Bolton four piece Our Fold are Damien Riley (vocals & guitar), Dan McLaren (bass & vocals), Sam Evans (drums) and Gaz Drury (guitar & vocals). Having supported the likes of Kasabian, The Coral, and The Fratellis and performed at Glastonbury, Bestival and Lattitude, the band are set to take another step towards wider recognition with the release of their second single, ‘She Goes On’. We caught up with them to learn what it’s like to be in a band with a former Stone Roses guitarist and hear about the time they hung out with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.
Hello Our Fold. Where are you and what have you been up to this week?
‘Ow do?! We’re all busy working and writing new stuff while Damo’s knocking about around Athens on holiday this week. Think he’s catching James again. We all went to see ‘em in Manchester last Friday. Awesome band, very influential to us.
Aziz Ibrahim was a founding member of the band – how did that come about?
We did a gig early on as Our Fold and he was on further up the bill. He caught our set and liked it. It came to the point we needed a new lead guitarist, so we invited him down to our rehearsal room. He came down a few times and had to ask us if he had the job. He’s an unbelievable musician and gave us a lot. Couldn’t thank him enough for that.
Your music is a mix of guitar-driven power pop and bluesy acoustic rock, with many of the lyrics inspired by your local surroundings. How does the song writing process work in the band?
Usually it’ll come from an idea someone has. We’ll just jam it and make a racket until we hear something we like. Damo just sings utter nonsense over the top of this, working melodies out. Eventually he’ll manage to string a few words together. He’ll turn up the next day and just sing the finished lyrics. He’s all right like that. We noticed Jacko did the same in that documentary when he’s in the studio. So Damo was havin’ that.
Nirvana’s Nevermind was a big influence on you, so when Dave Grohl caught your set at a festival and invited you to hang out with Them Crooked Vultures it must have seemed like a surreal moment. What did you get up to?
Ohh, that was nuts! Don’t think he’s ever heard his name in a Bolton accent before. Our drummer at the time had this gold drum kit belt buckle on, and ended up swapping belts with Dave Grohl, as you do. Proper got on with him and he invited us to watch ‘em from the side of the stage. I mean, if being 5 meters away from Dave smashing his drums isn’t daft enough, John Paul Jones is standing there with his bass… No matter what you do as a band, I don’t think anything can prepare you for that! Josh was cool, too. Proper tall that lad, Loads of time for you though.
What can we expect from your debut album, Sick of Normal Life and when will it be released?
Everything has been re-recorded from the earlier demos that are flying about. It’s sounding massive up to now. Also, tracks no one has heard yet. People will see we are not the little indie band we once were. Might have played ’em live once or twice. We still have a few tracks to get one or two guitar parts on and about half of the album to mix. Hopefully we’ll get it out later this year.
What were the first and last albums you bought and the first and last gigs you attended?
Damo had a ticket to go and watch Nirvana at Manchester G-Mex in 94, that would have been one of, if not his first gig. But we all went to see The Pixies and James in Manchester last week. That was pretty special. First records are from Nirvana and James. Last album bought was James, La Petite Mort. Stunning work again. If we are stuck writing a tune, we usually relate back to Nirvana or James for guidance.
You’ve played at a number of the major UK festivals. If you were given the opportunity to curate your own festival, who would you book ?
We might be here a while with this list, so we’ll do the main stage. In no order… James, The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Doves, Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Therapy?, To The Bones, The Virginmarys, Drenge. Simply for the fact they are all awesome.
What’s next for Our Fold?
We have another single to put out hopefully along with the album. Then we tour the nuts off it! Just starting to book more gigs. Hopefully we’ll see you all on the road!
‘She Goes On’ is released on 11 August.
Paul Sng
sng_paul
Paul Sng
Latest posts by Paul Sng (see all)
- WATCH: Hayley Ross – Barracuda - March 8, 2016
- Glastonbury 2015: The Good, the Bad and Kanye - July 1, 2015
- ALL TALK: The Problem With Mainstream Hip Hop - June 11, 2015
