@atthearcade_ receiving their prize money after winning The Battles of The Bands in Mexborough!
1. Can you introduce the band and tell us how you got started?
Sure thing! We are ‘At The Arcade’ based out of Rotherham, UK. We are made up of myself Brandon on lead vocals and guitar, Thomas Liversidge on drums and backing vocals, Joseph Smith on rhythm guitar & backing vocals, Thomas Charnock on lead guitar and William Russell on bass!
2. What have been some highlights/ favourite moments you have shared as a band?
There's been so many memorable moments over the last few years! Some just hilarious, like pushing our van around Sheffield when it broke down after a gig or the many many times we were introduced as “Happy Arcade” in the working men's club days haha! Those old-school WMC hosts never miss a trick when it comes to the bingo though, I'll give them that 😉
In more recent times though, we had the coolest start to our original music journey when we were asked to compose the soundtrack for an Independent film called ‘Lovebirds & Ladyloves’ for which we then joined the cast for filming down in London. Amazing to be able to bring what we do to a completely different art form.
3. How do you feel each band member brings their own uniqueness/individual influences to the music you make together?
Really there are no two members of this band with the same taste In music! Some of us love old-school classic rock, some hip-hop hop haha. I think the only thing we really share is that all of us love hook-driven music. Even when we’re at our heaviest, making use of all 3 guitars we always strive to exhaust all the opportunities in the track like harmonies and all those little parts that turn a great tune into a great song.
4. Who are your inspirations music-wise?
There are so many! If the track is riff-based or heavy then we’re definitely pulling from classic bands like Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin etc bands like that just seemed to have an endless stream of creativity when it came to guitar music. But aside from the 70s rockers everything I write definitely has to go through the “what would The Beatles do?” test at some point haha.
5. You’ve got new music coming out on the 27th of September. What can listeners expect from it?
‘Small Town Gossips’ has been our big live show opener for a good while now and we can't wait for everyone to hear it. It’s a fast rocker with some cool surprises to try and keep your ears interested. We know it's one that our supporters have wanted recording since we first started playing it, no time like the present!
6. The new release is titled Small Town Gossips. What inspired that name? Can you share a bit on how your creative process works, how does the songwriting process work within the band?
I really always loved that old tune ‘Mack The Knife’ that all the legendary crooners used to do, there's just something so cool to me about a known killer being back in town and that it hints at evidence rather than telling you exactly what happened. It's such a different kind of lyrical topic than we are used to in pop music; once I started writing it though I wanted to subvert it all a little step further; is it all true? Or is it just a bit of Small Town Gossip?
In terms of our creative process, I tend to present the skeleton of the song (chords, lyrics, melody etc) to the rest of the lads in the band and then we all together work on the band arrangement. We don’t have any set rules or anything like that though, anyone can present anything and we will work on it together. I'm just a bit songwriting mad so if there's been a month between ‘new song sessions’ then I'm sure I'll have a bunch of ideas to explore…I think that sometimes, the best songs come from the limitations of the original idea, which is why I'm always up for hearing a new riff or drum thing or anything. Those can turn into gold!
Small Town Gossips out 27.09.24
Listen to At The Arcade on Spotify now!
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5z4qYnoFHgEPC1VVcfBcos?si=_OOgvaryR-aZ7iiUM7O9nA
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