Interview with Stars of Sunday League
Have you had a listen to the two artists, Alex Sheppard and Adelaide's Cape, that you're playing with at the Arts Centre? They're quite local stars!
I have actually, they sound great – I’m looking forward to it. Some of my own favourite bands are from Edinburgh and I know how great it is to have local acts that are doing something interesting. Ballboy are one of my all-time favourite bands and it was great to be able to see them play locally in Edinburgh before the word spread.
2009 has certainly been a busy year for Stars of Sunday League! What have been the highlights?
Playing End of the Road festival was a big deal for me; I love that festival and to play it was a lot of fun and a big deal.
One of the songs on your debut EP is called 'I Still Like Football', and the band name 'Stars Of Sunday League' lends itself to the idea of football. Are you a football fan?
I’m the worst kind of Man United fan, in that I’ve been to Manchester twice in my whole life. The idea of Sunday League is more about people doing something that they love more for the hell of it than for any better reason.
Has music always been a passion? Did your parents influence the kind of music you listened to growing up?
My dad has a pretty big music collection that me and my friends would raid – a lot of Beatles, CSNY, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and all those guys. I played a lot of brass when I was younger so I’ve always played music of some kind. These days I mostly love songs.
Have you always made folk / acoustic music? A lot of teenagers turn to punk or rock music as an entryway into music – was this a listening or playing preference when you were a teen?
Ha – I think I played Radiohead and Stereophonics covers in some bad school bands; I’ve never been cool enough for punk.
What do you do as your day job at the moment? Would you like to do music full time in the future?
Yes please, give me a ply of money an I’ll make you records ‘til the cows come home.
Where do you see Stars of Sunday League going in 2010?
The priority for me is to make a good record and then see where that leads. We look like we may have a European tour in the offing too which would be great.
You began performing on your own, then met Sarah and Emmy, and more recently, Max has come on board - would you ever consider adding new band members to the Stars of Sunday League setup?
I think so, it really depends on the songs; I’m a believer in not just adding things for the sake of it but if I have a bunch of songs that need brass then I’ll put the feelers out for sure.
You're obviously part of this London music collective, with a lot of musician friends. Do you have any tips for upcomers we should look out for?
I’m actually pretty bad at new up-an-coming acts, I’m a pretty monogamous music fan; I tend to fall pretty hard for people and put the blinkers on for a wee while. Jo from Vroadcast 2000 is a great pop writer although he is doing pretty well these days so isn’t much of a ‘tip’.
Will you return to us in Norwich when you're big and famous?
But of course!
Lauren Razavi
Stars of Sunday League are playing at Norwich Arts Centre on Friday 15th January, and their debut EP 'The Boy's Got Prospects' is available now through all the major outlets. For tickets, go to www.norwichartscentre.co.uk
