Blog

Brooders Interview

Describing themselves as ‘loud, proud and full of psychy sounds’, Leeds via Notts trio Brooders are everything that a grunge band should be: fuzzy, manic and a load of fun. They’re headlining The Bodega stage on 31st January, so we caught up with the boys ahead of the show about pre-show rituals, organising their own festival and grungey goodness.

Welcome Brooders! What can we expect from your headline show at the end of Jan?

We’ve been waiting to play at The Bodega for a long time now. Having visited many times as I grew up in Nottingham it was always a special place for me and my discovery of what live music was all about. Now having the chance to headline a show at the venue is a special kind of thing. 

We’re really excited to be playing and we’ll be pulling out all the stops for a fantastic show with plenty of crazy heavy manic screams, relentless pounding drums and the ferocity that our live shows have become known for.  

We’re excited to be back after about six months of live silence. We’ve been itching under our skin to bring back our riffs to the public eye, and where better to do it than the place that birthed our desire to make the music we play?!

Take us back to the birth of Brooders, how did the three of you get together and start making music?

Myself (Adam (Singer/Guitar) and Liam (Drums) attended a college together in Nottingham for several years before moving to Leeds to pursue our passion for music. We both were great friends in the college years, and it was a more than happy coincidence we both ended up in Leeds at the same uni. We never actually jammed until we came to Leeds though, as beforehand we’d both just pursued our own projects. When we got to Leeds, we figured something was missing. We began jamming with Speare (Bass) and the fuzz intertwined in a glorious manner.

The songwriting at the start was really just so natural. Every squeal from the guitar sat hand in hand with the rumble of the bass while the drums locked so relentlessly. It was a match made in riffy heaven. 

Your sound is a massive mix of fuzzed up guitars and grungey goodness, how does a song usually form? Is it a fairly collaborative process between all of you?

Aw, you do flatter us. Fuzzy grungey mayhem is all that we’re about. It’s a fairly natural blend really. Like a good cup of coffee, we have the beans, the sugar and the milk and it just works. I really shouldn’t be allowed to use analogies, but you get the gist. We usually get locked into a practice room and create some seriously bone shaking noises until one of us has a eureka moment/we receive a noise complaint. 

This January marks your biggest Notts headline show to date, how excited are you to get to The Bodega?

As I mentioned earlier, it’s such an influence for myself as a musician now to have seen as many bands as I have at The Bodega in the past. Some of the early gigs I attended like The Wytches, Drenge and Pete Doherty (don’t ask) were eye opening in ways I’d never seen before in any walk of life. It was exciting, raw, raucous and all revolved around the idea of making loud noises for people to sing along to. It was something that not only I wanted to be a part of, but something I was keen on creating for myself. 

In short. Very. But the longer answer is that it’s going to be a meaningful moment to top the billing at a place that has built the very foundations that we riff on.

You’re busy at the minute with preparations for your own festival in Leeds. How’s that going and where did the idea for RIFFFEST come from?

We ran the first instalment of RIFFFEST last year with False Advertising, Hands Off Gretel, Faux Pas, Bloodhound, Household Dogs and Adore//Repel on the billing. We were absolutely hooked on the festival buzz following the event and felt that we had to do something to really blow it out the water for this year. 

The idea for the festival was born of the love for underground riff-based music that was missing the spotlight it deserved. We were especially keen to celebrate this in our birthing town of Leeds too as we see so much heavy music in the north that is overlooked when locked in with very dense music scenes that are often dominated by more accessible genres and styles. We had a big ‘fuck that’ moment and just wanted to create something to really melt the faces off people. I like to think that we achieved that successfully and efficiently this year. 

With that in mind, this year is going to create a pile of sonic destruction like no other. It’s been an amazing experience so far and we’re ready to let the ground shake and the walls ache again. 

Any chance of taking future editions of RIFFFEST elsewhere? (hint hint)

Take us out for dinner first…

And finally, have you got any wild diva-style pre-show rituals we should be preparing for?

Back rubs, vicious wordplay and shouty vocal warmups.

Brooders will be at The Bodega on 31st January, with special guests Faux Pas and Marvin’s Revenge. Tickets are on sale here.

THE LATEST FROM INSTAGRAM

@BODEGANOTTINGHAM

THE LATEST FROM TWITTER

@BODEGANOTTINGHAM

arrow_downarrow_leftarrow_right Asset 1closecomment-bubbled-remove-glyph-642 down_arrow_new_whitedown_arrow_newdown_arrowemail heartleft_arrow_new_whitemenuphoneright_arrow_new_whitesearchsharesocial_facebooksocial_googleplussocial_instagramsocial_lastfmsocial_linkedin_altsocial_linkedinsocial_pinterestsocial_spotifysocial_twitter_altlogo-twitter-glyph-32social_whatsapp social_youtubestartick