Ahead of their free entry show with us at the Sebright Arms this weekend, we checked in with the Stoke-on-Trent band about experimentation, their home-built studio and their debut EP.
Photo: Jacob Swetmore | Words: Lloyd Bolton
Stoke-on-Trent band Formal Sppeedwear made a huge impression on us this year, their self-titled debut EP sounding like nothing else. While drawing on post-punk and industrial influences past and present, they infuse their work with their own unique style, informed in part by the sounds that come out of the home studio which they built themselves.
They headline our summer showcase at Sebright Arms this Saturday (20th July - Free Entry), joined by Duck Wax and Frank & Beans, so we thought it was a good time to dig a little deeper into their journey so far.
For the uninitiated, what is the Stoke scene like? Any venues we should check out? Other bands?
The Stoke scene is great! It's a little smaller than it used to be, but what we do have is really focused artists – to name a few – Head Dent, Christian Music, Mercury are all cracking and have new stuff to check out!
Recommended venues: Underground, Sugarmill, Captains Bar
Who do you want to sound like and who don't you want to sound like? What do you think it is that makes you sound unique?
Some of our biggest influences lift from Bill Nelson, DEVO, Peter Gabriel (1-4), Neu and Ben from YAANG.
We tend to take on many influences, so nothing really ever off the table - we'd prefer to avoid association with the NWOBHM movement, although that's all but passed.
How does your writing process tend to work?
We tend to start with a skeleton idea – bass and a drum machine pattern – this will then get fleshed out with guitars and keys. Usually there are a few similar parts being written simultaneously and it's then our job to 'Frankenstein' these into a structure that we like.
We can sometimes have a near-complete song – only for us to harvest our favourite parts for another idea. We prefer the idea of having one song that jumps into new, unexpected territory, rather than 2 songs that aren't necessarily as interesting.
Is it difficult translating your sound from live into recordings?
Rather the opposite, nearly everything is written/recorded first – then we go back to recordings and tweak them based on how we play them live.
There can be a lot of elements that are processed to the Nth degree, which is why we use a fair bit of gear on stage despite it just being the 3 of us!
How does having a studio you've built yourself influence the sound of your music?
Gives us the freedom to experiment when time doesn't quite equal money (renting studio time/engineers). It's also helped us become better producers/engineers.
The writing process has also become different to usual, as we can record as and when, and then adapt ideas around what's already to tape, as opposed to needing to have a full song written in order to then go and record it. Until it's released, anything is subject to change.
How has the use of experimental techniques shaped your music to date? You have mentioned use of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies cards previously.
The oblique cards are great! If we ever do hit a wall, it's always a great help to see something from a different perspective, to change our point of reference. A lot of the time, our 3 creative personalities are put to use here, as we always see things uniquely to one another, but if we ever truly are stuck, drawing a card is always an option. Even then, all 3 of us will likely interpret a prompt in a certain way, so even more creative avenues open up for us to pursue.
Experimenting is always the most fun part of the job – sometimes a whole song can come from messing with synths and processing. The track 'A Dismount' was conceived in this way – I won't give the specifics away, but the crux of the sound for that song was dreamt up whilst driving up to the studio. The signal chain was dictated over the phone and
wired up before anyone even played a note!
What you hear on the record is the first take of this experiment, and thus the song is one of our most unique sounding!
What song on the EP caused the most disagreement among the band?
We tend not to let much disagreement get in the way (usually it's deciding where the 1st beat of a bar is if anything). Following on from the previous answer, we try to use our differences to our advantage, so if we ever do disagree on something, it can be taken as an opportunity to try something one of us may not have thought of, rather than a hindrance.
It would be hard to single out one song specifically – if we all really can't agree on something then it'll likely be shelved, either to come back to later or to be put into the scrapyard to add to another song - nothing is ever wasted.
How did you connect with Melodic?
We still aren't quite sure where they found out about us - but they popped into a show in Manchester and really enjoyed our live output. From there we had a few preliminary meetings and realized their creative philosophy worked excellently with ours – it would have been silly not to take the chance.
What's next following this EP?
We're always working on new stuff, so alongside a pretty healthy gig schedule – you might see some recorded output towards the tail end of 2024…
Catch Formal Sppeedwear at Sebright Arms on 20th July with support from Frank & Beans and Duck Wax. Reserve free tickets here.
Poster by Harry Yates (@hryyates)
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