INTERVIEW: COURTING

Courting are one of the most exciting emerging British electronic rock bands in the music scene at the moment, from punky political lyrics to extravagant outfits while they perform! They are definitely not a band you want to be missing out on listening too whether it is live or through your headphones. After their very busy European tour last year they are blessing the UK with more dates including Tramlines Festival where Alex from Before and After and Northern Exposure caught up with Josh their guitarist to ask a few questions on how things have been going with the band.

NE: What have you been up to over the summer?

Josh: Mostly just festivals but we’ve had quite a few European bits and bobs, we had a really nice show in Hamburg not too long ago and then a tour with Circa Waves UK tour and hit about 10 different cities I think which was great.

NE: Are you getting used to tour life now?

Josh: Yeah definitely, the headline tour we had last September, I think we had around 27 dates so it was a heavy one!

NE: How does it feel playing in your hometown at Tramlines?

Josh: Great yeah, it’s always nice to come back to Sheffield and do a show, it’s always nice to see that many people turn up to come and see us. Being in a band that’s mostly scouse’s a lot of the attention is when we are in Liverpool but it’s nice to see my hometown rooting for us too.

NE: What was the difference in writing style between your new single ‘Flex’ and ‘Guitar Music’?

Josh: A lot of this now is split 4 ways, while ‘Guitar Music’ was more Sean writing over lockdown. ‘Flex’ feels a lot more like a group effort, there’s a lot more elements in there, not just musically but you can kind of hear who did what.

NE: Is it a teaser for a new album?

Josh: No comment, i’m not at liberty to say. But its definitely the start of something exciting.

NE: When did you join the band?

Josh: This line up has been going since 2021, I joined over uni, I only picked up a guitar and taught myself over lockdown! So we all started gigging together just before our tour with Sports Team.

NE: What are your influences? Did you pick up any of your style from ‘Squid’ or ‘Sports Team’?

Josh: We love Sports Team and Squid but recently we are into our electronic music, Sean’s really into his hyperpop at the minute like ‘Sophie’.

NE: Was there a point in the band’s progression where you thought “we’re really hitting it off now!”

Josh: Everyone would give you a different answer, that’s a good question actually, the Sean’s in the band definitely say it’s when we supported ‘Sports Team’. We definitely picked up some of their crowd.

NE: You remixed your album ‘Grand National’ and made ‘Grand Prix’ I love that twist! What made you come up with that idea?

Josh: As we all love electronical music so we got one remixed and loved the idea of it! So it progressed.

NE: If you could get anybody to join you live on stage today at Tramlines who would it be?

Josh: Ooo I feel like big Jarvis Cocker would be a good one!

Their tantalising new single ‘Flex’ is out now on all streaming platforms, make sure you check them out… you definitely won’t regret it.

AL NEWTON

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Rachel Brown

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