The Spitfires: Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg — Review and Interview
The Spitfires took their latest album to Hamburg, Germany, and URY Music’s Patrick Bescoby (our temporary foreign correspondent) was there to review the evening, and sit down for a chat with the band’s lead singer.
Four-piece Watford band The Spitfires took to Germany in October, and I was lucky enough to travel to Hamburg to see their incredible live show.
Describing their sound as ‘reggae and ska through to punk and soul’, the band kicked off their set with the first track from their new album: ‘Remains the Same’, which immediately showed their intent to put on a high-energy performance with powerful political and social messages present throughout. It is clear from the new album, Year Zero, that there is a newfound reggae vibe being channeled in the band’s music, an influence which was brought to prominence in the Hamburg show.
For a band without a great deal of recognition in the UK charts, the crowd which had gathered for this show — the band’s sixth in Hamburg — showed how their ambition is succeeding abroad. Not only is it the music which The Spitfires have produced over their last three albums which draws people to their gigs, but, as proved by the atmosphere in the Monkeys Music Club, the kind of energy and effort the band put into shows is what the public of Hamburg want, and boy did they get it.
As always, The Spitfires gave a special mention to the fans in between songs, thanking them for their support, and thanking all those who have helped them get to where they are today.
The show then ended with ‘Day to Day’, a song from the band’s second album, which, like much of their music, follows the theme of working hard to achieve your end goal — something which the band themselves have earned the right to comfortably talk of.
My time in Hamburg was short, but one I will never forget, and after the gig I was lucky enough to have a few words with The Spitfires’ lead singer, Billy Sullivan:
ME: I’m joined by Billy from The Spitfires, how are you doing?
Billy: We are doing alright, thank you very much!
ME: So, we are currently stood in a very crowded backstage room, cramped in with all your instruments, how did you find the gig tonight?
Billy: Yeah, very good, I really enjoyed tonight. It’s been a long old journey here, but it’s definitely been worth it.
ME: Now this is the sixth time you’ve played Hamburg and the crowd have been amazing. Why is playing in Hamburg such a good occasion for you?
Billy: We’re not too sure! The first time we came here, it was done on a whim. Basically, the venue (Monkeys Music Club) asked us and we’d never even dreamed of coming to Germany to play. It seems as though we’ve got the support of the crowd out here. We don’t understand exactly why, but it has always been good for us.
ME: Of course. That also seems to help with the new album coming out, which has been put out to everyone and the people over here in Hamburg have clearly seemed to enjoy that. What has been the overall response to this new album?
Billy: Yeah, it’s gone well, especially over here. It’s done really well in Germany. We’ve got lots of press and lots of radio over here, so I think we saw evidence of just how well it has done tonight with the crowd’s reaction, especially [their reaction] to the newer stuff. But it has done well everywhere, you know, we are really impressed with the general response from it.
ME: Definitely. Personally, on this new album, I have felt a lot of new sounds have come in. What have been the main influences for this album compared to the other albums you have released in the past?
Billy: I suppose we have now got the reggae sort of thing on the edge, which we have tried to do in the past but never quite got it. The problem with doing reggae sort of stuff is that if you do it badly, it can sound really terrible! But once we got a couple of songs under our sleeve, we felt we were good enough and we found the theme for the album. There are all sorts of influences on the album, and it is probably our most diverse album to date as well, I’d say.
ME: And you have brought in a trombonist, Alistair, for the live shows, how has that helped you when gigging and trying and replicate the sounds from the album?
Billy: I suppose by having a lot more trombone on the album, we thought it was essential to have it on the road, because it has a particular sound that songs which have trombone on struggle a bit without it, so it has become an essential part of the live set up.
ME: Definitely, and I have noticed that in the past, when I have seen you before, you brought in a keyboard player to the band, but used them in shows and it made a massive difference to songs live. You brought in George now on keys and Alistair for live shows (the band initially started as a three piece), has that also helped to bring in different influences in sound? And will it influence future output?
Billy: Yeah and I suppose you have to expand on what you do live with whatever your music does. If you can’t replicate your music live then I wouldn’t see much point in that I don’t think. The future is looking very good.
The Spitfires are in the midst of a UK-wide tour for their latest album, Year Zero, and it will continue into February of next year. Tour dates even include an appearance at York’s very own Fibbers! Click the link below to see the full list of dates:
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