Bel Esprit
B
Entertainment Editor Stacy Walsh
el Esprit are a band that are about to
make a big impression in 2015. Their
energetic, fresh indie sound is not
going to go unnoticed. They already have over
80,000 plays on their debut single “Lose My
Mind”. The Hampshire band are signed to 25
Hour Convenience, the record label run by
Gary Powell from The Libertines, so you
know it’s going to be good.
I had a little Q&A with the band, we chatted
about how Bel Esprit got started, meeting Gary
a year previous to being signed in Oxford and
their upcoming EP.
Bel Esprit are: Billy Herklots, Fahad Siddiqui,
George Wardley and Sachin Croker.
First off, congratulations on getting over
80,000 plays on your debut single “Lose My
mind” that’s quite the accomplishment! It’s
a really strong track and deserves the plays.
Thanks a lot, we worked really hard on making
our first release something we’d be really
proud of and thankfully it paid off.
When will there be more new music? Is
there an EP in the works? Any exclusives
you can give me?
We have an EP that’s coming out April 13th of
this year on the record label. It’ll have” Lose
My Mind” and three new tracks on it. There’s
a teaser for one of the new tracks “Island” on
our Facebook Page.
How did Bel Esprit get started? Who’s who
in the band?
Billy is the singer and rhythm guitarist, George
plays bass, Fahad’s lead guitar and Sachin
plays drums and does backing vocals. Billy
and Sachin were in a blues band and Billy and
Fahad used to jam at college. When it came to
finding a new music project, we all decided to
do something together. We knew George
played bass and one day we all jammed
together and decided it worked. We’ve been
playing together ever since.
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You’re signed to 25 Hour Convenience, the
record label run by Gary Powell from The
Libertines. How did that all happen for
you?
We received a message one day from Wayne
who runs the label with Gary Powell asking us
to play a gig for the label in London at The
Borderline. Shortly after that, they told us they
wanted us on the label. The rest is history! The
best part is, we met Gary in Oxford a year
before and drunkenly scrawled our name on
his hand and jokingly telling him he’d hear of
us in the future. He was surprised, but happy
to meet us again at gig.
How would you describe Bel Esprit’s
sound?
We try and bring something new to the indie
rock genre. We’re very keen on our lyrics and
strong guitar riffs, which define us a lot.
Do you enjoy playing live? Have you been
playing many shows lately? What show has
been your favourite so far?
We love playing live, it’s a big part of what we
do. We’ve only played a couple of shows in
2015 but we have A LOT more coming up in
the next couple of months around the EP
release. Our best show was a hometown
headline at Lennons in Southampton last
December, our support gig at a sold out Plug
in Sheffield with The Fontaines or the Mix
Radio, Propaganda and Subba-Cultcha Gig at
Camden Barfly last November.
What bands/artists are your biggest
influences? Who do you take inspiration
from?
The Velvet Underground, The Libertines, Bob
Dylan, Pixies, Patti Smith, The Beatles, The
Smiths, The Strokes. The list goes on.
Listening to a lot of music is one of the things
that brought us together and something we’ve