Interview with By Wednesday

April 03, 2024

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

I grew up with a lot of music being played in the house, especially Oasis, and then after Green Day released American Idiot I started learning guitar. I took to playing guitar very quickly - it felt very natural to me and I’d spend hours learning & writing songs while most of my friends were playing Call of Duty. The genres I’ve listened to have changed since then but I’ve been consistently playing guitar, writing songs, and discovering new bands since I first started playing.

If I hadn’t gotten into music, I would have spent more time travelling and living abroad. I studied languages at uni so would have dived deeper into that and spent more time outside of the UK, which obviously would have been fun but nothing beats going to gigs and discovering new music!

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

I’m a very restless person so I like to either be creating something or busy doing something. I like things like pub trips, exploring new places, reading, going on walks, spending time in cafes. Going on walks and being in new places helps me to refresh and be more productive when I am creative. Reading, watching TV shows and talking to people helps me with writing lyrics. I’ll often hear something that will spark an idea which I write in my phone then put together around a theme when writing a new song.

How long has your band been around? Also, please tell me about the dynamic of the band of what brought you all together.

We started in 2022 and spent the year practising and writing our first songs. We then spent 2023 playing our first gigs and establishing ourselves on Manchester’s live music scene. The dynamic of the band is pretty equal - it works well because we all bring something to the table whether that’s song-writing, graphic design, or organisational stuff.

Going to gigs and listening to the same type of music is basically what brought us all together - I moved to Manchester about 7 years ago and met Tom (guitar) working in a bar. I then met Rob (bass) & Adge (drums) through Tom and we started going to gigs together. Tom moved away for a few years and when he moved back to Manchester the 4 of us started going to gigs again and decided to form a band.

Where are you based and how did that influence your music?

We’re based in Manchester, I moved here from the Midlands and the rest of the band are all from around here. Manchester’s famously a very musical city so even if you’re not into some of the bigger bands that have come out of the city, there are so many gigs and open mic nights not just in the city centre but across the city and nearby towns. For me being around that definitely spurs you on to create and perform music. In terms of bands that have come out of Manchester, I’d say Joy Division, The Smiths and maybe Stone Roses have had an influence on us.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

A few years ago Tom was living in Belfast with his then-girlfriend but they split up and Tom moved back to Manchester. When Tom moved back, we all started meeting up at the pub and going to gigs together. After many drunken conversations on these nights we decided we’d start a band. So we set up a WhatsApp group and started organising the first practice and everything like that. We spent ages trying to come up with a name and none of them felt right. One day in the WhatsApp group Tom said to us that his ex had posted his guitars to him and they should arrive “by Wednesday”. We liked the way that sounded as a band name, and we’ve used it ever since.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

Our most memorable show has to be our recent headline at Gullivers. We put it on ourselves, found 2 incredible support acts, and sold the venue out. The crowd was amazing and it was such a good vibe the whole night. We did another DIY show at a venue called Fuel in South Manchester which was one of our first shows which was a lot of fun. The venue is an upstairs room above a bar, we packed it out and it got very sweaty and you could feel the floor shake mid set. Again the crowd was amazing and it was one of our first shows so that’s definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

I really liked Gullivers, Castle Hotel and Night & Day are up there as well but I think I’d say Gullivers. We love playing gigs so there’s a lot of places we’d like to play! Band on the Wall, Gorilla & Deaf Institute are 3 venues in Manchester we want to play but haven't yet. Castlefield Bowl would be a really fun one as well.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Foals have to be on the line up - all 4 of us are big fans of Foals. I think this answer would be different for each band member so I'll give my ideal line up. We'll let Foals headline, By Wednesday main support, then Citizen, and  then Softcult. For me that's the perfect mix of indie, emo & shoegaze. For the rest of the band, I think Tom would say American Football, Rob would say Broken Social Scene, and Adge would say King Krule.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

Go ahead and do it - it’s easy to focus too much on doubts and stop yourself from starting a band. If you go ahead and do it you’ll learn so much so quickly and learn to love the feeling of playing live and writing songs together. Also, make sure you have someone in the band who can keep on top of social media and admin - building a successful band these days it’s vital to keep on top of that. I’d also recommend having a graphic designer in your band, we’ve got 2 which has helped so much with artwork and gig posters.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

I would say our latest single Circles or our next single (which will be revealed in a few weeks!) purely because we really found our sound as a band with these songs so they’re the songs I’m most proud of so far.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

Any song with a loud, shoegaze ending is fun to play. When the song builds progressively and finishes with a loud end section where we’re all going for it and adding effects pedals to create a wall of sound is always really fun to play. Our song Motorola Razr gets requested a lot as well which is more of an indie pop song about Motorola Razr and noughties nostalgia. It’s a lot of fun to play because it gets the crowd moving and there’s always someone shouting the “Hello Moto” line back at us.

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

Varies from song to song - often me or Rob will record an idea and share it in our WhatsApp group or our Google Drive, then we’ll think about how to develop it and work on it together in the next band practice. When we started the band I brought a couple of songs I’d been playing at open mics, but since then it’s much more of a shared effort which I enjoy a lot more because we bounce off each others’ styles well.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

It depends on the song but I try to stay away from deep or serious topics. I tend to write observational lyrics which could be about types of people you meet or a common experience people go through. For example, Circles is about drinking in the sun, Hinder is about online dating, Young Professional is about not wanting a young professional/office-based type of job but ending up in one.

Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about?

Our new single Circles has just been released so please go and listen to that! It’s a laid back dreamy, indie-pop song about drinking with mates in the sun. You can also find all our previous releases on streaming services including our recent single Late Checkout and our debut EP Thursday which we released last year.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

Our next gig is at Foundry Fest at the Foundry Project in Northern Quarter (Manchester), it’s free entry and there’s loads of great bands on the line up so definitely check that out! We have new releases coming later this year and there’ll be more gig announcements soon. Our next release is one I’m personally very excited for but you’ll have to follow our socials to find out when it’s released!

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

Instagram is the best way but we’re also on Facebook & Twitter. Follow us at bywednesdayband to keep up to date with our upcoming singles and gigs!

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