If you’ve been anywhere near a radio/festival/the World Wide Web over the summer, you may well be aware of a rising indie-rock quartet that call themselves Sea Girls.
If you haven’t? Well, firstly, what on Earth have you been doing; and, secondly, you’re seriously missing out. They’re only in their early twenties, but they’ve already nailed the knack of writing precisely the kind of guitar-led pop-rock songs that indie disco across the country have been clamoring for ever since Blossoms ‘went electronic’. Like this one:
You’re (hopefully) going to enjoy this one
Naturally, what with them being Absolutely Bloody Brilliant, we couldn’t resist the urge to tell you, the beloved readers of One on One, all about them; and, what better way to do that than by inflicting treating them to a round of our Quickfire Questions?
In case you haven’t seen it before, it’s a pretty simple concept: we take some of our favourite bands, ask for ten minutes of their time, and then pepper them with questions in an attempt to find out as much about them as humanly possible in no more than 600 seconds.
Some men thrive and some men fall under such hearty pressure; but, we think that it’s safe to say that Sea Girls rose to the challenge rather admirably. So, read on, dearest one, and prepare to find out more about one of British indie’s hottest prospects than even we thought possible:
What’s the Sea Girls origin story?
‘We all went to school together and played in various bands but never all together at once. Eventually, we all settled in London and our various bands were faltering so we had the bright idea to all get together and we haven’t looked back.
If somebody’s never listened to you before, which track should they start with and why?
‘I’d say our first single ‘Call Me Out’ is a great entry point (as well as being our debut release). It has everything we love – guitar riffs, catchy vocals and a healthy dose of longing are key elements of our sound.
You’ve got a UK tour coming up later this year: are there any shows you’re particularly hyped about?
‘We always bang on about how much we love Manchester but that’s with good reason. We’ve never had a bad show there and we always get the most welcoming reception. That being said, we’re visiting a lot of places where we’ve never played headline shows before, so who knows what we’ll be saying after this tour! We’ve also got our largest ever show at the Kentish Town Forum in London, which is so special – we’ve seen some amazing bands there, so we can’t wait to be part of that history.
You’ve had a mad summer of festivals – what have been your highlights?
‘Every show has been great but maybe the most rewarding shows are the unexpected ones. We’ve done our first European festivals this summer and we weren’t expecting even half the crowds that we played to and so many people singing along. But then, we can’t lie and say that playing to 25,000 people at Community Festival wasn’t a bucket list moment…
You also released your new track ‘Closer’ last month – how would you describe it for people who haven’t heard it?
‘The way Rory wrote it was unusual for us in that he made the demo all on synths and then we translated that into guitars and live drums. I think that you can hear that in the DNA of the song and it’s definitely quite groovy. It starts as a foot-tapper and evolves into a rock song by the end – who doesn’t like that kind of glow-up?
When can we expect an album – or, at the least, another EP…?
‘We’ve been recording all summer so there’s definitely not a dearth of songs right now. We’re going to keep releasing songs right up until the album’s released, which is currently looking like early next year.
If you could be in any other band, which would it be and which instrument would you want to play?
‘I think it would be fun to be something peripheral in a huge band in their prime, you know? Like percussion for Fleetwood Mac or T-Rex. That way you get to take it all in without the pressure of all those chord changes and vocal acrobatics.
If the four of you had a fistfight, who would win and why?
‘I’m not going to say myself… Andrew likes to wrestle the crew from time to time so he’s had the most practice. Let’s go with Andrew. Sorry, Henry and Rory…
What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened to Sea Girls?
‘I remember very early on we were in the pub after practice and a strange man started a conversation with Rory after he saw all our guitars. He told a very long-winded tail about the blues guitarist Robert Johnson, the gist being that he had a magical solution that he soaked his hands in overnight. Apparently, the solution would shrink his hands and that’s why he was so good at playing guitar. Why having such small hands would make you better at guitar we’re not quite sure…
Describe each member of the band in three words?
‘Henry – smooth, playful, and saucy.
Rory – mysterious, floppy, and cute.
Andrew – cheeky, curly, and limber.
Oli – handsome, smart, and tall.