SEASFIRE are an electronic four-piece from Bristol, who are very much the talk of the town right now. After releasing their newest single, Oh..Lucifer, just last week, they are burning up the airwaves and getting lots of attention from the blogosphere and rightly so. While their music can be very subtle and intricate in it’s composition, it also packs power, it’s energetic and exuberant. This is a band that I’m sure, we’ve not seen the best of yet and I for one, am excited to see how it all unfolds from here on out.
I caught up with the band’s drummer, James Sinclair, to talk about everything from what inspires them to write songs and whether we can be expecting a UK tour any time soon. Read on to hear what he said.
Hi James. Firstly, I’d like to say thanks for this interview. Can you introduce yourself and what role you play in the band?
Hi I’m James, I’m on drums mainly but I also do a lot of electronics. Then we have Josh on vocals, Joe on keys/synths/electronics and Rasputin on guitar.
Describe SEASFIRE in three words.
Dreaming of Escape.
How long did it take you to settle on your band name?
Quite a while, actually. It wasn’t until we had a fair few songs under our belt that we realised we needed a name. We wanted to get them online and so the search began. We all loved SEASFIRE and what it represented to us.
Your newest single, Oh..Lucifer, just recently came out and has been picking up a lot of airplay on Radio 1 and Xfm since. Have you heard yourselves on the radio yet and if you have, what was that like?
It hasn’t happened to me personally, I missed us being played by Greg James earlier this year by about 5 minutes. But Josh told me a story where he got in his car, drove off, thought he was listening to a CD he had of some of our tracks but then Huw Stephens came on saying “this is We Will Wake by SEASFIRE”. I think it was a pretty big shock!
You worked with director James Booth, who has also worked with The 1975 previously, on your music video for Oh..Lucifer. How was that experience for you? Do you enjoy filming music videos?
Yeah they are very enjoyable things to take part in. That one especially, James is a great Director and the location was great. I love the overall aesthetic of that video. I just tried to convey some real emotion in the performance. But equally I think every time we do a video we get more comfortable in front of the camera.
Roughly, how long does it take you to write a song and where does the inspiration come from?
It varies hugely. It can take anything from an afternoon to a good few weeks. Inspiration is key in deciding that – it comes from many places. Mostly books and literature to be honest. Occasionally film, quite often real life experience as cliché as that sounds…
Can we be expecting a début album from SEASFIRE, any time soon?
No chance, we’re not ready yet. We’re not going to record something we’re not completely happy with. We’re getting closer but I can’t see it happening for a year or more.
You have a couple of festival appearances coming up soon, including Y Not Festival in Derbyshire and Underground Festival in Gloucester. You’ve not played many festivals this year, was that a conscious decision?
No not really, but I think it suits us as our priority is writing at the moment. It’s hard getting on to the bills of big festivals, we were lucky last year with Reading and Leeds because BBC Introducing were doing a lot for us at the time. But Y Not and Underground will be awesome, the line ups and venues are great. Then later in the year I hope we get to go back to SWN in Cardiff and Oxford Gathering, they were crazy last year.
Speaking of gigging. Can we be expecting a full UK tour this winter?
I certainly hope so. We’d love to tour properly or at least get to a few places we haven’t been to before.
You are very active on social media, twitter and Facebook in particular. How important is to for you to connect with your fans that way?
It is very important. I just like to know what people are listening to, reading, being inspired by etc, and in return people want to know the same about us. I’ve discovered a lot of awesome music through it.
Who are your musical influences?
Me personally, Jeff Buckley, Bloc Party, Depeche Mode, The Police, Burial. Although I could go on for hours if I wanted to… It’s hard to condense that kind of thing.
Speaking of musical influences. If you could create your dream line-up for a gig. Who would you choose to be on the bill?
Jeff Buckley to headline, with The Libertines, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, Foals and Fleetwood Mac all somewhere in there. To be honest that question is also impossible to answer.
Are there any new artists that have caught your attention recently that you’d like to share with us?
I love London Grammar, but I think everyone does. Also BADBADNOTGOOD and LoveLife.
Do you have any tips for new bands starting out, any advice that you could give them?
Become who you want to be from day one. And never give up on an idea, always go back to it, and try to make it better.
Anything big in the pipeline for SEASFIRE that you could let us all in on?
I suppose that we’re heading back to Abbey Road for a couple of days later this month. We’re recording two new songs there. Obviously, we can’t wait.
—
A big thanks to SEASFIRE for this interview and for more info on the band, check out the following links below.
