Elly meets...YVES

After their set supporting Hey Charlie in London's Shackwell Arms, a sober bass player, a tired singer and an intoxicated drummer, AKA Mitch, Harry and Finn of YVES, sat down to be interviewed in the crammed smoking area of the venue.

How are you all doing?

Harry: I’m hot and sweaty

Mitch: Yeah I’m doing okay,

Finn: I’m good, I always have a great time at gigs, we get free beer and get to play a show

Harry: Yeah we make the most of the free beer

Mitch (holding up a water bottle): Except for me, I’m always driving…

Finn: Yeah, I’m not the driver so it’s all good

You guys are from Swindon, is there a music scene there or are you finding you have to go to other places to find a crowd?

Harry: Originally there wasn’t, but since we started playing shows we’ve found our crowd, there are loads of bands from Swindon, but also travelling to nearby towns to play shows is a great way to find new fans.

You’re going to play The Cellar in Oxford right?

Harry: Yeah we are, we’ve never played it before It’s a cool venue but it’s threatening to be shut down, like most grassroots venues.

Harry: Cunts

You’ve played a lot of grass roots venues; do you think enough is being done to support them?

Harry: No, and they always have horrible toilets, if they were being supported properly they’d have nice toilets

Mitch: It’s important these venues stay open to give bands like us and other bands a place to play, it’s these places where new bands get discovered so it’s very important

Where did your band name come from? And how do you pronounce it…

Harry: It’s pronounced likes eves

Mitch: There’s literally no reason behind the name, it just happened.

You guys have been doing a lot of shows with This Feeling, do you think it’s a good platform for up-and- coming bands?

Harry: it’s one of the best I think, I think it means that there are bands out there getting exposure, and they’re backing guitar bands which is something that needs to be encouraged as much as possible

(An intoxicated) Finn: They’re not backing techno.

*All laugh*

Are you not a fan of techno?

Finn: No I love it, it’s these boys that don’t

Oh right, so if you were running the band…

Finn: If I was running the band it’d be only techno

So apart from techno what are you influences?

Mitch: Just guitar bands, a lot of Nirvana, Queens of The Stone age, a lot of techno…

There are some new tunes on the horizon right?

Harry: Yeah, we recorded it last week, working with Lee Slater who’s worked with The Vaccines and other bands, and it’s coming out in February, there's lots on the horizon for sure...

Keep up with YVES here!