THE ISLAS

TALKING TO THE SONGBIRD

THE ISLAS were born out of the desire to create a new breed of indie rock, with upbeat rhythms, sharp melodies and thoughtful lyricism that hints at influences such as The Smiths, Alvvays, Vampire Weekend and Paul Weller. The songs are harvested from youth and the experiences British adolescents face throughout their journey into adulthood. The anxiety, happiness, the break ups with first loves – and everything in-between.

They released their debut EP ‘Oblivion’ after a successful campaign of singles that built them a strong following in their hometown of Norwich. The EP saw their Spotify streams grow organically with highlights including an Amazing Radio number one, television syncs, retail store playlists and additions to editorial playlists on Apple Music, Spotify and Google Play.

We recently caught up with the band for a chat.

Congratulations on the release of “We’ll Always Have Tomorrow’ how does it feel?

Thank you! It feels great to have released it, we were really happy with the demos we had and when we had the finished song it felt very classic us: catchy, 3 minutes and just has our indie jangly vibe all round.

You’re a duo from Norwich how did it all begin for you?

We met back in college and have played with many different bassist and drummers since, but we’ve always written together. The Islas was our second project and I feel we’ve really got our sound figured out now, music doesn’t come as frequently as we used to when we were younger but I think we have quote a nice balance where the song has to be good enough in our eyes to make it out and the bar can be quite high.

What did you listen to growing up?

All manner of things, my Dad was a huge musical influence. Key artists would be Paul Weller, The Clash and The Smiths. They were biblical in our house.

You were recently played on Made In Chelsea, and have been featured as an Amazing Radio No.1 what’s been a real pinch me moment for you?

The Made In Chelsea one was really cool, that’s a few times we’ve been on TV shows now including BT Sport and This Morning which is pretty cool. We also played a show in Rouen, France which was one of my favourite ever shows. We were welcomed so well and people were amazing for us. That moment will stay with me forever.

Your last major project before this was the “Oblivion” EP, what’s your favourite track from it?

Ah that’s like choosing my favourite child! I would say the title track ‘Oblivion’. I love it lyrically and musically and when Ross played that riff for the outré we all just looked at each other knowing it was pretty much perfect.

What was the easiest and most challenging part of recording it?

Easiest is probably laying guitar for me, as I am rhythm and it’s the main kind of structure of the track so I definitely has the easiest job, and then challenging is probably the bass in recent times because we’re not bassists ourselves and we don’t have a designated one so we’ve had to do it between us so a lot of bass lines are 20-30% done before it comes to laying it down!

What’s a funny story from those sessions?

There’s been a few funny fall outs that have cracked us up looking back now, but one that sticks is when Ross unplugged a small cable on my pedal board before I went to record and I didn’t notice. I became more and more annoyed and aggravated and he didn’t tell me for at least 30 minutes. Obviously he and the boys found that funny as each minute went by and I got more and more red faced…

(Note: Nathan is probably one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met, totally unflappable 🤣)

COVID impacted the creative industry in a big way what kept you motivated?

It was really tough, but without Covid we’d have probably never written Oblivion. I remember just thinking how good an opportunity this is, so I kept myself busy by writing song after song and then thankfully a few stuck and we managed to get out of that period all ok!

The last three years have been a time to reflect what did you learn about yourselves?

I think we learned to stop taking things so personally and seriously. It’s really tough out there for young musicians and especially working class ones like us, so ice take every win in our stride and stop focusing on the people who don’t play us, or don’t listen or don’t like us. That is absolutely fine and music is subjective, so focus on the people who do like your music and then people who listen to it.

Did you pick up any new skills?

I’ve started learning how to play the piano, which has been really good for me! I’ve fallen back in love with Music and that’s been great.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’m loving Alvvays, Japanese Breakfast and Peach Pit at the moment. All Northern American indie bands but they’re all very different, but truly brilliant.

What’s next for you?

We’re excited to be releasing our sister EP to Oblivion up next, and we cannot wait to see what people think about it!

Listen to ‘We’ll Always Have Tomorrow’ here now