26 February 2024
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Peterborough band Live Wire to find out more…
Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
Live Wire are a fierce, fast playing and fast growing alt-rock outfit from Peterborough whose founding members, Alfie Thompson (vocals) and Aslan Amjad (bass) met through a joint love of theatre, rock music and desire to break free from the clutches of England’s worst city. Louis Glasby (rhythm guitar, backing vox), upon hearing the lads’ idea of forming a band (being a fellow attendee of Kindred Drama), approached the two with a mountainous pile of original songs to rehearse. And with the eventual arrival of lead guitarist, Sammy Flowers-Nandi and drummer, Jas Moore, the band was fully formed and ready to conquer.
Live Wire’s name is a reference to the Talking Heads song, ‘Psycho Killer’ (“don’t touch me, I’m a real live wire”).
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Growing up: Oasis, Blur, Kasabian, The Smiths, Weezer.
Now: Stiff Little Fingers, Manic Street Preachers, Buzzcocks, The Damned, New Order.
How would you describe your sound?
We like to describe our sound as, ‘Glam-Punk’. In that it possesses the driving energy and muddied guitar / bass sound of punk music, and accompanies that with guitar solos and vocal melodies that are more in the vein of the Glam-Rock of the 1960s.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our latest release is called, ‘All In Good Time’. Its lyrical content describes someone on tour; missing the people waiting for them back at home. Musically speaking, our influences on this track were closer to that of 1960s Glam groups such as T-Rex and early 2000s Post-Punk revivalists such as The Libertines.
What’s your local music scene like?
The Peterborough music scene for the most part is extraordinarily colourful. Our opinion on why this is the case is because Peterborough is such a non-opportunistic and painfully dull, creative wasteland that people will do everything in their power to try and break away from it through any productive means possible. Hence, our small and rubbish city is crawling with creatives.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
Live Wire’s intent moving forward is to focus more on single releases. Being that 3 in 5 of us are at university, this makes everyone’s collective lives a great deal easier and will hopefully broaden our foreign audience more so than if we were continue to play aimless gigs. We have every intent to continue gigging, just on a less regular basis.
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
James Dean Bradfield, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Noel Gallagher.
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Yes, many.
One that immediately jumps to mind was when Louis broke his finger a week before our second ever gig. Prompting him to learn to play our entire set with a cast on. Naturally, playing in a live setting elicits a lot more energy than a rehearsal. Thus, given the nature of our songs, he was playing very aggressively. Which would otherwise have been a good thing. Were it not for the fact he was having to pivot his whole arm to keep up the rhythm playing, as opposed to just his wrist (which was encased in a cast). Resulting in him cheese grating his fingers against the strings which culminated in what looked like a murder scene: blood all up his guitar, shirt and hand. Overcome with adrenaline and un-phased initially by what should have been very painful, his parents and teacher who were present looked on in horror.
Another time, after a particularly raucous song where the audience were really going for it, Alfie asked ‘is everyone alright?’. To which everyone said yes. Afterwards, Louis, in his infinite wisdom said into the mic, ‘well if everyone’s alright then clearly you’re not doing a good enough job’. Not long there after, a girl who had been moshing hit her head and knocked herself out. Prompting the set to stop for around 5 minutes as she was escorted outside. Louis’ face somehow went whiter than it already was.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Live Wire as a live act are a force to be reckoned with. Not one of our gigs has been met with a lackluster audience thus far, and we hope to continue this trajectory going forward until eventually we’re recognized nationally as one of England’s most exciting live bands (which we are).
You can find out more about Live Wire via Apple Music, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify or TikTok.
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