12 Questions with The Rivers
The Rivers are a 4 piece indie band from South Wales Taking inspiration from 2000s indie like The Strokes, The Killers, since forming in late 2017 have gigged relentlessly, building up the ‘Rivers’ name.
Taking inspiration from 2000s indie like The Strokes and The Killers.
Consisting of Dan (Vocals/Guitar)
Nathan (Drums) Evan (Bass) they recorded their debut EP ‘Life In General’ in 2019.
Before adding a new guitarist – Lloyd to the group to further build up that wall of sound.
Members
Dan – Vocals/Guitar
Evan – Bass
Nathan – Drums
Lloyd – Guitar
DL: The Rivers were formed about 3 years ago in South Wales, I’ve not had a chance to see you guys live yet, but you sound like an exciting live act, how did it all come together for you as a band?
Evan: My side of the story is that in 2017 a mutual friend of Dan and I introduced us with the intent of helping Dan find a bass player. We rehearsed a bit and nothing much came of it and then after a few months Dan invited me to play a gig in Merthyr’s Redhouse, reforming The Rivers with a new lineup
Dan: This lineup has been going for 3 years but we had The Rivers name a year before I met Evan and the lads, but that lineup kinda just went a bit dead. Once Evan joined on bass, I quickly found Nathan on one of those ‘Join My Band’ type sites so that was a drummer sorted and then we stayed as a three-piece until March time when we met Lloyd gigging with his band, asked him if he wanted to join and he said yes!
DL: So The Rivers were just gaining a bit of momentum and then the virus arrived and the country shut down, how did this impact you, and what steps have you taken to get through it all, did you manage to stay creative or learn any new skills?
Dan: It came at a really bad time for us, we were just kicking off and had some big plans & gigs for 2020 but hopefully most of it can be rescheduled, I’ve managed to keep writing though.
Nathan: I’ve just been trying to write my own music pretty much haha.
The Rivers (band copyright)
DL: At the end of 2019 you released a couple of singles, then an EP, the songs are very well produced and you have a nice “clean indie sound”, where did you go to record, who did you work with, were you happy with the results, and do you really like Wetherspoons?
Dan: The whole thing was really fast and easy, we worked with this guy Nick Swannell down in Studio 49 – Narberth, working with him really let us make the songs how we wanted them to sound, he’d throw in ideas and wouldn’t be offended if we didn’t like them it was like having another bandmate really. And yes! 100% love “Spoons”, who doesn’t?
Evan: We recorded it in about 3 days and spent the last day doing overdubs and things. What I remember most is that Narberth was very clean and colorful, one of those nice little towns in West Wales, very quaint.
DL: There’s a great history of bands coming out of Wales such as The Alarm, The Manics, Super Furry Animals to name but a few, do you guys feel any pressure to match their successes?
Dan: I think there are good bands that come out of most places, it’s more inspiring than a pressure.
Evan: The amount of bands that came of out Wales successfully is not close to the number of bands that failed. I feel no pressure because of that but I know we all definitely have a strong drive to succeed, at least in a minor way.
Lloyd: I don’t think there’s any pressure to live up to any of the bands who come out of Wales. Every band here has something different going on in terms of sound, so there’s always a focus on what we’re doing, instead of what these other bands are doing. I think it keeps us original.
DL: What are the influences on your sound? , I can hear Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a bit of The Beatles at times, bits of Kula Shaker, I think you guys have a bit of an early 90s sound actually.
Dan: Yeah I see the BRMC that’s a good shout, I love That 2000s indie, The Strokes, Killers and Catfish And The Bottle men, The Amazons more recently bands like that, it’s just so simple. But there are songwriters like, Richard Swift and Stephan Fretwell that inspire me too.
Evan: We’re a big mixed bag of influences, my influenced are anything from Fela Kuti to The Damned to Neil Young. The best comparison I think we’ve got is that Davey from Boy Azooga said that we reminded us of The Replacements. I’m a big fan of them and Boy Azooga too so that made my day haha.
Lloyd: My influences come from a lot of late 2000’s bands like The Pigeon Detectives, Editors, and all that. I do have a wide range of influences though, at the moment I’m listening to a lot from The Black Keys
Nathan: Punk and hip-hop for me!
The Rivers (band copyright)
DL: It Christmas soon, what’s the best present you guys have ever received and what’s the most money you’ve spent on a prezzie for someone?
Dan: Best is probably the first little amp I got years ago, a million miles away from the VOX I have now, but it did what it needed to do at the time.
Evan: My father bought me this beautiful acoustic guitar last year. I’m not sure what the most is, I’ve never kept track of the money, some gifts are worth more than the cost.
Lloyd: Best present I ever got was a Darth Vader mask because I’m a massive nerd. I don’t think anything will ever be as good as that. The best present I’ve ever given someone is probably a gig or festival tickets.
Nathan: The best present probably was when my brother got me The Rivers EP on vinyl for Christmas.
DL: What’s the best flavour jam and do you go for seeds or seedless?
Dan: Got to be strawberry right? Seeded or seedless.
Evan: Strawberry is my favourite, I don’t really care if it’s got seeds or not, if it’s good jam it’s good.
Lloyd: My grans homemade Blackcurrant jam. With seeds. If it doesn’t have seeds then surely it would be more like a Blackcurrant jelly?
Nathan: Raspberry jam and seedless for me.
DL: If you guys could all chose 1 superpower to have, what would you choose and why?
Evan: Something I could use to bend the world to my will, mind control or something. The possibilities are endless with that one!
Lloyd: Maybe the power to make everyone happy, if that counts?
Nathan: I’d choose probably to go invisible so I can mess with people.
Dan: Id have the power to force people to stream The Rivers…wouldn’t expect a Marvel film about it anytime soon though.
DL: If you could have any musicians, past or present, dead or alive, perform on a couple of tracks with you, who would you chose and why? One who is no longer with us and one who is still active, please?
Dan: Mike Skinner from The Streets, think that could be interesting, I saw he got IDLES on the last album so maybe in the future? and dead… so many, John Lennon maybe, he’d do a good job for us on rhythm guitar I reckon!
Evan: David Bowie by far, the man seemed like such a gentleman, and his work was always so creative. Seemed very passionate about music. Currently, though, I’d love to work with Kevin Parker, I love his production on the early Tame Impala records and The Pond records.
Lloyd: The musician I’d work with who’s no longer with us would be Richey Edwards from Manic Street Preachers. The one I’d work with who’s still around would be Iggy Pop.
Nathan: John Frusciante, he’s class, and Tupac, two very different choices but both amazing
DL: Can you tell us anything about any new songs you have, any spoilers for us?
Dan: I’ve Got the next EP written, it’s going to be like this one just more beefed up I guess, a bit heavier, but we haven’t gone all Slipknot …not yet anyway. We know what we want to be the first single and I’m excited to share it, I’m sure it’ll be out sometime in 2021
DL: What’s the best gig you have played so far and where would you really like to play, what’s your dream venue?
Evan: Probably Creature Sound in Swansea, very punk and had the best atmosphere I’ve seen in a gig we’ve played. Dream venue: I’d love to play in the Pompei amphitheater like Pink Floyd did, or maybe more realistically Cardiff Castle or something ahaha.
Dan: I don’t know if it was our best but my favourite was a gig at The Redhouse in Merthyr, it was just a really good vibe to it. The dream venue would either be Tottenham’s stadium or Belvoir Amphitheatre.
Nathan: Best gig probably Creature Sound, to be honest, people were actually listening and watching us, and It was packed and the dream venues gotta be Wembley surely!
Lloyd: Dream venue to play at would be the Royal Ulster Hall.
The Rivers (band copyright)
DL: So it’s looking like we are going to see some gigs again very soon, fingers crossed anyway, how do you think the industry can recover, do you have any ideas about what we can all do to get our venues thriving again? What’s on the agenda for yourselves in 2021?
Evan: To be perfectly honest… I have no clue. Maybe we’re all doomed?
Lloyd: The industry can recover by being sensible and not reopening too early. As much as we all like gigs, we like not dying from covid more. Venues need to really push their advertising to get as many locals in as possible after Covid. The more people in the venues listening to small bands the better. Hopefully a lot more gigs and more tunes out there too.
Dan: I’ve seen a lot of people on Facebook during this saying they will be supporting local bands and venues when they get back open and out there gigging, so let’s hope they mean it, We have some exciting gigs to look forward to in 2021, and hopefully, some recording too.
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