In the first of a series of exclusive interviews to kick off 2014 we bring you a slew of the very best new bands on the planet.
Ushering in RUSHONROCK‘s New Breed of rock heroes are Southampton five-piece Forever Can Wait.
Russell Hughes caught up with a band with big plans…
rushonrock: You won the Red Bull Studio Live At Download competition last year – what did that do you for guys as a band?
FCW: It meant we could play Download for starters! It was the biggest show we’ve played to date and it’s going to be hard to top what was such a great experience. It also got our name out to the whole country, to crowds we wouldn’t normally be exposed to, and it always helps getting our name and music out to as many people and new potential fans as possible!
rushonrock: I assume that you first met Press To Meco at Download – if that was the case, was it the strength of their performance that saw you guys look to hook up for a tour?
FCW: We heard of them a while before as they recorded at The Ranch Production House in Southampton, where we’ve recorded a few times, and checked them out. Then obviously seeing them at Download (with their stellar performance) made us want to get a show with them, and hanging out with them for the whole weekend gave us the chance to bond. We stayed in touch and managed to book a little weekend tour with them and our mutual friends in Bad Sign.
rushonrock: You were also picked up by Alex Baker on the Kerrang Unsigned show – what has been the reaction from that?
FCW: It’s been very positive and people seem to dig us, which is good! It’s great that someone as influential with the means to get our music to a much wider audience is happy to play our music. I think we’ve gained a few fans from the plays he’s given us. Hopefully he’ll play our music more and other singles when they come out, getting more ears listening to us.
rushonrock: The debut EP was released at the back end of Novemeber – what are your plans heading into 2014?
FCW: At the moment, we’ve got a lot of writing planned, and hopefully a few more tours, getting around the UK. The plan is to gig and write as much as possible and hopefully release some more material for everyone to wrap their ears around! We’ve just announced a weekender in March – four shows in four days.
rushonrock: And will, if you have decided yet, the debut album sound similar to the EP?
FCW: There will be some similar sounding songs, and a lot more experimentation! We’re still learning a lot about what ‘our sound’ is, and hopefully this upcoming release pushes our writing direction into something we all love playing and are super happy with. Experimenting can only help us to bolster our sound, and if all goes well, everyone will enjoy our songs as much as we will.
rushonrock: You went out on tour last year, but as a support. What changes once you become the main headline act?
FCW: The last tour we did in 2013 was our weekend dates with Press To Meco and Bad Sign. As it was our single release tour, we were the main band of the tour. Although one of the dates we opened, as we had never played in High Wycombe before, and were put on the show with our tour line-up fairly last minute. We still play each show as well as we can, whether it’s to a packed out room, or the other bands and the sound guy. We’re constantly striving to up our game in terms of writing and performance. We always give each show our all, and its always more fun when there’s a crowd and they’re getting into it. I think supporting on tours will help get our name out there, and as we book more shows, we can hopefully get a larger following, and more shows gives us more practice in how lively we can go and still performing as tightly as we can. Headlining a full tour will push us to play and perform harder, to captivate audiences up and down the country, making and keeping new fans!
rushonrock: You name your musical influences as Paramore and letlive., among others. They are two pretty different sounds – how do you take parts from each band and work it together to make your own sound?
FCW: I think it’s important to listen to different genres and bands, otherwise your writing style is never going to change, and you’ll end up writing the same songs over and over. Listening to such varied bands opens you up to lots of new and interesting sounds that can help you write intriguing music that reveals pathways to a wider audience. It’s always fun to try new things and not get stuck in one musical box. I think writing lots of songs in one general style of music could get very boring, very quickly, so it’s vital (for us, anyway) to use various musical techniques and try and incorporate them into our songs, to create music which sounds cool, is fun to play, and we’re happy to show everyone.