Getting to know... Fine Creatures

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This week sees Brighton newcomers Fine Creatures release their new single, ‘Settle Down’ via XVII Music. Recorded with producer Dan Austin (Doves, SLØTFACE, Mallory Knox), it’s an anthemic, Britpop-y number - replete with "la la la"s - that you don’t have to wait until New Music Friday to hear. Check it out below, after a Q&A with frontman James Hall.

Hey James, when, where and how did the band form?

Jack (Drums) Finn (Bass) and I formed the band around November 2015. Me and Jack were playing together about a year before then. Malte (Lead Guitar) then joined us in August of 2017. We formed by meeting at Music University in Brighton, I showed the guys the songs I had at the time, and we all were into them, so we started playing as a three-piece first of all. Then because of the sound of the EP we recorded, we decided that we needed to add more weight to live shows, so we started playing with lots of lead guitarists, and finally found Malte and became a four-piece.

How did you hit upon what you wanted the band sound like?

We didn’t really think about it too much, but at the time we were recording our EP, all I wanted us to sound like was a dirty Beatles. After working with Producer, Dan Austin on our EP, we discovered a lot about our sound, mostly about going with our gut and letting the songs speak for themselves. The EP has a very no-nonsense, in your face kind of sound. I think that was the perfect way to express the songs' intentions.

Are you mates with any other Brighton bands?

We’re good friends with Island Club, and a few others! We always keep an ear out for what’s coming out of Brighton. We’re really into bands such as Submariner, Sick Joy and Fickle Friends, Yonaka, Tigercub and Black Honey

What do you do for fun?

We all individually have our own ways of having fun, mostly musical; from writing and producing to going to gigs. We can’t really escape music in Brighton… But when we get together, and we’re not rehearsing, we like to have a couple of drinks.

What would you most like to achieve during your music career?

I think for us now; we’re hungry to get out on the road and be a band for a while, It feels so good to have our EP coming out soon, so we’re just buzzing off the fact that we have more music coming out. For the future… me personally, I just want the freedom to write songs and not have to worry about money.

Tell us about your new single, ‘Settle Down’?

The new single ‘Settle Down’  is something I wrote with a friend a while back, and it became the first song that I brought to the band. It’s about anxiety, paranoia and depression, but knowing that the euphoria of being anxious can be something to embrace and through that coming out the other end not feeling scared anymore. The chorus is kept simple to express that realisation. I’m almost telling myself to calm down, and get over it. Which helped me a lot.

What else are you guys working on at the mo?

We’re always writing and thinking about the next step. We’ve got lot’s of material we’ve been working on in the past six months; we don’t like not being busy. We’ve always been driven by working on new songs playing shows and spreading the word about our band.

Do you have big plans for over the summer?

We’re releasing some more music before summer, and then our EP will be out. We’re playing The Prince Albert in Brighton on Thursday 19th April, and we’ve got some festival shows booked in May: Saturday 5th May - Liverpool, Sound City Festival, and Sunday 6th May - Newcastle, Hit The North Festival. Then we’re playing The Hope and Ruin on the 18th May for The Great Escape Festival in Brighton!

Fine Creatures’ new single ‘Settle Down’ is out Friday 16th February.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CumqGZkjyas&feature=youtu.be"][/vc_column][/vc_row]