Olly E comes from Leicester and was brought up on a healthy diet of rock music from T-Rex to heavy metal. The artist has big ambitions with blending those classical rock sounds to current rock influences. Was awesome hearing him talk about his new single ‘I Refuse’ and plans for touring in the future!

What were your earliest memories of music and what was it that made you want to record music?

I remember dancing to T-Rex when I was very young and my parents had a compilation CD with Sum 41’s Fat Lip on which was my first introduction to modern rock! I’ve been writing songs since I was around 11 beginning on guitar but I would have the arrangements for other instruments in my head so recording was a natural progression of wanting to feature multiple instruments in my tracks. I owned a Boss Micro-BR which allowed me to layer instruments for the first time.

Who are your biggest influences? I hear a lot of british artists being inspired in your work?

I come from a heavy metal background and to this day, In Flames from Sweden are my favourite band but writing the music that I write, I’d say I’m currently inspired by Twenty One Pilots and Yungblud to capture that ‘modern’ sound.

How did ‘I Refuse’ come about? Also the music video is awesome!

I first came up with the intro riff and the lyrical phrasing bounced off that. I then fit words to match the phrasing which happened to come out politically-charged and was able to change certain lyrics to suit how I feel about the political system.

Thank you very much man! The video came from the lyrical content in regards to the system collapsing; the theme of WW3 and a post-apocalyptic city came up and the idea was to have chaotic scenes behind me as I walked calmly through the carnage. This idea was inspired by Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Follow You’ video.

How’s it been performing live in the Leicester area?

The scene in Leicester is well. There are some good venues catering for up and coming bands and there are a lot of musicians living in the city.

What are your future plans with this project? Much music in the pipeline?

Currently I plan to keep releasing singles to attract a larger fan base and would love to go on tour as soon as possible.

What have you been listening to during the lockdown?

I love Twenty One Pilots new song ‘Level of Concern’ which just came out and I’ve also been listening to a lot of Machine Gun Kelly lately.

Meanwhile In Bat Country are an epic sounding band who are based in Bristol. With two singles now out (‘A Universe Is Near and ‘The Smoke That Thunders’), they are so pumped to keep putting out cinematic numbers to leave us wanting to be in a Tarantino film! Here they are talking about the birth of the band and coping with COVID-19 situation.

How did you all meet and what led to creating the bands awesome name?

We’ve known eachother for over half a decade now and met after being in various different musical projects. Paul and Will started to write together in 2018 and MIBC formed from there. As for the name, we wanted to hit on something that sounded like some grandiose spaghetti western film, combined with the mystery and repetition we felt we were living amongst at the time – subsequently best described by Hunter S Thompson’s ‘Bat Country’ line from Fear and Loathing. The idea was that all the songs we wrote would be performed from the perspective of being in ‘Bat County’, then Will noticed a sticker above a pub door that said ‘Meanwhile in…’, naturally completing the puzzle.

Your music sound very cinematic, are movies a big part of your life?

Yeah especially at the moment! We’ve always been interested in cinema, particularly Tarantino, Scorsese and Sergio leone. Some of the soundtracks to those movies are amazing, Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score and Morricone’s weterns.

I think we love the idea of creating a sound that could fit with a scene or create some narrative.

What would you sight as influences and how much do they impact you on your music?

Between the band there is quite a varied amount of influences in regards to writing the music. We love the types of records, which have constantly shifting dynamics and weird structures, so I suppose the biggest impact for us is the unpredictability of a ‘mood’ in a song. Paul McCartney always has a great style, where he will sing something devastating in front of happy arrangements. Which is where you really start to hone in on the idea of ‘Escapism’ and the ability to go somewhere else. That is really important to us.

What are the key things to make sure the music sounds just as epic for the live shows?

Practice and taking time to focus on details. We often have rehearsals where we just focus on a single song for a few hours straight instead of just running our whole live set. It really helps to orchestrate the music into something that sounds completely together. There’s six of us, so getting all of our sounds to gel and act as a single organism is crucial. We make an effort to make particularly dynamic songs, so when the big loud sections come in, they feel just that much more exciting.

Also, a talented sound engineer, nice sound system and good venue always help too!

What’s your biggest tip for dealing with the current isolation we are all facing due to the virus?

We guess the biggest tip would be to try and stay connected with friends and family by whichever means possible. A phone conversation or a video call can go a long way in helping to keep a positive mindset.

As a band it can be a little frustrating at times as we’d love nothing more than to be in the same room and making a lot of noise. We have tried to use our time off effectively and view this as a time for adding lots of song ideas to the ‘to do list’ and polishing others that already feature. This weird bubble we are living in seems to be a good time to discuss, in more depth, all things band related that we can’t discuss when we are making a racket. Plus there are a ton of great films and series to watch; between ‘Tiger King’ and ‘Ozark’; we are loosing our minds.

Stay safe everyone!

High Waisted will be releasing their second album in May, ‘Sick of Saying Sorry’. With some help with some close mates during the recording of it, frontwoman Jessica Louise Dye and drummer Jono Bernstein are ready to put out some party rock! Here they are talking about how a podcast about 70’s music has influenced the new record and how current current single ‘Drive’ was made!

How are you guys copping with isolation and the virus? Hope you are all safe and well!

“We’re missing getting to see each other and jamming but overall, hanging in there, and definitely staying safe.”

New single ‘Drive’ is so beautiful! How was it written? And is the single a good representation of the upcoming record?

“Thank you, it’s our favorite track. It came together like trying to remember a dream. There are lots of intimate moments hidden on the new record.”

How would you describe Sick Of Saying Sorry? Due to come out on 22nd May isn’t it?

“Yep, May 22, 2020! SOSS sounds like summer, long drives and getting a hug from a close friend.”

What music were you listening to when recoding the LP? Who would say are your biggest influences?

“We listened to a weekly podcast called Reverberation Radio. We first found it on Tumblr, and looked forward to it every Wednesday. it’s an amazing curation of deep cuts, 70’s rock and roll, world music and everything in between. It’s the best kept secret that shouldn’t be a secret!”

Looking back on your first album, On Ludlow, what did you learn from touring the record and how does it feel playing those songs 4 years later?

“I’m not the person who once wrote those songs, but with time (and new found wisdom from making lots of mistakes) I’ve learned to find new meaning in them. They make me nostalgic for cities we’ve played, friends we’ve lost and a very special time of being young in NYC.”

There’s some really cool, indie music coming from New York, how would you describe the music from NYC that’s about currently.

“It’s limitless, loud, and unstoppable.”

Sick Of Saying Sorry is out 22nd May on Learn To Records