Mowbeck may not have been a band name you have heard before. But after this weekend you may hear the name over and over again. After headlining the BBC’s Introducing show earlier this year, they have been on a whirlwind of success and are now set to perform this weekend at Reading and Leeds festival.
In between rehearsals for the festival on the back of launching their new EP, front man and keyboard player Andy Thomas and Bassist Phil Clark sat down for an exclusive interview with Celeb Mix.
CelebMix- Hi Guys! We’ve got lot to talk about today. To start with, tell us a bit about your sound.
Andy- We write pop tunes, but we play them as a rock band. They have a gritty sound and that’s why we’ve labelled our sound as ‘GritPop’.
How did you guys come up with the band name Mowbeck?
A- So, we came from a town called Grantham. There’s a stream that runs through our town called the Mow Beck. We’d been through so many names trying to work out what we could call this band, and one day we were out together and it just came to us. It’ll always remind us of where we come from.
So who has inspired you musically?
A- Urm, I think there are so many things that inspire us that aren’t just musical, there are older bands that influence us like T-Rex, and there are bands that inspire us song wise that are more recent like the Kings of Leon, but things around us are what inspire us the most.
Phil- There’s a distinct change, we got into a lot of minor key music. I never got into bands like the clash and the cure, but listening to Lullaby by the cure, when we listened to that song in particular things changed for us musically to become a little darker.
A- These are bands that we ignored when we were younger we didn’t pay much attention to when we were younger, and now we’ve gone to back to them.
P- I was a little naive when I was younger and didn’t explore, but now my ears are more open to this kind of musical spectrum. Our music has advanced so much because I opened my ears.
So how did Reading and Leeds come about?
A- We uploaded our music to the BBC Introducing page over a year ago, and we’ve done a few sessions for them. They put on a show in January in Nottingham and we were asked too headline it. The DJ said he’d put us forward for some festivals, so we came away and didn’t think anything of it. A few months later we got an email offering us the chance to play there. Over 250 bands applied and we were selected to be in the line up!
How are you guys preparing for it?
A- We’ve been rehearsing every night, we’re hoping to attract a new crowd, its the first major festival we’ve played. Because only 30 bands got picked and we are playing two locations its even bigger then say Glastonbury would be for us. It’s got such a big hyper surrounding it, lot of new artists were discovered there!
So how are you guys feeling about it, are you nervous?
A- If I’m not nervous for a show, something’s wrong. I’m always nervous, and that’s good. I’m just excited!
P- I’m excited. I’ve been going to Leeds for years, There’s something about discovering new bands, and the atmosphere. To be welcomed there is so incredible.
How are you going to prep for the show? Do you have any pre show rituals?
A- I always walk around on my own lot before a show. We’ll probably have a beer before the show and just chill.
Let’s talk about the EP! You guys have obviously worked really hard on it. What kind of vibe were you going for with it?
A- This EP is kind of trying to encapsulate us as a band. The lead track is Talk About and that’s the song we really hope people catch on to. As you go further into the EP, songs like Vaseline and I Don’t Care are lot more gritty and the lyrics and music have lot more angst to it, and we hope people can identify with that.
P- As we’ve been playing live, we’ve found the darker songs work for us better, the energy on stage is always better with grittier songs.
A-The room we’re sat in right now is where we recorded the whole EP. We’d pull all nighters just to get the right feelings on the vocals for example.
You guys must have some pretty cool fans, so are there any crazy stories you can tell us?
A-Our fans are supportive. They are really really cool. There’s not really anything crazy they’ve done. Some of our fans will wait outside our shows for a few hours. They’re there when we arrive it’s always nice. I mean our fans are amazing.
P- If it wasn’t for our fans we wouldn’t be doing any of this.
Lastly guys, you have 10 words. Try and sell the CelebMix readers your EP.
P- We could do five words each I’ll go first. Mowbeck gives people the love
A- Mowbeck are your musical love.
Mowbeck’s latest EP is out now. Buy it HERE. Be sure to follow them on social media to stay updated with any upcoming gigs Facebook .facebook.com/mowbeck/ and follow them on Twitter @Mowbeck.
Mowbeck are playing the BBC intruding stage this weekend. Leeds – Friday – 4:05pm Reading – Sunday – 4:10pm
If you’re at the festival, be sure to check Mowbeck out! If you manage to see Mowbeck tweet us and let us know what you thought of them.