Introducing Interview: ESTRONS

Fast becoming a Gigslutz favourite, Welsh collective ESTRONS create their own unique brand of dynamic, catchy indie-rock. Never ones to shy away from subjects, or tiptoe around taboos, their single ‘Make A Man’ found success with the likes of BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson, as well as Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, and was – of course – one of our own Tracks Of The Week.

We caught up with singer Taliesyn Källström to find out more…

Hey ESTRONS, how on earth are you?
Busy. We had our December rest and now we’re back on it.

You’ve been all over social media lately with your latest single ‘Make a Man’ – were you surprised by the reaction?
Yes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the songs we write, and ‘Make A Man’ is a hard and fast song, but it’s really amazing to have so many people tell me how much they love our music.

What’s your debut EP Whoever She Was… all about?
It’s all about a journey from old to new. ‘Make a Man’ is our newest track, and ‘I (Don’t) Want You’ is one of our oldest. It’s a summary of where we’ve been on a personal and creative level over the past few years. I think we’re all very different people to who we were when we first started, and it’s nice to have that reminder of where it all began.

Is it important to you as a band to support important issues such as feminism?
I think it’s important for artists to talk about what they feel strongly about. I’m not one to write about ambiguous subjects stuffed full of metaphors. I like to be straight forward in what I’m saying. If one day I want to shout about some inequality I felt in a situation, I’m not going to hold back – that’s important as an artist.

How did you become ESTRONS?
A series of serendipitous events which led us together. We weren’t actually friends before we formed ESTRONS, and we’re all from different countries or places, hence the name which means “strangers”.

Do you have any new bands you’re listening to you’d recommend to our readers?
I have a lot of un-new bands that I listen to! There’s a few that have been around in the U.K that I’d recommend: Threatmantics, Gindrinker, Spectres, The Amazing Snakeheads, HOMES. All great stuff.

What’s the plan for 2016?
We’re going to get another release out as soon as we can; we’re already writing a lot of new material and getting it recorded – it seems to be flying out. An important thing for us is to build our fan-base around the UK and rest of the world by gigging as much as we can.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
I think if we work hard enough at it, we should hopefully be doing this full time.

And gigs coming up?
Yeah, we’ve got quite a few in February around the South and North of England, and more still being confirmed. Best thing to do is keep an eye on our Facebook and Website.

 

Huge thanks to ESTRONS for answering our questions! Their debut EP Whoever She Was… is out now on Gofod Records Ltd.

 

 

Mari Lane

Mari Lane

Editor, London. Likes: Kathleen Hanna, 6Music, live music in the sunshine. Dislikes: Sexism, pineapples, the misuse of apostrophes.