If that example feels specific, it’s because something similar happened to Will with The Strokes. After moving from Singapore when he was 11, and growing up hearing the likes of Kylie Minogue, Snow Patrol and James Blunt being played from his parents’ speakers, it was only when a wave of bands kicked into his vision that he found a whole world to play in.

Secretly playing Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’, which he pinched from his local HMV - “[Mum] definitely would have known that I had to have stolen it as there was no way HMV would sell it to me at my age” - a love of alternative music was born. It’s a sentiment that rings out through Daisy Brain in a striking fashion; debut cut ‘Boring’ feels ripped from a teenage diary, full of angst, crunchy guitars and sticky floor basslines, but with a sugar-sweet Britpop melody designed to be screamed at the highest volume. That sense of defiance is at the core of everything Daisy Brain, both in his darkest of lows and his more in-your-face middle-finger drive. “I’ve been told my whole life that it was never going to work,” he smiles.

Enrolled in a secondary school where there was only one other kid who had any interest in music, Will and his pal Dan would spend hours hidden in a room usually used for pottery, finding solace in the music they loved. That sense of being the outcast and raging against it all provided another added enthusiasm to create and make it no matter what.

A move to Leeds followed, heading to a music production course where he met key collaborator Dan Hvorostovsky during a time described by Will as “High School Musical meets Skins”. After a number of different projects, songwriting directions and plans, the two of them decided that moving to London was the best option.

Enter: a pizza shop. Both taking up jobs there, the music they would listen to was ultimately decided by a disruptively loud fan in the shop, their days serving up slices soundtracked by the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones and more. With their regular tube particularly noisy, too, it was as if the outside world was demanding something altogether louder from Will. Daisy Brain came to life soon after. Initially planned to be a full band pulled together with friends in London, the hit of lockdown forced them to create with what they had, forming a more bedroomy grunge feel. Songs came quickly, with that penchant for raging rebellion and devastating emotion perfectly entwined.

It’s only added to the drive Will has to become a very big deal indeed. After debut EP ‘Let’s Go Camping’, the ‘Disconnected Happy’ EP takes things to greater levels - it feels like Daisy Brain clicking into some serious ambition. From the scuzztastic ‘Digital Atlas’, the strutting ‘Kleptomaniac’ and the blossoming ‘What Would You Do?’ amongst others, it’s the brightest welcome to the world of Daisy Brain yet, and one that adds more fuel to a fire impossible to put out.

What comes next? With those stadium-sized memories of bands like My Chemical Romance and Green Day, but also bubbling that incredible rawness to the surface too, the possibilities seem endless. Drenched in the brightest shades of every colour, it a stand against those who tell you no from an artist firmly set on becoming your next favourite. “I want to have this relationship with my fans where we grow up together,” explains Will. “As people’s lives grow up, that idea that Daisy Brain is there is one that’s really exciting to me. I want to be that band that people listened to when they were kids, and they point to when the next generation comes along. That’d be cool.”

Would that be a success for Will? “When a plumber comes ‘round to your house and says, ‘I remember them from 10 years ago’,” he reiterates, “that’ll be the success.” ■

Taken from the May 2022 edition of Dork, out now. Daisy Brain’s EP ‘Disconnected Happy’ is out now.