Quirks Behind the Music - STATIC CASTLE's Fraser and Luke

    

            For those readers not familiar with you and your music, tell us a little bit about yourselves and your music?

We’re four mates who all went to school together, and after a bit of jamming out we decided to start a band. We’ve been properly going at it since the start of this year, and we can’t get enough of gigging. Our music is quite raw, with a lot of crunchy tones, and we love to make songs that will make people in the crowd will look at their mates and pull that 'dirty tune face', or just get people really moving. ­- Luke

 Which artists have influenced you the most? Both individually and as a band?

 When it comes to artists that influence us as a band, there's a little bit of cross over, but really not too  much. There's bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes that we all take a great deal of influence  from but we all have a load of bands that we love individually that are more subconscious influences.  For me personally, I take a lot of influence from bands the The Black Keys and Tame Impala but also  the greats like George Benson and Clapton and all of those sorts of guys. - Fraser

   

 Why did you choose the name Static Castles?  Is there a story behind it?

We've actually had a few names as this band and people who've known us for a while may know a few of them, but we came up with Static Castles as a sort of mix up of a few different name ideas we had before. It was really hard to come up with a name that we all agreed on, so we just made a few compromises so. As a result, we actually really like this name, so it's win-win, I guess. - Fraser

So you recently performed at the Mouth of the Tyne Festival. What was that experience like?

Playing Mouth of the Tyne was really something else. I specifically remember walking out onto stage and just getting this overwhelming feeling of euphoria, and that I felt so small on this huge stage that was like 10x bigger than anything we've ever played. It was one of the best feelings ever to play that festival and it's given us a lot of opportunities that I feel have given us an edge when it comes to getting ourselves out there as a new band. It was just incredible. - Fraser 

Yeah Mouth of the Tyne Festival was great, to stand on such a huge stage and have so many people watch you and listen to you, it felt so surreal. We had all been so excited for it and just couldn’t wait to play and make the most of it. To belt out our own songs on a platform like that was just unreal, and seeing ourselves on those huge screens just felt so weird, it was like our own little Glastonbury. As soon as I got off stage I just wanted to go back on and play again. ­- Luke

         Do any of you have a favourite song to play live? 

There's a few songs that I get excited to play, every time we rehearse or play a show. One of our songs; 'Defied The Warning Signs'; has a really catchy hook in it that is oddly satisfying to play. It's just one of those songs that I play and get that overwhelming pride that it's one of our songs. We recently played a show at the Surf Café in Tynemouth and closed with that song and it's amazing the support we get, especially for that song. - Fraser

 Yeah we extended that song and made it last like 8 minutes and just really went for it as a grand finale sort of thing. We have a new song called 'Copenhagen' which I love to play live, and one of our older songs “All the Dancing” is always fun to play, we get some people singing along which is really cool. - Luke

        Which three albums should everyone listen to before they die? Try and make them by three different artists and no "Greatest Hits".

This is such a tough question because there's so many albums that I'm just completely in love with! There's also the point that I'm sure everyone in the band would pick completely different albums. We would say the 3 albums that everyone needs to check out are: Jamie XX - 'In Colour', Unknown Mortal Orchestra - 'II',  Franz Ferdinand - 'Franz Ferdinand'. Those albums really stand out to me because I feel as though, in their respective genres, they all have a massively unique sound. II by Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a must if you're into Neo-Jazz and is their best album to date, in my opinion. Franz Ferdinand is pretty much what anyone thinks of when it comes to indie music and that's definitely their best album. - Fraser

         Right imagine you have missed calls off those three artists, saying that they want to work with you. But, you can only ring one, text one and you have to ignore the other. Who would you ring, text and ignore?

We’d have to ring Franz Ferdinand, I absolutely adore those guys, and working with them would be a dream come true. I’d ask Nick to teach me some moves for on stage, I love the way he struts around with his guitar, and I’m quite sad he’s left the band for a bit. But yeah I just love them and would love to jam out with them and pick up a few tips. - Luke

 When I first thought about this, I was going to say that I'd completely ignore Jamie XX because I thought the genres would be a bit of a strange mix, but then I had a think of what it would actually sound like if we worked together and it would just be absolutely mad. Also I'm pretty sure Slaves have recently released a track with Chase and Status, so why not eh. I'd definitely drop Jamie a text. And then I'd have to ignore U.M.O. by proxy I guess. I also have a feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them musically because all of their sounds are just so fucking mental. I wish I was as innovative as they were to be honest. - Fraser

  Has your sound changed since you started out or have you had a set idea on what sort of music  you wanted to make?

 Our sound hasn't changed too much in all honesty, we’ve just got tighter and made our songs a bit more hard hitting and punchy. The kind of songs we like to write are something you can really get your teeth stuck into, and really want to move to, but in terms of lyrics I really think about them. I try to make them a bit clever, and just good in general, as well as creating interesting stories. I want my lyrics to make people think, and to create clever connections with word play. One of my favourite lyrics I've written so far is the 'Too Sour to be a Sweetheart', I like the way it sounds, and think it’s a nice play on words. I’ve given some social commentary a go, and I just like to challenge myself with my writing. - Luke

         Which local bands have caught your eye recently - who would you recommend seeing?

      We're good mates with a few of the bands who are out there and making moves. Obviously the Blesh boys are ones to watch because they're just out of this world when it comes to everything they're doing at the minute, but that's no surprise really. The Pale White are dropping some dirty bangers once again so that's definitely another. I would say the boys from Palm Beach are making moves too. They've got a few announcements coming soon and I'm excited for those and can't wait to hear what's coming from them. - Fraser

        Any final words? What's on the horizon for Static Castles?
      We have a few gigs coming up in the not so distant future, so keep an eye out for those on our Facebook and Instagram. We should hopefully be getting into the studio again sometime soon too to get a few things laid down so people can get groovy whenever they want. - Fraser

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