15 minute read
VOICE interviews The Reytons
Just Some Kids off the Estate
VOICE interviews The Reytons
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Q. Where did inspiration for the song “Kids off the Estate” come from? A. “For us, we like to write songs about real things, real places and real events that have happened” “Kids Off The Estate, was written about what it’s like to round here, how we mention certain places eg; Clifton park being Disneyland, it’s so people can relate and understand what we’re talking about, yeah its crap but it’s what we have grown up with” “its relatable, but informative, because its true” Q. What is the one gig that sticks in your mind and why? A. Jonny - “There isn’t really just one, there all great in their own way. The O2 Sheffield was nuts, we sold it out for the first time” Jamie - “They all have good points”. Lee - “ When you think about a gig, you’re not thinking what happened on stage, you’re thinking about the things that happened back stage and travelling. Gigs for us are totally different”. Joe - “Glasgow was incredible” “I was halfway through the solo to a Slice of Lime when I just felt hands around my ankles lifting me, soon after I was being surfed across the crowd”. Jonny - “My favourite was YNOT, not a big stage, our manager was saying you need to put security gates infront of the stage , the organisers were like” nahh” its fine. Then 5 minutes in everyone just filled the tent and the security were panicing, they couldn’t cope, they had to shut the bar. The energy was just amazing”. Q. What one piece of advice would you give to a musician who is wanting a career in music? A. Jonny - “ Dont share a dressing room with Lee, be yourself, enjoy it, write music that you love. We write about where we grew up and the areas that we love. Thats why we’re here today because its for our community and the people that mean a lot to us”.
“There is no point in writing music that you don’t enjoying performing” “Don’t write music for other people, write music for yourself” Q. Who would you most like to work/collaborate with in the future? A. Jamie - ” You know who mine is gonna be , It’s Olly Sykes from Bring me the Horizon” Joe - “Jordan Fisher from Liberty, pretty sick “ Jonny - “ I don’t know who mine would be ( Joe jumps in “ Lionel Richie” ) Jonny then tells about his Radio Sheffield interview, he was asked the same question and didn’t know what to answer for a minute so said Lionel Richie :) Joe - “Michael Bublé Christmas Special , were not sure if he’s serious at this point . Q. How do you like to relax when you have time off? A. Jonny - ”We don’t usually get time off, but during lockdown I drank lots of whiskey and played War Zone. I’m not very good at it.” Jamie - “Lee has just brought a VR head set and has a funny storey.” Lee - “Yes, I broke my glass coffee table and Mac computer, it was that real (using VR) that when I had a grenade at my feet I tried kicking it away and booted the coffee table. Another time, I tried pulling a grenade out of a belt and ended smashing a glass lamp Shade. I thought, this is realistic and then realised it was as glass went down by back.” Q. When did you all start to learn your instruments? A. Joe - “He’s still learning”, all Laugh Lee - “when we started out Jonny was like can you played guitar, can you playsaxophone “. Jonny - “ No i didn’t I didn’t ask if you could play saxaphone”. Lee - “All i could i play was acoustic so i ended up being bass. I don’t think any bass player sets out to be bass, they wanna be lead guitarist ( band - soz mate your not good enough ;) ) Jonny - I have to give him credit though it’s the one instruments that if you take it away you can notice, it takes the warmth out of everything, it sounds flat. Shout out to the under dog “.
Q. Did your musical influences influence the music equipment that you use? And what is your brand of choice that you use now. Jonny - “What evers on Facebook market place”. Joe - “ What evers less than hundred quid. No seriously i never played much electric learning guitars i kinda found stuff when we first started writing, I fell in love with Telecasters. I love anything that Prince would play, thats what i want. I love Fenders and Telecasters. Pedals i used to be obsessed with Boss Pedals but then meeting Ross i discoverced you can get amazing sounds from Custom Pedals and now he makes me everything for our songs”. Then he rambles on for another 10 minutes ;) Jonny - “Reyt answer that mate, ge em a brand and move on “ Q. Where do you see yourselves in 5 years’ time? Jonny - “Every day that we do somthing as a band, were lucky, it could be here another 20 years or it could be gone next week. Its about enjoying the moments that we have, just embrace every minute. I said to Lee on the way here, you just never now when it’ll end, you never one day he might get arrested ;) “. Q. How did you meet? A. Lee - “Me and Jonny knew each other through Open Mic nights and listening to local bands . We met Jamie in a recording studio after our first single, we were looking for a drummer. Jamie - “They forced me in to it”. Lee - “ Then we stmblud accross Joe “. Joe - “I mean you’ve got that all in the wrong order “. Jonny - “ Joe worked with me at Safe@Last and then i just couldn’t get rid of him. We never really planned to be a band but when we got together it was just the most natural sound and it just worked, without being forced”. Q. Would you ever consider playing another genre? A. Jonny - “Not really , we all have done everything Hip Hop, House , Grime. No matter what we’ll always write about something that means something to us”. Joe - “What ever your listening to when your writing can influence your sound”. What made you get into music originally ? Jonny - “Not money” Lee - “ I didn’t pick an instrument up till i was quite old, my dad played all his life but couldn’t get me into. It wasn’t until my mid twenty’s when me a Jonny started hanging around”. Jamie - I started playing guitar really young, then realsied i couldn’t play it , then i realised i couldn’t sing either, only thing i could do is play drums, and i’m not right good at that either ;) I set my own studio up, stopped playing music myself, then these guys ruined it for me, here we are “. Joe - “I always listened tp music as a kid , my dad was a mint guitarist, i just said one year that i wanted to learn. My dad said you can but your not getting lessons, he taught me the first chord and that was it”. Jonny - I never got into it cos i loved music, it was just that i didn’t do great at school. I had a Mentor who took me to Jade in year 9, when everyone else was doing PE i was doing DJ’ing lessons. It kinda went from there . I’ve been through House, Garage, Indie, Motown, every kinda music but i never really went to gigs it wasn’t my kinda thing. Now i absolutely love getting on stage and just telling our story and being with these guys, I’m just passionate about what we do”.
Q What made you call the band the Reytons ? Jonny - “Reyt so , you know what a reyt un is, if your from round here. When we first started up we couldn’t decide on a name we wrote Slice of Lime and booked the recoding studios and still couldn’t decide. The suddenly i was driving on to my estate and on the street where i live these little kids were playing football, without fail every time i pulled in they’d just jump out on ye in the middle of the street. Same happened that day and i breaked cursing to my little Flippin Reytons these. That was it, it stuck “!
Jonny - chips back in “The kids alright by the way, only had 2 months in hospital, kidding “.
Q. Whats the one message you would give to your fans ?
Jonny - “I don’t look it as we have fans, we don’t fit , were not your stereotypical band. Our supporters our Reytons that are with us if you like are not people who drink in fancy bars, there normal people fron 8 - 80, their part of the Reytons family. These lot would probably just say buy more tickets ;)”. “Flippin Reytons these!”
MEET YOUR MEMBERS OF YOUTH PARLIAMENT AND YOUTH COUNCILLOR
By Emilia Ashton and Amaan Saqlain It’s not just on a local and regional level that your voice can be heard. Your voice is important on a national scale too. Whether you are passionate about Climate change, knife crime or even the education system, your Youth Parliament team represent the issues that matter to you.
But what is the UK Youth Parliament?
The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) was launched at the House of Commons in July 2009 and held its first sitting in February 2011 in London. There are currently over 369 elected (Member of Youth Parliament (MYP’s) in the UK. The Youth Parliament enables young people to use their energy and passion to change the world for the better and are elected to represent the views of young people in their area to government and service providers. Run by young people for young people, everything that the group campaigns on is decided by the general population through their annual national youth consultation Make Your Mark.
Who are my MYPs?
In Rotherham, the Youth Parliament team consists of 2 members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) and 2 deputy members of Youth Parliament (DMYPs) from across the borough. They were elected by young people in February 2020 and terms will last for two years. The team aim to be visible and approachable and willing to help in any way they can. Here is a little bit about them.
Josie Brown (MYP)
Josie is currently a member of Youth Parliament for Rotherham and has previously served as a Deputy member of Youth Parliament between 2018 and 2020. Her hobbies include quizzing, travelling, and watching anime and her academic interests are politics, languages and foreign affairs.
She stood to be an MYP because she wanted to represent young people’s voices in Rotherham. Some of the topics which she was elected on was climate change action, free college/university and a meaningful education to prepare us for life.
Iqra Chowdhary MYP
Iqra is also a member of Youth Parliament for Rotherham. She is passionate about empowering others and making a difference. She feels like it is necessary for the voice of the youth to be heard, projected, and listened to.
She has ample experience as a Youth Voice representative, and she makes it a priority of hers to stand up for what’s right. She wants to tackle the issues that matter to young people, which she believes are Knife Crime, a Curriculum for Life and Mental Health. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sports, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
Amaan Saqlain DMYP
For the last 3 years, Amaan has been working as a Youth Voice representative on a number of issues including mental health, improving public transport, and tackling racism and hate crime. He stood for election as I wanted to be able to continue this work. The topic he was elected on were cultural education, promoting youth voice and improving public transport.
He believes in the power of youth and that’s why he works to ensure all young people have a voice. He tries to achieve this by working as the young people’s rep on important boards or as the strategic director of the Kashmir Youth Organisation.
Molly Kayne DMYP
Molly is passionate about bringing change to the local and wider community in order to make change. She aims to amplify the voice of those who feel like they do not have a voice as everyone’s opinion and view matters.
When Molly isn’t working with the Youth Parliament, she enjoys musical theatre, skateboarding and playing video games. The issues which she believes are important to young people are preventing hate crime, improving mental health and climate change.
So how do I get in touch with them?
The members of Youth Parliament are always willing to hear from you. If you would like to hear more about their work, work alongside the group or have an issue you would like them to help you with, then contact the group via email :
ukyprotherham@gmail.com
Meet your Youth Councillor – Isaac Blake
Starting a new youth group during the middle of a global pandemic is probably pretty scary but Rotherham Youth Cabinet’s latest (and youngest) Youth Councillor did just that. I sat down with Isaac Blake to find out a little bit more about his experiences withing the group.
Emilia (EA): Thanks for agreeing to the interview Isaac, can you give me a brief introduction about yourself?
Isaac (IB): My name is Isaac and I am 11 years old, I have been a member of RYC for around six weeks.
EA: Why did you join Rotherham Youth Cabinet?
IB: I found out about RYC from my brother. He’d been in Youth Cabinet for a number of years and was also a former member of Youth Parliament. This really inspired me to join the group as I had heard so many positive stories about it. I had been waiting to join for as long as I remember and finally joined the group when I turned 11 and started year 7.
EA: The group work to make positive change in Rotherham. What issues do you feel matter to young people in Rotherham?
IB: I am passionate about Climate change and preventing Hate Crime. These are really important issues in our time, we need to work together to prevent these starting with young people.
EA: And finally, what is your favourite thing about the group?
IB: My favourite part of the meetings is the debates and being able to socialise in lockdown! I’m looking forward to meeting everybody in person.
IT’S NOT TOO climate change, we can all do our bit! LATE,
Let’s look at Climate Change so we can understand what it is all about.
Climate change is a change in the Earth’s climate. This could be a change in Earth’s temperature. Or it could be a change in where rain and snow usually fall on Earth. Livescience.com state that Climate change is any longterm alteration in average weather patterns, either globally or regionally. As this broad definition suggests, climate change has occurred many times in Earth’s history, and for many reasons. The changes in global temperature and weather patterns seen today, however, are caused by human activity. And they’re happening much faster than the natural climate variations of the past.
Here in Rotherham, young people are working hard to challenge and raise awareness around Climate change. Here is Josh to discuss one project that has recently taken place.
A Time for Change – Music Video
The idea for ‘A Time for Change’ was developed through meetings between local youth action groups such as NCS and the Local Youth Council. As a body, we decided that climate change was one of the most pressing issues of the modern era and that developing an effective project to raise awareness for environmental issues, such as climate change, would hopefully play a part in the huge challenge of protecting the world we live in. With several keen musicians within the group, the idea of composing a song about climate change would be not only impactful, but enjoyable for those of us involved. When the first wave of COVID struck, our focus group was forced to be innovative in the way we wrote the song! resorted to online meetings, recording using our phones and producing the piece from home; a professional studio wasn’t available like we had initially intended. The song is not just about awareness for climate change, but about how there is time for change and a chance to improve the conditions of our planet; as empowered young people we are all passionate about protecting our surroundings. As the song develops, the lyrics transition from awareness and facts about environmental issues to methods people can use to reduce their individual impact on the plant; the world is made up of many individuals that come together to be a society. I know I speak on behalf of the group when I state the opinion, young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow, they’re the leaders of today. – Josh Newbold 5 things you can do to prevent climate change...
1. Learn about Climate change and carbon footprint.
2. Don’t use as much electricity- for example just turn off lights and don’t charge you devices as often.
3. Recycle- be responsible for your own waste, make sure it goes in the recycle bin. Take control of household waste- YOU can be the one to make sure it is recycled.
4. Research Renewable energy – spread awareness around renewable energy, such as, wind and power. Renewable energy is better than using fossil fuels such as coal.
