Interviews: We The North

We have had the opportunity to interview the Dirty Rock/Rock band We The North from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

Josh worked with a history nut who heard that there were two Manchester United fans and one Tottenham Hotspur fan in the band and this person said it reminded them of a story from the American civil war where there were two brothers fighting for the north but a third brother who lived and had allegiance to the south. He went on to say there is a speech that father made that is quite well known and as he starts to recite it, the first words were “We, the north”. That stuck with Josh and when he brought the story to the band, it seemed to fit more than anything else we had come up with.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

We feel our local music scene is either heavy metal or indie music. We love rock music, the aggression and passion that you can put into this kind of music is just unmatched for us and with our local music scene having that gap and absence of rock and dirty rock bands, we just saw an opportunity to fill that void. It may be a bad idea since we struggle to get on shows with other bands as we don’t fit the line ups but we adore what we do and wouldn’t want to change to fit a trend or to fit what is popular now. If you like us then great, we are happy to have you on-board.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Josh and Danny knew each other from college. It took a good year after college for Josh to message Danny asking if he knew a guitarist that was available to start a rock band and Danny put himself forward. Ryan joined much later, after the EP was released and the line-up was in a much needed shake up. Ryan contacted the band through a website called “join my band” and after talking for a while, he lost his password to the account. A few months later, he eventually found the band again on Facebook and asked if they were still looking and, as you can guess, we were.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Josh: Always depends who released music more recently between 3 bands, are The Virginmarys, Biffy Clyro, and Royal Blood… So at the moment, it is Royal Blood

Danny: Right now, Saint Agnes, but I go back to Muse, Iron Maiden, Biffy Clyro. 

Ryan: Deftones, Incubus are my go-to bands but Biffy Clyro, Foo Fighters are up there too.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Josh: Nobody really inspired me to write songs. I just find myself listening to music sometimes and feeling like I can’t find a song that matches how I feel or doesn’t speak to me like I want it too so I decided to start doing that myself. If I had a who inspired, like I say, nobody inspired me to start. I have people who inspire individual songs, whether that be for a good or bad reason. But I would say that I take a lot of inspiration from the way Mike Kerr (Royal Blood) and Ally Dickaty (The Virginmarys). The way they express their attitude and honesty of a subject is something I really see in myself and my writing style.

6. Where was your last gig?

Retro in Manchester. First gig back. First one with Ryan even though he has been in the band for over a year and a half, cheers Covid!

7. Where would you like to play?

Dream venues are Academy 2 (Manchester), Apolllo (Manchester) and Sugarmill (Stoke)

8. Who would you like to support?

The Virginmarys! But big-time acts, Biffy, Foos. Any of our favorites would be a dream!

9. Who not?

There isn’t anyone we wouldn’t like to support really. Like we wouldn’t go supporting a band that had a bad credibility for example but if Ed Sheeran or the Spice girls want to give us a slot on their tour then we will take any exposure!

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

None of us have ever suffered stage fright. Some of us get nervous sometimes but it is always due to the element that we aren’t prepared for and that is “what is something doesn’t work?” You have seconds to fix a problem once the show has begun and that’s the biggest stress for us before a gig. As for advise on stage fright, just be proud of the work you’ve done. If you have put the time in and are excited to show people the work you have all come together to achieve then don’t be nervous about performing it. Something may go wrong yes, it does for the biggest bands in the world. Dave Grohl broke his leg on stage and I can’t imagine that was planned. Put the time in, be prepared for your show and be proud of what you have made.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

This goes back to our favourite bands question but we would say the bands that inspire this band project are Muse, Royal Blood, Biffy, Virginmarys etc. We like to write riffs with hooks and have a bit of meatiness to them but we also have the songs with a more classic rock, open chord styled riffs in that you’d see like ACDC and The Virginmarys doing as a more recent example. We try to blend those two sounds to create what we do now.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Ryan was asked for a pair of his drumsticks after being in the band for two weeks but Josh was asked for an autograph when in a different band. When he was younger and had longer hair, people always used to say he looked like Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys. So when two girls approached him after playing at Academy 3 in Manchester, he signed it off with his name (Joshua Owens-Tomlinson) and they ran off to their friends screaming “Oh my god, I can’t believe we have got Alex Turner’s autograph!”. Josh decided not to correct them.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Our fans are amazing. It is still a growing base. We feel that we are only just really starting to gather momentum now that we are able to constantly work on our music and get out performing and releasing music on a more regular bases but the core fans that have been there from the beginning are fantastic. We can turn around to them and say “we need to get X amount of people through the door” and when the show comes around you will say all the same faces there, singing our songs back to us. We have a special shout out for Smithy who follows us literally anywhere, anytime, any day. If he can’t make it which has been like a rare occasion, he will still buy a ticket. But yeah, our fans are the best so if you want to also be the best then you’ve got to be a fan of us haha.

14. What do you think of our site?

The site has loads of context on there! Loads!! It can’t cater to something you are looking for. 

15. Something to add?

Go listen to the single! Find out where we are playing next on our socials and come and say hello! Thanks for having us on your show and hope you enjoy the new track. We would love to hear any feedback you might have.