Astral Planes - Questions for the Band

This weeks Questions for the Band are answered by Bristolian alt rock trio Astral Planes who I caught up with just prior to entering lockdown, over to the band to introduce themselves.

A gentle start, for those that don't know the band that well. can you tell us a little bit about yourselves ?

There are three members of the band. We have a drummer (Ethan Holloway), bassist (Alex Beckley) and vocalist/guitarist (Tom Peck). At the moment we're mostly based in Bristol because two of us attend The British Institute of Modern Music, however originally we lived and went to school in the small town of Andover. All of us have known each other since secondary school, but only really started playing when Alex mentioned he had a practise space in his village that we could use during college in 2016. At first we only played covers, things like Californication by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Kids with Guns by The Gorillaz which helped develop our Indie Rock sound, and then moved on to originals. Currently we're desperately trying to secure gigs here and we're also recording singles using the equipment offered at our university!

Who are the bands musical influences ?

This is a question we struggle with a lot! It's hard to pin down, but at the moment we're listening to a lot of The Libertines, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys and White Stripes, most of which we've played covers of. I'd like to think that we also get a lot of inspiration from the mid 60s, around the time of the British Invasion of Rock music, so bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. All of us have a pretty wide ranging taste of music , sometimes very obscure, so I suppose it depends on what we're listening to at the time.

What is your writing process ? Music or Lyrics First ?

It depends on the song to be honest. Sometimes Tom will will get a tune in is head and translate it to guitar before writing the lyrics, other times he'll get a topic in his head, write down the lyrics and work from those. Normally he'll come in with the lyrics and guitar mostly finished and then Alex and Ethan will create a foundation by laying down the drums and bass. Having said that, sometimes Alex writes a bass line first and then Tom works from that. Ethan has started writing lyrics for the band now, and in that situation he'll sit down with Tom and he'll work on trying to tie together different sections. We don't bring in Alex at that point because if we did, we'd never get anything done! It's a blessing and a curse working with your mates in a band! Basically the writing process all depends on the situation and also the vibe we want to create.

What is your favourite and least favourite parts of being in a band ?

The best part about being in a band is just hanging out with your friends, doing something that you all love and messing around in the process. Nothing beats having a few beers, performing your own creations, or playing a new cover and seeing it come to life through your own unique style of playing. The most difficult part of being a band is the organisation. We're all terrible at it! Normally one of us will be on the ball and the others are either late or hungover after a night out. It's just part of who we are.

What venue would you most like to play and why ?

The O2 in London would be incredible if we're talking big venues. If you play somewhere like that you know you've made it! But honestly, we always have a lot more fun playing more intimate gigs where you can get a feel for the crowd and offer more interaction. Something like King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow would be an awesome choice. We're getting a lot of people asking us to play in Scotland so there's that, plus it's where Oasis got signed to Creation Records.

If you could choose to support any band who would it be and why ?

This is tough... There are so many bands out there that would be so good to support. If we had to choose it would probably be Kasabian. We take so much inspiration from them, especially as we play their latest album constantly in Ethan's car when we're driving to and from practise. Their concerts have such a good crowd, they have a really devoted audience and they always play the best British venues when they're on tour.

Looking ahead for this year, what are your plans ? can we expect new music ? and do you have any ambitions that you want to fulfill this year ?

We're always constantly trying to get new singles off the ground. Our original plan was to record one a month although that plan fell through pretty fast, but we're doing the best we can. Currently we have one almost complete, two in the works and another we've almost finished writing. Hopefully we can secure a good number of gigs this year, most likely in Bristol although it's difficult with all the competition here. We'd also like to think we could get a tour together in the next year or two as well, and continue creating more of an online presence with some more awesome followers!

And finally, if you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be and why ?

We would have to go with An Awesome Wave by Alt-J. It's an album you can't get bored of with enough variation of songs that fit any mood. We've tried to cover them a few times but we always just end up messing it up because they're a group you just can't re-create. It would be amazing if one day we could develop our sound to the level of individuality that they have.

Thanks to the guys for giving us a fabulous insight into their band, If you don’t know them give them a listen they are fab, hopefully the guys will be able to get that countrywide tour organise once we return to a form of normality.

Astral Planes can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify:

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAstralPlanes/

https://instagram.com/officialastralplanes?igshid=di4jannsh22z

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Kq5L1cIqnbR0i4Qk30b1L?si=61egukmuT5KqGkkGevA7YQ