Sourface

Who are SOURFACE? Where you’re from, how you met, how long have you been playing together etc

We are a non-differentiable spectrum from French to English: Alex being most-French, Ludo, second-most, Tom second-least, Matt the least.

Matt and Ludo met each other at an elite boarding school but didn’t speak until their paths crossed again at university, when at that point Matt had befriended Alex due to nearly cutting his finger off on his first night in halls, and running into his room for help.

Tom joined ‘Michael’, ‘Hugo’ and ‘Antoine’ (Tom’s early accidental misnomers) later when the other three required a drummer for a jazz band.

The whole thing escalated when the band was employed to play for a fake wedding in Derbyshire.

Who came up with the band name and does it have a story or any meaning behind it?

Matt came up with the band name. It derives from first year escapades when the boys would climb up onto the roof of the student union with some drinks, calling it ‘the surface’. The more poetic meaning of the name is a cross between the “sourness” of the flux of traumatic cosmic energy, and the “face” of man as a worldly social being who is accountable to others. Their unification signifies a new era of universal chaos on earth.

If you had to describe the band using just five words, what would they be?

Fully Automated Luxury Gay Communism.

Who are your biggest influences musically?

Claude Debussy, Rage Against the Machine, the Beatles, Astrid Gilberto.

What’s the band’s biggest claim to fame so far?

We think we saw the lead singer from Fontaines in Camden once.

What’s your songwriting process?

Ludo or Alex writes a song. Presents it to the rest. Undergoes varying degrees of metamorphosis until it emerges as a full-fledged Sourface banger.

If you could go on tour with any current band or artist, who would it be and why?

溺れたエビの検死報告書  or “Drowned Shrimp” in English. I want to borrow their costumes.

If you could put your dream team band together consisting of any musicians from the past or present who would the band members be?

J.S Bach, the Wombles, Jimmy Hendrix, Vangelis.

How would you describe your live show to someone who has never seen you perform before?

Eclectic, carnivalesque, sometimes riotous.

Do any of you have any pre-gig or post gig rituals? If so, what and why?

Ludo and Alex drink tequila. Matt drinks a pint. Tom has a nap. Jump up and down saying random things. Go out on stage.

What would your ultimate rider be if you could have anything without being accused of being a diva?

A pond of Koi with a little bridge leading into the dressing room. Silk kimonos. Geishas.

This question is for all band members. If we were to browse your music library what is the most embarrassing song we might find? Or who is your guilty pleasure artist?

Matt takes divine inspiration from Kate Bush, similar story with Ludo for Joni Mitchell — although those aren’t exactly guilty.

Alexandre has put behind his dark past listening to Muse, but I suspect when he’s home alone he might still stick it on for the nostalgia factor.

Tom thinks Radiohead are good.

Tell us one thing your fans would be really shocked or surprised to hear or learn about the band

We are forced to be musicians against our will. Really I am not joking. We have been kidnapped. Help us.

If people want to check you out online where is the best place to go?

Our Instagram : @sourfaceband.

Finally, What does the future hold for the band?

World domination.