It’s been a very busy time for the Yorkshire lads in Glass Caves recording their brand new album Swim, and promoting themselves playing on the beautiful streets of York as well as the radio. Holly Elizabeth of Soundcheck-Live caught up with the lads for a quick chat before their hometown show at York Fibbers…
Your were set to release Swim on the 17th, is there going to be more for your fans to look forward to following this, a new album perhaps?
Technical issues meant that Swim is now set back to be released April 7th but it’s gonna be a worth the wait!
With regards to the album, hopefully we’ll write enough bangers that we have an albums worth of singles. We’ve had glimmers of interest from backers. Shouldn’t be too much of a wait…
You’ve played ‘Swim’ acoustically on the radio recently, how different can we expect the recorded track to sound from live acoustic version?
The record sounds just as epic. It gives space for the vocal in the verse to breathe with emotion and depth and then smashes in with a huge chorus. Sounds great to me!
You’ve been doing shows across the UK over the past few months, do you have more touring planned for 2017?
The plan is to go bigger and better through 2017. Lined up we have Gorilla, Manchester, which is gonna be our biggest headline show to date. Alongside that we have Plug, Sheffield among others. Full show lineup will be announced soon. Keep on your toes!
You’ve built yourselves up through busking, is there a certain city you get a better response in?
Busking has been an amazing tool for us. Not only did it fund the album but it helped push us to more fans.
York is where we found our feet as a band, it’s where we spent loads of time busking and developing. So, I would say York…. BUT Leeds is our ‘home city’ and we love the fans there, Sheffield always gives us some of our best shows, Manchester crowds are insane stage invaders and the London fans turn out in masses for us whatever the weather! We love em all.
Do you get any fans that give you a surreal moment when you are busking in the streets?
We’ve had requests for songs that haven’t been recorded and have only been heard through busking before. That’s always surreal. People come up and say something like ‘can you play the one that goes la la la la’, haha sometimes we haven’t even got round to naming the track.
What’s your favourite venue that you’ve played so far? And do you have a venue that you want to have performed at by the end of the year?
Our favourite venue has to be KOKO, Camden. It’s a beauty. If you haven’t been before, it’s a transformed theatre that has bags of character. You need to see/play a show there!
Onto writing, do you have a routine when writing songs? I heard in a previous interview you wrote a song in a van on the way to London, do you often write in random places or is there normally a particular place you write well?
We write songs wherever and whenever. We’ve written songs in garages, greenhouses, on the streets, on the beach. If we get something we like then it’s all good!
Do you all write songs together or does one of you start the process off?
We all bring different ideas to the table then sculpt them into full songs as a band. There have been times when Elliott (Drummer) comes with basslines or Will (Bassist) comes with good guitar licks. No strict formula.
Do you have a favourite song that you’ve released so far?
We all have different favourites that change with time so it would be impossible to pinpoint one really. Apologies for the lack of conviction!
Are you all into similar music or between you do you have a wide variety of taste? Would you say the music you love influences your writing?
We love different styles Will (bassist) is a big rap fan Elliott (Drummer) big fan of mowtown, Connor (guitarist) loves big old stadium tunes and Matt (Myself) loves music that’s just a little bit odd. ha
I think the music you love is the music that inspires. We mix up our loves and set off writing.
Your music video for ‘Do You Have a Name’ features girls lip singing your song rather than you guys playing, what was the reason behind this?
Everyone’s music video is of themselves playing. We thought why not mix it up, get someone else to play us? The initial idea was our Dads, then we went to clowns and finally came to the conclusion that a girl band was a million times better.
In terms of both busking and gigs, do you feel like there is a different atmosphere for you as a band in York than anywhere else?
As I mentioned above York is special for us. People know who we are. They just couldn’t avoid us. Every time they took a trip into the city center we were there blasting music directly at them.
There has been discussion that the music scene in York has picked up rapidly over the past few months, do you guys agree with this?
I guess my fingers aren’t on the pulse but it sounds great. If the rumours are true, we’re in for a treat!
Final question, you guys are playing Fibbers on the 16th, are you looking forward to playing your home town?
It’s more of an adopted hometown with the fact that I lived there for 4 years studying but yeah of course we are. It’s atmosphere is always electric!
Check out the Live Review of Glass Caves at York Fibers HERE!
Interview: Holly Elizabeth
