Share the Sound festival, run by University of Southampton music students, took place on 10-11 March. The festival showcases up and coming local talent and I was able to have a chat with a few of the acts just before the festival began. In this interview, I caught up with band members and flatmates Morgan Rickman and Stu Harris from Lost or Stolen, a 4-piece rock band (other members Holly Barnett and Sam Meibar) who headlined Friday night’s entertainment.
How did you form your band?
Morgan: We were at this venue, actually. It was a JAM night and this guy came up to me that was like four and a half foot and had long hair and a big beard and was like: ‘Hey guys, do you like the Arctic Monkeys?’ ‘Yeah, alright’. And it was a JAM night so we had to go up and play, so we got up there and kind of jammed really. It was alright, wasn’t amazing, but we were like there could be something here and we hadn’t yet, sort of, found our feet much, so thought it’d be good to club together and see what kind of band we could make really. So it was very organic I’d say, in a way, wasn’t very forced at all
Stu: Yeah, it was about one and a half years ago
Second question, following on from that, why ‘Lost or Stolen’ band name, what’s the story behind that?
Stu: Oooh, that was your idea, Morgan, I’m pretty sure?
Morgan: Yeah, I think, quote me, it might be wrong, it is the police codeword for something that’s been stolen I presume
Stu: Yeah, that’s where it comes from
Morgan: But it also seems to crop up in everyday life, like you know when you’ve lost your debit card and you’ve got report it, you always report it ‘Lost or Stolen’. Then, we always make jokes, like-
Stu: -It slips into conversation
Morgan: Yeah, like, ooh, ‘Lost or Stolen’, haha, kind of like, ahh, that name again! It seemed to float about and we were like, oh, suppose we’ll keep it, really
Who are your music influences?
Stu: Well, we start with Arctic Monkeys obviously. More recently, it’s bands like Rival Sons, Crowbar, Rage Against the Machine-
Morgan: -But it’s cool as well because we’ve got interests outside of the band as well and we’ve got a jazz drummer. I am kind of mostly into funk and things like that, but I listen to hip-hop and things like that-
Stu: -I’m a metal-head
Morgan: Stu’s a metal-head and you know, our singer’s similar to me, sort of hip-hop and stuff, so it forms a really nice blend, to be honest
Have you got any exciting plans for the immediate future for your band?
Stu: Yeah, we’re releasing a single
Oh, ok, what’s that single called?
Morgan: It’s called ‘Hocus Pocus’. We recorded it locally up the road at Blackhill Studios and the guys there did a fantastic job. We’re looking to try and push it and get it on all major platforms within the next month or so, Soundcloud, Spotify…
Stu: iTunes, hopefully the lot
Are you going to do a Youtube video even?
Morgan: Yep, we’ve got videos in the pipeline which is because we really, really want to push it as much as we can. You don’t want it to come out and for people to notice it – we want it to be really pushed along
Finally, what do you like to do that’s non-music related?
Stu: We listen to a lot of stuff
Morgan: I work at Tesco, haha! Yeah, I work on the deli at Tesco!
Stu: We’re also rocking uni life, that kind of thing
‘Rocking uni life’, I like that! Do you both study music?
Both: yeah, yeah
I was going to say, it’d be bit odd if you were doing, like Physics and Chemistry?
Stu: Yeah, any of those ones that required lots of work and time to put into it, which we don’t have
Morgan: We just live together, and breathe, and eat!
