For our latest introduction interview, we caught up with Liverpool indie-pop band Motherhood to get a better insight to what the four-piece is really about.
Tell us about your aims when creating music, and where does that aim stem from?
With every tune we write we try to arrange it in the best way that serves the song, and try not to think too much about restricting our ideas based on what we’ve done before. Within reason, we try not to adhere to our own sound too much whilst writing because we find it stifles us a bit. And usually, by the time we’ve finished a song, it sounds like Motherhood whether it started off as sounding like an 80’s ballad or a garage rock track.
What was the catalyst for picking up instruments and wanting to start a band?
I can’t speak for the others, but for me (Ed) it was absolutely School of Rock. That was the genesis. And once I’d been playing the drums long enough it was a case of finding like minded individuals. Forcing kids at school who clearly were not as into it as me to form a band. And eventually finding friends who wanted to do the concert at the end of school of rock as much as I did.
Tell us about what it was like when you first started writing?
It started when me (Ed) and Evan met, having established we were both in bands before and were into the same sort of music, we got in a room and he showed me some songs he’d written. Instinctively I started suggesting what should come after each section and how the drums should be and we just took it from there really. Shea came on board and it gelled really well. We’d written all these songs just waiting to have another guitar part on top and had booked some studio time with no guitarist. After having my old band mate Sully drop in for a rehearsal it all clicked. We spent the afternoon before going into the studio writing all the extra guitar parts and then recorded them all that week and we’ve just progressed from there!
The music scene in Liverpool is thriving at the moment, any personal favourites?
We know the dudes in Her’s and they are doing some really cool stuff. Their track ‘What Once Was’ is just a banger. Can’t wait to hear their full length in May. And Paris Youth Foundation are doing really well. They played our first headline show with us actually and they’re a cool bunch of guys.
You have a couple of dates coming up, one with White Kite and a club night ‘The Hood Presents’, tell us about that?
We haven’t played a show since the end of last year and just dropped a new single so these should be really fun. We’re supporting White Kite at The Shipping Forecast in Liverpool on their first UK tour and that will be really cool. We put on our first headline show ourselves last year because we didn’t know any promoters, let alone any who’d put a month old band on headlining a 200 capacity venue. We managed to fill it and had a great night so we thought, let’s do it again! We wanted to put more emphasis on other bands this time so we booked more bands from Liverpool and Manchester that we’re really into. It’s at EBGB’s, a little basement venue, a Friday night, free entry, four great bands. What’s not to like.
What and who influences you musically?
Our band was essentially started over a shared love of banging pop songs. So we’re influenced by a constant eclectic stream of newly discovered tunes. Anything from Fleetwood Mac to Kanye West to The Strokes to Spanish pop starlet Jeanette’s 1974 hit ‘Porque Te Vas’.
Describe your song-writing process?
Ideas come in from everyone and they’re usually jammed out in a room until we settle on the basic direction and structure of the song. We like to demo and work on tracks in that format too, which allows for better consideration of the sounds and production that suit the song best. Throughout this process, Evan is distilling the subject of the song until the lyrics are penned and we’re all happy.
What was it like recording your latest single ‘Clueless’?
We recorded it in the first sessions last year. We didn’t really have any plan of action at that point, how or when we were going to release it. So we just worked on the songs for the sake of it. It was all quite new and exciting because we’d only been writing together for six months or so. Having tracked it up in Liverpool we went and spent a few days in Newbury with producer Sam Winfield where we added some finishing touches and then he mixed the record.
(Continue the interview below)
Although you are in a band, do you still have to work day jobs in-between live shows?
We’re all students so being in a band sits quite nicely alongside studying. We have part time jobs to fuel the endless cash drain the band is, but we’re aiming to not have to be baristas for too long after Uni before we can be fully fledged pop stars.
How would you like people to respond to your music? Do you wish to connect emotionally with the audience or is it just about having a party?
A bit of both definitely. The two songs we’ve put out so far have been pretty upbeat so for those tunes we definitely aim for more of the party vibe. I think we balance our set quite nicely between our mellower, more emotional tracks and the dancier tunes. When we’re writing a song we know we want to be upbeat we try and see how easy it is to dance to, that’s usually a good barometer. That said, a lot of thought goes into the lyrical content of all the tracks, each aiming to be relatable in some way.
Do you ever see your sound changing from the type of indie pop you write?
Absolutely. The two tracks we’ve put out have both obviously fallen into this indie-pop box but even between those two they’re quite different, with our first track ‘You Can Be Lonely If You Want’ erring more on the synthy-eighties side of things compared to the more guitar-based ‘Clueless’. All our songs have their little idiosyncrasies that define them from one another and I’m sure that’ll develop as we hone our sound. We know what Motherhood sounds like now. We kinda know what Motherhood will sound like in six months, but we have no idea what the first Motherhood album is going to sound like just yet, and that’s really exciting for us.
For more about Motherhood, find them on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud.
