The Elizabeths are four boys from Lancaster; the latest of many bands appearing on the vibrant music scene from this area. Hooting And Howling spoke to Will who told us all about the band and what they're up to...
Who are The Elizabeths and what do they do?
We're a young Lancaster band, who like so many met at school. We play Indie/Punk style songs which tend to float from one to the other and we try and put on a good gig...that's all we do really. However, our bass player and drummer both have asthma so we try not to have TOO good a time.
Your music is reminiscent of a number of 60's garage rock bands as well and also channels the 70's punk sound, would you say that you are mostly influenced by bands from this time? Could you name any bands as specific influences?
That whole era definitely has an impact on us. I think alot of the time our lo-fi sound indicates that, that kind of music is where we come from. But just as much as The Ramones have influenced me so have The Vaccines. Then as much as guitar bands like that have had an influence i'm also really into some more pop style bands from the sixties like The Zombies. Also, it's difficult to be 18 and in a band and not be influenced to some extent by Arctic Monkeys and then lyrically Pulp have an influence on me - I think it's good to try and catch something about England in a song.
'Lifeboat' is your newest song which you released earlier this week, can you tell us a bit about it?
Lifeboat is probably the most structured song we've done so far and probably the most melodic. I like how it sits next to 'Back Into The Club' and it will probably be a set closer this summer. It's just about having a mate, or whatever, that you know has as bad luck as you do. I was trying to get a lot of very English references into the song because I like that in a song things like "Seaside rock" and "brown bag of sweets" things that our very specific to our time and culture. I also really like the title - the Richard Ayoade film 'Submarine' gave me the idea for it, but i'm not sure why. I think I just liked 'Lifeboat' as a title.
You're doing a BBC Introducing Live Session in June, how did that come about? Can you give us any hints to what it will include?
We're quite excited about that. Alot of brilliant bands have done it before us; The Heartbreaks, Joy Formidable, Liar Liar etc. It came about through the Uploader which is a brilliant tool for bands. It was 'Turn Around Touch The Ground' that got their attention i think. I put it up online one week and then next week it was played on the BBC Introducing Show on a Thursday - which is great. I think it's three songs we'll be playing so it will probably a good chance to air Lifeboat for the first time and a cleaner version of Back Into The Club...it would be a shame to miss out set favourite Pack It Up as well but we will have to see.
Do you have any gigs or festivals planned for the summer season?
We have gigs up until September which is great. We've got things lined up in Manchester at a student bar called 'The Royal Oak' and The Big Top in Catterick. Locally we have a festival at Williamson's Park on the 5th June and we'll be playing on the mainstage and i'm sure there's some other great bands on the bill and I think a festival like that is a really good thing for Lancaster and it's free, which is even better. It would be nice if we got some more local gigs as well actually although we have gigs in Kendal over the next couple of weeks it would be great to have a few more Lancaster shows - there's some great bands we'd like to support.
Finally, are there any new bands around at the moment that you particularly like?
I'd rather talk about local bands I like as we're not really in a position to call anyone else new, not being veterans ourselves. Locally, Lancaster has a great scene. Bands I particularly like are The Charm, Liar Liar are brilliant, The Heartbreaks are stunning and that's been shown by the fact they have a support slot with Morrissey, Hexed Hands are a good band and finally I really like the band Bleach who have a really great pop sound. I think Lancaster has alot to be proud of at the moment - this is exactly why we want to get more gigs in the area.
Pack It Up by The Elizabeths
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