aaamusic | On 24, Jun 2014

AAAmusic: Who are you and where are you from?

We are Stags, a four piece rock band from Chorley, Aarhus, Worthing and Osimo – I would advise a map to locate these places. We met in Hackney in some cheap student halls we were living in at the time, almost four years ago from now. All the lads except me had been in previous bands back in their hometowns, so it was my first experience working musically with other people.

AAAmusic: What inspired you to get into music?

The genre which we go by – Psych/Grunge – I think reflects holistically our love of rock ‘n’ roll music yet our passion to hold a distinctive part within it. We get off on rock ‘n’ roll  but we don’t want to just process existing material, we want our records played in bars, clubs, cafes, and especially your Grandma’s bedroom. The most important thing for us is that the person listening could grasp within five seconds that it’s a Stags record – that’s our inspiration.

AAAmusic: What have you done?

As we are a London-based band, we have experienced the ins and outs of the Capital, which has been very beneficial for us. We made a few trips to Copenhagen to play a few launches and personal shows. We are on the verge of releasing our second single ‘Just Like You’, due for release on the 14th July, which will accompany a music video.

AAAmusic: What are you like live?

We get told a lot about our positive energy on stage, which is nice. It feels to me that you’re at your most vulnerable during live performances, so it does become an emotional experience, which hopefully the crowd get to share with us. I believe we are quite raw during our live sets and we display it as truthfully as we possibly can.

AAAmusic: What makes you different?

Our contrast of influences, I think, determines our uniqueness. We all grew up in different places with contrasting cultures and it is these experiences which distinguish our individuality. We all grew up listening to different music and this really influences us collectively as a band.

AAAmusic: Physical vs Downloading vs Streaming…How do you listen to music?

We went straight back to Vinyl, it’s a great way to discover older music. I’m aware of the recent controversies of artists not receiving fair rights on such music platforms as Spotify. So, when checking out new music I amongst the others use SoundCloud, Facebook and YouTube to discover new bands and artists, as well as buying EPs, LPs, etc.

AAAmusic: What have you been listening to?

I dug out John Lennon’s ‘Walls and Bridges’, which hasn’t moved from my record player this past week. Mac Demarco’s blissful Salad Days has also been getting a spin – great morning album.

AAAmusic: What are your aspirations for the future?

We are headlining Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on July 3rd to promote our single/video release next month. This will hopefully be followed by several gigs across the UK as well as a European tour at the end of the summer. Catch on and get a ticket for the show before its sold out!

Questions answered by: Chris (Vocals / Rhythm Guitar) of Stags…