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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned duo Hoofa to find out more…

Who is in the duo, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
Hoofa was originally meant to be a solo project by James, but after meeting Alan and instantly clicking, it became a duo pretty quick. We’ve had different people play with us live and now we’re pretty settled as a two-piece. James used “Hoofa” as his online name in a variety of games, and it’s been repurposed for the band name now.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
They vary quite a lot, depending on mood and time of year, but generally we try to create upbeat songs that are quite relatable to everyday life. The Beautiful South, Maroon 5 and even The Hoosiers are probably big influences on that front.

How would you describe your sound?
We call what we do “Indie-Ambi Pop”. It’s like indie pop but often with more of an atmosphere and this lets us switch between synths and guitars quite easily.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Brother came out on 11th September and is about the fact that even though James fights with his brother, at the end of the day, you’re still brothers so you have to find your way through disagreements. All the lyrics and situations in the song actually are parts of his childhood.

What’s your local music scene like?
Right now with everything being online these days, we’re chatting with people from further away than before, and finding new ways to work with and support each other. With great bands releasing new music like Only The Poets, Wild Front and Nature TV all releasing great tracks and Marsicans even releasing their debut album! There’s a lot of support around the indie music community, now more than ever it feels like.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
The last 12 months have been super busy! We’ve put out 4 singles and pre-lockdown, played a lot of shows around the UK. Over the next year we’ll focus on writing a lot of new songs and adapting to whatever COVID throws at us. Once we can safely get back out gigging, we will.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
If we got to collaborate, we’d want to create something special. Working with Lonely Island would be fun because we have a very similar sense of humour to those guys, who knows what would come out of that! Probably a song about dad jokes sang by dads, gradually laughing more and more at their own jokes… Perhaps doing a Music Meets Art project with Banksy would be pretty cool, or just a straight up pop banger with Little Mix would be fun as well.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
When we played an opening slot at Dingwalls, one of our first gigs. We had no idea how many people would be in the room at that point. So just before we went on stage, James got us in a little huddle to give a pre-show speech, as has become a regular pre-show ritual. Saying things like, no matter how many people are out there, give it our all, play our hearts out to everyone out there and things like that. He opens the door to a rammed venue and people cheering, and he looks back at me with an expression of confusion, nerves and excitement that I’m not sure I’ve seen the combination of before or since. Then went on to play one of my favourite shows we’ve done to date!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
We’re always here for a chat, about pretty much anything. We produce our own music so love answering questions about what we did, why, how and don’t mind sharing details that other bands might keep to themselves. Also, we love puns and jokes, so we tend to be a friendly bunch if you reach out!

You can find out more about Hoofa on their website or via Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitter or YouTube.