Hey guys! I hope you've been doing well. Here's another upcoming band One Man Boycott. Learn all about how they formed and what their future plans are for the band in the next year. Read on to find out more:
How did you guys meet one another?
There's no big dramas to tell of, or tails of friendship forged in the fires of Mordoor here, although I feel like it'd take a lot more than that to change anything between us. I've been friends (although he's more like a brother to me) with Frank for all of my life that matters, we met in school and have been friends and playing music across the world together ever since, trust me when I say he's one of the best.
I guess I know Lewis through his sister really (we went to the same primary school) after school I knew him in bands playing around the area then he moved to London to play with (Ex-Band) The Howling. I feel lucky that his time in that band came to an end just as I was recruiting for Boycott, to have snapped him up literally as soon as he left London was a very important step in the formation of OMB.
As for Tom we really met through mutual friends a fair few years back and he used to play in a killer band called Oh Captive, he still was when I put Boycott together.
He was initially my first choice when I was drafting for guitar and bass (Frank's always been Boycott) but I never thought he'd have the time to start a new project with me then. It was good timing for us when the same week our first bassist decided he was quitting music, Toms former band played their last show. I remember the call to Frank (he was still travelling) telling him Jay had quit the band, the only words that came back to me were "get Hitchins" haha, I was like, "Agreed!". He's the perfect fit, such a nice guy and he's always up for a laugh, he knows all of us as friends too and I love his bass playing, I tell him it's cuz he plays like me haha but truthfully tho, we're incredibly lucky to have each other.
I believe in every one of them individually and together, when I'm on stage looking at them around me? I wouldn't change a thing.
How was the band name created?
The name One Man Boycott really has a multitude of origins for me but lets go with this one; The whole idea of a one man boycott was highlighted by something a friend of ours once said to us years ago, about him being sick of losing friends to music and asked if we'd noticed him not turning up to our shows, one person out of hundreds? No we hadn't noticed. On the walk home that night we spoke about the idea of a one man boycott and I guess thats where the seed was planted. Skip forward what must have been like five or seven years later, I'd started my new solo project and was thinking what name to play under, as I always wanted it to grow into a band I didn't want to just go down the 'Joe Brewer' route and One Man Boycott seemed to make sense, it sounded nice, abbreviates well to 'OMB' and it fit nicely with what I was trying to achieve.
How would you describe the music your band creates?
You can describe our sound right now by saying we're a tight, punchy rock-cum-pop punk band, with super catchy hooks, set apart by soaring vocals.
I'd say we're probably something like a cross between Fall Out Boy, State Champs and maybe All Time Low.
I think we're more dynamic than your average pop-punk band though. Helped by a varied taste in music, we sway from heartfelt meaningful songs about love and loss through some serious shit like terminal illness to the way more energetic and positive, classic happy kinda songs to jump to, we've even got a swing track on this album.
What are some of the themes and messages that come across in your songs?
You know, it's not necessarily the most important thing to me when initially writing a song, to have a set-in-stone theme to work on or try to put across. I usually start with a small idea and let it grow without putting too much pressure on myself to deliver the message, then when it is a complete song I take a step back and tweak it all with a mind set of right what am I trying to say? So it (hopefully) becomes more coherent.
On this album there're songs about love, relationships, aspirations and heartache too so it's quite diverse in that sense, but if I had to put a re-occurring theme on the album as a whole, it would probably be a hopeful feeling of self worth, a welcomed confidence boost for the listener. I suppose that slant on it comes from my own insecurities but I think, it's a very positive album our fans old and new will relate to.
What are your plans for 2016?
Well simply put, we're planning to have a better year than 2015 haha. Not that it was at all bad last year, it was actually really good for us especially as we effectively lost the first six months to south east Asia with Frank checking out whats in the east of the world. I'm always looking to progress and for us to move forward as a band together.
We've been working with the label recently to find a booking agent right for us predominantly in the UK, we're already in talks with a couple over in Europe so we'll see how that pans out but we're hoping to be playing a lot more of the 'bigger' stages we had a taste of last year. There's things in the works for at least a couple tours this year to support the album too, the soonest thing that could be a goer is a run of dates around our album launch with our label friends in Who Saves The Hero? (South Wales Pop-Punk). I think really, our focus this year is revolving around playing more shows to more people, now that the album is finally here and ready to go.
There's the acoustic Sunday Sessions videos we put out regularly on YouTube, we're doing a BBC intro Live Session sometime in the next month I think, we've got Balcony TV coming up too so some fun stuff is starting to take shape.
I'm also knocking a few ideas around with the boys about some special one off releases outside of Counting The Seconds, but then there's at least six tracks we want to push as singles from that... I've also just had an idea for a release towards the end of the year and we kinda inadvertently started Jamming/writing new Boycott material at the studio last night. Christ I've gone on, let me summarise: hopefully, and if the work pays off, a lot.
Where can people find you on social media?
We're just on most of the usual ones at the moment, you know Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr etc. except snapchat, don't really get it... maybe I'll check it out, obviously that'd be under 'One Man Boycott' too.
Finally, if there was only one album you could listen to for the rest of your life which one would you choose and why?
Joe: Love Part II - Angels & Airwaves. I had trouble picking one but I remember getting this album sitting in the dark listening in headphones from start to finish and just being blown away with the concept and sheer production on the thing. Massive drums, brilliant composition, big guitars with synth lines... I was obsessed with this for longer than i'd care to admit.
Lewis: Grand Unification - Fightstar. "It brings back great memories for me and also has a bit of everything. Melody, metal, acoustic, great drumming. Yeah!"
Frank: Battle Studies - John Mayer. "Amazing musicianship, well produced, simple but amazing songwriting. It reminds me of Great times."
Tom: First Temple - Closure In Moscow. "Such a crazy album! Mental guitar work, interesting timings and wicked vocals. It was the first album that really made me think about how an album is recorded and produced."
Thank you to Lauren from Inception Press and the boys from One Man Boycott for answering these questions. If any other bands would like to be featured on this blog please email me at rachelcolley@msn.com and I will send you the questions. Thanks to Lauren and the band again.
Hope you enjoyed the blog post,
Rachel.
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