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‘Tough times’ in doom pop

Joshua Mascord gets the latest from Lonely the Brave’s Ross Smithwick

Lonely The Brave’s style comes from a deeply personal place. Listening to the current singles, anyone can tell that they’re filled with ‘tough times’. Ross is quick to say that despite their gloomy style the album contains ‘uplifting songs – we mix it up’.

In response to my remark that two years is fast to create an album Ross laughs, “we’ve had a head start! The last one was probably done two years before [it came out].”

He reveals they actually wrote “25 tracks, I think some of those might make it out… a lot of [our] songs are a reflection of the time, when we discussed some of the songs that we wrote and putting them on a third album, we decided against it.”

“We want to keep making music,” Ross continues, but as they’re “a bit older than other bands,” they have more to think about. I ask about touring, which Ross gives an honest reply to.

“There are ups and downs, getting to play is great, but it gets hard on European tours where you have to drive across countries – but after a long drive when you arrive somewhere like Switzerland and there’s like thousands of people singing your music, It’s like ‘how did this happen?’ It’s brilliant.”

Ross joined two years ago, “about four days before a tour… It was daunting, but now they’re like my brothers.”

I end at the beginning of my interviewee’s time in the band so I wrap it up, wish him luck and run off to see if any of the rock-star magic has rubbed off on me.

Lonely the Brave will be playing Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival, July 15-17.

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