Bristol-based rock five-piece Glass Violet specialise in big choruses and soaring guitar riffs, taking inspiration from the likes of Kasabian, The Killers and Foals. They release their debut single 'Chemicals' today (August 16).
Who are you?
I'm Alex John, guitarist and occasional lead vocalist with Glass Violet. Then there's Tom Hurdiss on lead vocals and guitar, Josh Walsh, bass, Matt West hitting the drums, and Declan Pollard on keys/synths.
Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today.
Myself and Tom met in Bristol at the start of last summer. We were both looking for people to start a new project with and we came across each other through the world of the internet as wWme both had ads up looking for band members and had listed pretty much exactly the same musical influences. We began working on music and recording demos at Alex's house for around 6 months until we had enough material for a set and then we got Matt, Josh and Declan involved just after Christmas and began rehearsing the full band. We played our first gig at The Louisiana in Bristol, supporting our friends Krooked Tongue in March this year, and released a demo of our track 'North Sentinel Island'. Since then we've been playing shows around Bristol and received backing from BBC Radio Bristol and This Feeling. In June we started the recording process for our debut single 'Chemicals'; it was self-produced and we wrapped up the work on that around the end of July.
Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.
We all have quite similar musical influences, we all love bands such as The Killers, Foals, DMA's, Oasis etc and anything with a huge chorus. Declan also likes to get down and dirty with the reggae side of things, so don't be alarmed if you see him wearing a Rasta style hat on stage whilst shredding his way through the keyboard.
Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.
I will normally come up with the core of the songs and demo them at home before showing them to Tom and then he'll say something like 'what about moving this here, or trying something else there' and then that'll take them up another gear. We then take the songs down the rehearsal room and everyone goes at it like a pack of wolves and that normally takes them up another gear again.
Tell us a little about your new single.
'Chemicals' was the very first track me and Tom worked on together over the summer of last year. Ihad the chords and melody laid out and then we polished off the lyrics in a few hours and then Tom slammed in the big fat guitar solo like an absolute string wizard at the end and we started recording the demo the same day and I think we decided there and then it was to be the first single. Not too bad for our first writing session together really.
Can we catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows?
Next up for us is Friday, August 23rd in Newport at Le Pub where we'll be playing alongside Welsh boys Bandicoot, and we're also planning our first headline show in Bristol for October, which we've got a class line up for and we're really looking forward to.
How's the rest of the year looking, plans-wise?
We'll be knocking about with some more live shows and getting back in the studio to record the second single, which will be even bigger and better than this one.
Where can we hear more of your music?
This is only our first single, so if you are hungry to hear more you'll have to come and see us play live for the time being!
What social media platforms can we find you on
Instagram // Facebook // Twitter
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