You might have heard of Submariner on the Brighton music scene – during their short time together as a band they have certainly made their mark, playing alongside notable up and coming acts such as Fatherson, Bleanavon, The Wholls, and Raglans. They’re ravaging the south coast with an ambient indie revolution and are even making tracks in the London scene too. With an EP under their belt and a new single ‘Closer’ there’s no telling where they might end up next, there is one thing for certain about Submariner though – they live and breathe their music. We caught up with frontman James ahead of their video release for single ‘Closer’ to find out more about Submariner.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the suburbs of Portsmouth, mostly around a town called Havant but we moved a lot.

Is there much of a music scene there?
Haha, in Havant, no definitely not. There's a big music scene in Portsmouth and Southampton though. Southampton has an amazing music scene actually, I went to uni there and that's where Submariner was born. We still consider ourselves a Southampton band really, it gets complicated so when people ask where we are from we just say 'the south'

What kind of music were you brought up on?
I remember my mum listening to lots of melancholic songs, full of emotional hooks when I was really, really young. It definitely rubbed off in my writing. My brother and sister are a few years older than me so they introduced me to 'alternative' music for the first time. It was very exciting, before the internet it was almost like being part of a cult when you went to school and asked someone if they had heard of the Red Hot Chili Peppers or something. It was strange though, as a teenager you seemed to get judged almost entirely on your music taste, everyone pretended to like bands that they didn't and claimed to hate the bands they actually loved. The biggest one for me was when my brother introduced me to Radiohead at the age of 15. I thought it was the most incredible music I'd ever heard. I took a copy of Kid A into school on my walkman and tried to show my friends, they thought it was garbage and asked me if I'd heard the screamo remix of 'Soulja Boy'. We don't hang out any more.

How did Submariner form?
Submariner kind of formed out of the ashes of various other projects. I was in other bands with Alex, Sam and Billy (the other Submariner members) previously but funnily enough, when I started Submariner none of them were involved! When we first started we played a couple of low key shows and spent some time recording two singles. We put the tracks out with no release strategy, they were supposed to be more like demos to show people where we were at. People seemed to respond to them really well, the gig offers kept getting bigger and the band became quite serious, which is what ultimately led to a line-up change I think.

Can you remember your first jam and how it went?
When our line up changed, the first few jams were excellent for me. I was playing new music that I really enjoyed for the first time in a while with people who were very invested in what we were creating, each bringing a piece of them to the table. We realised that we were in a position where we all wanted to make the same of kind of music, which can be surprisingly rare to come by. To be honest, we've barely scratched the surface, I'm writing all the time and we are discussing new elements we want to bring to our set up as well as where to take the 'sound' next.

Is there a story behind the name?
My dad named the band by accident, four years before it existed. I wrote a song about a man trapped in a submarine, pining for home and when he resurfaces, he finds the world faster, meaner and uglier than the sea, so he goes back down. I kept referring to the character as 'Submarine man', my dad corrected me and said he would be called a 'Submariner'. I always liked the sound of it so when I started the band, that's what I picked!

Where did the idea come from for the music video for ‘Closer’?
My ideas tend to be a bit dark/dramatic normally. I won't say what my initial idea was incase we use it some day but Billy (Drummer) sent me a text like 'Dude, it's a pretty upbeat song, don't you think we should do something to reflect that?' He was right, we are very happy with the results. We essentially threw a party and got some of our film-making friends to film the whole night. It was incredibly difficult to edit because we captured some very funny stuff, there's a 22 minute 'best bits' that we are considering releasing'

Tell us a bit about your favourite 'Submariner' single release so far?
It would have to be when we released 'Colour' in the summer. It's a bit of a fan favourite back in Southampton and it took us a surprisingly long time to release. It was the first song of ours that made it on to the radio and got some decent coverage etc. We were just happy that people liked it!

If you had to pick one favourite from all the gigs you've played, which one would it be?
Impossible! Too many but the best ones have been at The Joiners (Southampton) it has a lot of history, everyone has played there. We've had some pretty special nights at the Green Door Store too.

What is your proudest musical moment?
Making my family proud is always nice. When you start out and you suck they always tell you you're good but you can tell when they're actually telling the truth several years down the line. The response we received from ‘Colour’ was lovely and it's always nice hearing yourself on the radio, especially when you're sitting in the room you wrote the song in while it's playing.

What has been a musical eye-opener and how has it affected you?
Realising that I started my career as a performer during a time of change and uncertainty within the music industry. People spent so long desperately trying to fight illegal downloading so that things can go back to 'the way they were' but that can never happen. I think we are coming out of the other end of it now, learning how to adapt rather than repressing the inevitable. It changed the way I feel about the phrase 'making it', I've met bands who I listen to regularly that earn less money than I do working in a soap shop. In this climate you simply have to do it for the love of it and if you want to be successful then you have to live and breathe it. I try not to get too caught up with expectations, enjoy the ride, don't worry about the destination, you're a long time dead after all.

Who would be in your ultimate supergroup?
Thom Yorke and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) in a Simon and Garfunkel style duo, tears would be shed.

What would be your perfect line-up of any three acts for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
Radiohead, Bon Iver and Sigur Ros in front of a volcano in Iceland.

OR

Chaz & Dave, The Chuckle Brothers and Rick Astley at a tiny social club in the north of England.

If you could work with any artist from the past or present, who would it be?
I would love to have gotten my head together with a young Bob Dylan and written a very long story/song and gifted it to the world so people could make their own interpretations. Kind of like ‘Hallelujah’, Leonard Choen penned it, Jeff Buckley did his own thing with it and now it's a universal anthem, it has become timeless.

What music are you listening to at the moment?
Nick Cave, Bon Iver, Tame Impala and Vancouver Sleep Clinic today. I can only speak for myself, we each have our tastes. I'm a big fan of anything sad, Alex seems to have been listening to a lot of hip-hop and Neo soul lately.

What are your future plans till the end of the year and after?
We're releasing a new single and video every couple of months, we've got a south coast tour coming up in February and lots of other shows planned throughout the year. We're hoping to play some decent festivals this summer and we're currently talking about putting on our own festival in Southampton, stay tuned.

Website: submarinermusic.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Submarinermusic
Twitter: twitter.com/Submarinermusic