Lapels is a trio of East Midlands-based singer/songwriter/musicians made up of Nathan, Andy, and Adam. With their straightforward, honest approach to indie/pop, Nathan & Andy, a dynamic songwriting duo who alternate as the front men of Lapels, are quickly being compared to the early stages of mid-90s Britpop. Lapel’s straightforward approach to British guitar-based music, which lyrically depicts everyday mundane “stuff,” strikes a chord with listeners for its relevance and honesty. When Nathan and Andy ignited a singer/songwriter chemistry at college in Nottingham, the band was born. The boys started playing gigs across the East Midlands after enlisting bandmate Adam. They quickly needed to come up with a band name for a gig flyer, and since they were all wearing jackets at the time, “lapels” was the first word that brought them all together. Lapels were created.
The boys met Colin Peter, the CEO of the newly established Marquee Records, by chance while performing live in the East Midlands. The legendary Marquee Records was established as an evolution of its original club brand, stepping into the 21st century to nurture and support the cream of breakthrough artists. Marquee Records is well known for developing budding British talent. Lapels were the ideal fit for Marquee Records thanks to their straightforward, no-nonsense lyrics and charming on-stage charisma. Lapels have made a deal and have an album’s worth of brand-new, original music in the bag.
Lapels*, an indie/rock band from Derby who signed with Marquee Records in ’21, have grown to enviable critical acclaim thanks to their captivating live performances and initial three single releases. With their debut EP, “Live at Black Barn,” which was recorded at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios, Lapels enter the international music scene for the summer of 22. Lapels are firmly leaving an imprint on the global stage as the headliners of the inaugural MICANNES music conference in Cannes in June.
The debut EP by the Lapels features three brand-new, original songs from the band and serves as a one-off preview of their live performance. The band presents audiences with a masterwork of live music, serving up the fusion of BritPop, Indie, and Mod that has come to be known as the Lapel signature sound. Each song on the album has been specifically chosen to highlight one or more of Lapels’ many facets, including the ridiculously catchy “Back To Beginnings,” the cheeky “Early Morning Rain,” and the melodic downtempo nod to the Beatles in “Time Is Ours.” The EP, which was produced by Michael Smith, was recorded in the spring of ’22 at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios.
Lapels will also present their new, slimline 3-piece lineup at their international debut showcase at MICANNES. The first chance for audiences to experience Lapels live’s trademark indie Britishness will be at Cannes. With fresh material and a lean lineup, Lapels are prepared for the world. Check out their latest EP and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?
LAPELS: we come from the east midlands in England, we’re all roughly based in the same area. We got started around 4 years ago, Andy and Nat were playing local pubs as a two – piece, when we decided to build a proper band and get a drummer we brought Adam in, he was only 14 at the time and we were all roughly 18-19 so we were abit unsure at first if it would work but as soon as we started playing we knew it was gonna be fucking great. We all clicked instantly.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
LAPELS: Andy and Nat are self taught on guitar and bass, Adam has had drum lessons for some time and now occasionally teaches people himself.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘LAPELS’?
LAPELS: Andy’s biggest influences are probably bands like The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys and The Beatles. Nat’s biggest influences are 100% The Beatles, it’s the first band he got into and it doesn’t get much better than The Beatles to be honest. He also is heavily influenced by a lot of the great British bands in 90s such as Ocean colour scene, Supergrass, Oasis, Blur… I’d say we’re all really into that stuff.
Adam’s big into arctic monkeys, Liam Gallagher and Gerry Cinnamon.
The Name Lapels doesn’t mean anything… it’s nothing special, we just like clothes and at the time we were into wearing suits and stuff so we just thought “that’ll do yeah Lapels”
Ironically never wear suits anymore but can’t think of a better name so we’re stuck with it.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
LAPELS: Me (Andy) and Nat write all sorts of different tunes, we just believe in good songs, so our sound does move around a lot from song to song, I think that’s a good thing. A lot of bands out there now seem to all sound the same and their own songs all sound the same as the last one. With our stuff there’s moments of aggression and high energy and also moments of melancholy. One thing that is consistent with our songs is there’s always power in them, there’s always some sort of lift off point.
I think our listeners like our stuff because it’s all about the songs, there’s no bullshit and we can back it up live.
LAPELS:
Me and Nat have been writing songs for years so naturally you get better the more you do it, as a band of musicians I’d say the constant gigs we’ve done over the years in small pubs and clubs has shaped us into a great live band and i suppose our style just develops naturally over time.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?
LAPELS:
The freedom to write songs about whatever you want is precious, whether it be a serious political issue or absolute nonsense it doesn’t matter, so I’d say we don’t try to write about something because we think we should, we do because we want to. It’s normally just about everyday life, things you see on the way to the corner shop, usually stuff everyone has experienced.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
LAPELS:
We love this band, it’s all we want to do and we want to keep climbing up and see how far we can push it.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
LAPELS:
Andy and Nat write the songs, that process can be different every time, sometimes they will do it separately and sometimes they’ll do it together, once the song is in good shape we will bash it out in rehearsals until it clicks.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
LAPELS: In our music career it’s probably the COVID lockdowns and the long periods of time not being able to gig. As boring as hearing about COVID is that’s probably the most difficult thing.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
LAPELS: There’s a few main standouts, I’d say the main three are
Getting signed to Marquee records and being able to record an album in a beautiful studio for 12 days
Recording an EP in Paul Weller’s Blackbarn studio
And going to Cannes, south of France, to play gigs abroad.
KEEP IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SPOTIFY | WEBSITE
