In the final series of interviews with the bands appearing on the ‘Stop, Drop, Rock’ tour, we have arguably saved the best till last.
Reachback, from Essex, are Ruby Williams – Vocals, Tom McHenry – Guitar, Joe Williams Bass and Craig Chin – Drums and are set to become huge.
In the last few years the band have played Download, Slam Dunk and Hevy festivals, won numerous competitions, opened for McFly, had the bands music and videos all over US TV and radio and have just recently signed a recording contract with US based record label ‘Spectra Records’ and are recording their debut full length album in March which will then be released later on in the year.
That’s all pretty amazing for a young band, so we thought it was time you got to know them.
Who are you and what do you do? Ruby: We are Reachback! A female fronted pop/rock/punk band from Essex!
Where did the bands name come from? Tom: That’s a funny one! ‘The Reachback’ is actually my signature dance move!
How did you get started? Tom: Well it started when I got introduced to Ruby at a friends party. I’d been moaning for years about wanting to start a band and so a friend introduced me to Ruby and we got to writing songs!
Craig: And then I met Tom when he moved to my school and he asked me to be in the band and then Joe is Ruby’s brother who completed the line up!
What have you got going on at the moment? Joe: A lot! haha! We are so busy right now – it’s great!
Ruby: We have just announced that we have signed our first recording contract with Spectra Records and that we are recording our debut album next month so most of our time has been taken up with writing for that!
Craig: We’re also super excited to be apart of the Stop Drop Rock Tour 2013 which kicks of on the 16th of Feb in Newcastle!
Favourite music and why? Tom: We all have slightly different tastes but we are all big fans of bands like All Time Low and Mayday Parade. We’ve all seen them live and they put on amazing shows!
Favourite book and why? Joe: What’s a book?
Tom: I have this great book called ‘Go the f*ck to sleep’. It’s a kind of take on stories parents read to their kids to get them to go to sleep! It’s pretty funny!
Favourite film and why? Joe: Transformers! It’s so epic!
Best experience in the business? Ruby: Playing live is always an amazing experience and probably my favourite part of being in a band! A couple of my favourite shows include Download Festival 2012, Slam Dunk Festival 2012, Hevy Festival 2012 and supporting Mcfly at the Southend Westcliff Pavillion.
Craig: One of my favourite parts of being in a band is recording! I’ve really enjoyed working with some awesome producers like Jason Wilcock (You Me At Six, Fightstar), Matt Hyde (Bullet For My Valentine, Newton Faulkner) and Romesh Dodangoda (Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout, Motorhead).
Why should Soundscape readers care? Craig: We love to make our shows have as much energy as possible so if you want to dance, move around or party then get down to one of our shows!
Tell our readers an interesting fact about the band? Our track ‘No One Else’ can be heard on an episode of MTV’s ‘Punk’d’. It can also be heard on episodes of ‘Geordie Shore’ and ‘Battle Of The Exes’.
What’s the best and worst things about touring? Tom: The best thing about touring is getting to play music every night!
Craig: Playing live music is why we are all here so getting the chance to do it every night is kind of a dream come true!
Most embarrassing thing to happen to you while in the band? Ruby: Tom is pretty embarrassing. He is the king of awkward situations which is why we don’t let him have a mic although he always seems to manage to get one!
Joe: I think one of the most embarrassing moments was turning up to a show that we weren’t actually booked to play. The person who had booked us had left the venue and no one had told us that we weren’t on the bill anymore. We turned up and started loading in to the venue while we got a ton of weird looks. It turned out the venue had been hired out privately to some kid who was putting on bands for his mates! It was pretty embarrassing but he still let us play a short set!
What’s your writing and recording process? Tom: Usually whats happens is I’ll record a demo for a song and send it to Ruby and then she will write the lyrics or the other way around where Ruby will write all the lyrics and I’ll come up with the music.
Craig: However with the album we have all had input. For all the new tracks we have all got together to write the songs rather than just Tom or Ruby doing most of the writing on their own.
What inspires you? Joe: Musically, it would probably be bands like ‘All Time Low’ and ‘Mayday Parade’. They write such great songs!
Best thing about playing in Wales? Tom: I love welsh accents!!!
Who are your role models or idols? Ruby: Judy Garland – I grew up doing musical theater and shes always someone that I’ve looked up to! I love a bit of musical theater!
Whats the hardest thing about the current business? Craig: Everything’s pretty hard now. You don’t need a record label anymore to make an album of professional quality so there’s a whole lot more bands out there. I guess you need a little bit of luck every now and again!
Favourite Batman actor? Joe: Christian Bale!
You can download the Reachback’s ‘Wake Up’ EP and the new single ‘Pretty Slick (for a white chick) from itunes.
The ‘Stop, Drop, Rock’ tour featuring Reachback, Glass City Vice, Bentley Park and Leopards kicked off today in Newcastle then plays 8 more dates up and down the UK and it’s definitely a great line up, so please check it out if you can.
