Being from the North has obviously had an impact on the music I have surrounded my ears with. From The Smiths to The Courteeners and being influenced by the poetic tongue of Morrissey, I have always appreciated the music scene that has emerged from the North.
When I stumbled across The Castellers on Twitter I knew instantly that they were right up my street! I admired their ability to restore the 1960's vintage style into contemporary material.
The Castellers are a currently unsigned British guitar band made up of five members:
Ryan Healey - Vocals/22/Manchester
Russell Robertson - Lead guitar & Keys/28/Southport
Neil Troute - Rhythm guitar & vocals/25/Sheffield
Kieran Carter - Bass guitar/26/Southport
Paul Paterson - Drums/26/Southport
The Castellers had previously aborted attempt to start the band in 2011 with a slightly different line up. However due to the outlandish behaviour from various members of the band they managed to get themselves barred from their rehearsal room and two main venues in Southport.
Needless to say the band fell apart after a pitiful two months. It wasn't until late September 2012 when lead guitarist Russell moved to Sheffield that the band decided to start again.
I knew right away that I wanted to do one of my first music blogs on The Castellers - and band member Russell was kind enough to answer some questions on behalf of all the band for me:
Firstly, can you tell us what the origin of your band name is?
The name came from the Catalan tradition of creating human towers. We thought concept of that was fitting the way we write/play; layering melodies with harmonies on top of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, keys, bass & drums. But more importantly it sounds decent.
Being from the North could put you into the stereotype of indie bands like Oasis, The Smiths and The Courteeners. Do you think you stand out amongst these?
There's been a lot of great bands from the North West but I'm not sure we sound like many of them. I don't know if we do stand out, but if that is the case then its probably because we haven't tried hang onto the coattails of the 'indie' scene & imitate bands like The Arctic Monkeys. We make tracks that are influenced by a 1960's sound & we'd do that no matter what was popular at the time. Having said that with bands like Temples & The Strypes coming through, that authentic sound seems to be coming back in.
"We haven't tried to hang onto the coattails of the 'indie' scene"
When did you realise that the music industry is where you wanted to be?
For me it was when I was 15, I watched a programme about Oasis & I was hooked. The style, attitude & music was something that I instantly identified with, or wanted to.
What influences and inspires you to write about certain themes and topics in your material?
Our songs are usually quite abstract, but there's always a definite story within them, it's just hidden in a way. Ryan's our main lyricist, our latest track 'Elysian Fields' is one he wrote about an Ancient Greek concept. It's a place where those who were selected by the Gods would spend a blessed afterlife. 'Jackson In The Barrel' was one I wrote after hearing that some gunslingers in the Wild West days used to put a 20 dollar note in one of the barrels of their revolver, it'd pay for their funeral if they were killed (president Jackson is on the 20 dollar note).
We get inspired by hearing about something a little bit different or interesting. But it's something that Ryan is particularly good at.
[The Castellers latest track: Elysian Fields]
From your Twitter page it is obvious you respect your growing fan base. Why do you think it's important to show your appreciation to your fans?
When someone goes out of their way to say something nice about what your doing then you should show your appreciation. It means a lot to me because if someones genuinely into one of your tracks then that means you've created music that's sparked something in a person you've never met, and that's fuckin beautiful in my eyes. I'll always show my respect to the people who support us.
"You've created music that's sparked something in a person you've never met, and that's fuckin beautiful"
Miles Kane is another success from the North and respected within the indie music community. Is he someone you as a band admire?
He's top live, me & Neil went to see him Sheffield a couple of weeks ago. Never met him, would be good to though. But I'm not overly fussed about meeting those who have made it, you get what you need from their music, but it's always good to meet people who are into their music though, shows they've got a bit of soul. Met Temples & The Merrylees after their gig a few weeks ago, they were all top. Also met Mani a few times, we played a gig for a 60s night he used to run in Manchester, he is a proper geezer.
Do you like your music to be somewhat nostalgic to the 1960's era, despite many of your fan base not being around during this period?Nowadays anyone can get hold of music from any country or era because of the internet. There's kids who are 15, 16 & are listening to rare 60s garage bands, which was pretty rare 10 or 15 years ago. So every band or artist has the choice of what they listen to or how they want to sound & there will be an audience for it. So there's no excuse for shit music or jumping on a bandwagon. We listen to 60s music so that's what we do.
Where have you preformed and can you tell us about any upcoming gigs you are doing?
We've played mainly around Sheffield, we've done Tramlines Festival, 02 Academy, Green Room, Showcase Cinema & a few other places. Really enjoy The Green Room though, they play the 60s Mod Stuff & it's a slightly run down, RocknRoll bar. Playing their on Wednesday 6th November & then the Lava Lounge on the 8th, both in Sheffield.
How does the future look for The Castellers?
We have a few gigs between now & Christmas. We're going back to the drawing board in January, we're writing new material now so we can start to rehearse & record early next year. We're hoping to evolve our sound a bit & see where it takes us. 2014 is a big year for us, we'll be hoping for management & a label. We're not quite where we need to be yet, but next year we will.
FACEBOOK: THE CASTELLERS
Emily ♥
So jealous that you got to interview then, they seem like such lovely people, and they deserve a lot more recognition!! I wish them the best!! :)
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