Released today across all streaming platforms, this new single from The White Lakes looks set to bang. We caught up with front man Matt Ellacott about all things music:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you from and how did you all meet?
I am Matt Ellacott Rhythm Guitarist and singer for the The White Lakes.
I’m from a town just outside of Oxford called Wantage, myself and the drummer Kyle met each other at Oxford College, both studying music. I’m pretty sure Kyle didn’t like me at the start when I met him, I joined the course a month late and everyone seem to have there little groups so I was the odd one out. I think it was about a month later I was sat in a practice room listening to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers new album “The Getaway”, Kyle came into listen as well, then we started chatting about music and really hit it off from there. We both wanted to start a band so decided to form an early version of The White Lakes at college. A year later we decided to move to the same university in Guildford to further our music education and continue the band as we had had so decent momentum from our shows in Oxford supporting Yves and The Night Cafe as we’ll as our sold out headline show at The Cellar and supporting Razorlight at the O2 Indigo, the other old members went off to a different uni. We were quite lucky when we were looking for new members as our uni had a musicians page, so we put a little ad up on Facebook and hoped for the best. We already had an idea of the kind of guy we were looking for as our lead guitarist, we met around 20-30 people and nobody seemed to fit, we wanted someone who would come in, play the song how we recorded it and then leave. We had so many people who would come in and do threading solos, sometimes not even in key. Yet the final person, comes through the door, we are all tired and angry, he plugs in his guitar plays the song how it was meant to be played and we felt straight away that it was meant to be. That person is our lead guitarist Mr Finlay Carson from Preston. Myself and the boys spent a lot of time practicing the songs and making them as tight as possible as we had a plan to release a song then head off on tour in January of 2020. We still needed a bass player. So we followed the same tactic as before, this time we only had two responses. One of them was Logan McQuirk from Matlock, Derbyshire he arrived with a couple of beers and a beautiful bass. We decided he was in the band straight away. The Next day we had a call about a last minute gig, we called him, and said “hey man, we would love you to join our band, we have a gig tomorrow wanna learn the set and play it?” He said yes and thats how we all met and the band was formed!
If you had to sum up each band member with one word, what would you say?
Matt – Loud
Fin – Greggs
Logan – Lanky
Kyle – Hairy
Better names than the spice girls 😉
You released today your new single This Generation. What does this song mean to you, as a band?
It means a lot, it has been a while since we have released any new music, it was one of the first songs written during first lockdown. I guess it shows our progression as a band more than anything. We are so excited to see how our fans and new people finding our music, react to it. At the same time I don’t want to delve into the meaning of the song that I have, as I like fans connecting with it in different ways and interpreting the lyrics in their own ways!
Is this a hint at more new music on the way?
We are due to release a single in July and another single October this year.
Who produced this? Have you worked with them before? How was it, working with them?
So the song was written by myself and Luke Juby (a super cool guy and amazing songwriter/producer) with Fin adding some great guitar parts to it! It was recorded and co-produced by the lovely blokes at Numen Studios, Max and Jordan, we have worked with them before so have a great relationship already. Its always a fun experience recording there.
Where do you look, to help find inspiration for your music?
I think it’s anything I’m listening to, I don’t like to box myself into one genre when I’m listening to music, one day ill listen to Catfish and the Bottlemen, the next day ill be listening to Krept and Konan, it really helps lyrically and melodically, as there are some amazing melodies in rap, dance, classical and indie, the beats they use etc. It’s all interesting stuff, and it’s all inspiration.
Releasing new music is difficult at the best of times, how are you managing to do this while also being in lockdown?
I think releasing music during this time is the best, having part time jobs and getting put on furlough allows you to have the time to work on the band even harder, dedicating time like a full time musician. I think I have written about 40/50 songs this lockdown and we have released 2 songs. Its all about how you view situations, I know many of my friends who just played Warzone constantly and didn’t work on their projects and now the projects don’t exist.
Other than making music, how has the band been keeping busy during lockdown?
Because we have moved in to a house together and stayed as a bubble throughout all the lockdowns, we have been able to drink a fair amount of beer and become addicted to F1 2020 on Xbox. That’s pretty much all we do if we are not working on new music.
What tips would you give to those in bands, looking to get their music out there?
Keep writing, even if you don’t want to, you can really find your sound if you keep writing. Experiment with new sounds, Synths, drums, loops etc. I have written many songs that wouldn’t fit our band, however always finish those projects as you may use them later down the road for a second or third album. Never delete any projects you are working on! That’s my advice.
What’s next for the band?
I would say festival season, we aim to be playing a lot of these festivals, release another two singles and go on tour! Nothing is set in stone obviously because you never know what will go on with the Covid situation we are in, but our aim is a UK tour for autumn 2021.
Where can we find out more about you?
Follow us on any social media, we go live quite a lot on Instagram so that might be the one to follow, but we post on all of them! Hopefully see some of you readers there!
Facebook – The White Lakes
Instagram – @thewhitelakesband
Twitter – @thewhitelakes
Youtube @thewhitelakes
Website – www.thewhitelakes.com
And, because they are always left out of interviews, any final words from the drummer?
Kyle (Drummer) “Stream our new single this generation so you can make us famous !! Thank you, bye, like and subscribe love you guys”
Matt – This is why drummers don’t say much 😉
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