Fright Years - Their Words
Fright Years are quickly making a name for themselves as one of Scotland’s most exciting new bands. With their latest single ‘Aftersun’ dropping this Friday, they’re gearing up to support Welly at Club 601 for Sign Post on Tuesday, November 26th.
We caught up with the band to hear how they’re feeling about bringing their electrifying live show to St Andrews and to learn more about what makes them tick.
How did the band come together, and what inspired you to start making music as a group?
“We met through a bunch of accidental meetings, Joules and Harrison were booked for the same rehearsal place in Edinburgh and that's how they met, when they moved to a new rehearsal space we met our drummer there, we would initially just rehearse in the art college’s basement in Edinburgh”
What’s the story behind your band’s name, and does it reflect something deeper about you?
It wasn't that deep actually, we had a few joke names, and it got to the point where we needed a name as our first song’s release got closer, the name came through a combination of things, we had the notes app where there were words that the band liked and we would speak them out during rehearsals to test out how they sounded. Fright Years as a name sounded quite nice, we were all in our early to mid-twenties, a pretty frightful time for anyone, so the name resonated with us. Joules liked the name Handsome, and she also liked the idea of having “random girls’ names as the name.. I can’t remember why, it was probably a Gilmore Girls joke”. There was a bassist who was trying out for the band before we found Chris, he would never turn up so we made a name that sounded LIKE his name but a bit of a distorted version of it”.
Can you describe your creative process? Do you approach songwriting as a group or more individually?
“We write very much democratically in the rehearsal space. It is not a routine we have, we start with a riff or a verse with chords and write something around that. Someone accidentally plays something and if we like it we just keep it in the song. Good things always happen when you are not thinking too much. It is better to just try playing whatever you feel like and if it works that's amazing!”
If you could curate a dream festival lineup, who would be on it alongside you?
“Oo thats a good question, i would put Sharon Van Etten at 4pm, she’s like indie rock, but kind of grungy, I love her! Then at 8pm i would have Amyl and the Sniffers” - Joules
Harrison - “I would have Beenstellar, seeing them this week and very excited about it…. Also the stroked definitely”
Joules - “Oh yes and Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, all of them! Also the newest pop queen Chloe Quisha”
Has there been a live performance or tour experience that’s particularly stuck with you—whether for good, bad, or hilarious reasons?
The Stag and Dagger - a random show in Edinburgh where we had the last slot and everyone was drunk and it was a lot of fun. We also had one recently when CJ’s bass amp was off the whole time, it didn’t matter much in the end, we just had drinks after the show and laughed about it. Things happen and in hindsight you can always laugh at them.
What’s a lyric from one of your songs that means the most to you?
Joules has two lyrics - an upcoming song which represents the song well: “There’s no time for pretending that you've got nothing to say about the still life, or the painter will hang you either way”. It’s about letting go of judgement and being confident in yourself. Someone somewhere will love what you do, and someone somewhere will hate what you do. It's better to just let go of those expectations and be happy with what you have created and be true to yourself. The other one is from the song coming up in the EP called Obstacle Course, it is quite sad but it is one of Joules’ favourites. The second verse has a line which was inspired from her walks in Edinburgh when she was going through tough times. You never know what people are going through and it is crazy to think that something so mundane like a walk can become so important for thinking over all the thoughts, hence “I'm in the dark days thinking this will be last, walk in the park turn into a full blown funeral march”.
What’s next for Fright Years after ‘Aftersun’? - EP out march recorded in July, what comes after sets the tone
In the new year… 2 headline shows, in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There will definitely be new music, as we’re recording stuff already for the next EP. We recorded this one coming out in March in July of this year, and the last part of the EP is where the next project will be based off from.We are right now just loosely writing things in the studio, but definitely new music coming in the next year.
