LAPELS
Meet Nathan, Andy, Will and Adam who together form Lapels; a 4-piece band of singer/songwriter/musicians from the East Midlands, whose honest, no-fuss take on indie/pop, is fast becoming likened to a Blur/Oasis-esque evolution of those early days of mid-90s Britpop. Lyrically depicting everyday mundane ‘stuff’, Lapel’s candid approach to British guitar based pop, resonates with audiences for its relevance and honesty.
The band formed in 2018, when Nathan and Andy sparked off a singer/songwriter chemistry at college in Nottingham. Pulling in band mates Will and Adam, the boys began gigging across the East Midlands and quickly had to find a band name to go onto a gig flyer; because they were all wearing jackets at the time, ‘lapels’ was the first word that connected them all. Lapels were born.
Whilst playing at a live gig in the East Midlands, the boys had a fortuitous meeting with, Colin Peter, the CEO of the newly formed, Marquee Records. Well known for nurturing burgeoning British talent, the iconic Marquee Records was formed as an evolution of its original club brand, stepping into the 21 Century to nurture and support the cream of breakthrough artists. With their honest, no nonsense on stage charisma, Marquee Records snapped them up instantly.
Nathan - 22:
Lead vocals, writer, rhythm and lead guitar and pianoHis dad a musician, Nathan was raised on a staple diet of music, weaned from a young age on The Beatles, Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys. He specifically remembers Oasis 'Don't Believe The Truth' and the Arctic Monkeys 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not' always on loop in the house and the car, when he was 6 years old.
Originally a drummer, by the age of 11, Nathan self-taught himself on a cheap guitar given to him by a family member who brought it back from a trip to Memphis USA. Influences grew to a full spectrum of genres from The Jam, Kinks, Small Faces, Pulp, Blur and The Stone Roses, right through to the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. All of which pour into the creative melting-pot during the writing process for Lapels.
Adam – 17:
DrumsThe baby of the band, Adam’s played drums since he was just 8 years old, joining Lapels when he was 14. The cheeky chap honestly admits that he didn’t really stand a chance of staying in the band, because of his age ‘but here we are!’ Adams’ vibrance and enthusiasm on stage often see him breaking the kit during gigs, from snare drum skins and bass drum skins right through to his sticks.
Andy – 23:
Singer/guitarist/songwriter Andy was already playing the guitar by the age of 8. Influenced heavily by bands such as
The Kinks, The Beatles, The Libertines and The Arctic Monkeys, it was a live performance by the Artic Monkeys when they headlined Reading Festival in 2014 that turned Andy’s passion for music into an obsession.
Will – 23:
BassistWill’s musical influences vary massively from
60s rock to 70s new-wave, all the way to modern day neo-psych, with favourite artists including
The Kinks, Blur, Bowie, Eno and King Gizzard. In terms of influencing my playing style in the band I’d say the bassists that’ve had the biggest impact are
John Entwistle and Alex James.
All things down to you
Die Story ist einfach gestrickt, vielleicht der Grund wieso das Stück so eingängig ist. Steh auf und mach's, als Botschaft. Nicht nur darüber reden, sondern auch alles in die Tat umzusetzen, wird gefordert. Alles liegt bei dir, du bist derjenige der aufstehen muss um etwas zu bewegen, zu ändern.
Diese Message verpacken sie im feinsten Brit-Pop Sound und jagen es aus den Boxen. Der Sound erinnert an die besten, ja, an die glorreichen Tage des Genres, von der ersten Note an ist man zurück.
Die Lead-Vocals von Nathan beeindruckend, die Zweitstimme harmonisiert perfekt dazu, der Gitarrenpart als weiteres Highlight neben den Vocals, sowie auch die Drums die für den nötigen Druck sorgen, zeichnen sich besonders aus, zu guter Letzt der leicht "Psychedelic End 60er Bass" als Connection zu Groove und Harmonie als weiters i-Tüpfelchen.
"All things down to you" by Lapels, don't talk about the song, simply LISTEN to it. Q&A
Lapels is/are...?
We’re a four-piece band from the East Midlands that have been playing live and recording our own music for the past two or three years. We’ve recently signed to Marquee Records in London so we’ve been busy recording our debut album and gearing up for expanding our live shows across the whole country.
The origin of our name is quite cloudy... It came mostly from the sort of clobber Andy and I were wearing at the time when we first started, suit jackets etc. There were a few other things that inspired it I think but it was so long ago and the story has been told many times so I’m not even sure myself anymore but in any case a name’s just a name, there’s no deep meaning behind it or anything.
Who inspired you to make music in general?
NATHAN: My love of music was mainly passed down to me from my old man so I suppose that’s where it all started for me. From there my biggest inspiration to make me want to do it myself was when I discovered The Beatles.
Just listening to their whole back catalogue gave me a schooling really in songwriting so yeah I’d say they were the biggest inspiration for me and still are to this day.
At the same time though, what really made me realise that I wanted to be in a band and play live was watching The Libertines when I was younger. Just seeing the raucousness of them on stage opened my eyes up and I wanted to have a taste of that myself.
ANDY: Like Nat said, The Beatles were a huge influence, however it was a gradual process of me listening to their music over a few years that made me love that band.
I was taught basic guitar by my dad when I was a kid and then once I really took to it my grandad was the main person who encouraged me to do it properly and start writing my own stuff.
From that point I was taking inspiration from all sorts of bands such as The Who, The Kinks and more contemporary bands like Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines.
...and inspiration especially to the song "All things down to you"?
The inspiration behind that song is just wanting to get up and do it really. It’s that simple. Andy had the basic idea for the song so he came round to my house for a couple of days and we just sat in my music room, drank a load of beers and bashed it out.
It all came together roughly within that one night and it was one of the most enjoyable songs to write because it seemed to all just come together so easily.
The song creates an amazing 90s Rock / Britpop feeling, your favorite decade of music?
NATHAN: I’d definitely say it’s one of my favourite decades for music. There were a lot of good bands knocking about in that period and just a lot of good music in general, not necessarily just from the ‘Britpop’ genre
ANDY: Yeah I'd say the 90’s is definitely up there… I listen to music from all different decades though, from the 60’s all the way through to present day.
What is your creative process like?
Our process differs every time. It’s not like a formula that we stick to so sometimes we come up with 99% of the song separately and sometimes it’s more of a 50/50 thing.
One thing that does stay the same though is that we always finish them off together and normally make a few demos up where there’ll be slight tweaks and that.
I think the main ethos really is that we don’t settle for anything that isn’t good enough so we’ll always scrutinise everything we come up with to make sure it’s good enough.
When do you decide that a song is ready for a release?
Once we’re satisfied with the song itself having made a few demos over a period of time, making little tweaks here and there like I said, we’ll get together as a band in a rehearsal room and bash it out and make it as good as possible.
Once that’s all sorted we’ll get in the studio and record it and then it’s ready for release.
Do you remember your first ever self written song?
NATHAN: Yeah I remember, the less said about that, the better. We’ve all gotta start somewhere though
ANDY: Yes.. it was shocking What was the first ever Pop/Rock/... song you listened to?
Probably a track of this compilation CD my dad used to have in the car that had like 90’s songs on it. I definitely remember always hearing Blinded By The Sun by The Seahorses and Lucky Man by The Verve so probably one of those two.
What do you prefer, a live gig or a studio session?
I personally prefer going in the studio, especially the sessions we’ve recently done recording our album as it’s a residential studio so it’s just good craic with your mates for a couple of weeks.
I also like being able to delve into the instrumentation more and just try stuff out that you can’t do live. Having said that, there’s not much between the two and my opinion might change in time, who knows...
What’s next for you?
Playing bigger and better gigs across the country, putting a few more singles out and releasing our debut album