大象传媒

Essay Like Nephew's three track demo, which you can listen to via this page, was amongst the first to arrive at 大象传媒 Suffolk in 2009 and the quality was enough to make us believe the year could well be another vintage one for bands from Suffolk.

The inventive videos on YouTube showed the band are amongst the most creative we've covered, so I was expecting to find an optimistic George Maude when I spoke to him.

But the singer from Rendham was feeling downbeat after a bad experience for the band the previous night.

"We figured that London was the capital and that's where you go to earn your fortune. So we went there and everybody treats you like s**t, really badly.

"We had a show last night and we were the only band of four who actually turned up. We got there on time for soundcheck and all that and then nobody else turned up throughout the evening.

"They give you these contracts where they say 'you have to get this many people in' and 'if you get that many people in we'll pay you'. So you do and you make an effort - and then at the end of the night suddenly the promoters disappear and they don't respond to our emails saying 'can you pay us please'.

"There are one or two good people but I don't think most of them like music much and they just figure that having a band night on during the week will get more people in than if they were just a bar."

Essay Like Nephew have been playing gigs around London and the South East of England since recording a series of demos at George's parents' house near Saxmundham.

Tommy Kaneko

The band met at school when they were "around 16", but it took a while to build the confidence required to actively promote their music.

"We recorded some EPs and distributed them to about five people. We then got very embarrassed that anybody had heard them so tried to take them back and hid them so nobody knew they existed.

"It wasn't until the seventh EP that we let anybody apart from, like, our mothers take a listen."

China Pop, Sharks and Sound of Mind were part of that seventh recording session and demonstrate the band's ability to produce catchy, indie pop filled with intricate details.

George says the band put a lot of emphasis on the finer points of the overall sound, but admits the lyrics aren't high up on their list of priorities.

"I don't think any of us are great believers in lyrics being very important in pop music. I know that's quite a contentious statement but I never listen to the lyrics when I'm listening to my favourite bands.

"If the lyrics happen to be really good then that's a bonus.

"We're also not very good lyricists so we try to hide it a little bit - sing a little bit more slurred if necessary sometimes. I think a lot of people will listen to us for the melody."

Creative control

The band are also likely to win over fans via the extras - take the video for Sharks and the Halloween webcast from 2008, which both use band member James Spinney's talents from film school.

"It's something we've tried to make a distinguishing feature," said George. "Tommy (Kaneko) is building us a new website which will have a lot more creative stuff and interaction, so we can put up writing and films - so it's not just the band but more of a creative world."

It's the start of 2009, and Essay Like Nephew's members are all in their early 20s and in jobs which are flexible enough to allow them to dedicate sufficient time for the band.

They plan to make further CDs available to the public, perhaps on a donation scheme, but George fears their long-term future could be in doubt unless some form of sustained income is generated.

"It's hard right now because there's no money in it. We keep trying to get on the radio and play shows and do the things bands are meant to do, but until somebody from a record company comes and says 'we want to pay you to do this', to some degree, it's a bit worrying.

"We don't really understand the industry if I'm honest. It's a bit of a nightmare and a real struggle.

"We're hoping it will happen if we keep plugging away at it. I guess if this doesn't happen within the next couple of years we'll give up."

Glastonbury Festival 2009

Just a few months after initially speaking to Essay Like Nephew, and with their album Burrows a regular on the 大象传媒 Suffolk Introducing stereo, we were delighted to put them forward for a place on the Glastonbury Festival line up.

Essay Like Nephew at Glastonbury

We were even more delighted when a panel of industry experts, Radio One DJs and organiser Emily Eavis selected them to play the 大象传媒 Introducing stage.

"It's probably the best thing that's ever happened to us," said George a week ahead of the festival. "We went out the night before and had a really depressing time in the pub, talking about our future and where we were going, asking why we're spending so much time doing this.

"And then the next morning you called to tell us the news and we suddenly felt that we're doing something good and could be a decent band going places.

"It's changed our whole mindset about what we are and what we're doing - it's been brilliant."
---
Essay Like Nephew will be reporting back on their Glastonbury experience for the 大象传媒 Suffolk website.