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Lead singer of the Manchester quintet, Matt Thompson tells Big Issue North that after two years cutting their teeth they’re ready to fly above the radar. They play Plug Sheffield in support of their self-titled LP on 5 April and Manchester’s Deaf Institute on 6 April.

What informs your music and songwriting?
I guess other music is our starting point. We collectively love artists like Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Tame Impala. Lyrically, our music is quite expressive. I write them to reflect and make sense of experiences, relationships – almost as a way to put a message across that I wouldn’t be able to say in normal life.

How have you evolved as a band over the years?

I’d like to think we’ve improved as musicians. I think if we’d been tipped by the pollsters we would’ve felt under huge pressure. We’ve been on the road for two years cutting our teeth, carving out our own path pretty much under the radar. We know who we are and what we want to do more than ever before now.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
We’re always writing new music. At the moment too there’s a lot of thought going into videos and artwork for future singles to be released from our record.

What’s on your rider?
A ton of Tabasco for Chris, our guitarist. He has a love for hot food and will apply to Tabasco to almost anything. Our drummer Joe goes in hard when we play shows too so a load of towels for him. Our current poison of choice is spiced rum but I think we’re gonna make a change soon to whiskey.

Tell us your most embarrassing or surreal experience.
We played in a French football stadium on our last European tour, which was pretty strange. A lot of weird stuff happens on tour in Europe, that’s for sure. We just spent half the day playing in 20,000 seat stadium owned by Sochaux FC, then played this festival up in the bar after. The club kitted us out with all the souvenirs and printed ‘The Amazons” on a club shirt.

What song do you wish you’d written?
Heroes by David Bowie. It’s an obvious one, but the obvious choices are obvious for a reason.

What’s your worst lyric?
Ha! I don’t know about worst, but the lyrics in In My Mind are pretty raw. I pick myself apart a bit – it’s a song about not being a very good person to people who deserve better.

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