"The Beatles completely changed my entire outlook on everything.”
Ahead of the release of their EP ‘Ready To Roll’, FUZZY caught up with Jordan, the frontman of up-and-coming, Leeds-based The Stylus Method about everything from the most iconic Leeds venues to the White Album. Influenced by classic names such as The Beatles and The Kinks, the group describe themselves as having “an original, sixties-flavoured sound”. Jordan Frazer, JH Farnell, Sam Winstanley, and Steven Thomas are The Stylus Method, and they’re ready to roll.
FUZZY: You've got your EP coming out on Friday the 29th of May. How does it feel to be releasing an EP during the pandemic?
Yeah, it's a bit weird. It’s a process to get the songs from the original versions, through the demos and then getting them all recorded and edited, and then mastered and everything. Our producer is our bass player, Jamie. The songs that we're releasing on Friday, it seems so long ago since the first inception of them. We've written so much since. We were hoping to have some sort of launch event for it, which is now impossible because of the current situation.
FUZZY: How does the songwriting process usually go?
The four songs on this EP were all written by me and Jamie, our bass player. It was just the two of us and we were looking for some more guys for the band. We auditioned a few people that didn't really work out. We finally brought Steven, our drummer in, last August. We recorded ten or so demos and sent them off to Steven, and he gave them some drum ideas and then we started to get together in rehearsal rooms. We continued to look for a fourth member and we finally got Sam in. The process for these songs was very much written acoustically and then built out from there.
FUZZY: You're a 60s-inspired, rock and roll band. Who are your main musical influences?
That's what we're going for, we're trying to bring some new edge to it so we'll hopefully get quite a unique sound. Our main influences are The Beatles, The Kinks, and Suede. That's the feel that we're going for. Hopefully, people like it.
FUZZY: You're Leeds-based. Do you have any favourite Leeds venues at all?
One of the venues that I really like seeing bands in is Leeds Uni Union. We saw Amber Run there two years ago. It was insanely good. There are some good bars for acoustic music and open mic nights, and I’ve been to Northern Guitars quite a few times. It’s good to see the local talent. Brudenell is good for independent artists.
FUZZY: What's your favourite gig that you've ever attended?
Good question. The Amber Run one was really good because the atmosphere was really sick. The support that night was a band called ISLAND. Really rate them if you haven't heard them. I was supposed to be seeing Paul Weller last week with my dad. He’s got a new album out next month and because of the situation, everything has been cancelled so that's been put back to next year now.
FUZZY: This situation means that everything has to be put on hold, but do you have any plans in the works for next year?
We've been working on a live set. We've been putting a few covers in there and some extended versions of the songs that might work well in the live set. The original plan was to do the EP, follow it up with the album and have some sort of launch gig for that, so that will hopefully still be the plan, guidance-permitting.
FUZZY: What have you been listening to during lockdown?
My favourite album of late has been Michael Kiwanuka. His last album was the best thing I've heard for years. I thought it was really cool. I've been listening to a bit of Dusty Springfield today. A lot of The Kinks and Ray Davis.
FUZZY: Cool. Lots of specific tastes. It's nice to see a modern band that appreciates bands like The Beatles and The Kinks.
Led Zeppelin was the band I first got into big time. I started to get into The Beatles when I was about thirteen, and it sounds so cliché, but it just completely changed my entire outlook on everything.
FUZZY: The White Album is one of the greatest albums of all time.
It's quite divisive, isn't it? There’s something quite magical about the odd stuff on that record. It all works. I just read a book about the year 1966 and it focused on albums like Revolver and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and all that stuff, and the amount that acid permeated everything. It's insane. I love that quote from John Lennon about Revolver being the acid album after Rubber Soul being the pot album. There being five years between the first album and the White Album, the way in which their music changes, and also the way in which all music changed in that period, is just insane.
‘Ready To Roll’ is available on all major platforms now. Follow The Stylus Method on Instagram here.
Words by Eleanor Noyce.
9th June 2020.
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