4 March 2024
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Hay-on-Wye band Eaten by Lions 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?
We met in Hay-on-Wye, the founding members both sharing a birthday (5th April!) and living on the same street – Lion Street, which influenced the name.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Beatles, Kinks, Beach Boys, Nirvana, Blur, Strokes, Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys etc.
How would you describe your sound?
Brit pop, Grit pop, Grunge, Indie Rock.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Night Falls Away is a bit of a protest song against the current govt and the feelings of anxiety, apathy and powerlessness which my generation feels in an increasingly hopeless society. The song was influenced a bit by early Cure, and also Red Hot Chili Peppers, amongst my other influences (Beatles, Nirvana, Blur etc.) The narrative also references our addiction to social media platforms like Instagram – (‘fall into the mirror’ being the screen/addiction) and the feeling that we are living in an unequal and less idealistic society, ever closer to a dystopian future. It is quite a tense, existential song really! The first lines talk about standing on a bridge, looking down at the river, kind of pondering life/death, which is partly influenced by the start of a Herman Hesse novel which has a paranoid, suicidal main character. Where I live there is a high bridge over the river Wye, and walking over it always reminds you of your mortality/resisting the temptation to jump. The rest of the song kind of runs its course based on that.
What’s your local music scene like?
Poor – being in a provincial place (Welsh border) makes it really hard to build a fanbase. We have started to play gigs in other cities to try to broaden our horizons. We’ve performed many times in the last 6 months at venues/festivals – including Manchester, Cardiff, Swansea, Reading, Bracknell, London, Worcester and Kidderminster as well as our local scene.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We are releasing 8 other tracks in the next 6 months and are hopefully going to play lots of other exciting gigs and festivals. We plan to record more songs this year – which we are nearly ready to get rolling with – minus the funds! We were recently selected for the Isle of Wight New Blood competition (only 70 bands were chosen out of over 5,000 entries!), and so we hope to progress in that competition. The quarter final takes place at the Macbeth, Hoxton on Friday 1st March, our next release day! We also aim to get a manager, booking agent and record label, win the lottery and live happily ever after … you gotta be in it to win it, right?! 🙂
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, Paul McCartney, Harry Styles! hah
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Last week we played a real wild west venue called Drummonds in Worcester on Saturday night. The town was buzzing. We performed our new single, Psycho, as our last song of the set, and 5 mins later walked out into the street to put our guitars in the van, and there had literally been a street brawl outside the venue whilst we were playing. There were about 6 police cars – 15 coppers, sniffer dogs and many different injured/handcuffed people stretched along the street. I said, ‘This is what happens when we play Psycho!’ and suggested we use it like a fake news, as some of the Punk bands of the late 70s did – pretending there had been a riot at their gigs to make it into the papers etc. There actually was a riot at ours though… maybe there was something in the air…
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
This is the first release of many… follow on Instagram/Spotify for more songs/context and live dates.
You can find out more about Eaten by Lions via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify or YouTube.
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