Stumbled Upon #034 – Edgarville (United Kingdom)

In the 34th installment of ‘Stumbled Upon’, we meet the UK’s Edgarville and chat about keeping things simple, their upcoming 3 month tour around the UK and get to know a little more about the band. Read on:

Band Name:
Edgarville

Website / Social Media:
Facebook

Genre:
Acoustic

Members & their roles:
Ed – singer, song writer & guitar
Sometimes my friend Rob joins me on drums or second guitar.

What music or artists inspired you?
For me personally it’s gone year by year, month by month, I’m so far down the rabbit hole I couldn’t even think of a comprehensive list. I pretty much breathe music, so many styles have kept me interested, for me there aren’t too many constants in life but music has been the most prominent one, always. I’m pretty sure I’m speaking on behalf of Rob there too haha.

At the moment I’m well into ‘Their / They’re / There’ and ‘CHON’ though!

How did the band get started?
These songs range in age, from way before Edgarville was established as a fragmented name to define the sound, up to now. The idea and inspiration to give it a name came out of the back of a hard break up with the band I was in before this ‘Egos At The Door’. As lonely of a decision as it might sound to some people I really needed to isolate myself from others and the complications that come with co-operative projects.

I’d spent all of my late teens and early adulthood pursuing bands with other people and it’s taught me so much about others nature and, perhaps, fickleness. I’ve put almost every penny and sacrificed everything I’ve ever been tied to (every job/my university degree/more things than I’m willing to speak of publicly) in order to make myself the ideal band member but over time I just noticed this pattern; it seemed that 2-3 years was most people’s threshold, so many people want to be in a band and think about all the romantic ideas behind it and how it would define them as the coolest most awesome person but there’s a whole other reality to being a struggling musician. It takes a lot of mental strength to retain your commitment to a project amongst life’s distractions and struggles.

Which at the end of the day is all fine, people are free to pursue their will and desires, it’s just that after 6-7 years of investing and sacrificing and being pushed back to square one time and time again when the people you trust and rely on waver – it became incredibly hard for me to be able to collect another group of people and repeat the same behaviour. After all, insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result haha. And as an artist, there’s nothing more detrimental to creativity than being overly pre-occupied by the politics of bands and being drained by managing a band.

So, anyways, as the bands kept splitting up and people kept letting me down I just needed to find a way to do this with as few complications as possible in order to keep others and myself happy.

So about 3-4 months ago, I just made the page and started doing it this way. I’m really enjoying it, my fear was losing out on the social element, but music is such a united and fun place to be that most people you meet on the road it feels like you’ve always known them. Since then, the almighty talented Rob has stepped on the drums and some guitars, given it a new energy and the vibes are all good :).

How would you best describe your live show:
It’s really atmospheric and reflective, sometimes deep, personal but energetic and optimistic.

What shows do you have coming up?
The next few months are pretty quiet, we’re rehearsing and getting everything ready for the album. However, from August’15 – November’15 we have a mammoth 3 month, DIY, full European tour with the amazing Terrafraid which is all being booked and is shaping up beautifully.

Keep an eye on Facebook for more dates.

Tell us about your latest release:
The latest thing that’s available is a live session I did in a friend’s basement, with some other friends, a couple of microphones and a camera. It was loads of fun, the performance is less than perfect though aha.

However the focus right now is the album, it’s almost half way with being recorded, we’re doing it with Tom Peters at ‘The Grand’ and it’s draining everything, but sounding great. We’re really putting everything into it, so it’s taking months and months but we cannot wait to put it out.

Where can I get your music?
Facebook. To join the mailing list, say hello: [email protected]

Listen to ‘Stumbled Upon’ on AU Radio , Mondays at 8:30PM, Thursdays at 3PM and Sundays at 10AM (AEDT), or the playlist of past ‘Stumbled Upon’ artists on Soundcloud