THE ISLAS
What was it like to play Never World festival ?
It was incredible. We went around the camps the night before just talking to people and asking if they’d come and see us. Some even said that they lived the Generation To Forget track as it was on Neverworld’s Spotify Playlist which was incredible. I swear, when we played that song there was even some people mouthing the words at the front and I won’t ever forget that! The weather was perfect, and we really lived every second of playing that Main Stage.
How does music make you feel / has it ever been your therapy?
I think for any songwriter they need to find time to write and get a clean headspace which can be pretty therapeutic. For us we aren’t full time Musicians so music has to revolve around work, girlfriends, family, health etc I don’t think there’s a single day where I don’t listen to music, I adore putting my headphones in and just walking thinking about where we go next musically and how we can evolve and get better.
What was your 2018 musical highlight ?
It would be Neverworld festival but a pretty close second would be Norwich Arts Centre. We were delighted to have been asked to play and for the first time not have to hire a venue out. We were sceptical of the turnout, but in the end well over 150 people arrived. Lots of new faces and people were there to see us because they’d heard about us. Now local music in Norfolk there’s not too many bands to really shout about, Norwich isn’t known for its music scene but having those people turn up on their Saturday night to watch you play was a real big thing for us.
What makes music important and why?
That’s a tough one. Can’t really put my finger on it, music has just been there all my life. I remember listening to such a range of songs with my dad on the way to watch him play football every Sunday which eventually led to me picking up his old guitar. You definitely associate music with people and memories, so I think that’s why we do connect with it so much. And that’s why it’s so important.
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What was it like to be featured on NME emerging & be likened to such great bands ?
Very cool! I spoke to a friend in the pub who mentioned that when you search The ISLAS it’s on the first page which I found really cool. NME is a good platform for bands to break out, there’s so many great artists on there and hopefully we one day can move closer to our ambition of being another breakthrough artist.
What can fans expect for 2019 ?
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Well, we are moving closer to London where we willl spend most our time gigging to try and get more of a buzz in the Capital. Norwich will always be our home, but if you want to push through nothing compares the creativity in London for unsigned bands like us. We’re then heading up North to record with a fantastic producing team who we will then work with to get a couple tracks down with them aimed to be released just before the summer. Our Generation EP will be live in January 20th and we’re so excited to keep pushing ourselves forward.
Photo Credit: May Brown