Interview: I Swim With Sharks

On paper Leeds trio I Swim With Sharks had a relative successful 2012 with their latest EP, ‘Eleanor’ receiving praise from a range of outlets including Already Heard. Their brand of “guitar driven aggro pop” is bold and ambitious yet it seems they’re only just getting started.

Over the last few months, I Swim With Sharks have been working on their début full-length which they promise to be more expansive with their live show being part of their creative procedure. Recent single ‘Fight With Thunder’ is a rousing, dynamic number that sensibly shows what I Swim With Sharks are all about.

We recently caught up with vocalist and guitarist Luke Moseley to find out more about the bands history, how the making of the new album is going and their plans for the coming year.

Already Heard: First of all can you tell us who you and what you do in I Swim With Sharks?
Luke: I am Luke, I play guitar and sing in I Swim With Sharks.

AH: For those who are unfamiliar with the band, how would you describe your sound?
Luke: The tagline we came up with to stop us waffling on to people about our sound is ‘guitar driven aggro pop’

AH: Are there any key bands you consider as influences?
Luke: Well for me I grew up listening to a lot of Skunk Anansie, Glassjaw, Rocket from the Crypt, Afghan Wigs and At The Drive In.

AH: Can you give us a brief history of the band?
Luke: We have just come up onto our second birthday actually, I used to play mainly strange solo acoustic guitar with beatboxing kind of stuff with bird noises and shit, then started to come around to playing with a band and put out the feelers to find some guys to play with to actualise the album I had been writing under the guise L-Mo called Got Gumption? That is how I found Phil (Jones – Bass) and Evan (Bourke – Drums.)

AH: I understand you’re currently working on your début full length. How is the process going so far?
Luke: So far it has been going really well, we have always written songs with the live aspect in mind and they were all pretty driving jumping around type affairs, so it has been awesome to be able to delve into creating an entire piece of work with ups and downs, and as many different textures as we want.

AH: You’ve already given a sneak preview of the album with a couple of songs (‘Hey’ and ‘Build Me Up.’) What are these tracks about?
Luke: All of these tracks are pretty much written about my dad and when he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. The songs are my attempt at understanding what it was like for him, and also to deal with the effect it has on me and our family.

AH: How has the feedback been so far?
Luke: Yeah so far it has been really good, we don’t show our stuff to that many people before release, mainly because its easy to let other people influence and change your output creatively.

AH: Which unheard songs are you looking forward to getting out there?
Luke: Probably ‘Fight With Thunder’ and ‘Burn My Skin’ as well as ‘Snatch The Tongue,’ I am looking forward to every song getting its birthing moment.

AH: Does the album have a title yet?
Luke: We are gonna go down the self titled route we think, with the name of the band being so long we thought that would be enough really.

AH: How has the bands sound developed since the ‘Eleanor’ EP that was released last year?
Luke: It has mainly just been reinforced and intensified down a similar line. We have gained much more confidence with where we are going.

AH: The album is set to be released later this year. When can we expect to hear more about the album?
Luke: Well the first single from the album, ‘Fight With Thunder’ was released December. Now we are going to shop it around to a few labels and see where we go from there.

AH: Why should Already Heard readers check out I Swim With Sharks?
Luke: Tough question, I guess because we love what we do and think that it kicks ass, come to a live show and that should explain it.

AH: Any final words to close the interview?
Luke: Thanks to everyone that has supported us over the years, you guys rule and without you we would be playing on our own to each other in an empty room.

‘Fight With Thunder’ by I Swim With Sharks is available now as a free download via Soundcloud.