When you meet a band formed by four teenagers on February 14th “because they had no romantic plans,” you immediately expect self-irony and drive from them. The British indie quartet Suncharmer – Paul Crisp, Josh Bryce, Dan Turtle and Mike Pocock – more than lives up to those expectations.

Their music is a cinematic cocktail of 60s–70s glam aesthetics, bold Tarantino-style surf rock, and the dense sound of modern British indie. Following the release of their single “Out Of My Hands,” we spoke with the musicians about chaos in the creative process, nostalgia for their youth, and how to fit cinematic drama and the disorganization of the “four musketeers” somewhere between The Beatles and Queens of the Stone Age.

Photo by David Campbell

Hi, guys! Nice to meet you and thanks for finding the time. Summer is a great time of year to talk about rock. The official birth date of the band is February 14, 2016 – and, if legend is to be believed, because no one had a date on Valentine’s Day. Tell me: if any of you had had romantic plans back then, would the world never have heard Suncharmer, or would you still have found a reason to get together in the studio?

Thank you for having us here! Well Paul had a few tunes knocking around at that time so one way or another it would’ve all come together eventually. During that period we were all teenagers that would hang out in all the spare time we had so there were many opportunities to get in the garage and play. We all had a desire to do what we do now so any valentines plans wouldn’t have got in the way, although fortunately our romantic lives did change after that and we haven’t spent February 14th with each other since.

People probably often tell you that your sound is an encounter between British indie with a 60s-70s vibe and glam rock. Let’s imagine that you need to describe Suncharmer’s music to someone who only listens to classical music and has no idea what glam rock is. How would you explain Suncharmer’s sound?

Yeah there’s a bit of an identity crisis going on there perhaps! We’d definitely agree that we reside somewhere within that 60s/70s space in many ways but maybe with a bit more of a modern sensibility thrown in. If we were describing our music to the world’s biggest classical music fan then we’d say it is dramatic, cinematic and charismatic; it takes you through the highs and lows of lived experience. Texturally it sits between glamour and grit with melodies that are deceptively sweet.

In early reviews, journalists found traces of 60s surf rock, spaghetti Western aesthetics, and the spirit of Quentin Tarantino films in your music. If Tarantino decided to film a sequel to one of his movies, which of your tracks would you offer him for the soundtrack and in which scene, in your opinion, would it sound ideal?

Oh there definitely was! There was a time when we were massively into the whole surf rock thing, specifically we loved a lot of the music that came from these instrumental bands out of California in the early to mid 60s. That influence does still live in the mix somewhere, it just rears its head a bit less these days. If Tarantino did a sequel to Reservoir Dogs then our song ‘With Evil Eyes’ would be perfect for the opening sequence we reckon! We’re big fans of Tarantino so the answer to this question was hotly debated.

You are from the southeast of England. The local music scene has always had its own character. How much did the regional context influence your formation, or did you look much wider than local clubs from the very beginning?

Well fortunately we all grew up around vibrant music scenes which very much influenced and fuelled our individual desires to play music one day. It’s probably fair to say we all had a trip as kids to The Forum in Tunbridge Wells, just standing in the crowd wishing to be up on that stage playing to an energetic audience like the one we were a part of. We’ve always dreamed big and of course naturally will continue to look much wider than our local area, but it’s important to not forget where you came from.

Photo by David Campbell

Your music always features a contrast – between bright, glitter-soaked anthems and dark, introspective rock. How do you manage to maintain this balance and not fall exclusively into one of the extremes?

Thankfully that has always happened fairly naturally for us when we’ve been writing. We all come from slightly different corners of the guitar music world as it were, sitting broadly somewhere between Queens Of The Stone Age and The Beatles you could say. It’s probably this diversity that pulls us away from leaning too much in one direction, because if one person loves an idea then you can bet at least one other member doesn’t.

Let’s talk about your new single “Out Of My Hands.” Honestly, the title intrigued me. What does the phrase “Out Of My Hands” mean to you in the context of this song?

We’re glad the title caught your attention in that way! The meaning behind the song and title is all to do with the way in which you view yourself and the world that surrounds us. It explores insecurities and a desire to change both things about oneself and other aspects of life, but it’s also about coming to terms with and accepting things that you may not be at ease with. We’d say that it’s a song about stuff that everyone can relate to and hope listeners find something in there that resonates with them.

Modern indie rock is often accused of excessive sterility, but “Out Of My Hands” has a live, slightly “raw” drive. How did you manage to preserve this garage spark and avoid bringing the track to a perfect, but soulless state during production?

So the song started life as a very rough and raw sounding voice note on someone’s phone, which is the vibe it’s sort of maintained just because it changed very little between then and us recording it properly – we were conscious not to overdo it with millions of overdubs or make it sound too slick from the get go. We work with a fantastic guy called Kevin Vanbergen who is very much in tune with what we’re going for and has been a fantastic producer. We’d like to think that between the five of us we managed to strike just the right balance between the raw edge and jangly prettiness.

“Out Of My Hands” has a dangerous side effect: after a couple of listens, your pulse quickens and you get the urge to speed up your car on an empty highway. Do you plan to shoot a music video for “Out Of My Hands” and, if so, what will the visual aesthetics be like?

We’re always glad to hear that one of our songs has an effect like that – just remember to obey all local traffic laws! So whenever we’re writing the visual aspect of a song is something we’re always thinking about and ideas have indeed been considered for this one. As for specifics it would probably be centred around our old ruined tape thing as per the artwork, but we are yet to put anything into action on that front. As always watch this space!

Four people in a band is like the Four Musketeers: each has their own character, their own tastes, and their own role in the common cause. Who in Suncharmer acts as Athos – responsible for common sense and discipline, and who is the absolute D’Artagnan, the main source of chaos and crazy ideas?

To be brutally honest we all absolutely fall into the D’Artagnan camp – there is no common sense here. The way we work is by throwing lots of crazy ideas into the mix and seeing which ones make the most sense to us at that time. We’re definitely four very disorderly musketeers!

Photo by David Campbell

Music is music, but the main and most uncompromising fans always stay at home – or stand right by the stage.
And finally: which of your moms most often comes to Suncharmer concerts and how do they behave in the venue: do they intelligently and calmly nod in time to the beat, or do they still not hold back and start singing along at the top of their lungs during the loudest moment of the chorus?

All four of us are very lucky to have wonderfully supportive friends and families at nearly all of our shows and they are absolute saviours sometimes. You can most often spot Dan and Paul’s mums somewhere in the audience but thankfully the lights on us are too bright to see what sort of embarrassing behaviour they’re getting up to out there in the crowd. It seems that some of our regulars do know some words and do genuinely like what we do which is always a bonus!

• Instagram
• Facebook