South Wales' rock 'n' rollers with a punk spirit, Al Moses, have built up a formidable live presence with their fiery riffs and dual vocals, selling out three Cardiff headline shows, along with impressing festival crowds. Their new single 'Taxidermy' is released on June 28.
Who are you?
Daf: I’m Daf Thomas, I play guitar and sing in Al Moses
Jack: My name’s Jack Vill, I play guitar and sing.
Jarvis: I’m Jarvis Morgan, I play bass.
Raychi: I’m Raychi Bryant and I play drums.
Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today.
We are from South Wales. Specifically, Daf and Jarvis are from Merthyr Tydfil, Jack is from Cardiff and Raychi is from Swansea. Al Moses was formed in 2016 by Jack and Daf, then Raychi joined the line up in 2017, before Jarvis was added to the line up very recently. Daf actually knew Raychi and Jarvis long before they joined our band, but it just took us a while to find a settled line up like we have now.
Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.
We play rock n roll music, inspired by bands like Manic Street Preachers, The Libertines, Primal Scream, The Beatles and many more. We are big lovers of melody, and a great chorus. You could have an orchestra play our songs, and then a kid with an acoustic guitar, and then see us play it, and all would sound just as great. It’s all in the songs with us, it’s not just riffs and and drums and hooks. An interesting melody or chord progression especially, it almost feels revolutionary for a young band to include any, so that’s mostly we go for because there’s no young rock bands doing it. That said, we also love a big smashy section in a song.
Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.
Jack writes the songs for the band, normally on a guitar or piano. He’ll send a recording of him playing a verse and chorus of a new tune, and the rest of the band will say ‘fuck ye’ or ‘no fucking way’. Jack then makes a demo of the track and tries out some arrangement’s in his house and sends them across to the band. Once everyone’s got a buzz and can’t wait to put the song in the set, we go into a practise room and start piecing it together. The tracks normally change over time just because we all have our own style of playing, but that’s what makes them sound like Almo tunes.
Tell us a little about your new single.
‘Taxidermy’ is the only song we’ve had that started off with a riff, but the original idea for it is about three years old. Jack sent a demo across to the band and no one was really keen, the chorus hook was interesting, but it was a lot less heavy and even had a piano in it. We brought it back about 8 months ago and found new life in it. The lyrics are bit wacky and good fun for crowds to sing, but the song is about self doubt and insecurity in a band. It’s probably best summed up by a lyric in the verse; ‘I barely pay attention to my benign big mouth, I ‘d swallow every sentence if I could spit it out’. It was produced by Stef Pringle who has worked with Estrons, Himalayas and plenty others, he’s done a great job with it. We’re pretty over the moon with the entire outcome of the track, it’s the best single we could have released right now
Can we catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows?
We are doing 3 launch gigs for ’Taxidermy’: last night (June 27th) we played Le Pub in Newport,The Macbeth in London on July 6th and Sin City in Swansea on July 13th. We have some of the best new Welsh bands playing with us across those dates too, in Telgate, CVC and Bandicoot. We are also playing Tramlines Fringe in Sheffield on July 19th and then supporting Ocean Colour Scene at Ponty’s big weekend on August 17th.
How's the year looking, plans-wise?
After the ‘Taxidermy’ launch gigs and the rest of our festival dates, we are going to be heading back out on tour throughout autumn. We’re still waiting to announce any dates throughout September and October but they are all gonna be immense gigs, playing lots of new cities. November onwards is unclear what gigs will come up, but maybe we will release another single around then, who knows. We’d love to finish the year with a massive support slot or something, would good to have a marker as to how far we’d have come in 2019.
Where can we hear more of your music?
Our first single ‘I Want More’ is out on Spotify and Apple Music. You can also find the music video of that tune on YouTube, along with some acoustic songs and a tour video with one of our tracks ‘Am I so Vulgar’. There is a whole stash of music we can’t wait to release, it’s just a matter of time.
What social media platforms can we find you on?
Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
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