Next Wave #719: The Amazons

In Association With Cheap Monday...

“I shut Chris’ fingers in the door recently mid-tour, he had to re-learn the songs with two fingers because the other ones couldn’t play.” Recounts The Amazons’ drummer Joe Emmett. “It was hilarious!” adds frontman Matt Thompson. Despite on tour hijinks like finger entrapment and a temperamental tour van door, it’s impossible to dampen the spirits of this Reading band. Riotous and rollicking in sonic stature, they have rightly earned their place on an abundance of new music polls predicting big things for bands and artists in 2017. “I think we’re the most surprised out of everyone,” offers Matt on the subject.

Proving any naysayers of guitar-wielding bands wrong, the quartet spent 2016 laying down the gauntlet in various venues across the UK by showcasing their euphoric live show in support slots for the likes of Jimmy Eat World and on their own headline tour – which culminated in a raucous display of rock and roll and crowd surfing limbs at Readipop in their hometown of Reading.

They still, however, managed to find time to record their debut album with producing powerhouse Catherine Marks joining them at the helm and thus becoming a solid highlight for the band last year. “Recording an album is what you set out to do,” begins frontman Matt. “It was one of those moments where you realise, this is our opportunity to make our mark. If you play a gig it’s all forgotten about the next day really because there’s loads of other gigs but with albums this is our opportunity to contribute to the rich tapestry of rock and roll.”

Instrumental in the way the newer, and at the time, less structured songs now sound, Catherine helped the band to hone their brilliantly boisterious live element when recording. “We are a live band and we try our best to put everything into our live performance, so she wanted to capture that.” elaborates Joe, guitarist Chris Alderton agrees, “She was really good at pinpointing the non-tangible stuff that would make a song good. We learnt how to tell when something feels good instead of just sounding good.”

Aside from the band Matt and Chris also throw themselves into other music related activities like running a club night called Two Step at Reading’s Purple Turtle and producing other bands respectively. “A couple of years ago there was honestly no Reading scene and there was a bit of a hole so we put on a night.” Expands Matt. Joe, meanwhile, works as a baker while bassist Elliot Briggs has a passion for K Pop and hiking.

As thoughts now turn to the release of four piece’s first LP, Clash wonders how the band feels about inevitable comparisons in the music press. Matt proceeds, “We’ve gone back to the bands that got us playing our instruments in the first place, these big, unapologetic rock bands who would be all over the charts and do big songs, so to be compared to any of them we’re happy.”

Where: Reading
What: Stadium ready uproarious anthems laced with primal percussion and visceral riffs
Get Three Songs: ‘Little Something’, ‘Ultraviolet’, ‘In My Mind’

Fact: Elliot used to go to the same school as Laura Marling where she would play acoustically in assembly whilst Joe was taught by the same music teacher as Muse.

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Words: Shannon Cotton
Photo Credit: Anna Smith

Brought to you in association with Cheap Monday. Check out their latest offerings over on their website now.

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