aaamusic | On 15, Jan 2016

Who are you and where are you from?

Lewis: I  am a classically trained grade 8 pianist with also a grade 8 on the saxophone. I studied for the best part of a decade at Leeds College of Music with an organisation called YYM. There I developed my musicianship and songwriting skills which play such a huge role in what we do as band now. Away from there I played with Ian in various Jazz and cover bands as kids but we always had something that clicked musically as well as being best friends. The sax really stands us out at gigs, i was tutored by a guy called Kenji Fenton, he’s currently on the most renowned sax players in the UK. His flair and complete elegance pushes me to try to deliver the sax in the amazing manner that he does.

Ian: I came up through music slightly differently. I’ve had some amazing tutors for my drumming since the age of four but I’ve never gone down the graded route as it didn’t interest me, I take most of influence from my long time mentor Marc Layton-Bennet. But as a child i was massively into sport playing for Leeds United as a youngster and then making my way to becoming a professional cricketer – before being hit with meningitis which knocked me out of sport but pushed myself and Lewis back together musically. Since Christmas Eve two years ago, when we had a jam down in Holmfirth, we haven’t looked back.

What inspired you to get into music?

The genres we’ve been classed in before are Pop/Soul but it’s hard to nail us down to specific genre. The music we make is just a further extension of our personalities. We have influences like Coldplay, James Morrison, Kwabs, The Who, The 1975, The Weeknd, etc, but we just try to be ourselves with our music.

What have you done? 

Since January 2014 we’ve played 251 gigs which have included a UK Tour and support slots for the likes of Pendulum, Professor Green, Example, MistaJam, Sigma, DJ Fresh, Artful Dodger, Tom Zanetti, Aquilo, The Japanese House, The Hoosiers and more. Playing The Sage at Gateshead and Sheffield City Cathedral were pretty amazing too as well as some big festivals, but I think we’re most proud of the development of our music, owning our sound and keeping our feet on the ground with where we are as a duo. We also always try to make time to play a couple of charity gigs a month. It creates a karma and greater respect for what we do and pushes us even more to achieve what we can.

What are you like live?

We are pretty entertaining live – if we must say! We cover the full spectrum of feelings in our set. We try to take the audience with us as we play to let them discover our lives and our songs. We have a track called ‘When I Fall’ which always leaves at least a large chunk of the audience crying, but then we can pick them up with ‘Fly’ and having them begging for more pulsating music.

What makes you different?

We’re a two piece band from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire that with an unusual mix of vocals, Piano, Drums, Sax & Synth creating pop music for the modern-day masses with a classical and dance influence. I think that sums us up!

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

[Not answered]

What have you been listening to?

Ian: I’ve been listening to The 1975’s first album for just over two years and I’m still not bored of it. It’s piece of music that always makes me feel better no matter where my head’s at. After I’ve listened to it, it’s actually like pain relief.

Lewis: I’ve been listening to Kwabs, Maverick Sabre and James Morrison recently. The latter is music that I’ve grown up with and also gives me a lot of inspiration for song writing.

What are your aspirations for the future?

We have just released a new single called ‘Somebody’. It’s an RnB/Soul track but we’re really confident in it being the track that really gets us on the scene. After that we plan to release another single in April. We want to go as far as our music can take us, we’re aiming for the top with confidence and belief because that’s how our music makes us and our fans feel.

Questions answered by Lewis and Ian of LewRey…