PLAZA are from the remote town of Hartlepool on the east coast of the UK. Sheltered from strong sea winds and pidgeon eating seagulls, they write and record in a converted church. After a year of heights and lows, the band have taken a step back and recorded their debut EP, we talked to them prior to its release.
Howdy! Welcome to the Rodeo, how’s life treating you?
Hi thank you, life’s going okay at the minute. Taking it day by day and all that.
What are the best and worst first gigs you guys went to? Any awful ones?
One of the best gigs we’ve been too was probably DJ Shadow in Manchester. We played a small show in Fallowfield, Manchester, seen DJ shadow then drove straight to London the next morning to play another gig, a splendid 24 hours.
You’ve said that this upcoming EP is “the most true songs” that you’ve written, how does it feel to get your emotions and experiences down in words? Has this been more cathartic a process than your previous releases?
It feels good, I have had a pretty up and down year. A couple of these songs and also some others not on the EP have been on the backburner for a while, Ive been writing a lot and I’ve been in a decent flow, sometimes I feel it’s hard to get into the swing of writing again.
I once seen a seagull attempt to swallow a dying pigeon whole.
The new EP is called wernotPLAZA, If you’re not PLAZA, who are you? Is it because of that Canadian bloke I’ve just found on Spotify called PLAZA…
When we first started the band we decided to put @wernotplaza as our social media usernames, thinking we were edgy. One thing is for sure I’m definitely not that Canadian guy, I seen that he signed a deal with Drake’s label so we’re holding out until they try and sue us for the name or maybe they will pay us off, I’d be happy with a 60k payout mind.
Is it pretty holy playing and writing in a church? Hows the acoustics… godly?
It is a cool vibe, I don’t know about holy. This one time when we were demoing a guy came in and asked if we could stop making a racket for an hour whilst he showed a group of paranormal investigators around. Apparently we have 4 ghosts in the building. As for the acoustics they’re a shoegazers dream.
How’s where you’re from, the seaside, influenced your music? Ever tempted to put a seagull in a track? What do people do in Hartlepool?
If there’s one thing you need to know about Plaza it’s we despise seagulls. They’re nothing but a nuisance, trying to sit on the promenade and enjoy a packet of chips from the local chippy – impossible. I once saw a seagull attempt to swallow a dying pigeon whole, just inside the shopping centre, literally had the pigeons head sticking out, not the worst thing I’ve seen in Hartlepool town centre mind.
Your previous single artwork has been pretty dark, with a kind of abstract expressionism style in mostly black and white. The new single ‘BOLOSTITCHER’ however has a stark red cover, does this new track – and what’s to come after it – represent a step in a new direction for you?
One of my best mates Joe Spence does all the artwork/videos/merch designs etc. We give him demos of the songs a few months before so he can have a play around with various ideas. We give him a lot of freedom to do what he wants really, last year he was doing loads of paintings whereas the new EP is all C-Type prints.
The face on there is a sketch Joe gave us a year ago, we also have it on T-shirts.
This one time when we were demoing a guy came in and asked if we could stop making a racket for an hour whilst he showed a group of paranormal investigators around.
Lastly, what’re the plans for the rest of the year? What and where are you going?
The rest of the year we’re going to spend recording our debut album. We’re going to be playing a couple of shows here and there, mainly just to try out all the new material we have been writing over the past year.
Listen to PLAZA on Spotify and Apple Music.
