White Room. A young five-piece collective delivering a classic British sound that has felt neglected for a while. Upbeat melodic vibes leave no uncertainty about the support and admiration this group has of a number of big names in British music. Despite on the surface looking like just another group of young people around Brighton, and leading day-to-day lives working and studying, it’s hard to believe that they are in fact producing outstanding music. It's a sound that is beyond their years; inspiring and unique.
Following our previous print catch up with the band, this time photographer Sophie Mayanne visits their home town and captures them on their seafront doorstep; their natural habitat if you will. The seaside town is a music mecca, and the colourful sounds of White Room are steam rolling the group to success. Lewis Evans-Martin styles them in uniform stripes and shirts, simple and fun, keeping spirited even with the sharp gusts of harsh wind. Settling down in an obscure and humbling mismatched pub, adorned in old-school retro attire, they unwind and indulge in conversations on their prospective futures and what it's like growing up today.
Having announced their second tour supporting the Modfather himself, Paul Weller, their future is looking brighter with every single. The tunes are psychedelic and engaging, an aching yearning for summer resonates within you as the music fizzes around and fills mind. They’re addictive and the promise of music a little later this year has us on the edge of our seats. Having already announced a great number of appearances for the upcoming festival season, there’s no way to question the musical prosperity and charm of White Room.
If you guys could say your names and a little bit about yourselves.
Jacob: I’m Jacob and I play guitar in White Room.
Josie: I’m Josie and I play bass and backing notes.
Tristan: I’m Tristan. I play a combination of instruments; the guitar, the organ, the synth.
Jake: I’m Jake and I fish.
Henry: I’m Henry. I like peanut butter.
How did you guys find the shoot today?
Tristan: It was cold, it was windy, it was really hard to keep your hair together, but all in all it was a successful shoot. We all looked very good and it was fun.
Jake: Had some chips.
Josie: Took Floyd for walk.
Henry: Had some nice clothes given to us to wear.
How would you describe one another?
Jake: Hen’s a cheeky little scheming drummer boy. Always scheming and talking in riddles.
Hen: Jacob is a big giraffe.
Jacob: Josie is… fun and new.
Josie: Fun and new? T… T is Mr. Mowgli Man.
Tristan: Yeah, someone emailed a really serious message to us on Facebook, and I replied with ‘Hello there, Mowgli bear!’ - it was a very bizarre thing. Jake is ‘exact replica (of) Floyd’. Look at his hair - human replica of Floyd. Make that in to three somehow.
Jacob: ‘Looks like Floyd’.
How did you guys meet?
Jake: Me, Tristan and Jacob were in school together and we met Hen through Tristan - they're cousins. Me and Josie were in college together while Josie was doing her own stuff. She’s a singer/songwriter, a bloody good one, and I did some recording with her. When another member left, we were like; ‘get Josie in the band!’.
Henry: The perfect fit.
Jake: Now she’s here.
Tristan: Fun and new.
Josie: I’ve been in the band about 7 months. When you look back at it, we’ve done a lot.
Jake: Josie got thrown into the deep end, ‘cause she joined mid-festival season and her first show with us was Y-Not festival. We did one warm up under a different name, but the first White Room show was a festival and we smashed it.
Josie: I had dabbled in bass a little before joining and then within a month of being in White Room, properly learning bass, they were like; ‘we’re playing Reading and Leeds’. I was like; ‘why are you doing this to me?’. It was terrifying, but it was fun.
...
Full interview available here.
Images taken from Boys by Girls, shot by Sophie Mayanne, styling by Lewis Evans-Martin.
No comments :
Post a Comment