13 May 2024
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Arfa from Brighton band Bones Ate Arfa 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?
The name Bones Ate Arfa derives from our nicknames, Bones on guitar, 8 on Drums, and Arfa on Lead Vocals and bass. We grew up just outside of Brighton in Shoreham By Sea and were playing in bands since around 8 years old. Bones and I met through the Shoreham Allstars which is a music collective for kids that gets you playing instruments and performing at gigs at a really young age. Me and Bones were in a band together called Snapback with now Hotwax drummer Alfie Sayers, I think we were all like 10 or 11. Meeting 8 was way simpler than that cos he’s my brother so known him all my life haha.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
For me, Queens of the Stone Age and Gorillaz are my all time biggest inspirations. Everything about the songwriting, the production, visual aspects; it just fills me with sheer excitement and energy to do something great like that you know what I mean? Recently also I’ve been absolutely obsessed with Bad Nerves, they are one of the most phenomenal live bands and the songs are so catchy. They followed us back on TikTok I’m not sure if they were told to follow loads of people as a marketing ploy but it made my day that’s for sure.
In terms of us as a whole band I think we all bring a few different influences to the table, as the main songwriter I think the Queens style has a pretty big grasp on our sound but Bones brings a more emotional and sophisticated guitar sound to the songs, while 8 channels a lot of Jazz and 70s/90s rock into the drumming.
How would you describe your sound?
We’ve been described as Junkyard Dog Riffs before which kind of became our tag line but if you’re asking for genre names we’d probably say Psychedelic Street Punk & Desert Garage Rock.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our most recent single is called Shedtrak (Ft. Dread FM) and it’s a bouncy blend of garage rock and psychedelic hip hop.
It’s about a run in I had with a cameraman on a music video shoot who basically tried to take control of the whole thing, got angry when I edited it, harassed my girlfriend at the time constantly, and then came back a few months later and asked us to put him in contact with other bands for photography work. Just a certified nut job really.
What’s your local music scene like?
The Brighton music scene is like a garden centre I think. It’s full of variety and intrigue and it’s kind of magical how it is its own ecosystem and everyone feeds off each other and supports and uplifts each other. You can walk away with all this new knowledge of different genres of flowers and then you can stop for some cake in the cafe. Like you could go out in just one night and watch 3 totally different gigs for under a tenner probably.
I love this scene because everyone is so friendly and inclusive. Everyone has respect for each other no matter what. Plus you can go to any gig or club or even just waltz into Gregg’s and you’ll probably bump into someone from a band or venue and it’s just so cool to have this huge cluster of mates that love each other and love music.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We have an EP coming out! August 1st our debut EP ‘Akimbo People’ will be released and then we are going on tour to play it live for a few weeks!
We’re stopping off in:
Portsmouth
Bristol
Stroud
Brighton
London
Reading
Tunbridge Wells
Eastbourne
And Brighton again
The title track ‘Akimbo People’ is releasing next month on the 20th of June paired with a single release show at the Pipeline in Brighton which is gonna be mega.
And finally this month we have another collab song with Dread FM coming out on the 17th of May. It’s called runner and it’s a sludgy boom bap anthem.
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Damon Albarn 100% I’ve always wanted to feature on a Gorillaz song that’s probably my main goal in life. While playing drums for Baby Dave (Isaac Holman) I would hear about his time with Damon working on ‘Momentary Bliss’ and it would just leave me Starstruck to the absolute max.
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
I’m so glad you asked that, we get up to various hijinx during our live shows, most recently we played a cover of ABBA’s ‘Does Your Mother Know?’ Followed by a garage rock rendition of ‘One More Night’ by Maroon 5. Most notably however, while opening a gig at Green Door I jumped during a song and landed weird, making me roll backwards down the stage stairs into the backstage area. The funniest part was people who didn’t see it happen had no idea where I went, and I couldn’t get up cos my bass strap fell off so I just had to finish the song down there.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Thank you for taking the time to read our answers to these questions we love you! We are Bones, 8 and Arfa and together we are Bones Ate Arfa.
Upcoming live dates and performances
Thursday 16th May – the Dorset, Brighton (alternative fest to the great escape) (Headline) (on at 6pm)
Friday 31st May – the Garibaldi Hotel, Northampton (Headline)
Saturday 15th June – Tough Love record shop, Hastings
You can find out more about Bones Ate Arfa via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, Threads, TikTok or YouTube.
HOME 