Interview with Call It Reckless
Ellie talks to local pop-punk band Call It Reckless
Hello! Would you like to give us a little introduction to your band for our readers who may have not heard of you before…
Our sound is basically very upbeat and fast paced – that’s how I would describe it to someone who hadn’t heard it!
So how did you all get together and decide to make music?
Well the band started back in January 2012, not too long ago now, but myself and James our guitar player have known each other for years and we’d been in bands together previously. The other bands weren’t really working out and we wanted to start a new project, so we put an ad out asking for people to start a band with. We went through a whole bunch of people who lacked passion or who just weren’t right and eventually we found the people we have now and started the band!
Where do you feel you got your first interest in music, was it friends, family etc?
Honestly, my family isn’t too musical so I don’t really know where it has come from. I just feel like I’ve always known I wanted to do music and I’ve always had a passion for it.
What kind of bands were you into in your childhood that may have spurred your interest?
I was a big fan of the Spice Girls back in the day and I always loved Kelly Clarkson. So really I have always just loved fun music and singing has been something I’ve always loved to do since I was little. I just love to sing all the time.
Do you think the Spice Girls have directly influenced Call It Reckless or have their been more recent bands that have inspired your music?!
I definitely feel our inspiration comes from the people we listen to. I still like Kelly Clarkson and I love bands like The Wonder Years and Yellowcard and so do the other guys – our tastes are very similar. I think these bands give us inspiration but also our passion and drive.
I see that you recorded some songs with Romesh Dodangoda, who has been involved with bands such as Bullet For My Valentine and Twin Atlantic - what was it like working with him?
That was completely surreal. Basically our manager came into practice one night and asked us how we would feel about working with Romesh Dodangoda and we were just like “What?!” So we went up to Wales and recorded a few singles and it was just completely surreal to be working in the same place as some of our favourite bands had recorded.
Do you think you will be working with him again?
Hopefully! We’d love to go back and record some more with him, he’s a great guy.
Are you planning a follow up to the single you recorded with him?
I think the next thing for us is going to be an EP. We really want to get some more stuff out there. I mean, we have the songs at the minute, we just want to make sure they are as good as they possibly can be before we go and record a full EP.
In a year from now, where do you hope to be?
I would love to have our EP out and to have done a bunch of tours. My big thing is that I want to play Warped Tour! That is like a big dream for all of us! Hopefully, we will see how it goes.
You’ve got your double whammy Open gig coming up soon - an afternoon show for under-18s and an evening show for overs - are you excited?
I think it’s going to be really fun because usually when we play one show, all we want to do is to get back up on stage. The fact we are going to have two shows in a day is going to be awesome! We do have a younger following who can’t always get to the shows unless their parents come so I think it’s great we’re doing the two. It’s going to be really fun!
Ellie Smith
Call It Reckless are set to play 2 shows at Open on Saturday 14th September, one for under 18s at 1pm and another for 18+ at 8pm. Tickets available from www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk or call 01603763111.
