Franc Moody

Jon: I come from a classical based family, my parents were classical musicians and I sort of did that whole thing. It wasn’t until probably when I was about fifteen or sixteen when I sort of wanted to get more into band culture and popular music. That’s what really caught my interest, which was different from Ned’s upbringing. 

Ned: I guess, my parents loved rock ‘n’ roll music so I was obsessed with Chuck Berry and the 50s/60s rock ‘n’ roll. Then that moved into just wanting to be in a band; it was just a natural progression. I think I just had that real enthusiasm and passion for it and always really steered towards that sort of thing.

Jon: We kind of met through that and then we sort of ended up in different bands, but with the same ethos. I suppose this kind of more rock ‘n’ roll like very 50s/60s inspired music; you’ve got New Orleans kind of inspiration going on and so that’s how we first linked. I played in Ned’s band for a little bit. So essentially that was the core of the music where I suppose, our inspirations come from, that scene that Southern American that 50s/60s dance music really.

Ned: I suppose the link is party music, you know, I suppose that’s the link – it’s the like energy within the dancefloor. Everything from warehouse raves to like contemporary festival slots or whatever, that’s definitely the energy we’re tryna capture. 

Ned: Jon and I were in the same band, and then separate bands. We’d done so much band work and stuff like that we felt tired and perhaps a tiny bit jaded and wanted to do something a little bit different so we sort of started saying, lets try and start writing some tunes, write in a more commercial sense (and try and get other people) and give the tunes to other people. And fairly quickly picked up management – really that’s kind of the beginning really. And then the band themselves were people we’d just been around and the final piece of the puzzle was running into Rosie, the bass player and then that was it, really. They’re all great mates and happen to also be good musicians. 

Ned: some people say we’re quite similar to Nile Rogers and Chic. We don’t really feel we’re that similar, but I see where people are coming from…

Jon: Rough around the edges, craggy… a bit imperfect, funky, quite fun… We try not to take ourselves too seriously. Try and emit good energy,  I suppose.

Ned: In a nutshell. Fiery, quite fiery. 

Jon: One of our massive inspirations is George Clinton – he is definitely more in line with how we try and work it, of more rough and raw…

Ned: Possibly going on tour with Nile, was pretty special.

Jon: And we’re not just playing to our parents, it was quite nice to see a room of people that have genuinely bought tickets without knowing us or without us texting them a minute beforehand to come down, which has definitely been the way in the past…

Ned: Another big moment was when we went to Abbey Road for the first time, it’s near our studio – essentially a cardboard box – and suddenly we go down the road, and we’re in the most famous studio in the world and we’d been asked to go there to work with Nile Rodgers.  There was definitely a flood of Imposter Syndrome.

Jon: We spent years and years developing a working relationship together and in many ways have that kind of formula and the kind of palette of that sounds we use. It varies, it’s good to mix it up, one of us might have a cool idea for a bassline or beat or something, our ears will pick up and will start adding sounds to that mix. Ned will get a little vocal hook going, chord structure, and sometimes Ned will have a cool lyric idea, which will fit into a groove somewhere.  

Ned: Yeah, definitely!  In a set once, I picked Jon up on my shoulders and Jon was playing the keytar on my shoulders and then Luke played the guitar under my arms. Mad. But we definitely make sure that we have these parts in each set, where there’s room for improvisation – although there has to be a certain structure the set, we always want it to feel as live as possible.

Ned: It’s a pub in Tottenham, where I feel like a lot of bands were made whilst being at university and not knowing what to do. Also, it’s Lewes where we recorded one song in an old church or our studio in Kensal where we have spent a lot of time recording tracks for the album. Home is a lot of places to us, where there is a piece of that place in the music.