Raucous energy and heavy riffs makes for music you want to lose your shit to. Broadbay are championing this, gaining a reputation on the road as well as in Brighton for a mighty live show by bringing emotionally-tainted 90s grunge rock that will have you stage diving in seconds. Just check out their epic 360° music video for their newest single ‘Long Term Plan’ and you’ll get the idea. On Tuesday 23^rd February they start three consecutive release shows (prepare yourselves) for their upcoming six track Long Term Plan EP, so we met up with James Willet, Bill Wood and Angus McAlpine to find out more about Broadbay.

Where did you grow up?
James: We all grew up in Northampton. Bill and I are a little older than Angus so we all met separately by hanging around playing music in Northampton’s “scene”, or what there was of one at the time.

Bill: We used to have a different bassist, Ralphy, an absolute legend – he was a big part in setting the foundations for our sound. He went off to do his own thing and Angus hasn’t found a way to leave us yet.

Angus: There was never a moment where it was like, “right, I'll be the new drummer”, it was more gradual. But I love it.

Is there much of a music scene in Northampton?
James: No, it does try. There is a place called The Labour Club where a promoter called Andy Skank puts on a lot of gigs– having touring bands from all over with all types of music, from psych to folk to jazz. He is the main person putting gigs on when we were younger.

Bill: There used to be a lot more going on – a ska scene, a punk scene, a goth scene – but that was when that music was popular.

Can you remember the first album you bought?
James: Shaggy – Hot Shot. I bought it because a girl that I fancied liked it. It’s crazy ‘cause I would have been about eight.

Bill: I remember watching WWF (before it became WWE) round my cousin’s house, and Creed’s ‘My Sacrifice’ came on just as Jeff Hardy was swanton bombing someone through a table. So Creed’s Weathered was my first album – I was blasting that record for weeks. My introduction to rock and roll was questionable.

Angus: I can’t really remember. The first album I purposely listened to was a Massive Attack album my brother gave me. I was young and my brother was trying to level with me at the time. 

Is there a story behind the name?
James: It’s a lake between towns called Freedom and Ossipee in America. I only found this out after we came up with the name Broadbay. I initially saw it written on a wall behind Pete Doherty’s head in an interview – he was fucked, there was graffiti all over the walls and it looked like a bit of a crack house really. I wondered what it meant and found it out it was this lake.

Bill: We stuck with this thing of Brighton bands starting with the letter ‘B’ – there are loads of them.

Tell us a bit about the Long Term Plan EP?
James: The EP is the same name as the first single to be released from it. It’s been a long time coming, some of the songs are over a year and a half old. We are super stoked about the cover. I met this guy from London called Jack Hamilton at Brighton’s skate park, and found out that he designed skateboards for Enjoi and Death Skateboards. I had a look at his Instagram and it was full of his designs of like X-rated Beano which were amazing. I sent him a message thinking he would never get back to me, and he was up for doing some artwork straight away.

James: We’re really happy with the result which just really suited all our personalities.

How about the video for ‘Long Term Plan’? It’s crazy!
Bill: Shout out to Paden Vaughan, he’s the one who orchestrated the whole thing and had the camera. In terms of shooting it, he just put the camera up and left it – so no credit for that. But all jokes aside, he is a top guy and did all the editing – we couldn’t have done it without him. It took three takes. By the last take we were all so fucked and all the booze was running out, we thought “man, this has gotta be the one!”

Angus: We wanted people to create their own narratives so you can watch each member of the audience (or even band) separately and really get something from it.

What has been a musical eye-opener?
James: I bought Yuck’s debut album, just totally based on the album cover. I found it in Resident Records and it just totally opened up my eyes to guitar tone and textures. It’s amazing, I’ve rinsed it so hard.

Bill: That is the album that started the band, it’s what inspired us. It was definitely a pivotal album. We even had the pleasure of supporting them once at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar which was amazing.

Who would be in your ultimate supergroup?
James: Cloud Nothings’ drummer, Jayson Gerycz.

Bill: Bob Marley on vocals. 

Angus: Our old Ralphy on bass.

James: John Frusciante on lead guitar.

What would be your perfect lineup of any three acts for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
James: We actually talked about this recently. Radiohead, Fugazi and Queens of The Stone Age.

Angus: At The Quadrant in Brighton.

Bill: That would be mental, it would probably burn down! Josh Homme wouldn’t leave the place alive.

If you could work with any artist, who would it be?
James: Ed Templeton’s artwork because he’s amazing. He is also a sick skater and his Toy Machine artwork inspired one of our new t-shit designs.

Bill: Steve Albini as a producer.

What music are you listening to at the moment, any recommendations?
Bill: David Bowie’s newest album, Sam Skinner, Anderson .Paak, Beachtape and Bloody Death.

James: Pinegrove and the new Cloud Nothings album. Gender Roles are amazing too – their first album is so good!

What are your future plans?
James: We’ve got a load of release shows in February – Brighton, London and then Northampton. We’re actually going to record a single in March. Then go on tour with Gender Roles hopefully around April time We’re also wanting to record more this year in general.

Website: broadbay.bigcartel.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Broadbayband
Twitter: twitter.com/broadbayband