Feel Good Festival: The Bright Black

Photo: SKW Events

Feel Good Festival -The Bright Black

Returning to grace the main stage once again in 2017, Rochdale Online caught up with The Bright Black ahead of their second appearance at the Feel Good Festival.

The Bright Black is made up of four 24-year-olds, bassist Sam from Stockport, vocalist Travis, guitarist Ryan, both from Middleton, and a new face in drummer Harry, from Bradford.

Their debut EP, ‘Up Not Down’, was released in 2015 around the same time as the band was launched.

“We had a really good time last year. We’d only been together for about eight months, so it was a big leap and a big opportunity to cut our craft on stage. It’s just been onwards and upwards since we played last year,” Sam commented.

He laughed: “We’re really looking forward to playing to a friendly crowd with good sound and a beautiful venue, only bigger and better than last year.”

Ryan added: “It gave us a taste for bigger gigs.”

Harry agreed: “It’s the highlight of the year and a good start to the festival season.”

Since their last appearance in town performing to around 200 people, The Bright Black have toured around the country and released a single, ‘Scream’.

This is their first festival appearance of the summer before they play Hebden Bridge’s Happy Valley later.

Due to play Band on the Wall in Manchester next month, in line with their upcoming single, the band have had a whirlwind of a time.

“It’s been amazing; we’ve had an incredible response,” Sam enthused.

The Bright Black have a distribution deal with record label Alya and will be releasing a single ‘Strike A Pose’ with an accompanying music video.

If that wasn’t enough, the self-proclaimed ‘party band’ also have radio premieres lined up.

“That’s all we can say at this stage, but it’s going to be an exciting few months,” Travis said.

Inspired by bands such as Led Zeppelin and Prince, they describe their sound as ‘post-funk glam soul’.

Sam said: “We all love Motown, soul, 80s, anything you can dance to. It’s a sign of a good night if it has a groove. We want people to have a good time dancing and want them to bust shapes, so we’ll do our best to get them moving. We’ll be happy to play to anyone who wants to listen to us and engages with us.”

Each band member has a different favourite song to perform live, which all feature on their set list. Harry says his is ‘Like What You See’, Sam likes performing their upcoming single, ‘Strike A Pose’, Travis’ favourite is Ink, “the closest thing to a first single which gets people going”, whereas Ryan enjoys performing ‘Scream’ with a guitar solo as “it’s the most fun”.

The Bright Black will be back in the studio by October and are releasing a new single, ‘Strike A Pose’ next month. They are aiming to release four new singles in 2018 accompanied by videos.