Hastings based indie-rock band TxtTalk chat to Edward Burnett about their origins, their plans for post-social distancing and their brand new rockin’ single: ‘Hollywood’! RNRR: Hi TxtTalk! Would you mind introducing yourselves, where your from and your style of music for the RNRR readership that are unfamiliar with you? TT: Hi Rock N Roll Reports, we are TxtTalk, an Alt/Indie/Pop band from Hastings, UK. We’ve just released our debut EP ‘Text Message Love Letters’ which hit 25k streams in one month on Spotify and it also gained us the spot of BBC Introducing’s featured artist of the week! On top of that our new single ‘Hollywood’ is out now! We have Marcus Swadling on vocals/guitar, Ed Stubbs on drums, Theo Prior on bass and Mark Yexley on the trumpet. Everything is completely self produced from recording to mastering between our home studios and the University of Brighton recording studios. RNRR: Okay great, nice to meet you all. So let’s go back in time now and ask when and how did you all meet? Did you know instantly you’d be in a band together or were there friendships running long before that moment arose? TT: We actually started the band in 2019 when our previous singer Callum Dalton (who you can hear on our debut EP) was in another band, a live drum and bass outfit, doing the festival circuit at the time. We had just got back from playing Glastonbury Festival and we had been writing some songs together with Marcus (our current singer). Marcus was playing bass at the time in the band, we jammed around in the studio for a while finding our sound and messing about with some riffs and ideas before we started to self record our debut EP. We knew we wanted to do somthing alternative-indie and we were listening to a lot of Australian indie bands at the time and were drawing a lot of influencers there from bands like Sticky Fingers, Ocean Alley, Lime Cordiale, the DMAs. RNRR: So you’ve mentioned a few immediate inspirations that lead to the creation of your music but who were each member’s inspirations growing up? When did each of you realise you wanted to have a musical career as opposed to any other professional ambition you had? TT: We all grew on a diverse mixture of musical influences which has probably made are sound the way it is now. Marcus grew up listening to bands like Foo Fighters, Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, Blur and more aswell as listening to a lot of 60 and 70s psyche rock bands from his dad’s huge vinyl collection. Ed was quite into some heavier bands like Muse, Guns and Roses and Metallica aswell as having had a big influence from the electronic scene with bands like The Prodigy as well as drum and bass artists like Pendulum and Shy Fx. Mark listened to a lot of Miles Davis, James Brown, David Bowie, Fat Freddy’s Drop and more recently, John Grant. And out bass player Theo’s were Miles Davis, Chopin, John Mayer, Norah Jones. RNRR: Live performances are always a key part of music despite them decreasing in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic raging on. My question to each of you is what was each of your first gigs you went to and which gig left the most lasting impression on you? TT: [Marcus]: The first proper gig I went to was Angels and Airwaves at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. It was the first time I'd seen a band from the States with a huge following. This was around the time I started playing in my first band and it definitely gave me a lot of inspiration to start gigging back then. Seeing Green Day at the Emirates Stadium, supported by the Kaiser Chiefs was brilliant too though. Seeing a band of that status play for 3 hours and being in a stadium packed with over 70 thousand people chanting along, having a great time, felt unreal. The way the singer Billie Joe Armstrong interacted with a crowd that size and still managed to get them involved with the songs was really inspiring. [Ed]: When I first started going to gigs it was probably when I was turning 18 in Brighton. I was going to mates’ shows and local indie nights at different bars around the city. We were all young and probably underage so it was drinking a few beers on the street and using fake ids to get in [laughs] but obviously since then have seen some amazing bands. One of the biggest atmospheres I have experienced would be at Rage Against the Machine at Download Festival. The way frontman Zak de la Rocha worked the crowd was unreal and the energy was crazy. They had been broken up for years and it was their come back year so people were going mad, I think people were getting crushed at the front an they actually had to stop the gig, so yeah pretty intense stuff. RNRR: Some amazing gigs and bands you’ve just name dropped there guys! So while staying on the topic of live performances, what plans do you have gig-wise after the pandemic eases? Is there any venue or festival you realistically want to play before the end of the year? TT: We hope to be gigging again by the summer if all goes to plan! Nothing is concrete yet because of the current situation but we're hoping to get back into the swing of things by playing some local shows and festivals in our hometown Hastings as well as promoting a couple of the new singles we're planning to drop around that time. We also have a few dates in London pencilled in but as I said nothing is in concrete yet due to the pandemic. RNRR: So guys, you recently released your great new single ‘Hollywood’. With such a catchy tune and interesting lyrics, the song is already a hit in my books. Talk us through the process of coming up with the theme of the song. TT: You always hear people talking about the Hollywood dream and how great it would be to be in the shoes of those living it but you don't always hear their side of the story. The pressures, the lack of control over your own life or the image they construct of you to sell the brand. There was a few different news stories going on at the time and it just got me thinking about the realities of that lifestyle and the corruption Then the lyric 'Cause this is Hollywood, and I bet you never felt this good' just popped into my head and we went from there. We are proud to say the track ended up as a highlight on BBC Introducing, gaining the status of track of the day on BBC Music which was a real highlight for us. RNRR: Congratulations are in order as BBC Introducing is no mean feat for sure! The ‘Hollywood’ single artwork is also truly immense, how did you settle on going for such a grand piece of design for the single’s cover? TT: The artwork was created by our good friend Zak Comyns who is a very creative and talented illustrator. The artwork he created captures the lyrics and vision of the song perfectly and we love working with him. There's a lot of references in the artwork, from the Church of Scientology to Marilyn Monroe, it's really cool to take a closer look at. RNRR: So moving away from the music side of things, what are your biggest other hobbies and interests as individuals? TT: Marcus has always had an interest in video and photography. [Marcus]: When I was younger my school ran a video editing class which I did for a while. I started using programs like Photoshop when I was around 10 and I would just mess around creating digital art and converting old black and white photos into colour, things like that. This knowledge is pretty useful these days as we don't really have to rely on anyone outside of the band for creating things like Facebook/Spotify banners and promotional materials. On the video side of things, we've been filming and editing behind the scenes mini documentary's whilst in the studio, showing how we record and write songs which is just a really cool way to let our fans see how everything comes together. At the start of the lockdown, we decided that since we can't go out and play for people that we would start our Lockdown Live cover series and upload the videos online. We've done around 6 of them so far, covering some of our favourite bands and we've tried to be quite creative with the video side of things. RNRR: So carrying on the topic of other hobbies, did you guys learn any new talents or gain any other interests while the United Kingdom was in its various lockdowns? Of course we are still in one so what do you each do to pass the time other than music related activities? TT: Lockdown came as abit of a blessing in disguise. We have had so much time to finish tracks, edit parts down and really perfect what we have. We actually released our debut EP in the first lockdown! Our second EP ‘Hollywood’ is nearly finished and we have already made steps into our third EP! So it has really given us time to get our heads into it. We are so buzzing to get out of lockdown though and start gigging. Words can’t express how hungry we are for this! Besides from music we have been taking to the South Downs for long walks. It’s so important to get out and exercise during times like these to keep your head on and keep sharp. It also helps with inspiration to get out and take a break, getting the amazing views that the area we live in has to offer. We are very lucky in that respect to live here in Sussex. RNRR: So looking towards the future, where would you like the band by the end of this year? What would you gage as a successful year? TT: At this point, playing even a handful of shows this year will feel like a success! With the easing of restrictions starting to take place, it's looking like we can start rehearsing and gigging full time again within the next few months and we honestly can't wait! Our main aims this year are to play as many shows as we can and to promote the new EP 'Hollywood' that we're releasing next month. Then our focus will turn to our single release we've had planned for this summer. hopefully picking up some festival slots along the way. We actually have a lot of new material in the works at the moment so we should have something ready for the end of the year too! With all things considered, if everything goes to plan it will be a really productive and successful year for us. RNRR: A lot of plans and we’re all hoping that the stars align for you so that you can make 2021 a successful year for sure. Finally, I have to ask you our signature Spotlight question. We always pose the problem of being stranded on a desert island to our guests with the option of only choosing one album to listen to for the rest of their lives. TxtTalk, what are you picking and more crucially, why? TT: That is such a hard question for us as we all have such a varied music taste but as a band, we definitely share certain inspirations. I guess we'd have to go for the first Arctic Monkeys album, ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not’. It’s still one of their best if not best albums as the lyrics are truthful, the riffs are loud and it's hard to get bored of. We all loved that album at the time and it’s an artist we are proud to say our sound is often compared to. RNRR: That’s one of my all time favourite albums as the Monkeys are my personal favourite band so I’ve got to give you extra points for that one! Thanks for being such great and insightful guests and best of look with the release of your second EP, ‘Hollywood’! If you'd like to find out more about TxtTalk and keep up to date with their latest EP releases then the links to all their social medias are below via the icons:
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