Interview - Such Strange Arts

Essex pop-punkers Such Strange Arts have recently released their video for "Waking the Neighbours" following the release of the EP of the same name earlier this year. I took the opportunity to talk to Matt Milton (guitar) about their plans for the year, and how they work in the studio!

CB– Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me today! For anybody who hasn’t heard of your band, can you introduce yourselves?

Matt - Hello! We are Such Strange Arts, a pop-rock/pop-punk band from Rayleigh in Essex!

CB – So, as I can see from your Facebook – your EP “Waking the Neighbours” came out recently, and that the video for “Waking the Neighbours” was released two days ago! How has the response been to the EP and the video so far?

Matt - The response to the EP has been amazing! It's our first release since signing to Standby Records and it's gone down really well, including a 7/10 review in Rocksound. We just put out the video for the title track "Waking the Neighbours" which we shot whilst on the road during our UK tour in February - the tour was crazy and we feel the video really catches some of the essence of that.

CB – You guys are based in Essex aren't you? How do you find the music scene there?

Matt - Yes we are! The scene is a bit weird I guess, it seems to die off and then out of nowhere it shoots back up again, it's like a cycle! There's some killer artists come out of Essex at the moment, such as WALWIN, Emma Blackery and Chris Bourne. It's great to see our mates out there killing it!

CB – Where is it that you guys get your recording sessions done, or do you not have a regular studio? Take us through a normal day for you guys in the studio when you are recording!

Matt - During the writing process we demo the songs in full at my home studio before we head into the "main" studio. That way we work everything out beforehand and save time later on! We usually record with our good friend Arthur Walwin at his studio - he's a great singer and he really understands us, and how we want to sound. As a producer myself it's great to work with someone like that, who can give a second opinion and give a fresh pair of eyes and ears to the songs! An average day in the studio: we usually start pretty early, at about 9am. We'll have a bit of a rough plan of what we're going to do from the day before, and will crack on as soon as everything is set up. We'll usually work pretty solidly through into the evening, when we get going we don't really stop!

CB – So you’ve already played some gigs in 2016 – plans for anymore this year? Maybe a tour up to Scotland?!

Matt - We've got a bunch of new shows that will be announced soon, including another UK tour later this year! We'd love to come to Scotland, so hopefully yes...

CB – How did you all get into music?

Matt - I myself got into music through it always being on in the car when my mum used to drive me to school! I started taking music more seriously when I was in secondary school and it grew from there, playing covers with my mates in the music room! The rest of the guys all did a similar thing too, playing small shows and just having fun!

CB – And finally, do you have anything you want to say to the Such Strange Arts fanbase?

Matt - Thank you to everyone who has bought the EP, come to a show, bought merch, watched the videos or just shared our name about with their mates! Seriously, word of mouth is how we've got this far, and it's how we'll continue to grow! And it return, we promise to give you the best we can from everything we do! If you've got any ideas of anything you'd like us to do, whatever it may be, please let us know, it would be great to hear from you!

To keep up to date with the latest Such Strange Arts, please visit:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/suchstrangearts Twitter: @SuchStrangeArts Insta: @such_strange_arts_official