The Ocelot 122 - Wiltshire edition | Page 32

The Ocelot Presents... Discovering the music of today’s and tomorrow’s local scene with our very own man mountain Mike Barham Swindon based musical maestros YVES have been making quite a name for themselves this year already, springing on to a litany of high profile shows not only in their home town but across the country. Having recently released their EP ‘When The Day Comes’ the three indie pop gents have chalked up several festival appearances including Truck in Oxfordshire and Sheffield Tramlines, supported This Feeling in London and seem to be pulling in fans from all over the world with some even posting videos of their songs from the USA. So has it all gone to their heads? Or are they still three young musicians enjoying some well- earned recognition? We decided to ask YVES main man Harry Roke and find out for ourselves. So what is YVES all about? Tell us about the band and how you came to be... YVES is just three lads trying to make the best music that they can! It’s really as simple as that and the more people that are starting to like it the more it gets exciting for us. The band has really only been around for a year or so when Finn (Wilkinson) joined myself and Mitch (Dodson) and we just starting having some jams together. We’ve all known each other and made music together for years so it’s great fun hitting the road with your best mates. Where do you want to be in the musical world? What’s the dream? I think we just want to be people’s favourite band and for people to really enjoy coming to see us and always want to come back. Just graft until we can play some stadiums, that’s the dream really; to be recognised as a great band. What’s your idea of a perfect show? A show where we have engaged with everyone in the crowd and you can see people don’t want to be anywhere else. When there is not a still person in the Yves room! Musically who do you feel influences the band the most? We all have our own individual influences, far too many to note, but one that we all resonate with is The Strokes. What have you got coming up that you’re most excited for? Festivals this summer have been and will continue (hopefully) to be great fun. We’re in Sheffield at Tramlines in July and Y Not the weekend after so we’re just looking forward to those shows. We’ve never really done festivals properly before so it’s nice to do something different. Then we’re out on the road again in October. Would you like to thank anyone? Treat this like your moment at The Oscars! We’d like to thank a lot of people, so many people who have helped us out, Lewie Hilsdon for all his time and musical brains, Andy Henderson and Chris Gould for their on-going support. Our families and everyone else who has ever done anything for us, they’ve all been amazing. 32 www.theocelot.co.uk Ocelot 122 Wilts.indd 32 25/07/2016 20:51