The rock revolution is upon us and British post-punk outfit Eagulls are simultaneously pioneering this movement whilst soaring to new heights with their self-titled debut. The band from Leeds is comprised of 5 members – two guitarists, a bassist, vocalist and possibly, the world’s politest drummer Henry Ruddell who speaks to me at an ungodly hour (zeroing in on midnight, UK time) and showing no apparent signs of fatigue through his charming British Accent.
Still, I suppose he is used to it by now. The band members met via mutual friends and being at university and have been playing a bunch of shows at university bars across the UK. “We’ve had our fair share of late nights and late night gigs. It’s all part of the experience”. Their sound is unapologetically abrasive, brash indie-rock sound. There is plenty of grunge oozing with attitude and guitars. I had to ask Henry’s opinion on the punk genre scene specifically in the UK home to numerous electronic and deep house producers who have taken the world by storm. “Punk music was born in this country. We had plenty of prolific bands in the 80s and 90s. Some may say that guitar music is dead, but it’s not. You go out and see some local bands and then lead by example.”
Eagulls have their sights set on Australia, the St Jerome’s Laneway festival, in fact where they will perform for the very first time. At Hart’s Mill in Port Adelaide, they will be playing in broad daylight too! On the writing processes behind their debut release, Henry says they recorded the songs in Leeds with various members each contributing to different parts. The album has been met with a positive reaction by some of the music industry heavy weight blogs. They have also been given the thumbs up by UK radio bigwigs at the BBC Radio 6 Music who named the band as one of the station’s ‘New Favourite Bands’ in 2014. In that same year, they also played at CMJ (a music conference in America) which Henry describes as a “good experience. We’ve never actually heard of it before but our record label based in New York got us to play plenty of shows there. It was great because we had always wanted to visit New York and it was hectic and we didn’t sleep at all but the organisers were very good to us”.
If that is not impressive, the band has already started work on their next album. “Our second album is on the way. We like to get done as we can. Sometimes we have new ideas while we’re touring. Music doesn’t stop working” On who they look to for sound influences, Henry cites Parquet Courts, and Joy Division are acts he likes listening to. He also admires the work of Protomatyr and Total Control with whom they were lucky enough to tour with last year. These guys are just warming up, they’ve been added to the American music festival, Coachella, which is a pretty big deal. In the meanwhile fans can expect to see the pasty, British rockers under the beating sun at Laneway and the brag about hearing them first when they become ubiquitous in a few months or so.
Interview by Jenny Nguyen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eagulls
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/eagulls
Eagulls touring nationally as part of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. Tickets are available through moshtix.com
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