Backstage with The Echoes

The similarities with a well known British pop rock band are uncanny, they’re taking to the stage at some of the county’s best venues and already have two record labels sniffing around them – SoGlos.com goes backstage with The Echoes, Gloucestershire’s answer to McFly.

So who are The Echoes?

There are four of us; Chris Capewell is on lead guitar and vocals, Mike Elliot on rhythm guitar and vocals, Charlie Pilsworth on drums and then Max Lodge on bass and backing vocals.

We’ve been together about 18 months now, and play pop rock, pop punk and powerpop.

We’re all from Gloucestershire, from Longlevens, Churchdown and Hatherley.

And how did The Echoes come about?

We’re all good friends from school and decided we wanted to make some music that everyone could fall in love with – and have a good time doing it. We began playing in Mike’s bedroom and felt we had a connection, and since then we’ve just moved forward and are loving every second of it.

What stage is the band at now?

We’re writing better songs, spreading our name around the area, taking the band more seriously and generally taking everything up a notch. We have an E.P out entitled ‘Whether You Like It or Not’ and our latest recording is a Wired Records single called ‘Write This Down’ – available at our upcoming Wired gig. We are unsigned at the moment, but have had interest from two major labels, which is a massively positive sign with us all only being 16 years old.

Who influences The Echoes?

We all have a vast range of artists we listen to, but to name just a few; The Starting Line, McFly, Cartel, Hit The Lights, New Found Glory, Yellowcard and The Foo Fighters.

And who do you get compared to?

Mostly McFly, which is a huge compliment – but we don’t often get compared to other bands. It’s a cliché but in many respects we’re quite a fresh sound but with all the attributes of what is great about British pop music.

Who goes to your gigs?

All sorts of people. Our music fits into a lot of genres, so most people can find something to love about us. We pride ourselves on making music that has the majority of people tapping their feet in the first 10 seconds!

What’s your favourite venue you’ve played at in Gloucestershire?

So far it would be our first public gig at the 2 Pigs in Cheltenham. We haven’t played at the Guildhall yet, but have heard that’s the place to play – so we’re really excited about being given the opportunity to show Gloucester what we’re made of at the upcoming Wired Bands Showcase gig.

Where would you most like to play in the county?

We’d love to play at next year’s Two Thousand Trees Festival; we went last year and the atmosphere was awesome. We haven’t played any festivals yet so we’re really up for that one in particular, especially with it being in our home county.

The best local gig you’ve been to?

That was probably The Skankt at the 2 Pigs or obviously bands like Enter Shikari or Maximo Park at the Guildhall. We all love Jim Lockey’s gigs as well, he’s a good friend of ours and never fails to deliver a great tune that’ll get stuck in your head all day.

Who would you most like to support?

We’d love to support Saving Aimee – we saw them support McFly not long ago and their energy was electric. And of course anyone who’s playing at Wembley, it would be wicked to play there – a dream come true.

What do you do when you’re not making music?

School, unfortunately. We’re all doing AS levels at the moment so the workload makes spare time a bit of a rarity. Two of us play rugby for school and for a local side, but normally in our spare time we’re either hanging out with our friends or working hard towards the band.

Have you ever thrown a TV out of a hotel window or would you like to?

Ha ha! We haven’t as of yet – we would love to though. You know you’ve arrived when you can chuck electrical goods out of windows and people don’t care. That’s rock ‘n’ roll baby!

Recommend one album to our readers you don’t think they will have discovered.

Chroma by Cartel. Oh, and Night Ripper by Girl Talk. Not our style of music but incredibly talented.

Number one ambition?

Get a number one album and to get that amazing feeling of being on stage for many years to come.

Any claims to fame?

We once got picked out of a queue to get into a concert early and stand right at the front because the bands manager recognised us. That was really surreal.

Where can SoGlos.com readers expect to see you in a year’s time?

Hopefully still having a great time doing what we’re doing and seeing people singing along and enjoying what we bring with our music.

Catch The Echoes playing live at their next live gig at the Guildhall on Saturday 20 October, headlining for the Wired Bands Showcase.

SoGlos.com
15 October 2007