The Pylons

The Pylons Lincoln based Indie band The Pylons have already rocked a set at Y Not Festival and have performed on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury 2016 as well as playing gigs throughout the UK. They have supported the likes of Scouting for Girls, Saint Raymond, Amber Run & Dog Is Dead and have played at some prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

The Band made up by Alex Dalton, Barney Alexander, Joe Davies, Joey Walker, Phil Gale and Emily Bridgwood were kind enough to answer some questions for us here is what they had to say.

Where did the name The Pylons come from?

It’s actually a reference from a computer game that Alex was playing whilst we were trying to think of a name. He started posting random words from the game and one of the was about pylons.

How did you all first meet?

We are all from the same school. Barney and Joey were doing a school show about 4 years ago and needed a guitar player and bassist for the gig. They started writing and recording and brought me (Joe) in to do some horn parts in the studio, that worked so he joined too. Recently we’ve added Emily who we all knew at school and often played with her for school shows.

Which song was the most difficult to write?

Sometimes songs just fall nicely into place as we add new elements to them but for one of our new singles, Wish, we had quite a lot of trouble with it. We knew there were some really good elements to it but some of the lyrics and other instrumental parts didn’t really work. We went back to the drawing board, simplified it a bit and now it sounds glorious, if we do say so ourselves.

How hard has it been to get your music noticed?

Our music has done well online which has been really helpful! We’re not sure how but two of our tracks from our debut EP were playlisted by Spotify in Germany, those two between them have had 650,000 streams. We’ve also been lucky with support from BBC Introducing East Midlands and Lincolnshire. They’ve played lots of our music and that’s been a fantastic platform for us to reach new audiences and get our music noticed. – we’ve done well out of Spotify and BBC introducing.

Tell us a random fact about each band member.

Barney – plays the flute

Phil – owns a flute and plays it when noone is watching

Alex – played the flute

Joe – wishes he played the flute

Emily – may play the flute on stage, just to wind Joey up

Joey – hates the flute

Describe The Pylons in three words.

Horny, Drummy, Phil-y

If you could play at any venue in the world where would it be and why?

We can’t all decide, but Brixton would be awesome, so would Red Rocks!

If you could go on tour with any band/artist who would it be and why?

Bears Den – We ❤ Bears Den

Describe each band member in one word?

Barney – Klutz

Phil – Sarcastic

Alex – Extravagant

Emily – Rookie

Joey – Glue

Joe – (Horny) Grandad

What has been the best gig you have played?

It’s a difficult one. We really enjoyed playing the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury last year but I think we also felt a bit of pressure doing that one. I think the best one we’ve done was our first ever headline show at The Platform in Lincoln. It holds about 300 people and we sold it out! To have that many people come and pay to see us was amazing, everyone was singing along and it was an amazing thrill.

What are your plans for this year?

We’ve been working hard over Christmas to record some new material which we will be releasing soon. We’ll hopefully be hitting the road later in the year, we’re working on a few exciting things which will be amazing if things go our way. We’re also working on organising our own festival for up and coming music in Lincolnshire so watch this space.

If The Pylons had to be remembered for one thing what would it be?

We’re a fun bunch, I guess that’s a good thing to be remembered by.

What is a typical day/week like for you?

All of us apart from Phil are students so we spend term time apart from each other, but we still do a lot of writing and sending demos over the internet. Phil is a manager at a cocktail bar in York. When we do meet up we work pretty hard, Joey, who produces everything, has been in the studio non stop for about 3 weeks now. Now the band is starting to gain a bit of momentum we’re making more time to meet up which is great fun!

Do you have a pre-show ritual?

Yep! We do this thing where we all have to clap in sync (not that sure if it does anything but it’s something to pass the time if anything). We normally try and find a room with good acoustics and sing a few vocal harmonies. Alex always leads us in a prayer to the god of rock and roll, it’s inspired by the film School of Rock so if you don’t know what we’re on about then go and watch that!

What’s advise would you all give to a small band that were trying to make it?

Keep it fun! If you enjoy what you’re doing then other people will enjoy it too! Also keep going! We’ve been a band for about 4 years and for a lot of that time we didn’t really get that far, but we kept at it because we love doing it!

What do you think makes you stand out from the other bands?

Big Horns, Big Drums and 80’s guitars and synths that come out of every orifice of your body.

Do you have any funny/interesting gig stories you can share with us?

One of the best gigs we’ve played (in terms of us performing) was the first time we played in Nottingham and was to the sound man, ticket seller and 3 of our mates.

What has been the most random thing a fan has done to you or at a gig?

Well Phil nearly blinded someone by throwing a CD into the crowd once, don’t know if that counts. Oh and someone from Austria made a fan account on twitter, that’s pretty random but cool!

If you could only listen to three albums for the rest of you life what would you pick?

a. Toto – Greatist Hits

b. Amber Run – 5AM

c. Bears Den – Islands (We ❤ Bears Den)

Final questions if you could write a song or collaborate with any band/artist who would you pick and why?

Hans Zimmer – Because he creates the most wonderful sounds.

By Siân Parker