Nai Harvest may be the band flying the flag for UK emo at the moment but it wasn’t always the case. They originally formed as a three piece screamo band in 2011. Guitarist and gobshite Ben Thompson remains the only original member. Lewis Currie makes up the other half of Nai Harvest. “Our original drummer Sammy moved away” explains Ben. “We were going to stop being a band but Lew got in touch and said he’d play for us”. Bass player Jake left shortly after Sammy for a reason that Ben says he is still unaware of.

It was at this point that Ben believes they became a real, serious band marked by the release of their debut 7’’ Feeling Better. This was then followed by their first album Whatever in 2013. A record which gained them the attention of the press and music industry, along with adoration from the scene.

But where now for Nai Harvest? “we have a 7” coming out at the end of the year” says Ben. “Dog Knights are putting it out in the UK and a label is doing it in the US but we’re not allowed to mention anything yet”. Moving away from the twinkly emo sound that gave them notoriety, apparently Nai’s new record is going to take influence from the likes of Pavement and Dinosaur Jnr. “It’s not as catchy, but who cares? If people don’t like it, they don’t like it”. After the new release, Nai plan to tour the UK, Europe and hopefully even make it across to America.

The band seems to be distancing themselves from the uk emo scene that they effectively created. In fact, Ben even made the bloody Facebook group. “It’s become a buzz word” he muses. “I only made that page to help bands book shows. I was sick of booking agents in the US emailing shit people in the UK trying to book shows. Like 1994 playing to 20 people and I was like ‘I know full well that more than 20 people in Manchester like 1994’ so I thought I’d get everyone together in one big place”. The group has a directory of all the promoters, bands and labels in the UK emo scene. Although now it’s mainly used for shit talking and bitchy arguments. “I don’t really look at it anymore. I just let it be a monster”.

“We’re having to drop a lot of things to do the band” says Ben on the impending business of Nai Harvest. “I’m going to be skipping uni a lot, Lew’s going to be ringing in sick at work a lot”. Everything is planned finitely for the release of the new 7”, a drastic contrast from Whatever which was released two months later than originally planned. “We’ve got all the time in the world to plan for this and make sure it’s perfect”.

“It’s going to be an exciting and busy year for us”.