Recently, we at The Mic caught up with up-and-coming Warwickshire 5-piece Chasing Deer, following the release of their debut EP ‘Rewriting History’. Speaking on behalf of the whole band, vocalist Rob and drummer Adam gave us an insight into their plan to infiltrate the music business and bring a fresh approach to pop rock as we know it.
So, if you’d like to introduce yourselves, who you are and where you’re from?
Rob: I’m Rob and this is Adam from Chasing Deer, we’re a 5-piece pop-rock band from Warwickshire in the Midlands. We write and perform our own original music.
To those who aren’t aware of your music, in 3 words how would you describe your sound?
Adam: Fun, Energetic and Upbeat!
How did you guys meet?
Adam: I found Rob on a ‘Join My Band’ website. He put up an ad looking for musicians and I joined the band originally as an acoustic trio with Rob. We went through a long audition process and eventually now we’ve got a 5-piece and a much better band!
Did you guys hit it off quickly or did it take a while to all get on the same path?
Adam: We all get on and work well together, we enjoy both performing and writing as a band. We have different musical influences but we have merged them into our writing. We have good laughs at shows and enjoy meeting new fans.
Who do you draw influences from?
Rob: Adam mentioned we all come from different musical backgrounds. All the songs we have are all very different; we’ve got a bit of heavy metal in there, a bit of classic pop, traditional jazz…everything really all coming into one song. We describe ourselves as pop/rock because we have to give a genre!
Has music always been at the forefront of your minds or did any of you see yourself in a different position as kids?
Rob: Yeah, well I’ve done music since I was 6, so that’s a good long stretch of music! Adam’s done it for 8 or 9 years on the drums and then the rest of the band have done it since they were little as well. We all want to be musicians; it’s what we’ve always wanted to do.
So, your debut EP “Rewriting History” is available now. How long did it take to craft?
Rob: It’s taken us the best part of a year really. We’ve been really busy in the last 6 months, and with the new line-up, which we’ve only had for about 2 months. But yeah, it’s taken us a year and we’re really happy with it all.
How do Chasing Deer go about writing a song, does one person take the lead or is it a mish-mash of ideas until something sounds good?
Adam: Normally one person will come to practice with an idea and then we’ll look at developing them together. Whether that’s just a riff or a lyrical phase, we all put our own ideas into it and craft it into a song.
Looking forward to the future, are there any plans for a full album?
Adam: Well we’re already full steam ahead writing our album, due for a 2016 release, which will build on our sound and image so it’s quite exciting really.
Will it just be you 5 or will you get in some featured acts, I read on your website you like to collaborate with other musicians?
Rob: We have both a 3 and 5-year business plan, we take it very seriously being our main career goal. We’ve got a list of people that we’d really like to work with. You’ll probably find we’ll have a couple featured artists on the album, we do like to work with people and guest musicians so if anyone’s interested, get in touch with us via our website! We like something that’s different, we’ve got a guitar, bass, drums and keyboard lineup so any different instruments, we like to work with that. We’re open to pretty much anything.
Any names you can drop or an album name?
Rob: Nah, well we’ll let you know when we get round to it, we’re actually on our UK tour now, on the way to Manchester in five minutes! The EP’s been out for about a week and a half so we’re letting ourselves enjoy it at the moment.
How was your Nottingham gig yesterday?
Rob: Yeah, really good thank you. We haven’t done Nottingham before so it’s a new market, but we really enjoyed it with good crowds. We’ve seen quite a few venues that we’d really love to play in too.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Adam: Erm, well Rob mentioned earlier that we have our 5-year plan. We’re actually looking at a couple, different abroad markets at the moment, we want to work on the UK a bit more and then potentially move somewhere; we can’t really disclose where to you now but we’ve got some very exciting plans ahead. We’d just like to get ourselves out there, share our music a bit more.
I’ve noticed on your website it says that you often collaborate with other musicians. You mentioned earlier you’re looking to do a couple tracks with featured artists, but do you reckon you’ll always stick it out as you 5 or do you reckon there could be the possibility of a 6th member?
Adam: I think, at the moment we’d like to stick with the 5 members. Guests and a female singer that can work on our harmonies, that’d be cool. At the moment really, it’s kind of, easier for us as the 5 and then get the odd guest in every so often.
Do you find collaborating on a track helps bring out the best in everyone or do you gel off of each other alone and adding someone just adds a different dimension to your music?
Adam: Well yeah, I think it does! If it’s a new instrument then it can bring a whole new, like you said, dimension to the track. I think if someone comes in with a new idea then it can make us look at our songwriting process and have different ideas on how to song-write which makes us look at what we do from a different perspective. It can be a really good learning curve and give us all new ideas.
What’s the craziest thing to every happen on tour?
Adam: Well Chris once thought we had hundreds of fans following us to a gig, but it turns out it was just because he was just driving at 30mph on the motorway, and had caused a big traffic jam.
Picture it now, you’re headlining your own gig and you can choose 3 support acts, past or present. Who would you choose and why?
Rob: Erm, for me 3 obvious ones really, the greats – Queen, David Bowie and The Beatles.
Who would survive longest on a desert island?
Rob: Probably Alex, our rhythm guitarist, ‘cause when we all die happily of old age on the island, he’ll just be reaching his 16thbirthday!
You’re all in a 5-man Royal Rumble. Who will win and why?
Rob: Probably Chris our lead guitarist, he’s got some gang experience from living in Warwick. I think he probably carries a knife in his sock as well!
Oh dear, we best stay clear of him then ha ha! So yeah, will you visit Nottingham in University term time?
Rob: Yeah, we’d love to, we do put on a good show so yeah definitely, if you can arrange to come down and see us too.
For all the Nottingham uni students we do house parties; student unions, end of year balls, anything like that! Get in touch and we’ll be there!
One final question – because obviously you guys are just emerging now, what with the release of your EP, what advice would you give to another band in a similar position where they’re trying to make the break through or trying to find a string of dates on a tour?
Adam: I think really you’ve just got to go with trial and error and just really work hard at what you’re doing. Realistically, if you’re going to email promoters, you’re gonna hear back from 1 in a hundred of them so you’ve just got to keep going and not get put down when you get rejected. You’ve just got to keep working and then you’ll learn yourselves how to pitch yourself properly.
You can listen to other people’s advice, but unless you’ve fallen short yourself then you’ll never really learn. You’ve just got to put yourself out there, have a go.
Rob: With anything, especially music, you’ve got to take the decision that it’s what you really want to do and then work as hard as you can afterwards. It has really paid off, so stick to what you want to do!
Thank you very much, thanks for your time and best of luck for the future, hopefully we’ll see you soon!
Yeah, that’d be great, keep in touch!
We can’t recall meeting two more genuine and dedicated musicians as Rob and Adam. If you like what you see, head on over to their website www.chasingdeer.co.uk and grab their debut EP ‘Rewriting History’ here while you’re at it. Keep your eyes peeled for Chasing Deer making an appearance at UoN this year … when? You’ll just have to wait and find out.
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