Their passionate, grungy noise punk is making waves across the region.
We spoke to Mad Love, formally Dead End Friends, ahead of tonight’s launch of their new single ‘I’m Not a Smoker’ at The Parish.
Danny Sharp, 19, is the frontman and guitarist of the trio, which also comprises bassist Joe Taberner and drummer Nick Clark.
Let’s start from the beginning-when did Mad Love form (as Dead End Friends)?
Danny: “Nick and I knew each other from high school and formed Dead End Friends in November 2013.
“I had been producing a lot of electronic music but feel in love with playing guitar again after starting to go to town centre gigs.
“Nick found bassist Lucas Edgar at college and thought he was great.
You Changed your name to Mad Love in 2015, why?
Danny: “It was partly due to the fact there were so many Dead End Friends around the world.
“I also felt as though our old name didn’t reflect how I saw the band or our music.
“We could be named after an EP by the very cool shoegaze band Lush, from a line in Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, or after a terrible US TV show. Take your pick.”
Why did you get a new bassist?
Danny: Lucas left us a year after the band formed because he didn’t like the direction we were going in at the time.
Before we got Joe we had another bassist for about a year called Ben White who was the bassist on the Beat Yourself Up EP and is also the recording engineer for the new single. I booked Joe’s old band Inlaze last year and thought he was a great bassist.”
What drove you to your music style?
Danny: “It was a reaction to the average landfill indie coming out of West Yorkshire. Everyone wanted to be Arctic Monkeys and we thought that was already done and wanted to do something new, louder and harsher. It also seemed to come very natural from my songwriting and Nick’s hard-hitting style of drumming.”
Some bands’ main goal is to move to a big city – is it yours?
Danny: “I have this extremely strong irrational pride of being northern. And I think that’s what keeping me here.
“The music scene is still growing and we are in the centre of a cultural and creative hotspot between Manchester and Leeds.
“I think if we moved to a city we’d find it hard to develop music without getting caught up in trends. Huddersfield is just right. A goldilocks town: not too hot, not too cold and it’s full of potential and inspiration.”
In your Facebook biog you describe yourselves as “angry” – what gets your goat?
Danny: “Society, crony capitalism, unrequited love, bus drivers that look at you weird when you give them a fiver for bus fare.”
Tell us about your new single, ‘I’m Not a Smoker.’
Danny: “The sound is really from trying to take a pleasant sounding chord progression and messing with it enough that it becomes somewhat of a satirical take on the idea major tonality.
“It also helped having a drummer that thrashes the hell out of his drum kit. I think Pixies had a big influence on this song and early Weezer.
“The lyrics are about being on the cusp of adulthood and it’s about not being a smoker as well.”
What are your plans going forward? New EP, new album, world takeover?
Danny: “World domination is definitely part of the five-year plan. But in the foreseeable future, another tour and a few more singles should be on their way.”
