British bands seem to be a dime a dozen these days, new ones seem to pop up and spawn nearly every week and trying to keep up or figure out which ones are worthwhile is the real challenge. Yet, when a band like
Prayers rolls around, it is hard to pass them by and a second glance must be given. Hailing from the industrial city of Birmingham, England, famous for giving the world
Black Sabbath and
Editors, Prayers are the latest sensation to come from the dark city and make something to show the world what Birmingham is all about. We spoke to the band about the influence their city has had, their sound, and what fans can expect from them down the line. Take a look at our interview with Prayers below:
Hailing from Birmingham, England, how has that
city influenced your music?
Lewis
(Bass): I don’t think it influences our music as such, but more our general
being…
Alex
(Vocals): But it is pretty dark and dreary which I suppose you can get from our
music.
George
(Guitar): And we’re influenced by some of the music that is around us in the
city and from bands that we’re friends with.
Birmingham is most famously known for being the
hometown of Black Sabbath, coming from there do you feel like you have big
shoes to fill?
George: We
haven’t really thought about that to be honest, we’re just trying to gather up
our own sound at the moment
As a new band starting out, what is it like as
the adventure begins for you?
Alex: It’s
been pretty eventful so far with a vast amount of heavy drinking, blood soaked
guitars and a hell of a lot of noise. But we have been working hard behind the
scenes and in the rehearsal room, so, like in all walks of life, I suppose it
has its up and downs.
While there seems to be a new band forming and
gaining buzz in England nearly every week, how do you separate yourselves from
the rest of the pack of new bands?
Lewis: We’re
just trying to do our own thing really.
George: We’re
not consciously trying to be different, but we are trying to do something a bit
original at the same time...
The bands sound is so big and swelling, when
starting out, how did you decide what you wanted to sound like?
Lewis:
Swelling is a great word.
Alex: We
didn’t purposely do anything really –
George: A
lot of effects pedals –
Alex: Yeah,
George came in one day and said “use this setting” and it just worked and we
ventured on from there…
Who are some of your
influences?
Alex: All
four of us have quite different musical tastes to be quite honest, but when we
put it all together in the lockup it just seems to work.
Nath
(Drums): I’d say our main influences are bands like Radiohead, Editors and
Sigur Ros – generally just the darker side of indie.
George: As
well as some of our friends and local bands; Sunrise Over Europe and Lower Case
Noises to name just two.
With an EP coming out, are you working on a full
length?
Nath: We’ll
wait and see what the reception is like from our EP and take it from there I
suppose. We don’t have anything planned as yet and we don’t want to get too far
ahead of ourselves
What was it like working on your first EP? Did
you produce it yourself?
Alex: It’s
definitely been a fun experience as we tried not to take it too seriously…
George:
Local Birmingham producer Sam Deakin is currently mixing it, but we have
recorded and produced one of the tracks all by ourselves!
The bands live shows have gained you much
acclaim, what do you feel it is that you do on stage that has people talking?
Alex: We try
and make it into a bit of a show…
Lewis: Yeah,
with our use of samples to try and attract some attention.
George: And
we’re hoping to start using some projection and visuals to take it to the next
level.
Who came up with the
idea to be named “Prayers?” With that name, do you have any prayers you wish to
share?
Alex: George’s
hungover mind seems to work at twice the capacity and he just thought of it out
of nowhere. We all loved it so it just became our name.
George: We
don’t really have any Prayers of our own to be honest.
The band has been
together for less than a year, how did you come together?
Alex: The
whole band idea all stemmed from a particularly disastrous double date
involving George and myself. It was pretty awkward so we didn’t have much to
talk about besides music and then out of nowhere the question “shall we form a
band” came up and we just sort of did. We wrote some songs together in my
living room for a bit and then we found our cutting edge in Lewis and Nathan.
How would you describe
your sound to someone who has never heard of you before?
George: Big,
melodic, reverb.
What is next for Prayers?
George: Just
take it as it comes and keep making music.
