This song is an absolute beauty and I feel very privileged to be able to be the first person to bring it to your ears. Forensics are 4 lads with bags of talent and they’re making some of the finest music currently flooding through the streets of London town. To celebrate the release of ‘Charlotte’s Web‘ (which you can fill your senses with a little lower down) I fired over some questions to frontman James Burrington to find out a bit more about the band;
Please introduce yourselves – who are you, where are you and what are you?
We’re Forensics, an alternative rock band based in north London. We’ve got Sam on drums, Liam on bass, Shaun on guitar and myself (James) on guitar and vocals. We’re all currently studying at University of Westminster in Harrow.
How did the band first get together? Had you previously been in any other bands?
Sam, Shaun and I had all been in a band together before Forensics, and decided to stick together before we roped Liam in on bass. I think combined our band count goes past 20, so it’d be hard to go in too much detail on all of them!
Who first made you want to go out there and make music? Was there one song that made you realise that music was for you?
Personally, Nirvana were the band that made me want to pick up a guitar and sing. For Liam it’d definitely be Blink 182, a love bordering on obsession. Sam, being a drummer, found his way with Foo Fighters, and with Shaun it was Radiohead. I think we’ve all had the same love of angsty music, using it as a bit of a release.
What’s the music making process all about for you? Are you keen to get a message across in your music or is it all in the name of making music you enjoy?
I think, for us, it’s trying to make every song better than the last. We want to be our favourite band, and I think we’re definitely getting there! We want to get goosebumps when we play in practice. I use lyrics as a way of venting, I don’t think maybe lyricists write about the good times. You’re going to have much more emotion regarding something that’s annoyed you than, say, a great cup of tea.
Tell me a bit about Charlotte’s Web. What does the song mean to you? How did it come into life?
It’s our brand new single, and we couldn’t be happier to finally release it. I’ve changed my explanation of this song numerous times as to not offend the subject person. However, to put it simply, it’s about someone that pushed me out of a situation and then twisted other people’s perceptions of me in a negative way.
Is there a certain part of the songwriting process that you particularly enjoy? Do you each have set roles or is each song different?
The way it tends to work is that I’ll come up with an idea and Shaun will give me a hand finishing it off, but the songs are almost always tinkered with in band practice. This is where it gets the most exciting, as a song we’re working on can just completely change, and the more we play the more refined it sounds. Everyone adds little licks and fills that just notch the songs up to the next level.
Do you think that your different backgrounds help to add contrasting elements to your sound? Or do you generally find yourselves agreeing on most musical choices?
Honestly, I don’t think we’ve ever had any arguments when writing. We tend to get to the point where one of us will try something, and it even won’t work and we’ll laugh or it’ll work and lead to someone being very smug! I think that’s why the band works so well, and we’ve been able to stick together without biting each others heads off.
How have you found balancing university and being in the band? Does either take significant priority over the other?
As we’re all studying music, it’s been surprisingly easy. Most of our modules usually include either playing in or promoting a band, and all of our lecturers are very supportive. However, if any of us had to make a choice between our courses and our band, I think we’d always choose the band.
Which other bands should we be keeping an eye on?
There are loads of great bands within our circle at University, so I could recommend any one of them. Our good friends at Loredo and Arctic Lake are ones we can’t talk enough about though. (Funnily enough I went to the same school as Loredo guitarist Joe Beckwith. Small world… – C)
What does music mean to you?
Fun.
What can we expect to hear from you in 2015?
We’re back in the studio recording our new EP in March, so hopefully that’ll be out before summer. We’ll also be playing loads of gigs in and around London, so we’ll be keeping ourselves busy!
Keep track of Forensics on Facebook and whatever other social media outlets you kids are using these days.
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