Small Artist Spotlight: The Redroom

By Mia Zajac

Everyone welcome to our first Small Artist Spotlight post (everyone cheer). We're going to be talking all about The Redroom! They're a Manchester-based band and I had the awesome opportunity to listen to their new song ‘The Woman From Nowhere’ before everyone else (excluding them, their producers, close friends, family, pets, and the others that got to listen to it). I also got a chance to interview them (this is said interview, obviously).

I got to talk to Jess, Matt, Charlie, and Jake. Their bassist Dom couldn't make it but I don’t blame him, the time difference is 5 hours between us so finding a time was a little confusing for me (I figured it out though, don’t worry).

Mia: Hi how are you guys doing?

The Redroom: Good how are you?

Mia: I’m doing pretty good.

Mia: Ok so I’m very excited, about the new song I love it. I just had to put that out there.

Jess: Thank you!

Mia: So I was thinking we could first like start out with everyone saying their name, age, and role in the band?

Jess: Yeah for sure.

Charlie: Yeah wait mate let’s make a semi-circle. Ok getting everyone in here.

Jess: We’re missing one member here.

Mia: That’s ok you could just tell me later.

Jess: Hi I’m Jess, I’m 19 I’m the lead singer and the rhythm guitarist.

Matt: Hi I’m Matt I’m 18 and I’m the keyboard player.

Jess: No you’re not?

Charlie: You’re 19.

Matt: I’m 19? I forget my own fucking birthday was two weeks ago.

Mia: Well happy birthday!

Matt: Thank you!

Charlie: I’m Charlie I’m 19 and I play the drums.

Jake: I’m Jake I play lead guitar and I am also 19 years old.

Mia: Ok great, so who’s missing?

Jess: Dom the bass player, he’s 18?

Charlie: Yeah he’s 18, he’s on holiday in Spain.

Mia: Omg that’s fun (I wish I was on holiday in Spain right now).

Mia: Alright, so we’re gonna start with an icebreaker I guess, I hate when people say that but yeah. This is an icebreaker. The question is; who would you cast as yourself in like a movie about your life?

Jake: Jack Black.

Everyone laughs

Mia: Wait who? (I couldn’t hear, don’t worry I know who Jack Black is)

Jake: Jack Black

Mia: Oh wait ok that’s valid. I can see that.

Jake: Thanks, thanks for seeing that.

Matt: Right for me I would want Pedro Pasquel.

Jess: Oh fuck off Matthew.

Matt: For me, he’s really good lookin right, nah I’m joking.

Jess: I would say maybe Hailee Steinfeld? I’ve been told I look like her a little but of course when I don’t look like this (she had just gotten off of work but she still looked like Hailee Steinfeld so don’t worry Jess). When I actually look good, but she is a beautiful woman. I would like to believe that.

Charlie: I’d love to be as good lookin as Paul Mescal.

Jess and Mia: Oh yeah I can see that, similar vibes.

Charlie: Thank you.

Mia: So, I know you guys became a band in 2019. What kinda went into that? Like did you all know each other before or something else?

Jess: So apart from Matthew the four of us went to school together, they were the year below me.

Jake: Grade below.

Mia: Hey it’s ok you can use the like British lingo if you will, we have exchange students this year so I’m pretty up to date.

Jess: She’s not an idiot. We all used to like doing school shows. And they were a band before and they would play a lot of Arctic Monkeys. So I kinda heard them all play together playing Arctic Monkeys and I was and still am a huge fan of them so I kind of went up to them at some point and was like do you need a singer? And immediately they were like no girls in the band, no, and I was like right. Hold your sexism for a second, and keep in mind we were like 15 years old so we played a song called 'Crying Lighting' by Arctic Monkeys. An acoustic version of that song and right away it just kinda worked. I’ve said this a lot before but it was the most natural progression ever, we started working together and doing songs. So since they were used to playing rock music basically, which is usually fronted with a male vocalist I think it was just nice for all of us to play with each other and it was new and exciting and we played a lot of covers and did some gigs. And started to write our own tunes which were really shit to begin with but we started to write our own songs and about a year and a half ago the lads went to college to study music and met this one (points to Matt) and again it was such a natural thing. Matthew came in for a couple of practices and just never left. Since then, unfortunately.

Charlie: We just can’t get rid of him.

Jess: And now he’s literally irreplaceable, you know we could never do without him. So, we all met in a really natural way, and the way that we’ve progressed over the last 3 or 4 years it was really natural as well.

Mia: Ok wait that sounds so fun. I know you just mentioned the Arctic Monkeys and ok, love. So kinda going off of that who are some of your musical and non-musical inspirations?

Jake: Non-musical inspiration, I would have to say David Attenborough is number one he’s such a legend. A British legend as well. For music inspiration I’m not sure, probably Jimmy Hendrix he inspires the way I play the guitar so probably Jimmy Hendrix.

Charlie: Me? Oh, what inspires me?

Jess: Yeah, or as a musician.

Charlie: Uh yeah I’m stumped.

Jess: What music do you like?

Charlie: Um. Yeah, I’m really stumped mate. (Gestures to Matt) Yeah you go, you go.

Matt: I would probably say David Bryne from the Talking Heads.

(At this point in the interview my desk light went off so I had to go and sit on the floor with my laptop on my bed. Typical)

Mia: Ok wait I’m sorry I’m moving around. Sorry one second, What the hell? Ok, there’s a lot in my room oh my god. Sorry, can you go again?

Matt: Yeah, of course, I would probably say David Byrne from the Talking Heads not only as a musician but also as a person. And then just musician wise I would probably say Mac Demarco.

Jess: (To Charlie) Are you ready or not?

Charlie: You can do it.

Jess: Ok, so Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys as a lyricist and I'm not trying to sound repetitive I just have always loved him because I really admire his style of writing, but the Beatles as well have always been one I’ll come back to. That timeless style of writing is really something I admire. Any lyricists that have done that, like vocally you’ve got the classic female solid vocalists like Amy Winehouse, and Debbie Harrie.

Mia: I’m sorry to interrupt but I like that you said Amy Winehouse because my first thoughts on the new song were ‘kinda sounds like Amy Winehouse or a little bit like Santana from Glee’

(I then asked them if they have Glee in England. Don’t ask why.)

Jess: Oh thank you, yeah I get told Amy Winehouse a lot. I think a lot of female British vocalists who have more of a soul-like voice get told, Amy Winehouse. Then some newer UK artists like Joy Crookes and Cleo Sol as well who are that kind of neo-soul indie soul vibe. And yeah Little Simz as well, her style of writing and the things that she writes about massively influence me. It’s a big mixture of all of these things that I listen to. Charlie, are you gonna go or not?

Charlie: For me? Yeah um, I’m into like everything. I like a lot of classic rock and the 1975 and stuff like that so they have a lot of influence on my drumming but not necessarily the band as a whole.

Mia: Yeah ok cool alright so this kinda goes off of what I just asked, but what everyday experiences or things help you write music?

Jess: Yeah so to be fair everyday experiences are kinda what I write about. A lot of songwriters like to write about personal experiences a lot like firsthand about relationships, which I have done. But, I find it a lot easier to write about experiences from other people’s perspectives. Like ‘The Woman From Nowhere’ is an interaction that I had with a woman and it’s about her story. I’m a big people watcher and an observant person so, I find it really interesting to write about interactions I have with people which is an everyday thing. But like someone walking on the street or interacting with others. Like I was saying in terms of everyday experiences that inspire me in terms of writing I find individuals, and strangers very interesting to write about as opposed to personal experiences. Like I wrote a whole song based on someone just going on a night out having a good time.

Mia: Ok that’s so awesome. So this is also kinda related to the last question I guess but what is a non-musical related thing that’s essential for you guys when writing or being in the studio?

Matt: Ok the past three or four times in the studio especially Dominic the bass player and Jake and I have three Red Bulls and that’s basically what fuels these past few tunes we released.

Jake: So this is going to sound really cringy but nicotine. We smoke a lot when we’re in the studio.

(everyone sighs)

Jess: Well I don’t.

Jake: Like I don’t want to be like cigarettes but.

Jess: What an awful answer.

Matt: I feel like there’s something so basic we’re missing.

Charlie: Cups of tea.

Mia: What kind of tea?

Charlie: Yorkshire tea.

Jake: Subway? We always get Subway.

Charlie: Uh yeah, we love unhealthy food.

Jess: I think like something non-instrumental?

Charlie: We’re quite adaptable I think, personally as a band how we end up recording we don’t need much.

Jess: Oh yeah, now this is a proper wanky musician answer but music is probably something. We listen to a lot of music for reference tracks, so before we start recording we get reference tracks for the song. Say there’s a certain section where there’s a bass we say ‘Oh yeah that sounds exactly like this’ and if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t have been able to get this end product.

Charlie: It’s also good for just hearing what finished music sounds like. It’s brilliant when you try to make the finished music.

Jess: Yeah so red bull, tea, and music.

Matt: And good vibes.

Mia: And sometimes nicotine.

Mia: When writing ‘The Woman From Nowhere’ how did you guys envision fans listening to it for the first time?

Jess: So there were two times when the song was actually written. When I first wrote the lyrics and the chords I knew I wanted to tell the story so that I wanted the listener to be experiencing what I experienced the night when I met the woman. So they can see what I saw. Then when we wrote it as a group every individual person had so much input on how we wanted it to sound and the end product. So based off of that I wanted this song to encapsulate how I felt this evening and what I saw in front of me. Down to the music like with the drums, they give this kinda walking pace, a constant movement throughout the song. It never stops and the drums carry it along which wouldn’t have been possible without Charlie and his ideas. And also like the keys and the guitar and the riffs that they both play and the motifs that keep coming back throughout the song and they kinda show the cycle. My original idea was obviously to encapsulate the way I felt and the lads really helped get that.

Charlie: That’s a great answer that.

Mia: Omg that was in-depth. Nice.

'The Woman From Nowhere' cover art.

Mia: So for these last two questions think as big as you possibly can. Who would be your dream artist to open for? In a perfect world who would you open for and possibly also become best friends with?

Jake: Best friends with?

Jess: So opening I think just with our history it would have to be the Arctic Monkeys.

Charlie and Jake: Oh definitely, yeah.

Jess: Because if you think about it we wouldn’t be together if it wasn’t for that band and that is fucked, like that is genuinely fucked. If it wasn’t for that band and our shared love of them this wouldn’t have happened.

Charlie: Yeah I agree with that.

Jake: Any musician I could open for and be best friends with would be Dave Grohl. I would love to be best friends with Dave Grohl.

Charlie: You would be fucking sick man.

Jess: You would be a good fit.

Matt: Oh I’m struggling with this one.

Jess: Maybe Mac Demarco.

Matt: Oh yeah definitely guitar-wise and the kinda vibes that we try to capture as a group is definitely recognizable with his influence on us.

Mia: Alright, so this is the last question. What are your hopes for the future? Like in a year or more than a year.

Charlie: What do I hope for? Oh god, I’m gonna need to ponder this.

Jess: I can go. So my goal as a musician and as a musician in this band is that success is often valued in how rich or famous you are, but if we have became a successful band we would’ve made a dent in the music industry with music that hasn’t been heard before, I want to create music that is different than other types of music. Where people say oh yeah that’s special. And we may not be famous or rich, but if we’re successful then we’ve done that because there are so many great musicians out there that make music like other musicians. So like what I think we aim to do is we’re obviously influenced by loads of different people but we’re creating stuff especially ‘The Woman From Nowhere’ that's quite different and really accessible and liked, hopefully, by people. But as a band in the next however many years we will be releasing music that people like and enjoy.

Matt: Good answer.

Jake: I hope that in the future people will look at each of us individually and like little kids will look at us and think that it’s fucking possible that they can just get their mates from school and start playing in a band and become a sick band. That’s what I want to be, an inspiration for other people.

Charlie: I would like for us to be in a position where we’re comfortable making music where we can just do that, go in the studio whenever we want and money isn’t an issue per-say with the recording process and what we’re going to do after that. Just to have things run as smoothly as possible so we’re all happy.

Jess: Have a career out of it.

Jake: Like when people ask us what we do I don’t say I’m a fucking pizza chef she doesn’t say she’s a bartender I say we’re in a band, we’re musicians. I’m sick of eating pizza.

Mia: Alright so I think we are done then, amazing. Ok, sick. Good job everyone. It was nice meeting you all!

The Redroom: Yeah you too! Amazing thank you so much have a lovely day.