Sweet Valentine’s Day 2017. Normally a more traditional diary entry following a romantic day spent with a sweetheart, however Boys by Girls had the pleasure of being in the presence of the four charming boys that make up Reading band, The Amazons. The boys are thriving. With the release of their latest single ‘Black Magic’, available here, happening just hours before and claiming MistaJam’s ‘Hottest Record in the World’ instantly, there’s a lot to keep them animated. Photographer Vic Lentaigne takes the boys for a stroll in the park and along the river, the bitter day not doing much to diminish the high spirits emanating from the boys. Still reeling from the massive success of their single and hyped on the adrenaline of the following day's first show in the leg of their tour.
The intriguing world of fashion is unveiled before them - an editorial - an exciting first for them, so it seems nothing was to be disregarded. Not even that rubber trench coat. Stylist Becky Seager fashions together pieces from Agi and Sam, Topman and Levi’s, delivering a group of boys reflecting old-school cool; they’re the rock band all young boys aspire to be. They didn't always have the intense, non-stop, rock'n'roll lifestyle they do now though; spending their earlier days stacking shelves and working at the zoo alongside their graft to get them where they are now. It just makes them that much more appealing.
Matt, Joe, Elliot and Chris are humbling and down to earth, sharing stories from their lives before signing to Fiction Records and how their careers have catapulted since. The boys are woven very much into each others lives, intimate relationships constructed over years of devotion to one another and the music they produce. A passion driven by the end desire to play the biggest festival in their home town, their sights are set small in the grand scale of the magnitude of the success they have already seen.
The Amazons recently announced the release of their debut album 2nd of June 2017. The self-titled album is available to pre-order now.
Let’s start with talking about the shoot today. How did you find it?
Elliot: Very cool. It’s our first time we’ve been in a big magazine like this, so was a good experience for us. Nice and cold outside as well.
Matt: It’s nice to be styled, trying on outfits that we wouldn’t usually. I tried on a rubber trench coat.
Elliot: We also got chased by dogs.
Matt: Run over by cyclists.
Elliot: Shouted at by construction workers.
Matt: I witnessed a massive duck/swan brawl. A lot of tension between the bird races there. It was eventful.
Joe: It’s nice to be involved in something that’s a bit different to the music orientated magazines.
Who are you boys?
Elliot: We all grew up in Reading, that’s our home town. We’ve known each other for many years now.
Matt: I’ve known Elliot for 10 years.
Elliot: We started playing together when we were kids. There was a charity event that we played at on Saturday's and we’d play a little show to the parents at the end of every term. We started making music from there. Chris was at school with Matthew and they used to play songs in their lunch breaks instead of playing football and getting vitamin D.
Matt: I don’t do vitamin D.
Elliot: And then Joe was a lone wanderer, a lone wolf out of the wilderness.
Matt: We met on the darkness on the edge of town.
Elliot: Only come out on a full moon.
Matt: We met Joe playing bass in another band and he came up to us and begged us for an audition - it was getting a little bit embarrassing and we just thought we might as well give him a go. Then he played so terribly in practice we gave him the sympathy vote and that was how he joined the band.
What three words would you use to describe yourselves? Or each other?
Matt: Each other, oh that’s good! Chris is the ‘prince of darkness’.
Elliot: That’s more than one word though?
Matt: Prince. Of. Darkness.
Elliot: Oh okay right, that’s like three descriptive words okay. ‘Black berry hair’? Joe can be… ’Drunken gambling fool’.
Matt: ‘Drunken gambling fool’, that’s good.
Joe: God, you think of me so highly, thanks guys. I’m in the band as a sympathy vote and I’m a gambling, drunken fool. Wow.
Matt: That’s quite poetic though.
Elliot: That can be the name of your new solo album. Matt; tortured - ‘ginger tortured artist’.
Matt: I was going to go for ‘total fucking mastermind’, actually.
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Full interview available here.
Images taken from Boys by Girls, shot by Vic Lentaigne, styling by Becky Seager.
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