Female-fronted Brighton foursome WILLOH are a band in the early stages of formation, but already they are crashing their way onto the Brighton music scene. Gentle vocals, contrasted with riotous 90s grunge pop makes them a unique and endlessly entertaining group who we’ll definitely be seeing more of.
Brighton foursome WILLOH are bringing grungy pop-rock to Brighton in a femme fatale whirlwind. Likened to Honeyblood and Wolf Alice, frontwomen Sammy Nottage and Hattie Upton-Dance met at University and started jamming straight away. With a few great songs under their belt and a whole lot of attitude, the girls expanded into the foursome that exists today. Already making impressive gains, they’ve got several UK festival appearances lined up for this summer and have just released their debut single ‘Haircut’ which features gentle vocals and riotous guitar riffs. We caught up with all four of them to learn a bit more about the band.
Where did you grow up?
Sammy: A little town in Oxford called Benson (you won’t of heard of it).
Hattie: Camden in London.
Is there much of a music scene there?
Sammy: Are you joking?
Hattie: Are you joking???
What kind of music were you brought up on?
Sammy: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, that kind of thing, classic Dad rock’n’roll. My parents would always play it on long car journeys.
How did WILLOH form?
Hattie: Me and Sammy met during freshers week, and were inseparable after that. We wrote songs together and then hit the open mics in the lanes, we’ve met some quirky people and learnt some gooood life lessons.
Sammy: We found the others through mutual friends at uni, although Hattie and I formed the band quite a bit before, we soon gelled as friends.
Hattie: It took a while for Sam and Van to get used to our girlish ways but now we’ve got them wearing eyeliner!
Can you remember your first jam; how was it?
Sammy: I couldn’t even look at you.
Hattie: We went back to Sammy’s halls, after a few drinks, I remember being really excited as I’d never met another girl who played electric guitar!
Sammy: I was so eager to impress.
Hattie: She did deliver.
Is there a story behind the name?
Hattie: (Mmmmm) Not really, our ex drummer suggested it as we had a gig coming up but no name!
Sammy: Yeah, we didn’t even like it at first, but it just stuck. We wanted something unique and memorable, and after time Willoh grew on us and was cool.
Hattie: We love it now!
Where did the idea come from for ‘Haircut’?
Sammy: It’s about change, and leaving teenage years behind, I wrote it in our first year of uni, so it was a very fresh, raw topic.
If you had to pick one favourite from all the gigs you've played, which one would it be?
Sammy: The Monarch in Camden during the summer, everyone was just dancing around and enjoying themselves.
Hattie: My favourite was our third gig ever, at Sticky Mike’s, the sound was so good, we actually got to hear ourselves properly for the first time, much better compared to our crappy uni practice room!
What is your proudest musical moment?
Sammy: Radio 1, Radio X.
Hattie: When ‘Haircut’ came out we had an amazing reaction from everyone, we’re still quite new to the music scene so we’re really excited for the future.
Who would be in your ultimate supergroup?
Sammy: Dave Grohl on drums, I’m obsessed with Nirvana.
Hattie: What about someone from The Runaways singing?
Sammy: Cherie Curie.
Hattie: and Joan Jett on guitar, they have to go together.
Sammy: We always watch the film the Runaways when we need inspiration for stage presence. Great fashion back then too.
What would be your perfect line-up of any three acts for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
Sammy: Wolf Alice, Misty Miller…
Hattie: We really like this band Bloody Knees at the moment, they’re not really our genre but we like screaming along. That’ll do.
Hattie: I like gigs in small places.
Sammy: A small, intimate venue.
If you could work with any artist from the past or present, who would it be?
Sammy: Kurt Cobain.
Hattie: There’s a bit of a theme running here.
Sammy: The heart never lies Hattie.
Hattie: I want to see Travis Barker bashing out the ‘Haircut’ chorus.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
Hattie: I love Declan McKenna right now, I saw him play Patterns this week and it was amazing.
Sammy: Pixies.
Hattie: Yeah, ‘Where is my Mind’ is always on our car playlist, it’s a banger.
Sammy: I’m loving Jack White at the moment.
What are your future plans till the end of the year and after?
Hattie: We have a top secret plan.
Sammy: I’m sure you’ll find out soon, because we’ll be bloody famous!
(laughs)…
Sammy: That was a joke.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willohmusicuk