We recently had a chat with Bristol-based four-piece Weatherstate to find out about their background, their new EP ‘Dead Ends’ and what 2015 has in store for them. If you haven’t heard this band yet, you really should. Read on!
Firstly, tell us a bit about the band’s background: how, when and where did you form?
I met Harry and Joe in our original hometown of Weymouth when I was 16 and was asked to join their band on drums while we were all still in school. We did that band for about six years. In that time we moved to Bristol for university and through that band we met and toured with Toby’s band Nathan Detroit. Things got slow and I joined with the Nathan Detroit guys for a few years on guitar. At some point last year we formed a new band in Bristol and needed a drummer so we joined forces with Toby and Weatherstate was born!
You’ve recently released your EP ‘Dead Ends’. How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t heard it yet? If you could choose one track for people to listen to first, which would you go for?
I guess the best way to describe the writing process behind ‘Dead Ends’ is that we basically wanted to do something completely different to what we’ve done before. In the past we had pretty much written to a standard pop punk formula but on this release we did things differently. Without realising, we unknowingly revisited our angsty and youthful roots and took influence from the music that inspired us at such a young age. Out of the four tracks I’d say give ‘The World Has Got It In For You’ a spin. We’ve also just released a video for it. I think lyrically that song sums up the theme behind the EP.
How would you describe your sound overall? Who are your influences as a band?
Hmm. It’s tough to describe our sound. Imagine the bass line from ‘Longview’ had a grungey love child with Jamie Lenman of Reuben. AND the milk it was fed was laced with infectious pop punk melodies. That might sound a bit too far out and weird…
You toured around the UK at the end of last month. How was that? What was the highlight of the tour?
Oh it was great. It was our first proper tour as Weatherstate and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Personal highlight for me was travelling from London to Scotland. It ended up being a 10 hour drive because of awful traffic and awful weather. We couldn’t find anywhere to stay in Edinburgh so we decided to drive and find somewhere to pitch up a tent. After a few more hours of driving through pitch black Scottish countryside, we settled on going to Dundee beach to set up camp. At this time it was 3am and absolutely PISSING it down. After about two hours of sleep we abandoned the tent due to it not being waterproof in any way. Then we drove to Aberdeen at 5am. It’s safe to say we will be looking at more hostels for tours in the near future…
What are your plans for 2015? Do you have anything lined up?
Nothing major is set in stone as of yet. For now we’re just writing more music and keeping ourselves grounded. We’re looking to tour as much as possible as we go into the New Year in support of ‘Dead Ends’. All of that standard band stuff! We just mainly want to play as many shows as possible and release another EP.
Can we expect a full-length from you at any point or is it too soon to say?
I think it’s too soon to say. We’re still very much finding our feet with a new sound so I expect we’ll see another EP before a full-length anyway. A full-length is definitely a milestone of ours though.
What would you say are your main aims as a band? Where do you see yourselves in five years?
It’s scary to think where we’ll be in five years. Honestly I have absolutely no clue. But for now our main goals are to play as much as possible, travel, meet a lot of people, write some more great music, play with some awesome bands, enjoy things at our own pace and work hard with Weatherstate.
LAIS MW