Interview With 'Loose Lips'
Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?
Myself (Keiran Hayes) & Lewis Bates met and became friends playing in different bands and suporting each other at shows. Those bands split up and left me and Lewis free to have a jam. Passionate for our love with music it was only going one way from there. Up!
What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?
I always wanted to be a singer/songwriter and could not wish for a better partner than Lewis. He is a very talented human being with the best guitar skills I have ever seen. He has amazing rapping ability and production skills, also he is just a all round top guy! Together we are chasing the dream achieving goals and only have one place in mind of where we want to be.
Tell us about your latest EP and why our readers should check it out.
Our latest EP 'Two For Joy' is a live EP showcasing the full use of the loop pedal and it also strips our songs back to straight acoustic and vocals. It's a 6 track EP with a secret cover thrown in the mix made with love passion and real lyrics from the heart. A lot of people often say we look like we have just met at the train station or something and then can't believe how we sound.
Who would you say is the bands main song writer or is it a group effort and where do you draw your inspiration lyrically and musically from?
Myself and Lewis both write the lyrics but I would say Lewis has the edge, as he also makes the melody and riffs with the guitar. We always work together though as it's our best feature, even if we are away from each other and make lyrics or parts of songs we FaceTime each other just to show one another. It's a buzz that we share together just love for the music I guess. As inspirations go we have many, I love a soulful heartfelt real singer/songwriter like Ed Sheeran, Paolo Nutini, Passenger, Maverick Sabre, Ady Suliman, Sway Clarke, James Bay, Newton Faulkner, Plan B and so many more I could name. Lewis has musical inspirations from The Beatles who he loves to Stormzy, who is fresh in the grime scene right now. Lewis has the most versitile music taste of anyone I know!
As a band what do you believe is your greatest achievement to date?
I believe our best achievement to date was playing at the Harper Adams University Summer Ball to a sell out crowd of 7,000 and being the only unsigned act on the line up.
Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?
We met Ed Sheeran in 2012 and it was a great moment for us as everything we did at the time was eat, sleep, live, dream Ed Sheeran. He is an idol to us both and it was amazing to chill out and have a drink and smoke with him before his show.
If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?
You should expect a range of old to brand new fresh covers crafted in our own way with our own tunes played vibrantly and passionately, altogether something you won't have seen before. That is a promise.
If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?
It would have to be either Ed Sheeran or Coldplay just for the realism of their music and it would be a joy to learn from them in every way possible. I would be like a dry sponge to a puddle of water!
You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?
I would have to pick two people, 2pac and Amy Winehouse. We'd be in a back room jamming with a few drinks living in the moment.
And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
Die hard is not a Christmas film, it's always on TV over the Christmas holiday but Home Alone is way better so will never be a Christmas film for me.
Check out their live video for 'Rhythm In My Soul'
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LooseLipsTel
