Mishaps
"We are the spokesmen for the broken youth. We cover a plethora of genres such as; classic rock, punk and new generation alternative/indie rock. We also dabble in our own song writing, aiming to be the voices of our broken and forgotten youth. Come on our Mishap fuelled journey, the only real rule is to be unapologetically yourself." (-Mishapes-)
Q&A
Mishaps are...?
Mishaps are the spokesmen for broken youth. We are, or at least hope to be the voices of the broken youth of today's society. For the longest time we were 4 individuals who felt as though we didn't have a place to belong, we felt misunderstood and rejected by those around us.
So in our emotionally homeless states we banded together and made our own place to belong, not just for ourselves but for anyone who needs a place to feel safe and welcome. .
What were your first steps in music?
Well 3 of us, Lew, Luke and JJ all went to the same college at NSCG in newcastle and we all did the same course. We got to know each other in the first year and we got along really well, So eventually we just decided to make a band! JJ had a lot of songs and one of those was Cavities, our debut single which is one of the first songs we worked on together. To finally have this song released makes me so proud of Mishaps!
At the time we didnt have a drummer so Lew, the guitarist recommended a drummer he had recently come into contact with, after trying out for one of his previous bands. Ru actually said "this better work this time." I guess it did! We met up, got matching shirts and just wrote songs upon songs.
The first gig we did was at GB motorcycles, really good venue for new bands. Then we went onto the White star, the sugarmill, Jollees, lymelight festival and several other venues around Stoke! As of now, we are spending a lot of time working on new material in a studio down in Manchester called Pirate Studios. We also have a few gigs lined up!
What's the story behind your new release "Cavities"?
The lyrics are a reflection of our lead singer JJ's emotional state at the time of writing. Simon, the main character of the story, whom JJ based off of her own experiences, is a 17 year old kid who is struggling with daily life due to depression and societal pressures. It deals with issues such as: parental pressures; societal pressures; body and self esteem issues and general mental health problems. Simon struggles with depression, so it highlights his struggles to maintain hygiene like brushing his teeth, taking a shower and sleeping. We also catch a glimpse of his self esteem issues with wanting to be taller, self assured, confident to catch the attention of the girl he likes. And in the second verse it discusses the pressure he receives from his parents and society to 'get a job and pay rent' while he struggles with simply getting out of bed everyday. It exclaims how exhausted he is. How useless he feels. And really gives us an insight as to how the youth of today's generation are feeling. There's always an expectation to go to school and get an education, get a job and pay bills, when we are literally still children.
Simon states that he doesn't want to kill himself, either literally due to losing his battle with mental health OR working himself to death for a life that isn't guaranteed, he feels like he's only working to survive rather than living, which to a kid like Simon who represents all of us broken youth, it doesn't make sense!
The main question of the songs is "How are we living the best years of our lives on empty?"; our teenage years through our early twenties have been crowned our 'best years' by society. And yet here we all are drowning in endless expectations from everyone around us, whilst fighting a secret battle with our mental health.
JJ at the time of writing was really struggling with her mental health, feeling as though all she was doing was working and going to college and nothing inbetween, she felt overworked and like she was running on empty and she knew everyone around her was in the same boat, all of us felt and feel the same way. So through Simon, she calls this out directly.
CAVITIES and giving Simon the comical trait of being afraid to go to the dentist, is a metaphor for saying "this kid knows he has problems, but he's too afraid to address them and deal with them" and that's all due to the absurd amount of pressure he's under. Saying he's afraid to go to the dentist is saying despite knowing he has a perfectly valid reason to seek help (cavities representing mental health issues here), he's still worried that he'll be judged by his peers and his parents for having an issue.
All kids should know, especially in their 'best years' is freedom and happiness, and all of the pressures presented by modern day society are suffocating us, repressing us into these lethargic, depressed, bland individuals with no sense of purpose or individuality.
Simon represents us all, a kid facing all kinds of pressure in a messed up world, but he's here to call it out and scream at the top of his lungs in an attempt to make you realise that you DON'T have to live like this! Enjoy your best years, screw everything else!
Whats the best venue in Stoke on Trent?
Hard question really, there's so many venues in Stoke that we haven't even performed at, nevermind the ones we have! But saying that when we first started as a band the venue that we truly hit the ground running at is GB motorcycle club in Longport. The fact that the owner, Grumpy gave a band like us a chance to start out really means a lot to us. Saying that though The White Star comes in at a close second due to them also giving us a space to perform in their spare room, I personally prefer venues that just give any up and coming band that first gig as a band, as they really help the band improve and sound even better for those more bigger and usually reserved venues.
Do your fans have the chance to see you somewhere live on stage?
Yes! We have a few gigs lined up. We are playing at the White star on the 28th August,
the Captains bar on the 3rd September and
Jolles on the 14th October!
Social media ... love or hate or both?
Social media is definitely a love and hate situation. While it's great for being able to get a good audience going at the start of your music career, it becomes a massive burden having to keep content coming all the time to keep up with all the algorithms and is really one of the most difficult things they don't tell you about trying to run a band.
So to put it's short it can be good for getting your music out there at first but quickly becomes something that's hard to properly keep going - now that it's almost an expectation in the modern music scene.
What's next for you?
We as Mishaps have lots to come, Cavities will not be the last you hear from us. We are busy in the studio regularly getting some new bangers out as soon as possible so don't worry about that. We plan to keep gigging, getting music out and carrying on our Mishaps shenanigans.
