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Yorkshire-based noise-merchants Feral Family have just released their latest single ‘Save It For The Day’ and vocalist Jamie was on hand to fill in the blanks on our “Introduction To Feral Family”…
What are the origins of Feral Family, how long have you been playing together?
We’ve been friends since childhood. We started playing together around 2014 playing in Oscar’s bedroom, then we upgraded to our old drummer’s garage, then a pub, ’til we realised we weren’t stopping anytime soon and needed something more permanent. So then we got ourselves a more professional practice/recording room.
What should people expect when they check Feral Family out? How would you describe yourself?
Our songs are about how we feel, have felt, or how we feel about other people or things. So there’s something that almost anyone can connect with on a lyrical level. We have quite a dark, creepy sound but a lot of real, raw emotion goes into a lot of our songs.
New single ‘Save it For the Day‘ is set to be released on November 5th, what was it about this one that made you choose it as a single?
We’ve been releasing all of our songs as singles since we started, we don’t like to put all our eggs in one basket, however, an album could be in the works sometime in the near future so keep your eyes peeled!
‘Save it For the Day‘ is the latest of a handful of singles, with each new single, do you see growth in the band? In the songwriting department for example?
Every time we get down to the writing process we seem to improve our recipe. Back in 2014 when we were just friends jamming in a little room we had a totally different sound (and name). We had an almost psychedelic rock sound back then. We now invest much more time in each song, crafting it and bending it to see where it goes. Sometimes we do something by accident that works perfectly so we bang that in there. Some songs are crafted inch by inch, others just fall into place.
What was your first gig since lockdown like? How long did it take until everything fell back into place?
First gig since lockdown was electric! Had a good turnout considering lockdown only ended a week or two before. We had a lot of gigs that fell through because of the pandemic so it was good to get back in the game.
Are you working on more new music at the minute?
We’re always working on new music. As soon as one gets announced we usually have a few songs banked and have more that are almost ready to record. We like to make sure we’ve always got new material, helps us keep a constant presence in the music scene.
What band out there at the minute do you feel that Feral Family would be best suited to open for?
Funnily enough, we’re opening for Avalanche Party on the 12th of November, absolutely quality bunch of lads, top tunes, and great stage presence. And they really know how to get the crowd going. Opened for Yonaka a few years back and they’re doing amazing at the moment. The boys from Blackwaters are spot on too, both have been great to gig with.
But we would love to play with:
The Blinders
Demon Happy
Kid Kapichi
I think we would definitely set the tone for the night opening up for them
What are your first musical memories? And what was the lightbulb moment that made you go “I want to do that”?
When I was growing up, my mum was very musical and had lots of musical friends. I can remember going round to all sorts of places and they would sing and play old folk songs. Some of my oldest musical memories I owe to my mother. People say this a lot but music has always been a huge part of my life, can’t help but dismantle every song I hear to figure out what instrument is playing, drum sequences, etc. The first moment I knew that this is what I wanted to do is when my English teacher told me he had a gig coming up, so I went to check it out, had the place absolutely packed and I had that lightbulb moment. I remember literally saying “I could do that”. Shortly after that, we formed the band.
What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?
Went to go watch Jungle in October, they’ve got to be one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, absolutely impeccable sound.
What current issue are you particularly passionate about?
One issue I’ve found in gigging is people that turn up a gig to watch bands that are almost a household name, and then all they do is film the whole gig on their phone to put on their social media posts. They barely even see the band first hand, you might as well be watching it on TV! Music is about the music, not about the likes you can get on a Facebook post.
The album that you have in your album collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
I suppose it depends who’s asking. My Spotify goes from Biggie Smalls to Tool, Led Zeppelin, Metronomy then goes over to Tenacious D, David Bowie & Baxter Dury. There’s too many to mention, rule of thumb… If it’s good, it’s going in.
What new albums have you been enjoying in 2021?
Jungle’s Loving In Stereo came out a few months back, quality album. Tenacious D recently released some of their original songs from the 1995 series they did on Spotify, they have me creasing every time I listen.
What are the plans for Feral Family for 2022?
We want to start making some real progress reaching more people, we’ve got the songs now, just have to get people to hear them.
How active are you on social media and where can people connect with you?
Yeah can’t really complain about social media, it helps us reach people when 10/20 years ago you couldn’t do that. Our approach is pretty much let the music do the talking. We just use it to promo our music and we have a great team behind us that works with us to make sure the music does the talking. We’re not on it to be influencers, none of that ole rubbish.
‘Save It For The Day’ is available now, more information here.
Connect with Feral Family, here.
