Interviewed by Lee Walker How did the band originally start off? Seb Sweet: Well, we all knew each other from our college days, in fact me and Ollie were in a Prog/ Metal band for a while, and I was always hanging out with Robb. Ollie started writing songs around 2008-ish and then started looking for members, eventually recruiting first Robb, then me. Ollie Cordwell: Yeah, it had been a few years since Seb and I had played together but I always knew we'd end up in another band at some point, we've always had a great musical chemistry and Robb just fit right in with it, as if it was just meant to be! What bands influenced you? Seb Sweet: I was brought up with 70’s rock, amongst other things - Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, ELO, Rush etc, and later got really into more recent bands like Dream Theater and Karnivool. Ollie Cordwell: I have just always been obsessed with music of all kinds. If it moves me, or makes me want to move, I will listen to it, if it does both... You'd better get out of the way! But I suppose my earliest influences that made me want to make my own music have got to be Queen and Michael Jackson. Robb Sutcliffe: Same as Ollie really. I've been brought up around a lot of different music so my taste is pretty varied. Earlier on I listened to a lot of punk so bands so I started off learning a lot of Greenday bass
lines, then when I got to college I discovered Primus and Tool and everything changed! These days I'm still very much influenced by Les Claypool and Geddy Lee from Rush. Why did you pick the name ‘Fantasist’ for the band? Ollie Cordwell: That was my fault haha, I wanted a single word that would sum up the band and its ethos. But finding a single word band name that isn't taken is VERY hard indeed. I felt that Fantasist stood out and I liked the irony that deep down all rock bands are just Fantasists trying to live the dream and put on this persona, I thinks it shows we don't take it too seriously by holding are hands up and saying, “Yep we know, we are complete Fantasists but look at these cool shoes!!!” How would you describe Fantasist’s sound? Ollie Cordwell: I think, at the core, it's all about the groove. When we write a new riff or chorus or whatever, we always ask ourselves, does this FEEL right? A simple way to describe the sound is Rock with healthy dose of everything else mixed up with a big funky spoon. Robb Sutcliffe: I think "Odd-Rock" would be a good way to describe it, seeing as no one can seem to pin us down to one genre. I'd say that's a good thing though as it means it's never going to be the same!
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Firebrand Magazine