ELECTRIC acoustic group No Trays or Foxes may appear to be something of a contradiction.
Amid a gig scene dominated by traditional indie rock and acoustic folk, the Huddersfield band have fused a number of influences in a bid to bring something different to the table.
With no drummer the band use electric beats and sounds to complement lead singer Liam Sullivan’s acoustic guitar and “sea shanty” vocal style.
Electric guitar and bass guitar provide the remaining layers to the formula that is winning a strong fanbase after just one year together
The band was founded by Liam, who knew the other three members from previous projects.
He said: “I just wanted to start something that was a bit different.
“I’d always drummed in bands and played in different bands with all the other guys.
“I’ve been doing my own solo acoustic stuff and I wanted to get something interesting going so I got all the guys together.
“Everyone brings their own thing to the band.
“We’re trying to do something that we find interesting.
“We’re not setting out to make something ‘different’, it’s just looking for fulfilment.”
Laptop and beats man, Jordan Lees, added: “I didn’t want to join a band that’s playing the same stuff as all the others.
“You go to the pub and you see a lot of similar bands.
“So it’s nice to be able to offer something different to people.
“When we play people are usually quite surprised.”
Added Liam: “There’s not that many bands that we look at the moment and think ‘we’re like them’.
“Each member of the band has different influences and that probably comes out.
“I like really stripped back acoustic stuff and Jordan likes electronic stuff.
“A lot of people says it’s quite unusual.
“It blows a lot of people away sometimes as they don’t know what to expect.
“Not having a drummer is initially quite weird.
“We were worried when we first started gigging that it wouldn’t be accessible to people, that they wouldn’t understand it.
“But people do; they get their heads into it, absorb it and think about it.”
Having enjoyed an encouraging 2012 the band are hoping to push it to the next level in 2013.
Said Liam: “We’d only played a couple of gigs and then it spiralled really fast.
“Once people got into it, word got out.
“We’ve played London once or twice – we played a gig in the Notting Hill Arts Centre and that was awesome.
“We played at 1:22 and it was packed out and that’s the first time I’ve looked out seen people really grooving and getting into it.
“The Oxjam gig at Verve was really good too.
“All these people piled in just before we went on – it was a bit overwhelming.
“This year we want to do an album but we’ve not written enough songs yet.
“We’re going to do an EP by February or March.
“The first objective is to get something that we can give to people, so they can look at it, listen to it and absorb it.
“There’s so many ideas – we’re all really fascinated with visuals and artwork.
“We’re keeping busy and doing our own thing all the time but I’m confident something will come along.”
Liam said the urge to go full time with music inspired not only his drive to succeed but his song writing.
He added: “A lot of our songs are about wanting more from life.
“The reality for the band for me is that I could actually do music for a living and that’s really spurred me on to want more out of life.
“I don’t want to do a nine to five job that I hate – I want to do this and that’s what a lot of the songs are about.”
www.facebook.com/notraysorfoxes.
