Leeds Key Club 12/01/18
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen these lads on tour. Woes have been getting bigger and better over the last few months and supporting some pretty big names on the scene while doing so, including Four Year Strong and Neck Deep. Recently signing with UNFD, it seems that the Scottish Pop-Punkers are set to be the next big thing, not just for the genre but for Scotland as well! I sat down with Sean and Ryan to chat about their new music, recent tours and plans for the not too distant future.
Hey guys, so you’re a few days into the tour with Seaway, how’s it been?
Sean: “Wonderful. Nothing much more to say. They’re a sick band. Lizzy Farrall is killing it as well. The shows have been packed out. Everyone’s been getting on really well. Seaway are without a doubt, the most chill, laid-back guys. They play incredibly well. It’s been great.”
Ryan: “It’s been nice and comfortable on the tour.”
Sean: “There’s been more of what we know on this tour than it was with the bigger ones.”
I actually did see one of the bigger shows you did with Neck Deep in Newcastle.
Sean: “We were just talking about those as well. Those went great but being a smaller band, to begin with, we’re used to doing smaller shows. When it came to the big ones we thought oh, I hope we don’t get in anyone’s way you know? Doing these shows, we’ve felt more comfortable. And Seaway made us feel really welcome, lovely bunch of guys. “
Are they the godparents in a way on the tour?
Sean: “Totally. They’re really easy to get along with, they’re really chatty and fun people.”
It always helps when other people are a bit chattier otherwise you’re in a corner and say hello awkwardly
Sean: “Yeah, you’re just chatting rubbish and they don’t understand at all. “
And you guys are on a bit of a high at the moment. You’ve just signed on with UNFD which boasts some amazing bands. How long have you been waiting on announcing that?
Sean: “A few months now. It’s kind of been like negotiating and talking it over and going over plans but we only signed last month so it’s been a pretty quick turnaround. And we have this EP pretty much good to go so it’s just been finishing mixing and they’re keen to get it out, we’re keen to get it out. We really want to push ahead and get it out. “
And is the new track, Real World going to be on it?
Sean: “It will be.”
And speaking of that track, how’s the reception been to that on the tour?
Sean: “It’s been good, people have been singing along and we only released it two days ago. I mean it’s not going to go fully off because not everyone will know it, but it’s been great to play and we’re into it and we’re still getting into it, figuring out where the jumps are and things like that.”
And looking back at 2017, you’ve had incredible chances to open for bands like Neck Deep, Four Year Strong. What was the best moment for you, excluding those moments?
Sean: “Excluding those moments? Well, I’m a total studio guy. I love making music, writing songs and some of those best moments when me and the boys would get together, jamming some tunes and playing them back and when the chorus hits you just really feel it.”
Ryan: “Whenever we were writing songs at the start of the year and planning it out we were like ooh just have that one a loop, it makes it fun again. It takes away the more stressful parts of being in a band. It’s like when you’re younger and you put on a jam and you think yeah! You get lost in the sound. And when you’re chilling with your homies in your bedroom it’s like how it used to be, how it was and will be.”
That’s a good thing to have as well because you guys are quite a tight family, aren’t you?
Sean: “Absolutely, best friends. “
And via your social media, you’ve said you’re planning to write a record this year.
Sean: “We are. This month. As soon as we get back.”
And from those jam sessions that were for the EP, are there any saved for the record itself or are you going into it as a completely new experience?
Sean: “We’ve maybe got two. We had these grand visions of having a seven-track mini album for our next release but for whatever reason, time mainly we had to cut it down so we have two tracks sitting there but you know we’re planning to write twenty to twenty five basic song ideas and we might go these two are great but these ten are even better and they might end up as B-sides, they may never come out but who knows what’ll happen? They might end up in our pool that we get to jam to every now and again, well see what happens.
If you could sum up your expectations for the rest of 2018, what would they be?
Sean: Big, big and big
Ryan: Reem, reem and reem
And apart from eating on your downtime, what else do you like to get up to?
Sean: “Erm. We’re all into a few different things. Some of the guys like to smoke up and get blazed. I used to but I’ve had a whole re-evaluation and re-periodisation of my life recently and this tour I’ve just been chilling, drinking plenty of water, getting exercise in, going for a run, eat healthy, stay positive and work hard.”
Ryan: “I just like to sleep and look at memes’. There are so many good ones.”
Sean: “2018 has been strong for memes so far, 2017 was trash in my opinion but they keep popping up all the time and I’m thinking how do they think of this stuff?”
“Ryan works as a heavy goods vehicle driver, so he has to get up at half-past four every morning, but he always tags us in one in one so whenever we wake up, we wake up to memes, which is perfect, tagging each other look over and see what’s going around today.”
Ryan: “And so that they know I’m alive.”
Sean: “Yeah we never know where you got to. “
“You don’t know him as well as I do, he’s a crazy one.”
So, there is a crazy one in the band?
Sean: “We were actually talking about this the other day. Ryan used to be, he’s reformed now.”
Ryan: “I’m a lot better”
Sean: “A lot better. He used to be a bit of a liability but we’re trying to be professional and take Woes very seriously but he’s a good lad. He’s done well.”
And what were the first gigs you ever went to?
Sean: “I can’t remember when, but it was a band called Millencolin which were a skate punk band back in a day at the Glasgow garage, but I don’t think my ears ever recovered after that.
Ryan: “It was Motorhead when I was eleven, but it was good times.”
Sean: “Actually, the first gig I properly went to be our singer’s old band in high school. That was like my first ever show and I remember thinking to myself: wow DJ is so cool and then I actually got to know him and realise he’s a loser, but he can sing well so he’s cool.”
You can watch Woes video for their track, ‘Losing Time’ below.
You can find Woes’s music on Amazon, Google Play and Spotify.
You can also follow them through their social media accounts via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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