From the outskirts of East London Luke Griffiths, Jake Elliott and Barney Nash make the rock star trio False Heads. After forming in the summer of 2014 the band have rapidly rose to fame in the indie scene, not to mention getting noticed by the living legend Iggy Pop. So without further ado have a look at what they’re up to…
So how did False Heads formed?
I tried to get a band going for years and years and years and nearly packed it in, then Jake and Barney came like knights in shitcovered armour to save the day and make a band with me.
Where do you get your influences from?
Musically it’s Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Nirvana, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Pixies, Radiohead, The Shins, Muse. But honestly, I think we’re at a nice point where songs sort of form naturally and it’s not because I’m sitting there listening to other bands or whatever. Lyrically it can be anything, depends what mood I’m in, what I’m thinking about, who I’m talking too. How fucked up I am on that particular evening haha Just anything really. I like writing, and I do it a lot and it just falls into place.
Once you released your single ‘steal and cheat’ you had a lot of praise from the back of it including the legend iggy pop. How did it feel to get recognition so quickly?
It felt weird, I’d worked so hard to get a band together. Then I finally did, then we got signed shortly after then had loads of press on were on Radio 1 and Radio X and shit. But at the end of the day we still have a lot of work ahead of us. So I genuinely don’t really reflect on it too much. I’m proud at where I am and how I went from being a fucking joke of a singer and a songwriter to where we are now. Iggy Pop praising us like he is though, I mean that it is a bit fucking mental. But we still have part time jobs and we’re still working our bollocks off so it’s a weird one.
How does it feel to have signed to Gary Powell (The Libertines) and Wayne Clarke’s (music industry wiz kid) label, 25 hour convenience Store?
Haha it feels pretty good. There’s lots of exciting things happen we can’t currently talk about as well. So keep your eyes peeled. We have done a lot in a years and a bit time and especially since it’s on an indie as well. Through and through, Gary and Wayne do everything very DIY and we’ve built natural buzz and press. It’s all good.
What was it like creating your new single ‘TWENTYNOTHING’?
I wrote the riff when I was 15. It went through a ton of different songs, finally fell into place when the band formed with Jake and Barney. Barney wrote the hook over the riff and it was finalised. It’s one of my favourite songs that we have. It took a long time to get that riff into the right song but it was worth it.
You have just announced your debut EP ‘Gutter Press’, how excited are you to share the new music?
Very excited, there’s a few tunes on there people have already heard. We got vinyl and CD’s as well over on Pledgemusic which is a first for us. It’s all exciting stuff. And we think the tunes are extremely strong. We’re buzzing for it to be out there. It’s all good.
You’re currently on the singles tour, how has the crowd responded to your music as a whole?
Its been great, our music lends itself to live quite well. It’s intense and chaotic and people tend to get something out of it. It’s always good when people get on stage and have a dance as well.
BBC Introducing celebrates its 10th birthday this year, as being featured yourselves, how important is it to get that crucial airplay on a major radio station?
It is crucial and it is important. They can give you great opportunities and Melita over at BBC Intro:The South has been fucking brilliant to us. She’s been helping us for so long. So once they have your back, it’s great and they fucking do you favours. And you know the support from Radio 1, Radio X, Radio 6 and such has been amazing and obviously it really helps build your profile. But nothing beats word of mouth, and nothing will. Once you get that going, it starts to roll.
Where do you see yourself in five year’s time?
Drunk
Check out False Heads latest single TWENTYNOTHING:
