After breaking through with a string of vibrant initial offerings throughout the last few months, fast-rising outfit The Anomaly are back once again to deliver their thunderous new single 'Go!'.
Bringing back more of that bold and driven alt-rock aesthetic they are known for, 'Go!' makes for a vibrant return to form for them. With its rich and shimmering textures, soaring atmosphere, and killer hooks layered throughout, they continue to shine as one of the more exciting names on the rise right now.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with them to find out more about their origins and what has been inspiring them most lately.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
It was a three quarter sized Spanish nylon guitar that my mate from school lent me when I was 14, which I decimated with my long nails and poor playing. I was so engrossed in learning that I didn’t realise I was destroying the wood on the fretboard by pressing really hard and not clipping my nails! My mate wasn’t best pleased when I gave it back to him!
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Stuff my 2 older brothers listened to in the car mainly. I’m old so they used to listen to cassettes of music they’d recorded from the hi-fi (young people can Google what that is). They’d record from the radio and vinyls they had, so hits from the late 80s and early 90s, as well as their record collections. The Beatles, Queen, Dire Straits – a lot of guitar music.
What was the first album you remember owning?
It was Dummy by Portishead. One of my brothers gave it to me for my 14th birthday. He noticed that I was quite fond of the single Glory Box from that record. I taped it off of VH1 and when I watched it once I’d have to rewind the cassette and watch it another 17 times. At least.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
There are a gazillion but one that comes to mind is The Masterplan by Oasis (Noel Gallagher). It’s close to perfect. So heartfelt and emotional. Great lyrics, great chorus, beautifully written. And it was a just B-side, ridiculous.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
I tend to write with just a notepad and an acoustic guitar. I’m not the kind of songwriter who gets songs or ideas playing in their head. I need to have my guitar and strum away at some chords before I get a melody.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
The Black Keys’ new record is pretty decent. I’m finding I’m very content at the moment listening to my record collection...and by that I mean my favourite songs on Spotify! No one has a record collection these days, apart from vinyl heads.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Noel Gallagher of course, probably my favourite living songwriter, sorry Paul (McCartney).
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
Well, to be frank the most rewarding part is playing live but we’re auditioning drummers at the moment and it’s a bit of a ball ache to be honest! But from the writing to the recording through to mixing the music it’s all quite exhilarating. That feeling you get when you know you’ve written something really special that excites you is quite hard to beat. The only thing that comes close is that moment when you’ve done your first mix of the song when all the writing, the recording and the mixing has taken place....ALL that hard work over a matter of months, sometimes years! And you press play and what comes out of the speakers or the headphones, this thing you’ve created from nothing, is how you want it to sound...wow, that’s a good feeling.
And what is the most frustrating part?
Getting people to care! It’s hard being an independent artist with few contacts in the industry. It’s hard to get noticed, to cut above the noise. And it’s getting super saturated now with it being so easy to record and release music these days. There’s something like 100,000 tracks uploaded to Spotify every DAY. That is utterly absurd. So yeah, it’s frustrating trying to get the right people to listen to you and pay attention. Social media is tough.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
Practise, practise, practise! It’s a cliche but it’s the people who put in the work that get the most success. Even the most phenomenally talented musicians like Prince, for example, are only that good because they have both the talent AND the work ethic. And these days with social media it’s important to consistently show up every day. I suck at promoting myself and social media so I’m learning to get better. So, practice but also persistence.
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The Anomaly's new single 'Go!' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.