We caught up with Yorkshire based trio TALKMORE about equality, Manchester and keeping the music scene peachy. They told us what they’ve been working on ahead of their first headline show later this month…
First things first. Where’d the name TALKMORE come from?
Morgan has the idea for a long time, suggested it to another band and they thought it was shit. We loved it though, so we ran with it.
You’re a 3 piece with individual creative backgrounds before you guys formed as TALKMORE. How’s everyone finding the band dynamic?
It’s pretty great, actually. It’s a chilled vibe that we’ve got between us, so there’s never any conflict or the need for time apart. We’ve got the benefit of being close mates as well as bandmates, and that’s given us a good creative connection. It’s been as simple as writing music with your best friends, really. Absolute bliss.
Have you noticed everyone’s individual sounds creeping in on your first two releases?
Daisy was the main writing force for her previous projects, but it’s not something Morgan or Alex have focussed on – so we wouldn’t say we’re hugely influenced by our former bands. It does have the habit of creeping in now and then though! We’ve put the majority of our energy into getting stuck into something totally new to all of us.
There’s always a desire to get back into the studio because we’ve been writing so much. We want to get everything down and out while they’re still fresh, and a proper TALKMORE sound. The songs usually take their best form when we’re actually there in the studio, so we always want to get back to chasing that high, too.
D’you ever think social media can be a bit of a blessing and a curse for indie artists? It’s where you’ve showcased ‘Planned Flights’ and ‘Heart Again’ – but has it helped exposure as much as you’d like it to?
Socials are always going to be a blessing when it comes to artists – it lets us reach people all over the globe. But at the same time, it’s so easy to get your work all over social media it can get pretty oversaturated. Sometimes it can be a struggle to get your sound out to people who’ve already liked and followed us, let alone reaching a bigger audience.
I think the same applies to streaming platforms like Spotify, where it’s great for being accessible to lots of people, but there’s definitely so much content it’s easy to get swallowed up in the stream.
It’s encouraging to see mixed-gender groups confidently make more music – and clearly, it sounds absolutely sick. Do you think there should be more encouragement for that?
We absolutely support mixed groups, and it’s really great to see more and more coming out. To be honest, it wasn’t even a conscious decision when we set about the band, it just so happens to have worked out so well. We didn’t force anything musically to stand out – we just knew we worked well together. It’s a plus that we’ve kept our line up the way it is, and hopefully, it’ll encourage other artists not to conform to standard gender roles.
How big of a part do you think being Northern plays in your journey as musicians? How are you finding making your won sounds in a busy scene?
Honestly, we see other artists as colleagues rather than competition – we think if everyone is there to help each other out it just makes the scene a much nicer one. It can be difficult with it all being so busy, and it does sometimes feel more difficult being heard the further up North you get but it’s getting easier, and, a lot more encouraging as cities like Manchester are flourishing for local independent musicians.
What’s the plan for the rest of the year?
We’ve got our first festival slot at Humber Street Sesh this month, swiftly followed by our first hometown headline at the Fulford Arms in York on August 9th. We can’t wait for that! We’ve been doing as much writing as we can, so we’re planning on keeping the momentum going and getting back to the studio as soon as we can. We’ve got more gigs in the works, too – ridiculously excited to start announcing those in the coming months.
