the public response been like?

Kieran: I’m gonna go backwards in the questions answers. I think the public response has been very kind to me as the new singer. Obviously, Shaun left such an imprint on the public psyche and the sound of the band. So, I aim to do something, keep true to the spirit of the band, but also leave my own stamp, ‘cos I can’t be someone else, and I’m sure he couldn’t be either. I’d say that ‘cos I am in the eye of the storm I couldn’t possibly say what the band sounds like now unless as someone else on the outside looking in. I don’t know. Pete might be able to tell you.

Pete: The muscle of the band, the energy of the band is the same in the sense. The dynamism is now coming from Kieran rather than Shaun, and like you say he’s put his own stamp on it. We’ve kept probably 80% of the set the same, and we’ve got new songs, loads of new songs we’re writing at the moment. We got Simon who’s the new bass player as well, who’s joined us one year ago pretty much today in a sense wasn’t it?

Simon: First big gig, was Tramlines this time last year yeah.

Pete: And he’s added another dynamic, as Johnny our old bass player, he was brilliant, but he came from like a rockabilly double-bass background. Whereas, Simon’s a funk bass player, so the sound’s changed in that way as well. And we’ve got so many new songs, that we may morph into something else. Obviously, still parody band, but it’s finding songs that suit Kieran’s voice as much as the songs that suited Shaun. We played songs that Shaun liked, probably find songs that Kieran likes in his register, and that’s how it’ll change, but we’re really enjoying ourselves. It’s fantastic to have Kieran lead singing with us because he’s given us a lot of energy and hope, because we didn’t know we could carry on without Shaun, but Kieran stepped in and he’s doing a fantastic job and there’s a great bright future for the brothers.

That’s really good! In relation to our outreach, many of our readers are a young adult audience, as we’re The Gryphon up in Leeds. We’re the University of Leeds paper.

All: Oh you must love us! [deep laughter from all parties]

I wanted to ask, how do you ensure your music appeals to an audience of all ages?

Pete: Do you want to answer a question here Simon?

Simon: Oh thanks [laughter all round]. We pick songs from all different eras and they’re all very well known songs, so hopefully its got that broad appeal.

Pete: The kids loving the yacht rock, they love it too. They love old music ‘cos their parents have brought them up on it. Older music, not old music, and that’s kind of our middle genre. I don’t see us doing any Taylor Swift any day soon [laughs] or anything like that or anything newer, but we’re always looking for that great hook line that would make a great parody. So where it comes from, this year or fifty years ago, it doesn’t matter to us, as long as the hook line is funny and we can see people enjoying it. You cast a vision forward don’t you and say, “will fans like this?”. What’d you think?

Kieran: I think what this band is all about is, sounds pretentious, but its entertainment. Like people get the humour regardless of what song or what era its come from. Its all about what people can relate to, ‘cos the thing about music is that its an infinite language someone can relate to and someone else can’t relate to at all in terms of the same. I just think that especially these days that if we can do a job where we can help people forget any dreary element of their lives for half an hour or an hour, then we’re winning aren’t we. That’s what’s important. Its about entertainment.

Pete: That’s it. We’re very much like a bread and circus band. The lowest common denominator for people to have a good time is to forget all the worries. We know our place in the roster of the world of music, but we’re happy with that. We’re comfortable. Its just fun. If we’re enjoying it, and everyone outside of us is enjoying it, then it’s winner winner chicken dinner.

So it’s all about relating to people through your lyrics and through the humour itself?

Pete: Indeed yeah. That’s right. You’ve got to try and pick on the zeitgeist of what people want. Like, we’re currently writing a song about air fryers, [laughter] ‘cos it’s making people go, “ah yeah, I relate to that song”.

Kind of like with ‘Dodgy Box’, with the Amazon sticks.

All: Yeah exactly.

Pete: So we’re getting into modern technology with our band.

Kieran: Where’s it stop? Are we gonna start singing about Brevilles next?

Pete: Might have to sing about robots and AI though.

Kieran: That’s the next one, innit.

Simon: Ai, AI, O. [laughter]

It was reported that you were formed on a drunken dare from yourself and Richard Bailey?

Pete: That’s right, yeah. I’d actually seen Jools Holland, and back then there was a ukulele orchestra or Great Britain, and they played Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and I thought “that’s absolutely amazing”. I’d got a ukulele, and I’d got it as an ornament more than anything. I didn’t actually know you could use them as an instrument [rest of the band hysterically laugh]. I just thought it was this like joke thing. So, I convinced my mate Bales to buy one same as me, they were only like ten twenty quid. We played it, and I said “let’s do somet with these. Play a gig or somet.” It was just like a joke. We did it as a dare. We played this one like charity party thing and played Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas’. Then somebody caught wind that I’d doen this, and they asked me to do another gig. Long story short, we’ve ended up playing Tramlines Main Stage for the past six years. It’s amazing.

So do you regret making that dare or has it been the best thing?

Pete: No no! It has been one of the most joyous things in my life. Woody Allen, a very famous film director, he plays clarinet in a little jazz club and that’s his escape. Its his release from his day to day, and that’s what I wanted it to be for me. For me to play ukulele with me mate and just have fun with it. It just got bigger, but its still the same fun. It’s fantastic.

One final question: how does it feel to be considered one of Sheffield’s heroes?

Simon: Brilliant.

Kieran: I’ve not even considered the notion. ‘Cos I’m so fresh in. [laughter] Maybe I’m just a sidekick like Robin. [more laughter] Or an Aquaboy, if you know your DC. Come back next year and I’ll tell you how I feel about that.

I might take you up on that!

Pete: Really though, it’s overwhelming. We don’t take it for granted. Like today, we’re worried if anyone will turn up to listen to us and we were delightfully surprised that loads of people rammed it out. It’s so joyous and may it continue.

Thank you so much for speaking to me!

Pete: Thank you, its been great. And we love The Brudenell. It is one of the best live venues. We played there once and we’d love to play there again soon hopefully.

I will look out for that!

Here at The Gryphon, we can’t wait for that second Brudenell gig from the brothers!

Written and Edited by Eve Moat
Interview Questions by Eve Moat
Photography by Eve Moat

Ever wondered what an upcoming band would say in an interview? Ever wondered what a unique genre like wonk pop is? Wonder no more! Lime Garden are here to tell all…

Answers by Annabel Whittle (drums)

Eve: Welcome back to The Gryphon’s coverage of Tramlines Festival 2024! Firstly, English Teacher told me to tell you they say hello! 

Annabel: Omg hey!!

Firstly, as Music Editor for The Gryphon, I was able to acquire a ticket for one of our writers for your Brudenell Social Club show. After doing so, I began listening to your music and wished I had kept the ticket for myself! How was that show? What did I miss out on? Can you recall some interesting snippets from that event? 

Ohh, we love The Brudenell! That was a great show – Leeds crowds are always so fun to play to. I remember someone made us bracelets and necklaces and gave them to us after the show which was so sweet. We 🩷 Leeds

That’s so cute! As an all female indie rock band, how do you feel you are breaking down barriers for other women in music? How important is it for young girls to have role models that they relate to, like yourselves? 

We often say that our goal is to be recognized as a band first, not just a “female band”. There’s a tendency to expect female bands to fit into a specific niche or to feel pressured to adopt a particular image, whereas male bands can rock up on stage in jeans and a t-shirt and no one asks any questions. The expectation to have a particular image can sometimes be super stressful. I think as a group we are just trying to show that you don’t need to have to do that to be a girl in a band. Inspiring younger girls to pick up instruments and be the inspirations we never really had when we were younger is amazing, and definitely a big driving force for us. 

It is so nice to hear that you don’t want to be put into a box per say and want to provide role models for younger female generations. Moving more towards your specific sound as a band, you have previously described your music as “wonk pop”, can you explain what this means? 

If crank wave had a child with charlie xcx.

What a great mashup! In terms of your roots, you guys are originally from Guildford and Brighton. How does performing in places like Sheffield and Leeds compare to your nearest city London and smaller places like Guildford? Is the response or the audience different? Or do all your listeners have a shared similarity? 

Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester are always a good crowd, and we always have a good time playing there. I think London will always be special as we often play our biggest shows there, and last time we even had people travel from Europe to see us there! There’s often a bit of crowd surfing and rowdiness in all of those cities, which we love. 

Awesome! Ok, a few quick fire questions now. Who would your dream collaboration be with? 

I think each member of the band might answer this differently, but I think collectively, collaborating with someone like Caroline Polachek would be a dream. She’s a huge inspiration for us. We saw her play once and she dedicated the song to the moon. Iconic. 

Finally, what’s next for Lime Garden? What’s the dream? 

The dream is obviously Wembley arena. But what’s next immediately… Going to tour America for the first time, a very special London show at the end of the year and new music…

Thank you to Lime Garden for taking the time to speak to The Gryphon. We hope that Wembley call up comes quicker than we can ever imagine!