RGM presents – we interviewed the Contemporary Club, what happened?

How did you decide that music was right for you?

It all goes back to being in the same group at music college. We covered The Who’s ‘My Generation’ for a college project and from then on we realised we clicked well as a group. We had a lot of fun performing on stage together and soon started writing our own songs together.

Introduce us all to yourselves and your musical story.

We are the Contemporary Club! Sam (vocalist, guitarist), Jude (guitarist), George (bassist) and Jake (drummer). We haven’t actually been a band for very long, we only formed earlier this year. However, we have already played quite a few gigs and also released two songs, Belong and Plastic Dream. Our very first gig consisted mainly of covers of various British classics and indie music, as well as our two released songs. Since then we have written many more songs and can’t wait to record and perform them.

What’s the live music scene like in London at the moment? Is there anyone we should be watching out for (apart from you, of course)

Apart from us (of course), the music scene in London is really exciting at the moment. There are a lot of new young bands that are heavily influenced by today’s society and are looking for a creative outlet. We really enjoy performing with them and watching them, especially in small venues. Two of our current favourites from London are ‘The Early Swerve’ and ‘Superdays’, both very different genres but we really enjoy listening to them. Much better than bands like Bilk.

I’ve seen a lot of people fighting for support online lately. What is your opinion on the industry?

I don’t want to sound like a wimp, but we’re actually quite intimidated by how the industry is these days, especially how it’s now 90% social media based. With the accessibility of social media for promoting and getting your name out there, as a band we prefer the idea of ​​physical promotion like posters and handing out CDs over a TikTok. It’s much more personal for us and the audience. But it is what it is, and we’ll continue to use different platforms.

Where do you think you currently stand in the music industry?

We’re definitely at the bottom of the music food chain. Right now we’re trying to find a way to break through the metaphorical ceiling that’s stopping audiences from loving our songs and just play every show we can get, even if it means spending more on train tickets than we get back! For us as a band right now it’s all about promotion, staying on top of things and working hard to reach a bigger audience.

Tell us two truths and one lie about you.

We started as a cover band for The Lathums. Jude’s favorite band is Green Day. Jake lost the tip of his finger a week before a gig.

Do you ever worry that people will take things the wrong way or that cancel culture will become a problem? Discuss…

Always. Anything can be taken out of context, especially on social media, as videos and images can be taken out of context or edited. The AI ​​of today is also scary. We see videos of various politicians created with AI while playing Minecraft, for goodness sake. It’s pretty amusing though!

When it comes to cancel culture, it’s more about the situation than the culture as a whole. Of course, we don’t want to be canceled in our careers at all, as “culture” can do great things to address problems in our world, but sometimes making a joke can be scary. We’re sweating just answering that question!

Do you believe in any conspiracy theories? If not, why not?

I (Sam) am interested in a lot of things. First of all, aliens definitely exist, the US government has told literally everyone. I also believe aliens are responsible for Stonehenge, which the rest think is nonsense. As a band, we all find ghosts really interesting, especially Jake. There has been some activity at my house recently that has always scared me. We also FIRST believe in the “Harry Kane” curse, so please bring home football sometime – TCC.

What was your best experience on stage?

It definitely has to be the moment when we played “Plastic Dream” and the audience sang along to the lyrics before the song was even released. It was also our second gig as a band, so it was a very special feeling.

What was your worst experience on stage?

We played a show in Shoreditch as a showcase and the crowd was pretty empty. Of course there are empty shows so it didn’t bother us – until nobody clapped back when we clapped on stage! It really did look like we were applauding ourselves so let’s just say we were. Also none of the support acts stayed to watch us, how cheeky.

Tell us something about each member that you think would surprise people.

Sam – He’s only been writing music for a year and is identical to Alex Moore from The Lathums.

George – Contrary to popular belief, he actually hates Oasis.

Jude – In contrast to his stage behavior, he is very awkward when dealing with people.

Jake – Jake once wore roadman clothing in his youth, but is an emo at heart.

What next steps do you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?

Our next steps will be to really define our sound and try our best to get support slots for artists bigger than us. We’ll also network as much as we can at shows to support more local bands and play more local shows. Oh yeah, and get better at doing Tik Toks.

What can you tell us about your debut single “Belong”?

“Belong” was written, recorded and produced entirely by us and our buddy who lent us his recording equipment. The writing process was pretty quick. Sam had already written it and showed it to us at a rehearsal and by the end of the day the whole song was finished. The song itself is about being a teenager and having fun in your hometown, as well as taking a girl home while your mom is waiting at the door, which is a true story for most of us!

We’ve had a lot of fun playing Belong live and since we released it as our debut song, it’s received an incredible response. It really means a lot to us that our first song has been received so well, especially since we recorded it entirely ourselves.

How was the admission process?

Recording “Belong” was actually quite easy and enjoyable, especially because we could do it at our own pace and didn’t feel like we had to meet a deadline. The coziness came from the sofa in the studio, to be honest, but we still got something done. The song only took a couple of hours to record because we had all rehearsed well. However, everyone distracted Sam during the vocal recordings. Apart from George, who is fussy, everyone also had more or less first takes.

What was the biggest learning process when writing the new song?

It’s Sam again. The biggest learning curve has been writing honestly about myself and my own experiences and my childhood growing up in a way that is relatable to an audience. This has improved my ability to write songs that are personal and express my feelings. An example of this that my parents will not be happy about is hiding alcohol and secretly getting it out of the house. Sorry, Mom.

Would you change anything now that it’s finished?

As a band we would have liked to have incorporated more harmonies into the verses and Jake would have liked the drums to be a bit more direct and punchy. Overall, however, we are really happy with the result and proud of our first work of art.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?

LISTEN TO BE PART! We can guarantee you will love it and we are already the best band. You just don’t know it yet. Thanks to RGM for doing this for us and thanks to everyone who supports us and comes to our shows, it really means a lot to us. We still don’t like Bilk.

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