grumble bee
The production on your debut EP Disconnect is so tight, is that hard to translate into a live setting, either acoustic or full band? Yeah, full band I think it’s actually harder because I used to play quite open chords in my last band, and then this stuff has simpler parts but standard tunings so if I’m playing the wrong thing you just hear all the notes. Before, I used to just play an open chord, which was just anything, and it’d sound great. But now I literally have to make sure it’s bang on. So it’s different. Disconnect only came out in February, are you taken aback by how it’s all kicked off? Yeah, well it’s kind of weird because I don’t have a label; I’ve had interest but it’s not really the route I wanted to go down. So it’s kind of taken me back a little bit but on the flip side some people are like “how come you’re not playing all the major festivals and stuff?” but I just wanted to keep it as low key as possible. Everyone who has got involved has come to me and that’s been really nice and organic. I’m just hoping for the best really and it seems to be going alright so far. You’re working on your second EP at the moment… Yeah, it’s finished; I produced it and mastered it myself this time. I’m just trying to keep costs down even though Kris [Crummett] was really super affordable. Out in America it’s just dirt cheap compared to the UK, it’s like the same price in dollars as it is in pounds over here which is a big difference. So I went over there to meet up with him for the first EP and I would totally go over if I can’t get the right result with this second EP. At the minute I’m just trying to get my own studio to the level where I can produce it myself. So it is finished but I’m gonna re-mix it because I’ve been learning all the time.
We had a chat with Jack Bennett AKA Grumble Bee at this year’s Slam Dunk festival about his first year of festivals, his upcoming second EP and soya milk. So this is your first year on the festival circuit as Grumble Bee? Yeah so I got asked to do [Slam Dunk] acoustic and I was like “Can I do this full band?” they were like “no, we’d prefer you to do it as acoustic”, so then I had to learn how to play an acoustic guitar! I mean, I do play that anyway but it’s not my first thing but I’m loving it, it feels good.
What have you got in store for the rest of 2016? Well just loads of festivals, I’m hoping to get Leeds and Reading, I’m meant to be playing but I may or may not be and it’s sort of up in the air. I’m hoping to release another single in early July around 2000 Trees. So festivals like 2000 Trees, Camden Rocks, and Fortfest which is a really cool festival this year. I’m just looking forward to loads of shows basically. We were gonna do a bunch of headline shows at the end of this year and we still may do. I’m just trying to work out if I’m going to do them this year or early next year along with a second EP or the first album.
Do you prefer playing as a full band rather than acoustically? I love full band, I love running around, feeding off Zach [Phelps, bass] and Cal [Connell, drums], just that sort of heavier vibe really. But acoustic, it surprised me by how much I’m into it because you can hear everyone singing the songs. It’s weird, but you can really feed off that, so it’s good.
Are there any bands in the world that you want to tour with right now? Yeah, Dance Gavin Dance in November; I wanna tour with them right now. With Jonny Craig, Kurt Travis and Tilian Pearson, that’s gonna be a busy stage and they’re playing some small venues as well. We’ll see what happens.
Is it exciting to play festivals like this where people who come to see you might not be interested specifically in your genre? You played The Great Escape last weekend as well, so it’s completely different types of people. It’s weird because no one can really pigeonhole what I’m doing yet, which is nice but it also means no one has a clue what I’m playing and why. So I play acoustic but we nearly had a mosh pit at Great Escape, I was trying to get people to run around and stuff. Acoustically I try and put the same amount of energy into that set so people can sort of wander in if they’re into it.
Are there any bands we may not have heard of who you think we should check out? Have you heard of In Dynamics? Their album’s coming out soon, they’re absolutely awesome and they’re really hardworking guys. They don’t have the support that I’ve had and they do it themselves. They’re still getting there and I think that’s awesome.
Interviewed by Natalie Webb
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Do the songs on your second EP differ a lot from what we heard on Disconnect? I think they sound quite poppy, at the minute, but basically that’s all I tried to do on the first EP. I tried to write the catchiest music that I could write and it have that heavier tinge going through it. I’ve tried to work out what people like from this first EP and then amalgamate the best of those. People see it as selling out but it’s kind of like market research almost.
Photo by: Isha Shah
What’s your favourite flavour ice cream? I used to have strawberry cheesecake flavoured ice cream. I’ve been vegetarian since birth and I’ve been vegan for the past ten months. I have soya milk anyway because I prefer it for my voice. I literally recorded it and tried the difference and it sounds better