Ravellas - Interview

by Owen Peters

published: 16 / 6 / 2016

Owen Peters chats to Mac, the front man with Wigan indie rock band the Ravellas, about his band's influences and music and how their latest single 'The Thunder' was chosen by Wigan Athletic as part of their Player of The Year celebrations

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If you think of Wigan, the ex-industrial town as a musical reference point, more than likely you're thinking of Northern Soul, All Nighters, The Verve/Richard Ashcroft, Limahl/Kajagoogoo, and maybe also the Tansads provoke memories for some folks. Strangely enough the current music sensation is a take on 'Freed from Desire' by Gala which, rewritten by a fan of Wigan Athletic, has become a Top 40 hit. The club rounded off a perfect season by winning League 1 as champions securing promotion to the Championship for the coming season. As part of the club's celebrations, songs were chosen from local bands to accompany the club's end of season awards. One of the lucky local bands was the Ravellas and their song 'The Thunder'. Could they be the next musical hit from Wigan? I covered a range of subjects with "Mac", the lead singer of the band. PB: For those readers who may not be aware of the band, please introduce yourselves. M: We are Ravellas, a four-piece in-your-face indie-rock and roll band hailing from Wigan, the home of Northern Soul. We are made up of myself on guitar and vocals, Bish on guitar, Jonny on bass and vocals and Aidan on drums. 2016 has seen the rearrangement of our line-up and refinement of our sound. We have taken a few months to write what we think are bigger, better and more mature tracks, and now we’re ready to show them to our local fan base. We reckon those who make the trip to our live sets are sure to have their socks blown off. We have a busy few weeks ahead in June and into July and have a number of really exciting gigs that we are looking forward to showcasing our new tunes and line-up. To check out gig dates head to our Facebook page,www.facebook.com/weareravellas and to hear our new single 'The Thunder' head to our Sound-Cloudwww.soundcloud.com/weareravellas . PB: How would you sum up your particular style? M: It really does change from song to song. We started off being a bit of a mess with our sound. We'd go from sounding like the Cribs in one song and then sounding like the 1975 in the next. But as we've gone on, each song we write now just seems to sound more and more like us and no one else. PB: From a musical perspective, Wigan has always been associated with soul music from the late 70's All Nighters. How would you describe the town's music scene at present? M: Wigan is a northern town with a working class vibe. This culture permeates into our sound. We draw inspiration from the situations that we find ourselves. The people of Wigan are unique, weird and wonderful and this rubs off on the songs that we create and the lyrics that we write. Our practice rooms are located in the centre of Wigan above one of our favoured venues, the Old Courts. We also have the convenience of being ideally placed thirty miles from two of the greatest musical Cities in the UK, Manchester and Liverpool so getting out of town is pretty easy for us. PB: Your single 'The Thunder' was chosen by Wigan Athletic as part of their Player of The Year celebrations. How were you selected? Are the band fans of 'The Latics'? M: They put an advert out on social media asking for bands to apply and we thought it was worth a shot. It was probably one of our prouder moments getting selected. I've been a massive fan since I was little. I don't get to go as much as I'd like cause I play football myself but once a Tic always a Tic. PB: Which bands/artists provide inspiration for your music? M: I think there's loads of good music about. You just have to search for it. Bands don't dominate the airwaves and the festivals like they used to but there's still a massive pool of bands about to inspire you. I'm a massive fan of bands like the Arctic Monkeys, Foals, the Kooks and the Maccabees. Not just for their music as such but how they've managed to change and adapt to keep relevant. PB: Bands seem to be torn between releasing singles, EPs, CDs independently, and others prefer to be with a label. What's the band's preference? M: We just want to release single after single really. If your songs are good enough you can do it. I don't mind small three track EPs but I think unsigned bands are better releasing a constant stream of songs and topping up your momentum than putting all your effort into anything longer like an album. The chances are it won't get the recognition it deserves and not many people will listen to it all the way through bar your mum. PB: What are the major challenges the Ravellas face in getting your name/music out to a wider UK audience? M: Time is our biggest challenge. We have great ideas, plenty of creativity and a lot of passion and drive. We feel that once we get our new singles down, recorded and released that this will push promoters and bloggers to knock on our door so to speak and really get Ravellas out there in the public domain. We are all confident in our sound and we all have something to contribute which makes the whole process more manageable. PB: Tell us about your plans for the remainder of 2016? M: Well, we've been locked away really trying to improve our set so now we just want to unleash and start gigging again. We're booking in as much time in the studio as possible so we can try and get our music out there. Just trying keep on doing what we're doing really. We have some local gigs lined up: The Boulevard in Wigan on the 18th June and Blind Tiger in Bolton on July 8th. PB: If someone miraculously gave you £250,000, how would you use the money to enhance the bands direction? M: Easy. A whole new wardrobe of Fred Perry and Adidas clothes. Jokes aside, we would record an album, promote ourselves and tour to get our sound out to as many people as possible. We all have a creative input so writing new material we find quite easy. Volume isn’t a problem but we’re our own biggest critics, so it has to be a banger to get in the set! PB: Thank you.