Viva Brighton April 2015 Issue #26

grasshopper
Smells like teen spirit
They’ve released two EPs, played almost 70 gigs and
opened for The Charlatans at Worthing Pavilion
last month – and they’re still in their mid teens. We
spoke to singer Javi Fedrick about being in a band
when you’re too young to legally enter many venues.
How was the gig with The Charlatans? We had
the best time. I’d probably say it’s the biggest gig
we’ve ever played, and we had the awesome Innerstrings
Psychedelic Lightshow doing visuals for us,
which made it really special.
How did it come about? Tim Burgess heard our
music last year and offered us a few festival slots
before he even knew our ages (he thought it was
hilarious once he found out). Then on Christmas
Eve we got a phone call from his manager who asked
us if we were interested in supporting them at their
only South Coast show… No brainer!
How old are you all? I’m 15, my brother Luis is
13, and the two girls (Em and Rachel) are both 17.
We’ve all been in Brighton for all of our (short) lives.
Do you feel lucky growing up here? It’s a really
brilliant place to live in, as there’s so much creative
stuff going on. I’m still too young to get into a lot of
gigs, but I think the young/DIY scene in Brighton is
really strong, so I’d say if you can’t get into a gig, put
on your own one with your friends.
Do you think you’ve inspired any other young
bands to start playing? I‘m sure we haven’t been
responsible for the formation of any other bands,
but when we first started, there was an amazing DIY
youth scene headed by AMI Brighton, which had a
monthly residency at the (sadly now lost) Blind Tiger
Club. There was a really supportive atmosphere
at those gigs, and I know lots of young bands had
their first few gigs there, and are now getting some
really brilliant support slots/festivals.
What sort of music do you make? Someone once
described our music as “a blend of post-punk-surfshoegaze
gorgeousness”. I think that sums up our
sound as well as anything else.
Do you find your age works against you or is it
an advantage? We’re not particularly interested in
aping our musical heroes, and as a result there’ve
been a few times when people have tried to ‘direct’
what we’re doing, and we have to be quite assertive
about saying that we’d rather do our own thing.
Our SoundCloud is there so that people can decide
if they like us or not without knowing how old we
are, which is how we like it. We’re always upfront
about our ages when we’re offered gigs (because of
licensing laws), but usually promoters treat us as they
would any other band (minus the alcohol on the
rider!). Interview by Ben Bailey
grasshopper are headlining an autism charity gig at
The Joker on Thur 2 and supporting Sonic Jesus at
The Hope & Ruin on Tues 14.
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