brand new friend: Interview

Castlerock may not be the first town people think of when it comes to musical acts, and yet pop-rock quartet brand new friend proudly call it home. It’s been quite the journey for the group so far, from impressing a record label with their demos to touring with the like of Snow Patrol and ASH all over the UK, all while juggling jobs and studies in the background. I caught up with the four-piece at their secluded practice space to talk about childhood memories, Hare Krishna and having their nose picked by their heroes.

I think it’s only right that we start at the beginning. What is your first memory relating to music?

Taylor Johnson: I bet you have a great answer for this Aaron!

Lauren Johnson: No pressure.

TJ: Was it your mum teaching you Elvis songs on the guitar?

Aaron Milligan: Yeah! Well, no. It was probably hearing Paranoid by Black Sabbath for the first time, with my uncle, in my room when I was younger. It was the first album I ever bought because it was the first song I remembered liking.

TJ: Aaron’s uncle is, a really cool uncle. And he’s in a band. (turns to Aaron) You have a cool, young uncle, he’s more like your mate!

LJ: He’s been in a band in the Belfast scene for a number of years.

AM: Him playing that Paranoid album is probably the first thing I remember hearing… it’s hard for me to say what my first memory of music is, because my dad worked in a record shop, Record Wholesalers, so I grew up just constantly listening to music all the time.

LJ: I’m really trying to think of mine, I have a really bad memory.

TJ: Pop TV!

LJ: Yeah it probably would be, when I was a really young kid, like primary school, I would sit and watch the music channel instead of normal TV. So it would be like, Destiny’s Child would come on, I loved them, and Avril Lavigne and P!NK. I genuinely do think it had an impact on me because it really made me admire female musicians and inspired me.

Luke Harris: Made you realise it was rubbish and you liked better music.

LJ: (laughs) Shut up, no it wasn’t! To be honest, I still listen to all the stuff I listened to when I was younger.

TJ: Luke, I bet you’re going to have a great answer for this

AM: I don’t know, he doesn’t remember anything. He’ll be like “Duuuur did we play music last week.”

LH: My first memory of music is, when I was younger we had a caravan. And I remember driving to the caravan every week and listening to the same album every week, which was Give Out But Don’t Give Up by Primal Scream. My Da had it on a cassette and we would put it in when we went down. The album would finish by the time we got down every time, and then we switched from a car with a tape deck to a CD player and we didn’t have that album anymore. Then for Christmas that year, my Da bought me that album on CD and it was the first album I ever owned.

TJ: The first time I can remember loving and thinking “Wow, music is amazing, music is special etc” is Lauren and I used to go to a wee youth club on the weekend and when we got back my Granda Artie and our Da used to sit in our conservatory with acoustic guitars and play Eagles songs, just loads of old song. John Denver and Squeeze…

LH: Mastodon?

TJ: (laughs) Yeah, he’d do a bit of Metallica. But it was just country music, they’d be doing a lot of country music in the conservatory, and I’d be sitting listening to them, kicking a football about in my Arsenal kit and just remember thinking that was a very safe time, an amazing time. From there, I just grew up adoring music and feeling like it was a really incredible space to be in. Football and music were always together, and when I realised that I wasn’t going to play for Arsenal, it had to be music. 

AM: Honourable mention, you mention Football and Music. I remember watching ‘There’s only one Jimmy Grimble’ and he’s running down the wing, and 'Waterfall' by The Stone Roses came on and I remember thinking “That's a tune”

When did you start getting into playing music?

LJ: Singing is my number one instrument and the main motivation for me getting into music. I started singing in my primary school choir. Singing in school, assembly, in wee church halls. I remember my first ever solo in P5, I was really proud because I got to sing ‘Walking In The Air’ from The Snowman. That was how I got into music, and then I started taking piano lessons as a teenager. I learnt pretty quickly that lessons were boring, so I quit and started just doing keys by ear and that’s basically still how I play in the band.

TJ: Luke was taught by the Hare Krishna’s and used to drum for them in town (laughter and ruckus from all). Lauren and I were walking in town one day and were like ‘What is that amazing sound?’ and Luke was just behind them with a snare. We said to him, ‘Do you want to drum Indie music? It’s inspired by the Harry Krishna’s’ and he was like ‘Alright then.’

LH: Yeah that’s right

TJ: I was taught by monks. I wasn’t, I was very late to it. Genuinely. Always loved listening to it but never imagined myself playing in a band, never imagined myself having the patience to learn an instrument. Always loved music, loved listening to it but loved kicking a ball instead. My dad bought me an acoustic guitar for doing well in my GCSE’s, which was a surprise to everyone because I’m really thick. But it was very much like ‘You might as well have a go’ and I wanted to not give up until I learned ‘Whatever’ by OASIS and once I learnt it I decided okay, I’m gonna keep going.

AM: My mum bought me a wee guitar from SMYTHS and she taught me how to play some Elvis. My mum couldn’t play the guitar though which made it hard to learn.

LH: And she’s blind.

AM: Aye she couldn’t see half the guitar.

When did you first start becoming aware of each other, and how did the band come to be?

AM: I first became aware of Taylor when Luke and I were in another band and BNF (which was just Taylor with an acoustic guitar at the time) were…

TJ: Oh no.

AM: ...opening up for us in the North Coast, in the Atlantic Bar, and we're trying to soundcheck when some idiot (all look at TJ, whose head has slowly lowered into his hands) ran up the stairs and was being really loud, shouting “HOW AMAZING IS THIS, THIS IS SO GOOD, IM HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME” and we were sitting there like ‘Who is this (stressed intonation) IDIOT shouting over our soundcheck’ and that was my first experience of TJ.

TJ: That was the first ever BNF gig, the first ever gig I ever played on my own. My dad picked the name BNF for me and I was opening for Aaron and Luke’s band See Above. I remember thinking “Oh my god, I’m playing a gig, this is amazing.”

LH: Me and Aaron met in school, he was probably a couple of years above me and he must have been like “Whose that really cool kid a couple of years below me, I really want to be in a band with him.”

AM: Actually I wanted to be in a band with his brother and I thought the best way to go about that was through Luke. Then I met Taylor and Lauren through him.

TJ: Luke came to watch our band, I remember one night we were watching Buffalo’s Bay in Voodoo and it was Me, Aaron and Lauren were out hanging out, and we needed a drummer at the time. Enter Luke, who’d had about five steins at the Christmas Market and he was really funny. This was my first time proper hanging out with Luke and I thought "He's hilarious" and someone joked that he could play the drums. I said if he could play the drums then he would just be in our band because he gets on so well with all of us and someone said 'No he actually plays the drums' and I was like 'No he fucking can't!'

AM: I backed him up here in saying 'No, he can't play the drums.'

TJ: Still can’t to this day, but we thought fuck it!

LJ: He’s kind of funny.

TJ: Yeah, he’s kind of funny so we just invited him down to practice and it was just perfect. Whereas Lauren and I became aware of each other in 1997, this bitch came into my house and I was like “Get your own home!”

LJ: You always used to say to mum after I came home “When can we take her back?”

AM: He still says that.

Tell me about the North Coast, where the band is from.

TJ: We are sort of blow-ins to the North Coast. We are super proud of it and the band was born there so, musically, we are 100% from the North Coast but literally, we’re actually from a place called Doagh, which is a little village just outside Belfast.

LJ: I always say we’re from NC because that's where the band was formed. 

TJ: It was our first gig.

LJ: I wouldn’t have any musical memories associated with where we lived before.

TJ: Our childhood was somewhere else but when our life started getting exciting, it all happened in a wee village called Castlerock, which is where we moved. Our first ever full band gig was in a wee place called Bertha’s Bar, which was at the corner of our street. It was this little working man’s pub by the sea and that was the first BNF gig as a band, not just me and Lauren, which is cool. My favourite NC memory is probably playing the Atlantic.

LJ: That’s what I was gonna say, most of my musical memories are associated with the Atlantic Bar in Portrush. Whenever I was in the sixth form we would go there every week and there was always one of our friend’s bands playing.

TJ: Like Little Arcadia. They were massively instrumental in helping us. The first couple of weeks that we moved there, I was busking on the beach. Why?! Nobody does that! I had my guitar and was busking on the beach and Eunan Brown, the frontman, was walking past and was like ‘What  are you doing?’ (laughs) but he asked me if I wrote my own songs, I told him about the band and he was like ‘I’ll get you a gig.’ And I thought it couldn’t be that easy but it was! Because he was such a nice person. Bands like that, Sleeping Outside who are still going, they helped us out a lot, Sad Tomorrow, who else Lauren?

AM: Ferals.

LJ: Yeah just bands like that really.

AM: As someone who wasn’t from the NC, I remember my first gig, that See Above gig and a couple of times besides that, they stand out compared to playing gigs with other bands that I’d been in, in Belfast where things seemed so competitive. Gigs were seen as a way of making money and impressing people that I really didn’t care about impressing. Then I went up to the NC to see Little Arcadia, Sleeping Outside. The first time I saw LA, they played an acoustic set and they came down and talked to everyone and are like “This is amazing, are you in a band?” etc etc. Compared to Belfast, where I’d grown up...

TJ: Even the Pavillion?

AM: I love the Pav and the Big House but I’m talking about Belfast City Centre. Like I played a couple of gigs in The Empire and people were saying ‘This is your night to impress someone,’ and I didn’t want to impress anyone, I just wanted to have a laugh. Whereas when I went up to the NC they were like ‘Ah welcome. Do you want a pint?’

TJ: Was that the same for you Luke?

LH: Yeah.

AM: We also have to give a shoutout to Kiwis, we headlined there one time.

TJ: Do you remember that gig we played where we had really bad amp trouble?

AM: Turned out my tuner was broke but we didn't know why...

TJ: Everyone stayed. 

AM: Everyone stayed and just laughed it off!

TJ: People got into it and it made the gig better, having a technical malfunction because on the NC people are just so happy to see live music.

LH: That was the night we released our album.

Bands from the North Coast seem quite tight-knit, is that a fair assumption?

LJ: In order to fill The Atlantic Bar, everybody just needed to bring their mates and at the gigs, everyone would talk to each other and becoming friends with each other. It became this community where people would all go to the same gigs and you’d say "Can you bring your other friends from school?" and everyone wanted to have a good night. The gig nights we went to would be on every week in the Atlantic Bar, but there was no sense of completion or rivalry! We all just wanted to have good craic, be mates and help each other out. Even in our early days in BNF, before we had a full band and we needed help filling out our sound, other bands would always be like “We’ll help you out with this.” We actually played a gig down in Belfast, a Chordblossom gig supporting Joshua Burnside in an old church but we didn’t want to just be acoustic so the guys from Little Arcadia came down and played some nice electric guitar over our acoustic jams. That was a special gig.

LH: I was at that gig.

AM: We both were. 

LH: But we missed BNF because we just wanted to see Josh Burnside.

Does coming from the North Coast effect your sound? 

TJ: I think it instilled a ‘gang mentality’ in us, in the sense that we’re four mates and yes, you have petty squabbles. But that's what mates do, that’s just life but when it comes down to it we have each other's backs. Not just because Lauren’s my sister and I love her to bits, but I love these guys too and I think in the North Coast there's an element of that. Because everyone's friends, everyone in the bands are all good mates and they're all at gigs, out together. Maybe that doesn’t happen as much in Belfast, I don’t know. But where we're from all the bands are friendly with each other. Of course, we’re half NC, half Belfast but we have a more NC mentality. I don’t think that's affected our sound because we’re a straight-up pop band with four people coming at it from different angles. I’ve always seen us as separate from everything else.

LJ: I think that having half of us from B and a half from NC also makes us...

TJ: Different.

LJ: Yeah and it benefits the band as well. You have to give credits to Belfast as well, there are a lot more live opportunities in Belfast.

TJ: Whenever we play up the NC thought, to me and Lauren that’s home, when we play the Atlantic Bar, for example, this is our hometown gig. But when we come to play in Belfast for the boys, it's their hometown gig. It’s like we have two home stadiums, two home matches.

LJ: It’s the best of both worlds and it's benefited our sound. We’ve picked up sounds influences from NC type bands and Belfast bands.

AM: It’s not even just sound but the performance I think is influenced. I found in Belfast bands that I was playing in, it was more restrained but in the NC, maybe because you’d get a big crowd and you were playing for all your mates and everyone was going mad, it was more relaxed. When I first started going up I expected it to be a gig like in the Pav where you’d see three local bands just play each other, and then I went up and LA was flipping stage diving and pints were getting thrown and there were mad mosh pits and it’s mainly because they weren’t trying to impress anyone.

TJ: You could go and watch bands in the NC and it’d be like you were seeing one of the biggest bands in the world, that was the reaction. Belfast is just different and that's not a bad thing! The NC is distinctly different and in that sense, it has 100% influenced us.

Where did you look for inspiration?

TJ: We looked to our contemporaries more than the older generation. I was influenced greatly by LA and Sleeping Outside, they inspired me, I would go see a SO gig and come home and not sleep until I wrote five songs.

LJ: I think it seemed a bit more accessible too. Those bands, like And So I Watch You From Afar, are unbelievable, just technically and songwriting-wise, but they were a bit heavier than the sound we were going for, so the direct inspiration was when we looked at our friends like “Oh, we can do that!”

AM: ASIWYFA were like another entity because they were already touring the world by the time when we came along.

LJ: But it was an amazing full circle moment when we got to support them up in Portrush Brawl in The Atlantic Bar, that was a sort of pinch-me moment.

AM: We played the independence festival in Cork and they watched us! So we travelled all the way to Cork and played to five guys from the NC.

Who is your favourite local act?

TJ: We all love Hot Cops.

LJ: I was going to say 'Anywhere Else' from LA is my favourite song, they would always play it at the end of their set and there would be mosh pits every time, it would be crazy! Every time I hear it brings back such good memories.

TJ: I think they recorded it on the cheap, I wish they had a million pounds to spend on it because it’s just an anthem. If you were our age on the NC, especially when we started, and they started playing that song, it’s just an anthem. It's beautiful. There’s no other way to describe it, the whole room is mesmerised. To this day that song gets me quite teary.

LJ: They don’t perform that much anymore but they're all doing amazing stuff themselves in other projects.

TJ: Another band I would have loved was Sleeping Outside, they have a song called Inhaler which is just pure nostalgia. It’s purely emotional. I'm conscious of how much I’m mentioning these two bands but there were very much at the heart of things. We went to see them every week, it’s what you did! There was about a year period where Lauren and I went to the Atlantic Bar every week and they just took turns headlining. It was special.

LH: I love Joshua Burnside. My favourite song is Grapes off the Hologram Ep

AM: Hot Cops, we haven’t talked about them enough. I'm trying to think what their best song is…

TJ: Its Decay. Decay is the best song in the WORLD

AM: Decay is incredible.

Do you remember your first show as a full band?

TJ: The first show with Aaron and Luke was in Galway, the present incarnation was in Galway. Bertha’s Bar was a couple of friends helping out and that was the first time BNF was a full band. Luke was still at school, finishing his A-Levels.

LH: Took a day off and all.

TJ: He took a sneaky day off school and came up with us to Galway and we said ‘Mate, this might now work out. If it doesn’t go well then no hard feelings.' He’d only had two practices so immediately I thought 'He’s got balls,' because it’s so hard when you’re a drummer to keep the rhythm. Like you have to know all the songs inside out and he barely knew them. But he came down anyway and the soundcheck went well and it turned out to be one of our best gigs. Like it just came alive, Luke added this new energy. It was great.

LJ: It was this tiny room but it was packed out. We weren’t expecting much because we were first on.

LH: We were supporting Crywank.

TJ: I jumped on top of Luke’s bass drum and I remember seeing a room full of people, and thinking this looks good, this feels good.

AM: The Roisin Dubh it was.

LH: Blossoms were playing downstairs, being supported by TOUTS.

TJ: We had a real laugh, our Da drove us down and we all really bonded together. Our first NC gig was in Bertha’s and it was such a lovely time because it was our first tentative steps into ‘Oh my god, we're actually in a band’ and my memories were actually really happy. We were supporting Sleeping Outside and we opened with American Wives. I'll never forget our then-drummer starting the beat, the way it hit me and looking around at Lauren thinking “This is really happening.”

LJ: Even though we were just playing to the other bands and maybe our parents.

TJ: It was a really important moment, to be doing it in a bar at the end of your street. We were just up the NC at this point and we were just thinking “Oh my god this is a new chapter, this is something we can really do.” We played a Modern Baseball cover because we didn’t have enough songs written to play a full set. We did five songs and then it was a 'see ya later' but it was all good vibes.

What are your favourite venues from home?

LJ: Probably Kiwis, it's a brilliant venue, cool atmosphere and there's always big crowds, which is amazing.

TJ: Very tall stage.

LJ: The Atlantic Bar is brilliant but they’ve actually shut the upstairs bar where we used to play all our early gigs which is a little bit sad.

AM: We played downstairs recently supporting Alltwins with Susie Blue and Son of Hound which was amazing. Such a great gig.

TJ: Kiwis is amazing, Atlantic is the OG, Berthas was amazing but I believe its shut for renovations. That was our first show as well so it holds a special place in our heart. We’ve played everywhere on the NC and we’ve loved them all, they’re all special in their own way. Everywhere we go, it’s good.

LH: I love playing the Coleraine SU because you have to be clued in the whole time because the stage isn’t really a stage, its a load of tables and every time it got a bit louder or the drum speed picked up the whole stage started shaking.

TJ: Aaron played with a cap on. It was the start of his hat phase.

Do you still maintain close ties with the North Coast?

TJ: Definitely. Lauren and I still live up north. Out of all of us, I think I’m the most precious of it, I love playing in England and saying “We’re from Castlerock.” It’s a bit harsh on the guys because they’re not but I still feel like were the same wee band we were when we started out and we’re always at gigs and looking for the new breed coming in. 

LJ: A lot of the bands we grew up with have moved to Belfast for Uni so there are some new acts coming through like Sad Tomorrow, Sweater Cult who are picking up where we left off.

TJ: Sad Tomorrow are my favourite. 

AM: They’re not as good as Ferals (laughter from all).

TJ: Sad Tomorrow is our brother Logan’s band and there writing some serious, mature pop music and it sounds amazing and they’re getting better all the time.

AM: Taylor and I play on the album so those bits are brilliant.

TJ: Some of the new band's now email us asking for advice, and that's so cool because it used to be us. It’s always really lovely to be asked.

Do you have any fond memories of Atlantic Sessions?

LJ: We’ve played it two or three times

LH: We’ve played it three times. In Kiwis, out the front of the Anchor and this year with a

Alltwins

TJ: It’s a lovely event that brings people to the NC and its brilliant for us because we get to work with bands like Alltwins. 

LJ: Carolyn Matthers organises it all and she’s been very nice to us, she’s supported us from a very early stage.

AM: It was great to have an opportunity to support bands, but also to headline places like Kiwis that we never thought we’d be able to do initially. The fact that there was a platform for us to go and headlines somewhere, and it was a great gig. We didn’t think there would be many people there but the festival helped out loads and it wasn’t our responsibility to book it ourselves which was great.

TJ: it also felt that they had watched our progression and didn’t give us a headlining slot too early. I feel that some festivals will give a band a slot and then forget about them but they watched our progress and grow and have supported us after, which I think is a part of the NC scene in general.

Do you ever get recognised?

LJ: Occasionally, maybe more in Belfast at the odd gig but its very rare. Even more so at home 

TJ: To put it in context, I went to the hairdressers the other day and they didn’t know who I was and I live across the road!

AM: I got recognised in work the other day, someone actually bought our record and were coming up to the till where I was, and when I scanned it my co-worker was like “He’s in that band” and the customer was like “Oh right” and walked straight out. Didn’t care! But I wouldn’t want to be recognised. What’s the point?

TJ: I miss the beach and the sea, I miss swimming. And the smaller stuff, like my mum. I’m a big home bird and I miss my mum when I’m on tour.

LH: I also miss the sea and Taylors mum.

What was the first time you became aware of your local profile?

TJ: I don’t think we have much of a profile. I think it’s cool that people will see us performing and know who we are and think ‘Oh brilliant, we should head down and see them.’ Like, that's amazing to me but it doesn’t feel like we're local celebrities or anything. Like Colin Geddis is a local celebrity, I saw him in Bunsen the other day and freaked out! 

LH: When we did our first show with Shine in Katy's Bar, one of the first gigs they put on in Katy's in years and it was free in and they had to turn people away at the door because it hit capacity. And we were the support band. That was sort of when it twinged a wee bit. Then we sold out Duke Of York and then The Black Box. Venues are getting bigger and tickets are selling more.

AM: When we first sold out the Duke, that was the first time I mentioned it to my granny and she actually took notice, she actually got it. She realised people were actually listening to this band.

LJ: When that happens its very surreal for us, it’s kind of hard to get used to but it’s when you see the odd face at a gig you don’t recognise, who might have heard your song on the radio and decided to come down, moments like that you don’t expect and are surreal.

LH: Also, when we're supporting local legends, bands who have been there, done that and are still doing it, when that happens you feel like it's moving on a bit.

TJ: My point is very cheesy. I remember putting my Instagram or Twitter bio as lyrics because you’re very possessive of the music, of how it helps form your identity. So when I see kids who like our music putting our lyrics in their statuses and bio’s, and I’m sitting there like “I wrote that!”… that blows my mind because I remember where I was and how I felt when I wrote that and that person has a connection with that song and that’s so important to me.

Any fun stories from being on tour?

LH: I'll tell the weirdest thing that happened to us on tour

LJ: Name drop!

LH: It’s probably the weirdest thing that’s going to happen in my life. We were playing the Olympia Theatre in Dublin supporting Snow Patrol, which is weird enough, but backstage there is this narrow corridor and staircase that only fits one person. So I’m walking backstage to get a beer from the dressing room and there's this fella walking towards me with his head down and a hat on. So we get to the stairs and only one person can fit up it so I say 'go ahead mate' and he looks up and it was Ed Sheeran. So I was like '... Alright, Ed' and he was like '... Alright,' and we walked up the stairs talking away. When we got to the top, his dressing room was a different way so we were standing talking away and then as he went to leave he said ‘I'll see you later’ and I stuck my hand out to shake but he went for the hug. He sort of panicked and just tickled my belly instead. So I panicked as well. After I went up the stairs and walked into our dressing room and Foy Vance was in our dressing room drinking our beers. I was like '... Alright Foy' and he was looking at me weird because he thought I was in his dressing room but he then apologised and replaced the beers and we spent about 20 minutes talking away to him before the band came up.

AM: You forgot about the photo.

LH: My Granda is a massive Foy Vance fan so I asked him for a photo and when the flash went off he stuck his finger up my nose. So that photo exists now.

LJ: That was the weirdest night of the tour.

AM: and then the van got clamped and we got stuck in Dublin.

What was your favourite place to play while touring?

LJ: Did you say about the leisure centre in Galway?

TJ: Oh My God! I love swimming and the ocean, but my fantasy was always, if I couldn’t play a football stadium, then I’d love to play a leisure centre. And in Galway, which is one of my favourite cities in Ireland, we supported Snow patrol in Galway leisure centre, it's called Leisure Land.

LJ: The room we were playing in was an old sports hall.

TJ: It smelled like chlorine, which is one of my favourite smells. But that was one of my favourite venues ever.

LH: Can I say mine before Aaron steals it? The Ulster Hall.

AM: Ah ya bastard!

LH: I love going to gigs there, I love playing there.

TJ: I Love Limelight, 1 or 2.

AM: Joiners in Southhampton, the gig was unreal, the people who owned it were amazing, the green room was class.

LH: Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh 

What was it like playing with Snow Patrol and ASH?

LJ: As you can imagine, it was amazing but what made it so special for me was that they are all such down to earth, genuine people. None of the bands we’ve played with has had any airs and graces but specifically, ASH and Snow Patrol were great. They treat you like you are on the same level, just musicians out playing a show, which I really appreciate. Tim from ASH and Gary from Snow Patrol have been very supportive of us from the start and have been very outspoken in their support and it’s really made a difference for us. To be able to play with these bands that just treat you like normal people was amazing.

AM: Nathan Connelly and Mark Hamilton, they both, before gigs, just walk into our dressing room before a gig to have a chat.

LH: It helps that they're all from where we're from and they seem like people you’d just meet out and about in Belfast. 

AM: But it’s not just them, Breeder and Kodaline have been super good to us as well, super supportive. 

What's a normal day like for you?

LJ: It depends on the time of year. I’m still a student, I’m in my final year of uni. Luckily enough all of our tours have coincided with different holidays so I haven't missed that much but this semester will be difficult. So for me, it’s a lot of studying, practising. That takes up a lot of our lives so we're in here (undisclosed practice space) a few nights a week.

LH: I work 9-5 Monday to Friday in the Ulster Hospital, and when I’m not there I’m either gigging or in this room. I'm never really in my actual house, I’m usually with my friends or with the band. it’s hectic but it’s a lot of fun. Work can be a bit melting but…

AM: Luke left his job today because they wouldn’t let him go on tour.

TJ: Aaron’s done that loads of times, he lost a lot of jobs that way. Aaron and I would spend a lot of time writing, we’ve recently started writing together, we’ll go away and write a song and come in and work on it. Aaron spends a lot of time just listening to music, listening to vinyl but a lot of time we would just sit with acoustic guitars and write songs, not even BNF songs, just songs. But when we're not studying, we're in this room with instruments in our hands, but it doesn't really feel like work because we adore it. We’d be doing it even if the band wasn’t doing anything, if we were still in the Pav then we’d be loving that as well. Our lives are work and rehearsing.

Can you tell me what it was like recording and writing Seatbelts For Airplanes?

LH: A lot of it was written in here (undisclosed location).

TJ: That’s true, a lot of it came together here. All the songs were demoed in here and recorded in the Oh Yeah.

LJ: My favourite memory was when we were recording the second last song on the album (The Blame), but it was the last thing we recorded, was the gang vocals. We were all in the booth, around the mic and we took so many takes because we couldn’t stop laughing halfway through. All singing the same line around the same mic, that was my favourite memory.

TJ: Mine too, you can hear all the voices going at once, it's very sweet. That's probably my favourite song too. Writing-wise, all the songs on SFA are either about my mum or girls or romances. It’s a very sentimental record at its heart. GIRL is the only song unlike the others, it’s about a lesbian who’s finding herself and unsure Of herself, and I wrote that with our brother Logan after he started singing a Wolf Alice tune. Although there are parts of real life in it, it’s inspired by different people but everything else on the record comes from a sentimental place. 

Do you have any lasting thoughts on your album?

TJ: I think in 20 years when I look back on SFA and look back on the person I was, I’ll be able to fully appreciate it for what it is. Right now I’m just aware of how different we sound now. Aaron was only in the band two minutes, Rocky did a fantastic job on it. 

LJ: I think for me it’s a snapshot of us at a specific time and the songs reflect that and I think that's a very beautiful thing. I think that it almost sounds nostalgic for me at this point and that's why I love it because it ties into a lot of the themes of the album, of growing up, of being confused and uncertain, these times that everyone goes through. I think it sonically reflects that but that strive to always be better is something that really drives us as we’re all getting older. 

AM: I look at it almost like a child, like its something that we made.

TJ: Yeah because you’re looking at it and thinking it is yours and you love it for what it is!

LH: We all love it. I love it so much that I have a copy.

TJ: It's noisy, rambunctious, playful and loveable. It wears its heart on its sleeve and its just screaming from the streets and I just wanna give it a hug and tell it that I love it.

Talk to me about your upcoming residency.

LH: We hadn’t played Belfast as a headliner since April and when we were talking with our management and SHINE. We were thinking that we wanted to do something a bit different. Something a bit special that no one really does over here. We had the idea of a residency somewhere and three night kept coming up. Three nights, no break. After our management contacted SHINE, a couple of hours later the American bar was organised 

TJ: We thought it was a bit punk as well, we looked at Rudi, The Undertones when they played the Harp Bar for 5 nights in a row and all these kids who didn't want to pick sides in a warzone would go see them, so we thought that was a nice wee nod. We’re an indie pop band but we’ve quite a punk ethos.

You will be playing Ward Park this year. Did you ever see this coming?

TJ: You always believe in the music, in how far it can take you but it was never a specific goal, we just wanted to have fun and play music. Snow Patrol means a lot to me, so to play the General Fiasco slot opening for Snow Patrol, their slot from back in the day, is almost a bigger deal than the rest of the show. It's a mammoth thing.

LH: You all didn’t believe it when we were told it and didn’t believe it for ages after.

LJ: There was a bit of disbelief, you don’t really let yourself believe it.

TJ: If Luke Harris says somethings gonna happen then generally it’s gonna happen.

Have you any last thoughts?

TJ: I just want to say how grateful we are to the NC because I don't know if there are many places that would have embraced us and gave us the same opportunities. not that we have achieved anything amazing, but we haven’t forgotten it and we will always come back. We're so proud to be from Castlerock, this small wee weird village on the edge of the earth. We feel so lucky to have been from there.

brand new friend begin their three-night residency in The American Bar on the 24th of January 2019. Their latest single 'I Was An Astronaut' is available now on all major platforms.