Pure M Magazine ISSUE 5 | Page 12

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. 12 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