The Tennents

Young North East band The Tennents from Hull have been showing up on Ralph's Twitter a lot lately with news of a new EP 'Belgium' coming out soonish, so Ralph invited them into the kennel for a chat to check out what they've done already and what's planned for the future.  

The Tennents are Mathew Conner - vocals/guitar, Barney Wilson - bass, Sam Mackereth - drums, Ryan Smith - rhythm guitar and they've been gigging since early 2012.

Late 2012 saw them sign to local Indie label Jigsaw Records and the release of 'Kalimar' and two tracks made it on BBC Radio Humberside and the 3rd of June 2013 sees the release of the new single 'Belgium'.




 

Ralph: How's the new single coming along is there a release date yet and are you doing a video/launch night?

Ryan: We've just finished recording the single at Fruit Trade Music in Hull.  We think it sounds spot on and its released on Jigsaw Records June 3rd and we're doing a BBC Introducing Session soon as well.

Matt: We're doing the video next week, we've got loads of ideas for it.  After that we have our launch night on June 27th at the Adelphi in Hull.

Barney: Yeah we are really looking forward to doing the video, I'd like to make it with a big fire in some woods.

Ralph: At the minute all your gigs seem to be East Coast...any plans to take The Tennents live sound further afield?

Ryan: We've been spending loads of time writing new material so we haven't gigged much recently, after the singles out we will be off on the road.  We should be touring the North in July and August. 

Ralph: How did the band get together?

Matt: Me and Sam started playing together when we were like 13-14, then we trained Barney up on bass and got him involved when were about 16.  We knew Ryan from going out and stuff and we knew he played guitar so we got him to come to practice and it all sounded great so he joined up.

Ralph: Do you all have the same musical influences or is there a blend of different genres that make The Tennents sound?

Ryan: There's loads of new bands we are into Peace, Swim Deep, Temples but when it comes to the older bands, we tend to go in different directions. I'm really in to Ride and Radiohead.

Matt: We're influenced by lots of different people, Sam is really into the Clash, I love Jeff Buckley, Nirvana, The Horrors, Foals and The Kills.....there's a big list!

Ralph: Why should someone come and see you live?

Ryan: When we first started playing we just used to turn up and get drunk and play, but over the last 6 months we've started taking it a bit more seriously and made more effort to tighten up.

Matt: We always try and make every gig we play memorable for people who come. The last few have been great, people are starting to come along and dance and jump about as they know the songs. As a band that's the best feeling you can get.

Ralph: Nice to hear that your sound is quintessentially 'English Brit Pop' is that deliberate or just developed naturally/true to your roots?

Matt: Not deliberate as such, as in we never sat down and made a conscious decision, but I think its a sound that we all grew up surrounded by so its probably come quite naturally.  The newer material we are writing could be seen as a step away from that sound a bit.

Ryan: We are trying to do something a bit different, bigger maybe, and more modern with our sound. 

Ralph: Any plans to put together an album?

Barney: Yeah definitely, but at the moment we are still finding our sound and trying new stuff.  We'll probably look at putting out an EP next then maybe an album towards the end of the year.

Ralph: How do you see your musicality/sound developing?

Ryan: From listening to our first ever recording, to the new single, we can see that we've improved ten fold, and just want to keep improving.  We started off just trying to make catchy songs that would stick in peoples head, but now we're actually making music that we enjoy ourselves, and fingers crossed, everyone else will like it too.

Ralph: If you had one concert to play, who would it be with?

Ryan: I'd love to play a huge gig with Radiohead.

Matt: I reckon it would be pretty fun to tour with PEACE

Ralph: What's everyone listening to just now?

Ryan: J A W S, Peace, London Grammar, Swim Deep, Coasts.

Sam: I really like the Palma Violets album.

Matt: It changes a lot..  Joy Division, Death From Above, Tribes.