INTERVIEW: Urban Architects
Urban Architects
Words: Daniel Burton
To mark the release of their debut single The Dream Spectre out today today (18th December) and ahead of their gig at The Academy, Liverpool on the 20th, Daniel Burton caught up with Urban Architects to find out a little bit more about them and how they came to be who they are.
1. Describe Urban architects in 3 words.
Nostalgic, fast and… fun!
2. Where and when did you meet?
It was in January 2019. Wow, that year has flown by! We met off the back of a couple of bands breaking up and had an instant chemistry in the room. Harry showed us a song he’d written and it just kicked on from there. We just clicked, you know?
3. What made you want to be in a band?
We’ve all got one thing in common; we love performing. We all love going to gigs and that inspires our love for playing music. We are all creative and I guess getting stuck into a project is something we can all get behind, whether that be writing a song together or putting a show together, we’ve all got the hunger to create.
4. Can you explain the Urban Architects story so far?
As I’ve said, we formed off the back of a couple of breakups but let’s not dwell on the ex’s for too long! We’ve played key support slots with big touring bands that have visited the Liverpool scene and we’ve had our own headline shows, but the best gig thus far has to be a gig we did at The Zanzibar Club with our mates The Nineteens and The Kendos, it was mega! Boss crowd and the place was absolutely packed! Rrrr, the atmosphere was buzzing. We recorded a quartet of our tunes at the famous Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire over the summer and we are due to release our first single in December.
5. What are the key influences to the music you are writing?
We listen to a lot of the same records but at the same time have a lot of other influences, like Harry will listen to The Strokes whereas Dan will listen to Muse.
So we kind of listen to the same genres but at different ends of the scale if you like. This brings in a lot of techniques and tricks/flicks that the others may not have thought of. It’s great working with a group of lads who are all on the same page!
6. What are your main aspirations as a band?
We just love playing music at the minute and we just want to continue to enjoy it whilst we can. Taking our music to the next level and widening our audience would be amazing! But ultimately, turning the hobby we love into a career would be the dream.
7. This is just the start of your journey, but have you got a plan in place?
Well, in the immediate future we have our first single dropping on 18th December – but after that we have three more singles planned to be released in 2020. We will also head back into the studio at some point during the year to get down the new tunes we’ve got in the pipeline.
Further down the road, I’d like to think we’ll be playing bigger venues with more people listening to the music as ultimately that’s what it’s all about. But at this stage it is hard to tell where we’ll be in five year’s time because it’s a while away, we’ll just have to wait and see!
8. You have a new single coming that’s just come out today! Can you tell us about it?
Yes, The Dream Spectre. It’s kind of a spin on early 00’s indie rock. We like that sound at the minute but we’ve tried to put our own unique spin on it to make it different to anything you’ve heard before, it’ll have you struggling to place it. You’ll be asking yourself: “it sounds like erm… I don’t quite know actually” – that’s the impression we’ve got so far anyway.
It’s heavily influenced by the likes of The Strokes, Muse, The Stone Roses and The Brummies. We were listening to those kind-of records at the time when we wrote and recorded it, so it does reflect what we were listening to in a way. It’s a song about self regret and reflection I guess, about a period of time when you wish something could be different but you’ve just got to get on with it. You know, that kind of lovey dovey shit.
9. Is this first single where you see your sound remaining for a while? Or is this just a starting point and you will steadily change and transform you sound?
Well, I’d describe this record as the overall package that Urban Architects can offer. It brings a bit of everything to the table, but the next 3 singles are definitely a little bit different! We’ve got heavier tunes than this first release and we’ve got others along the same lines but all in all they have the same groove behind them.
In the long run however, I think we’ll move forward, I can’t see our sound forever sounding the same – after all music is an art form and to make art interesting the artist needs to keep moving forward or risk standing still and never progressing. We’ll see what happens but the future hasn’t written itself yet so we’ll see where we end up.
But at the minute we can just sit back, relax and enjoy The Dream Spectre.
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