Local band FEVER, who is on our predictions to be the biggest acts to come out of Southampton, are set to play Common People, a brand new festival to take place on 23rd and 24th May at Southampton Common. I caught up with the band prior about their music and their take on the current Southampton music scene.
How did you come together as a band and why the name FEVER?
We were the only people we knew that played instruments, we were looking for a bassist with the curliest hair and dreadlocks and Fraser appeared through a friend. FEVER came out of a dictionary raid for names, it really doesn’t mean a lot but it looks good in a logo.
Can you put names to roles of the bands?
Sure. Connor sings and plays guitar. Hutch plays guitar with some backing vocals. Fraser plays bass guitar and Jamie plays drums.
For those who have yet to hear your music, how would you describe your sound?
It’s influenced by a whole range of things from 80s pop gems to some of the nitty gritty indie bands that we all like. We wouldn’t really choose to put it into a category ourselves, I guess that’s your job? But its guitar driven, chorus led indie at its most simple description.
[Just in case you are wondering, I described them as a guitar mix of grunge and Britpop before.]
There are only two tracks online, ‘Shell Shock’ and B-side ‘Why?’, but having seen you play live for three times I gathered from the live set you have quite a range of tracks in different styles, why would the aforementioned two tracks be the one you chose to put online first?
Well we have intentionally kept things limited online and only put out what we feel represented us at that time. ‘Shell Shock’ was one of the first songs we ever wrote and ‘Why?’ was a song that we thought didn’t give too much away about us but people would still sing along to it. We have a bunch of songs that come from a bunch of different places and hopefully with our next release you’ll get a better sense of our direction.
How excited do you feel about playing the Common People festival?
It’s going to be fun. It’s pretty much our first big festival so it’s quite an occasion for us as a band. It’s cool that Southampton bands have been given the chance to play cool hometown shows like this and hopefully people will be able to find their way from the bar to the tent & see us play.
There are quite a lot of local bands who are up and coming like you, what do you think about the local music scene in Southampton right now? And how do you feel new events like the Common People festival play a part?
Common People is a cool event for the city in general. I think it represents the city quite well as unfortunately Southampton loves its House music and the festival reflects that. There’s a handful of great bands in the city and most are playing here. It’s in a far better state than it was but the places that keep the flame alive like Lennons are at threat which is a shame.
Any recommendations of acts to check out from the local Hampshire area or anywhere else?
At the festival? Watch FEVER, watch Wild Smiles, watch Pale Seas and watch Slaves (who are from Kent).
What would be next in line for the band? Releasing more tracks? Playing more live shows nationwide?
We have CP and then we will be playing for the So Young Magazine Birthday Party which will be our first London show. Supporting Baby Strange at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch. After that we have a bunch of music recorded and hopefully we can get that out asap!
If you are going to Common People be sure to catch FEVER amongst many talented local bands and more. Tickets on sale and available here.
