Earlier this month, BBC6 Music favourite Fold played an intimate show at Small Seeds on New Street.

With a busy year planned ahead, we caught up with Seth Mowshowitz (beats and keys), Ben Walsh (bass) and Sam Hutchinson (guitar) to find out what they've been up to and what the future holds.

What do you guys think of Huddersfield?

Ben: I suppose this is home for me. The drummer and I went to Huddersfield College and studied music here.

Seth: Well, I've only had a few hours to make a good impression. I've really not been here that many times but, this place (Small Seeds) is awesome! I reckon it's one of the nicest venues we've played at.

Have you guys ever played in Huddersfield before?

Seth: Yeah, we played in Vinyl Tap. But that was during the day so I don't know if that really counts. It was really nice, the staff were great and we managed to attract a reasonable crowd.

Ben: It's hard to say because Sam's only recently joined us and you weren't there at that gig were you?

Sam: No, no, I've never played in Huddersfield before tonight, but I'd definitely come back to play here again!

Fold

How did the band originally form?

Seth: I originally came up from London with the idea to start a band having already dabbled in some solo stuff. But I didn't really enjoy standing behind a laptop and not engaging with people so it really needed to become a little bit bigger and a little bit more exciting. So I went hunting for some band mates and I found our drummer Kane on Twitter who doesn't do interviews by the way... ever!

Ben: Every single interview we've been on, he's said, "I'm not coming!"

Seth: I always ask him out of politeness.

Is there any reason for that?

Seth: He's quirky.

Sam: He got a mysterious quality, or so he thinks!

Seth: But anyway, it was him who I found on Twitter through the Leeds Music Scene account and they're pretty good. They did all the right things and Kane got in touch. Then Ben came with him along with our previous guitarist, and that was that. It all took off from there.

On your website, it says "Advancing Equality & Unity Through Music". What do those words mean to you and why are they relevant to your music?

Seth: Well, I guess I was trying to distill what we're trying to achieve in the fewest possible words. It's trying to find language to engage with people and to push them to rediscover their humanity and wake them up from the spell of complacency. Clearly, there's so much that's going on and so much that needs addressing. It's about remembering that we're people and getting together.

Ben: We source a lot of material from historic speeches that were recorded so many years ago but they're still so relevant now. We didn't want to put that into music and feel like we were ramming it down people's throats so we wanted to put it behind nice, uplifting music and make sure it had some good vibes.

Sam: Strong message, happy music. It was all about getting that balance.

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Where did your influences come from?

Seth: Well, I guess we all bring our own influences to the table. We've all got our own slightly different tastes. I guess, there's definitely a unifying thread of funk but for me personally, it's also come from jazz and hip-hop. But then there's also little bits of psychedelic rock and other strands that come into it to.

How was it releasing your debut album in 2015?

Seth: I decided that I wanted to do everything without the help of a label or publisher or anything really and just coordinate it ourselves. All of the studio time, the sessions, the arrangements, we did ourselves.

Why did you choose to take the DIY route?

Sam: The DIY scene is quite strong in Leeds. Whether it be hip-hop, punk, indie, whatever it is. People just seem to think, "we're good enough to do this, so why not do it ourselves?" which totally makes sense. That way of thinking comes across in nearly every band I know in Leeds.

Ben: Fold has a massive relationship with the Leeds music scene. We're quite well known and we know a lot of bands as well. Everyone's connected one way or another and it makes a really good vibe.

Seth: Also, the fact that our focus is trying to advance equality and unity, it felt necessary to not let anything compromise that goal. Having had experience in the past working with record labels, if you try and prioritise being commercial, something is always bound to get lost.

How did it feel when BBC6 Music's Huey Morgan described your debut as potentially "one of the best albums of the year"?

Sam: Go on Huey!

Ben: I think I was sat in my car outside my house with it on the radio and it made me chuckle because I was sat on my own looking around thinking, "is anyone else hearing this?!"

Seth: We were over the moon to have the support from BBC6 Music. We feel monstrously lucky. There's a few guys at the station who really look after us and support us and we're so grateful for that. I guess the music speaks to them in some way!

What's next on the horizon for Fold?

Seth: This year, we've got a couple of small releases planned and there will be a new EP that'll be at the core of that. There will be about four or five tracks and we really feel it's the strongest material we've put together so far. Then there's going to be three other one-off releases as they're all single tracks.

Sam: One is going to be released through an amazing DIY label in Leeds called Clue Records. Every band on that label is excellent. It's run by a guy called Scott Lewis and that man works harder than anyone in music I know.

Seth: He's set up this thing called Clue Club, which oddly sounds a bit like Ku Klux Klan! But basically, it's a singles club, not to be confused with a 'singles' club! But how it works is every month, a band gets a single and also a really beautiful, hand illustrated magazine which is full of content put together by the band. It focuses on one release every month and ours will hopefully be out later in the year.

What about local shows or festivals?

Ben: There's nothing planned yet. The main focus is getting the EP and the new material written and recorded.

Sam: We are hoping in the latter half of the summer, in August or September and once the students are back, we may get something organised.

Seth: So hopefully we'll be planning gigs to launch the EP and come back with a string of gigs to look forward to.

Sam: If you'll have us back, we'll be sure to come back here!