What extraordinary heights can High Tyde reach – yet another local band making impressive waves in our musical world. Indie pop quartet High Tyde aren’t ones to sit back and wait for success, playing countless shows and winning fans around the country. After playing a storming set at this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival, the band have seemed to hit a turning point in their young careers and are just about to go on a huge headline tour which includes mammoth gigs at Brighton’s Concorde 2 as well as Scala in London. Ahead of their sixth EP release, I grabbed a beer with the band after a rehearsal session to find out more about them.

Where did you grow up?
Connor: We grew up in places between Arundel and Lancing. We went to college and spent most of our time in Worthing.

Is there much of a music scene there?
Cody: There are quite a few bands, although there used to be more.

Louis: There is a lot of metal music in Worthing.

Connor: Fickle Friends are from Worthing, Royal Blood are also from there.

Cody: We played a lot of fun gigs in Worthing when we were younger.

Connor: Some of our best times.

What kind of music were you brought up on?
Louis: I’ve recently gone back to everything I was listening to when I was first getting into music – Green Day, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix. As a band we were all brought up on similar stuff.

Connor: I was/am really into Kings Of Leon and am really pleased they are back. Also Two Door Cinema Club’s first album was pretty pioneering for me.

How did High Tyde form?
Cody: When we were younger and first starting the band, it was all about Two Door Cinema Club, Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club and indie bands. They were the reasons we started in the first place.

Connor: We had a big night in Brighton and came to the decision that we should have a jam in the morning as we all liked the same music. We started jamming and we haven’t stopped for about four or five years now.

Can you remember your first jam; how was it?
Connor: It was at Spencer’s house in his little loft. It was Spencer, Cody and I, and we wrote a song called ‘High Tyde’. We were there for about five hours in the little sweat box and wrote a few bangers.

Is there a story behind the name?
Louis: It came from a Noel Gallagher lyric, one of his High Flying Birds albums.

Connor: It seemed to fit what we were about as well. Not just that we live by the sea, but it suited the sound we are playing.

Where did the idea come from for the music video for ‘Wine’?
Louis: We’re not the biggest fans of lyric videos and feel they are a little bit of a cop-out, so instead, we thought why not do it with symbols that have the meaning of the lyrics in the song.

Spencer: We like the idea of neon lights. We had been to a place called Lights Of Soho in London and loved their vibe, but wanted to make it our own.

Louis: ‘Wine’ is one of the sexiest songs we have made – it’s slow and groovy, it suited the Soho feel.

Cody: Making the video was very DIY. We did it all ourselves – putting wire around the guitars, making the canvases.

Spencer: We now have so many of those neon canvases. We have given some of them to our fans.

Tell us a bit about your recently released singles ‘Speak’ and ‘Gold’?
Connor: ‘Speak’ is about a person that the majority of us can relate to, someone they wish they could talk to again but there is bad blood there. ‘Gold’ is about a person we met a while back that was telling us to do things when we wanted to do it our way.

Cody: They’re off our sixth EP called Real, which is coming very soon.

Louis: We are extremely excited about the next song we are releasing off Real, ‘One Bullet’ – we cannot wait for everyone to hear it.

What has been a musical eye-opener and how has it affected you?
Louis: Watching backstage videos of bands like Foo Fighters playing Wembley Stadium, seeing how cool and incredible it is, has made us want to aim big.

Connor: We are always looking for the next step – last year playing a 700 capacity venue in London wasn’t an option but now it is and we can’t believe it. Every step is getting cooler and cooler.

Louis: To play Concorde 2 is a dream come true, it’s our hometown gig and we have seen so many shows there growing up – the fact that is in our reach is mad and we cannot wait.

Connor: Watching Coldplay at Glastonbury this year on the TV was an eye-opener, that was an incredible production.

Who would be in your ultimate supergroup?
Louis: Jimi Hendrix on guitar, Kurt Cobain doing whatever he wants to, then Muddy Waters on the other side of the stage. Robert Plant in his early years as frontman, with Pino Palladino on bass. Actually, Rick James would be frontman. Joey Jordison on drums.

Cody: This is turning into a fantasy football team. I would have to have Josh Homme in there.

What would be your perfect line-up of any three acts for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
The Rolling Stones, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Fleetwood Mac and Kings Of Leon at Wembley Stadium.

If you could work with any artist from the past or present, who would it be?
Connor: It would be great to work with Kendrick Lamar.

Louis: Quincy Jones.

Cody: Josh Homme.

Spencer: To do something with Disclosure would be rad, they always do something amazing.

If you could give a musical award of the year, what would it be for and for whom?
Louis: Keith Richards for generally being a legend and keeping going.

Connor: Chris Martin for being such a humble musician considering what he’s got and where he is in life due to his music.

Spencer: The 1975 for where they have got in such a short amount of time, they have smashed it.

What music are you listening to at the moment?
Garry Cark Jr, The War On Drugs, Tourist, King Of Leon.

Do you get to go to many gigs? 
Connor: We are going to see Loyal Carner at Concorde 2, he’s so good. I really want to get a ticket to see Mura Masa at Concorde 2 but I think he’s sold out.

Cody: I’ve won iTunes Festival tickets to see The 1975 at the Roundhouse.

Louis: I want to see Korn & Limp Bizkit on their joint tour. I’m going to go even if I’m on my own, just to fulfil my inner nine-year-old.

What are your future plans till the end of the year and after?
Connor: We have our UK tour coming up which we are really excited about, we have lots of little surprises at all our shows. Release more songs – another single and the Real EP which will be coming out later this month. And lots of writing.

Website: weareHighTyde.com
Facebook: facebook.com/weareHighTyde
Twitter: twitter.com/weareHighTyde