Over the past three years, Manchester quartet TIRADE have been honing their addictive blend of alt-pop-rock hooks with subtle math-rock grooves. For the better part of 2018, vocalist/bassist Jake Tilley, drummer Stevo Somerset and guitarists Josh Pearl and Alexx Young have been writing a follow up to 2016’s self-titled EP.
Even though they’ve been preparing new music, like any young band, other commitments have occasionally got in the way. For Jake, leaving home and moving to Univerisity has somewhat taken over his life. Nevertheless, the experience has served as the inspiration behind their new single, ‘To Be Honest’.
Released today, the song sees Tilley take aim at the idea of trying to start over and reinventing yourself yet ultimately he comes to the resolution to that he’d rather just be himself. His sincere words are combined with a vibrant hook that’s a perfect introduction to TIRADE.
We’ve teamed up with the band to premiere the video for ‘To Be Honest’. We also had a little chat to the band about the song, how the video came together, and what plans they have for the coming months.
AH: Today you’re releasing your latest single, ‘To Be Honest’. Lyrically, what is the track about?
Jake: This song is a personal one. When moving away from home and coming to uni, I was abnormally embarrassed about who I was. I started to find myself taking on the persona and actions of other people to try and fit in, as I didn’t feel I ever had before. What better a time to re-invent yourself. This was great for nights out and other events, but it wasn’t always straightforward. This song is basically me singing through the thought process of a night like that. You can play the part of anyone if you want to in these situations, but then you have to keep that going, and that becomes exhausting. In the verse I’m basically saying, I could just ‘be myself’ like they say, but it’s easy to just tick the boxes and get out of there.
AH: How does the video link to the song and how did the concept come together with Lewis Cater?
Ste: Well as Jake mentioned, the song is mainly about taking on different personas in different scenarios but we just needed a way to reflect this well with the video; we also really wanted to steer clear of just another performance shoot like in ‘No Time’. Originally I had a few ideas but they didn’t lead anywhere as they were either too unrelated the topic of the song or just ambitious but that was the point I thought of the paper bags. They worked great because they were fairly easy to make up and didn’t break the bank. The rest of the idea was to try and create something that showed more of the process of shooting the video rather than the video itself and how we sometimes have to put on a brave face to deal with certain situations.
Working with Lewis was great as well, he really helped us get the ideas together and stayed in touch to plan everything. On the day he helped everything run as smoothly as possible, we would absolutely recommend any band to work with him, he’s just a great guy and amazing at what he does!
https://youtu.be/W9zeYS3-ZXI
AH: We first heard of you with your self-titled EP a couple of years ago. Since then you’ve released a couple of singles and played shows with a variety of names. How have Tirade grown as a band since that first EP?
Josh: As a band, and as individuals, we’ve always made music that we’d love to listen to.
With these upcoming tracks, I think we’re definitely the most comfortable we’ve ever been with our musical identity. In the past, I feel myself, and Jake especially, sometimes have been compelled to think more inside the box, and have occasionally felt internal pressure to live up to records from our favourite artists. This time I feel marks a significant turning point for us as a band and as songwriters, where we stop comparing ourselves to others and make our individual mark in the industry.
AH: ‘To Be Honest’ follows ‘No Time’ that was released a few months ago. What else can we expect to see and hear from Tirade for the rest of the year and into 2019?
Alex: We have a lot of new music planned that we are hoping to release at a steady pace during 2019. There might be an EP on the horizon, as well as more singles. In our opinion, the music that we have coming up is the best stuff that we have written and we are very eager to get it released.
We have some more projects in the pipeline which are very exciting and we hope will show a different side to us as a band. We also have some sick shows booked in 2019 so far and will definitely be getting a lot more planned; as well as a load more merch for the new year. But for now, we hope you enjoy ‘To Be Honest’ and please share it around with your friends!
‘To Be Honest’ by TIRADE is out now.
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