Spring King are a four piece Mancunian garage-pop band consisting of Tarek Musa, Pete Darlington, Andy Morton and James Green. Beginning in 2012 as a small scale collective, the group has progressed to dizzying heights this year with the release of their debut album ‘Tell Me If You Like To’ and a European tour.
Despite their base in Manchester, Tarek didn’t think the popular music scene “seeps into their music” in the same way it does with other up-and-coming bands, such as Blossoms. Instead, he noted how “music from around the world, from West Coast California, like The Beach Boys, was more influential on our sound”. The release of ‘Mumma’ in 2014 set the tone for the band’s music, creating the post-punk, pop vibe that’s become their signature.
After playing Reading and Leeds this summer, Tarek felt a “different kind of atmosphere” from their usual gigs, but lauded “the opportunity for passers-by to come and check you out” as cool. In spite of this, Pete admits a soft spot for “sweaty little venues”. The lack of barriers and fencing, he says, means “the crowd can like stage dive and do what they want, just go crazy”. The popularity of their European tour will guarantee them a fair share of sweaty venues; the sheer energy of their fans promises there won’t be a dry t-shirt in the place.
The release of Spring King’s debut album ‘Tell Me If You Like To’ this June forms an exciting milestone for the band. Pete acknowledges the excitement of “having new material to work with”, getting to grips with “the way it’s changed our set list a lot”. Despite not doing particularly well in the charts, the band got a lot of airplay on Radio 1, plus support from the likes of Zane Lowe. In addition, the album was received incredibly well by their fans, which ultimately is the main aim of any artist. Moreover, Andy hinted that the band are already thinking of “slowly bringing out new demos”, just as soon as the tour is out of the way.
Touring can be an intense experience, but Spring King have progressed from supporting artists like Slaves to providing a platform for the likes of Get Inuit and the Magic Gang, who supported them this month at The Wardrobe. Although it was great to be in a position to offer these bands a slot on their tour, Tarek made clear they just “felt lucky the bands we invited to play all said yes”. Noting these support acts as “some of their favourite UK bands, starting to blow up in their own right”, James disregards any sense of musical hierarchy. He describes the entourage as “a little touring party of our mates”.
As far as advice for new bands goes, James had only one thing to say and that was “play gigs, just play loads and loads and loads and loads of gigs”. This seemed to have been the band’s tactic for the past two years, and their continual success over the past few months shows it really pays off. Their musical knowledge was demonstrated when asked what song they would listen to if they could only chose one for the rest of their lives, with answers ranging from Miles Davis’ version of ‘My Ship’ to Lightning Bolt’s ‘Dracula Mountain’.
This appreciation for all genres and all musical periods gives the band an admirable foundation on which to build their own sound, because they most definitely have an ever growing fan base ready and waiting to hear it.
Interview by Andrea Loftus