Interview with Leeds band Victors
July 15, 2015
Local Leeds lads VICTORS are a new, up-and-coming band taking Leeds by storm with their unique music and commitment to giving the best gigs to growing audiences – having recently had the privilege of supporting folk pop band Pierce Brothers at the Islington O2 Academy. We had a chat with the lads about the genesis of the band and their growing status as musicians.
TSOTA: What brought you together as a band?
V: Harry Waterhouse (singer/guitar) and Alex Hobson (drums) had been in an indie-rock band together called The Bamboo Sandals throughout their teenage years at school. Around the end of 2013, I (Simon – guitar/synthesizer) had left university to pursue a career in music and I was searching for other musicians and bands on different websites. Eventually they got in touch with me and asked me to join their band because they needed a new member. I agreed and we started playing together, and we just clicked. However, not long after I joined, the other band member left, leaving just the three of us. At that moment, we decided to start from scratch; new name, new songs, new member, new band. Over the course of about a year, we decided on the name VICTORS, but it took us a long time to find a talented bass player that gelled with us musically and enjoyed the music that we wanted to write. We eventually found Dominic by advertising our band online. Once we brought Dominic to practice, we clicked instantly and the rest is history.
TSOTA: What is your style of music?
V: Our music takes influences from all kinds of genres, but if I had to categorise it I would describe it as pop/rock/electronic.
TSOTA: How long have you been together as a band?
V: Our full band have officially been together for almost 6 months now.
TSOTA: What are you hoping to achieve in the future?
V: Just like anyone pursuing a career as a musician, our dream is to go to the top. Set your goals high, work as hard as you can to get there and reap the rewards along the way. Of course we do go about this realistically, and we know that this is an extremely competitive industry, but we wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t believe we could. You don’t need to make it big to have a successful career. Our plan is to continue to grow our following, play bigger shows, write more songs, continue to improve our live performances and play with other musicians on tours in different countries.
TSOTA: What is your favourite single you have recorded?
V: I think our most recent single ‘Stay With Me’ is our favourite, and it has had a great reaction so far. It has been played on BBC Introducing and other radio stations around the country, as well as our debut single “Breathe”. I think the song appeals to the majority of people because of its catchy chorus and pop/rock, summery style.
TSOTA: What has been your favourite gig, and are there anymore on the horizon?
V: So far it would have to be a headline show we played in Scarborough at The Blue Lounge. As we started our set, the huge room we were playing to was fairly empty, but as we kept on playing, passing people saw us from the window and heard our music. Very quickly, the room filled up with hundreds of people, cheering and clapping and singing along to our songs despite only hearing them for the first time. They gave us an encore at the end and afterwards people were asking for our autographs and to have photos with us – we even sold all the CDs we brought with us! Since then we have played multiple great shows in Leeds, Farsley and Wakefield. At Warehouse 23 in Wakefield we were filmed for the Made in Leeds television program “Alive & Gigging”, which puts the best upcoming unsigned artists on a platform to be seen by a mass audience, and we are so grateful to have had that opportunity. Our biggest show yet was in May playing at the O2 Academy in Islington, London supporting the incredible Pierce Brothers from Australia during their world tour. We also have many more upcoming shows in Leeds, Scarborough and Normanton Festival in the next few months.
TSOTA: What influenced you to write and record your current single ‘Stay With Me’?
V: Around mid-2014, I (Simon) had been listening to Bruno Mars and The 1975. I was just playing around on my guitar trying to come up with some new ideas and I eventually wrote the chord progression, the bass melody and the vocal melody for ‘Stay With Me’, as if the song were my take on combining certain elements of songs by those artists. Of course, we would never plagiarise another artist’s work – we take pride in being original and unique – but it is good to take influences from different music to broaden your musical knowledge. I brought my new idea to practice and we tried playing through some different ideas as a band. For a long time we could never make it sound the way we wanted it to, therefore we ended up leaving it and coming back to it on several occasions. Eventually, we finished the song by collaborating ideas from all band members and it ended up becoming our latest single!
Interview by Angus Fisher
Make sure to check Victors out on their social media:
Twitter @victorslive
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