We caught up with one of Grimsby's finest this week: The Brookes. After supporting The Strypes on their Doncaster Dome date earlier this year, the four-piece have had their latest single, 'Lucy', aired on BBC Radio 2, as well as hitting the road on numerous occasions. With a date with The Pigeon Detectives in the diary for next month, as well as an Autumn tour to look forward to, The Brookes are all but certainly a band on the up. Here's what they had to say...
1. How's things been for The Brookes we last spoke?
Things have been grand thank you friend. Opening for The Strypes at Doncaster Dome and our sold out single launch in Grimsby have been some personal highlights. We've been getting out of town a lot also which is brilliant.
2. Back in April your latest single, 'Lucy', was aired on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2. How did it feel to hear your music on the radio?
We were actually sound checking at the time for the single launch in Grimsby, we ended up plugging a phone into the PA and all the crew gathered round and listened in. It was really surreal hearing ourselves on the radio and I suppose it's something we can only hope for more of in the future. We had numerous emails from people wanting to work with us which we really appreciated and we're actually working with a number of them now.
3. You ventured out of Grimsby on a few occasions in recent months, how does it feel to play to different crowds compared to your own?
We'll always love playing at home (in Grimsby) as it's so easy and familiar, but it's great getting out of town. You're always so anxious to win the crowd over, as you never know; your next biggest fan could be stood in that room and depending on how you perform that night, you could have their support or they could just forget about you. It's always great seeing new faces on the road. We've actually started to have people come up to us after the show telling us that they like Lucy and bought it on iTunes, it's really surreal.
4. You've also just announced your first ever tour dates for this autumn, are you looking forward to hitting the road?
We can't wait. We actually had a UK tour booked that was due to start January that's just been but we encountered some problems and obviously had to cancel. But it's great we've finally got another booked and we've broadened our fanbase since then so we're looking forward to meeting everyone who's spoke to us via social media. We're just really looking forward to playing all these new places, some places we've never even been before.
5. What can we be expecting from The Brookes next?
We don't want to give too much away but we've got some announcements to make in the very near future. We'll play this tour and get another bigger one booked right away really. We're just going to keep touring and touring.
6. How much do you feel your sound has developed since your first release, 'Taking Over'?
We're practically a completely different band since Taking Over. Our influences as a band have developed and changed as we've gone on, and of course we now have two guitars and a new drummer which has made a world of difference to us. We sort of base the band around our live shows; that's where we're most at home rather than in the studio; so you can probably guess our music is a whole lot more energetic than before. We've actually brought Taking Over track Can't Stand Me Now back to life and completely revamped it recently though and chucked it back into our current setlist.
7. You recently announced details of your support slot for The Pigeon Detectives at their Meridian Park, Cleethorpes date in August, how excited are you for this?
Yeah we're looking forward to it. After playing with The Strypes at Doncaster Dome in May, getting told we were supporting The Pigeon Detectives was out of this world. Like we sit and listen to these bands at home; and it's crazy how we're actually playing with them. When we first started out last year we never thought we'd get further than playing local pubs on a Friday night as just something for your mates to come and have a drink to; now we're playing with some of our favourite bands. We're just really appreciative to have been given these opportunities.
8. What's the aim for the next 12 months?
Tour, tour, tour and tour, hopefully with various releases in between. It's unpredictable what could happen though in the next 12 months really, after the last 6 months we've had we can only wait and see.
Photo credit: Sara White
9. In the longer run, what's the aim for the next five years?
We definitely want an LP out in the next five years. I'd hope we'd be selling out venues round the UK within the next five years also. We're planning to move into a city as a band in 2-3 years to give it a proper go, and hopefully get noticed. Living in Grimsby is fine for now, but there's just no opportunities really as I'm sure you're aware.
10. Where can we hear/find out more about you?
iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, Youtube; you know the usual places. LIVE SHOWS. Anybody who wants us to play their hometown just fire an email to thebrookesmusic@hotmail.com and we'll get one booked!