A-Z Interviews: Layover

Emo punks Layover recently unveiled the video for lead single ‘Slumber’ (here), a track taken from the Birmingham quartet’s EP ‘Your Laughter Never Leaves’. Now available on Fox Records, having seen release on 4 th May 2018, it is their first material since having gone on hiatus in 2016. Founded in 2014 and previously releasing “very DIY” material that is misaligned with their renewed energy and considered aesthetic, Rainsford explains: “The sound of our old music does not represent us, and we have matured as musicians and people since then. We come with a new direction to start in a genre we are more passionate about.” With the EP now available to listen to in full (Spotify), the band give us an insight into who they are by taking the A-Z interview...

A Song Which Made You Want To Make Music:

‘Floorboards’ - Real Friends, this song made all of us want to start playing music. In the very early stages of layover, we were even named Floorboards - however we then rebranded to layover due to another band having the name.

Best Album Ever Written:

This question started a lot of arguments with us all, however I think for Brad and Luke it would have to be ‘The Greatest Generation’ - The Wonder Years. For Dom it would be, ‘Self Titled’ - Tigers Jaw. Elliot’s choice would be ‘Infinity on High’ - Fall Out Boy.

Craziest Moment You’ve Experienced In The Band:

We recently went to Wetherspoons 3 times in one day, that was a pretty crazy experience for us all.

Deepest Lyrics One Of Your Songs Features:

One of our deepest lyrics is probably from our single ‘Slumber’, the chorus was written about the passing of Luke’s mother, and Luke holds it very dear to him.

Easiest Song You Wrote:

‘Slumber’ - When we first decided to come back and work together as a band again, we organised a practice in Elliot’s studio. We then began to mess around with some ideas and Slumber was wrote on that day, with some tweaks added to the song whilst demoing & recording the EP.

Favourite Show You’ve Ever Played:

Our favorite show would be a competition between supporting Tiny Moving Parts in Birmingham, it was an amazing experience to play alongside a band that influenced us greatly. However, on the other hand, we recently played The Pilgrim at Liverpool where we had the best crowd interaction to date. There is something special seeing people sing back songs and go crazy to songs that you have wrote. Shows like Liverpool make everything worth doing.

Guest You’d Most Like To Feature On A Your Record:

Soupy from The Wonder Years, or Joe from Transit, however that band split up a couple of years ago.

Happiest Moment In You’ve Experienced In The Band:

It’s hard to pick the happiest moment but one of them would have been finishing the recording the EP at Emeline Studios, although this was also one of the saddest moments as we had to go back home and say goodbye to our producer Ian Sadler.

Interesting Fact About One Of Your Members:

It’s a known fact that Brad is really good at Dragon Ball Z - Fighterz.

Jokes You Have In The Band:

One of the jokes that comes up the most is a comment Luke made about there are only 12 notes in the chromatic scale, so no song is original because they all use the same 12 notes.

Kicking Off Your Set Is Best With Which Song:

We normally always kick off our set with our song ‘Lessons’ due to it sounding like an opening of a set and it’s a song that any fans of our music will know, however recently we have been opening our set with ‘Hunger Pains’ as our EP has released and we have had an amazing response from the long.

Longest Distance You’ve Travelled To Play A Show:

The furthest away from home we have played a show would have been Brighton whilst on tour with Coast to Coast back in 2016, but the travel was split up over days of playing different shows. However were out playing some shows with our friends in Evertim next week where our first show is down in Worthing, so we have a long drive ahead of us for that.

Most Inspiring Musician You’ve Ever Experienced:

Elliot and Luke had the chance to play alongside and watch Emperor X in Bristol last year, from speaking to him about his music and the touring lifestyle, this person has become someone we became very inspired by and shown us no matter what is in your way you should always do what you love most.

New Band You’d Recommend:

We’re struggling to think of any new and extremely recent bands, however Fox Records always has fresh new artists that are incredible, and at the moment we are all extremely excited for the next Coast to Coast release.

Opening For This Band Would Be Ideal:

A few months ago we would have said Tiny Moving Parts, however we incredibly had that opportunity. Our opening band would again, probably The Wonder Years, however also recently we would say Movements. We think that Movements are amazing, and their audience would definitely cross with ours.

Place You’d Most Like To Tour:

At the moment our goal for next year is to go over and play Europe, but I think the place we would most like to tour would be split between America or Japan.

Quote That You’d Like To Pass On To Readers:

“Some people say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”

Reason For The Title Of Your Recent/Forthcoming Release:

The title of our recent release is from the last song we wrote for the EP. “Your Laughter Never Leaves” was a lyric we wrote as a tribute to anyone who has lost a loved one.

See Us Live At:

June Dates With Evertim:

Friday 1st June: Worthing @ Bar 42

Saturday 2nd June: Leeds @ Singleshot

Sunday 3rd June: Wrexham @ Atomic

Thursday 7th June: Birmingham @ Subside

Saturday 9th June: Southampton @ House Show The Old Days Of Music Were Better Than

Those Current, do you agree:

We most definitely disagree, especially for the genre we are classified as. With bands such as Trash Boat, Knuckle Puck, Movements and Boston Manor, the genre is better than ever.

Unusual Merchandise:

Kiss sell coffins as merchandise, so I guess that's something we could aim for. All jokes aside, I think our next plan for merch would be some caps.

Variations You’d Like To Do On Any Of Your Songs:

A lot of bands seem to be releasing stripped backed acoustic versions of their songs, so I guess that's something we could look into for the future.

What Bands Have You Seen Live and Regretted:

It’s not so much of a regret but more of a guilty pleasure, but Elliot saw My Chemical Romance on their Danger Days Tour back when he was 14.

X-rays or any other treatments needed for band related injuries:

Luckily we haven't had any medical emergencies in the band …yet.

You could have written any song in history, which would you pick:

It’s already a cover of a song but we would have loved to have done ‘About You Now’ - Miranda Cosgrove. After every show or tour we blast this song in the car journey back and all sing along, it’s began as a joke but has turned into some strange post show ritual.

Zoo animal that best describes the personality of your band:

Koala bear, cute and cuddly.