Those Who Knew have arrived and they express their own buoyant blend of
Brit-rock, which tugs from the hooky articulation of Deaf Havana, the utter
rock dynamism of Lower than Atlantis, and the song-writing dexterity of the
Foo Fighters. Flaunting an alternative edge with probing guitar rhythms and
engaging vocals, the five-piece release their enticing debut EP New
Perspective on Friday 28th April.
Born out of Nottingham, Those Who Knew were formed at the start of 2015 and
feature Danny Graves (Vocals), Danny Peet (Lead Guitar), Jordan Toal (Rhythm
Guitar), Joe Miller (Bass Guitar), and Emily Hall (Drums). With an affection
for captivating and driving alt-rock, the quintet hit the road early, and
now have relentlessly played throughout the Midlands and Yorkshire, and as
their growing fan-base will testify, the industrious crew are not to be
missed. Once their live reputation was in full flow, the band turned their
attention to laying down tracks in the studio.
We managed to catch up with the band as they talk about their upcoming EP, favourite song, proudest moment and more!
How pumped are you for the release ‘New Perspective’?
We’re all so stoked! We’ve put a lot of work into the record and after many set backs along the way it’s so nice to finally have a set release date.
Tell us a bit about the EP
All the songs on the EP were written at completely different points in time, and each written in a different way. The idea with the title is that each song offers a new perspective on similar situations, and the title also draws from the fact each track was written in different circumstances.
All the songs were recorded in Surrey with Matt O’Grady, who has produced albums for You Me At Six and Deaf Havana. We stayed in an apartment for about a week while working with Matt and thoroughly enjoyed the recording process.
What is your favourite song from the EP?
This really varies from member to member. Personally my favourite is Shadow in the Sea, I think that’s partly because of how much I enjoy playing it live. But I know Danny and Joe like Nothing Left to Lose whereas Jordan and Emily really like Seventeen.
How much time and effort has gone in to making this?
I think the whole process has taken over a year, and we’ve all put so much into the record. We initially recorded with a different studio but the results weren’t exactly what we were looking for, so we then decided to re-record all the songs, which was a big set back at the time but it was necessary. The music video for Losing Touch had to then be re-shot due to the new recording being at a slightly higher tempo and we’d also had a lineup change at this point.
Will there be a tour with the release?
We’ll be playing a lot around the midlands straight after the release, but it won’t be until later in the year that we’ll looking to tour the record up and down the UK.
So you guys are influenced by the likes of Biffy Clyro, Deaf Havana, and Lower Than Atlantis, would you ever like to work with these guys on a song?
Absolutely, they’re all such great musicians and songwriters. It would be an unbelievable honour to get a chance to collaborate with any of these bands, and interesting to see what edge they would add to our sound.
What has been your proudest moment to date?
I’d say having the final product of the EP was the proudest. It’s represents a culmination of all the hard we’ve put in over the past year writing the songs, recording them, then re-recording them. All the gigs we’ve played to save the money to be able to afford to record. We’re all so proud of the EP.
What has been your funniest moment at a gig?
For me this has to go to guitarist Jordan. We were playing in Sheffield, and were all really pumped for the gig. We’d just got on stage, it was a packed crowd and we’d just started our opening song. Jordan was really getting into it. I mean, really into it. He bounced to the back of the stage… And never bounced back. Turns out there was a back to the stage that Jordan had been blissfully unaware off. Apparently he’d managed to do a front flip down the stairs and landed in front of a very confused stage hand.
What does it mean to you when you see someone listening to your music?
It honestly means the world to us. We all love playing in this band and to have people actually take time to listen to our music is really one of the best parts of the whole experience.
What is the music scene like in Nottingham?
It’s a scene on the rise I think, there are a lot of great bands we’ve had the chance to play alongside recently that are based in Nottingham.