What are your names?
Tom White, Jack Boylan and Angus Bates.
What is your genre of music?
It is simply Rock and Roll.
How did you come up with the band’s name?
The name came about when Angus was doing his GCSE Maths, he suggested the name The Tangents and we all came to like its significance with individuality, the idea being going off on a Tangent from an ‘inner circle’. We hope this comes across in our music that it’s something a bit different and there’s that there’s something appealing about this.
Give us a little bio about you as a band and individuals.
We have Tom on Guitar and Lead Vocals, Jack on Bass Guitar and Angus on Drums ad Vocals. Tom also writes the songs and brings his ideas to rehearsals where we then all chip in ideas for the structure and arrangement of the songs. We used to label ourselves as an Indie Rock and Roll Band but this has recently changed as we decided we were maybe a little too heavy to include Indie into that title. We have supported the likes of The Sherlocks at a sold out Leadmill show (Sheffield) and Cast at The Engine Shed in Lincoln. We have played a few big headline shows at The Bodega in Nottingham and again at The Leadmill earlier this year, as well as recently finishing our UK Tour.
Are you signed?
We aren’t signed, we’re currently ploughing our own furrow as it were, funding all of our endeavors ourselves. We also have good friends working in the music industry who help make everything we do possible as well. We like having control of everything we do and it’s working well for the level we are currently at.
You just released your new single ‘Tonight’, tell us more about that.
Well ‘Tonight’ is actually more of a Pop song compared to most of the songs we play, however still has the Rock qualities that we are using as our main direction of sound. We think this allows the song to be very accessible in the world of modern music, whilst still allowing people to see what we’re all about and that we can still Rock. We released ‘Tonight’ at the beginning of our Tour where we proceeded to promote it at the seven cities we visited. It can be found on Spotify, iTunes and Soundcloud.
What was the writing process like?
It was a pretty unconventional process compared to how most of our songs are written. Tom had written the song and melody, however didn’t have lyrics for the Chorus. He played to Angus when they were driving to a gig and then together wrote the Chorus lyrics. We then took the song to rehearsal and, with Jack, decided upon the instrumental arrangement of the track.
What was the recording process like?
Recording brought about any more ideas of arrangement and what could be added to the track to make it as good as it could be. You can hear many different genre influences in this track, we have a fantastic producer who helps us achieve the final sound of the track, and really enhances our creativity when we are in the studio. We love being in the studio because of this and we hope this comes across in the recording
What is the message you are trying to give your fans?
The message of the song comes from the problems occurred when a relationship is breaking down which is expressed throughout the song. I guess the message is about trying to move on from something if it is dysfunctional, or trying to compromise which I think is a more relatable message. For this reason we think this song can be heard and understood by everyone, as it sings about what most people have experienced or have most certainly seen.
Will we see an EP or Album anytime soon?
You can expect an EP later this year, we are spending a lot of time over the next 3 or 4 months to work on this and bring something spectacular.
If so what can we expect?
It will consist of 3 or 4 songs however we are yet to establish this. We have chosen our most favourite songs to play and the best received songs at our gigs to record for this and we can’t wait to release the final products of our work, keep an eye out for more announcements of this.
Do you have any gigs or festivals coming up?
We have a fairly quiet rest of the year whilst we work on the EP and new songs. However we have a headline show at The Bodega on the 21st of July, and then another big headline show again at The Bodega in December. This will be more of a celebration for the year, the new EP and for Christmas.
What made you go into music?/Who are your influences?
We all have lots of different influences however I can speak for all of us when is say it was listening to what our parents listened to that helped get us into music. The likes of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Jam to name a few.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 years?
5 years time I see us being a much more established band really, we have our dreams and goals for the band but we just don’t how long it will take for these to become reality. We are all motivated to keep striving for this, but as long as we are in a better place than we were the ear before that we can be sure to keep improving and strive closer to our goals.
When you’re not doing music what do you do?
Tom works for the Nottingham council, Jack works at his local football ground and also goes to college and Angus is salesman. We are doing band stuff with every spare minute we have whilst we are working however.
Would you be up for collaborating with bands or artists, if so how could they contact you?
I think for the foreseeable future we will be concentrating on getting our sound completely worked out and new songs recorded so we haven’t really thought about any collaborations. However if anyone has any ideas they’d like to send us then they are more than welcome to contact us via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
If you could collaborate with one UK Artist or band who would it be and why?
For me (Angus) I would love to collaborate with Led Zeppelin, I feel they are a big influence on the band’s sound and is the kind of music we all love playing.
If you could collaborate with one US Artist or band who would it be?
Green Day as they are a favourite of Tom’s, our new single ‘Tonight’ has also been compared to that style of music as well.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
For me it was Moby Dick by Led Zeppelin, of course written by John Bonham. I watched and listened to it endlessly growing up and am still in awe of it today, that song is the sole reason I started drumming.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
‘Be nice to everyone, even if they aren’t to you; there might come a day where they need something from you and they will work twice as hard for you in order to get it.’
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
Work hard at what you do whatever it is, have eclectic taste while doing so and try to saturate the talent and style of your musicianship by exploring what the world of music and being an artist has to offer.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
‘Keep your powder dry.’ I guess meaning good things will come around at some point.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Earplugs.
Instruments.
Merch.
Tom.
Jack.
Do you have any social media accounts so your fans can follow?
We also have a website with all of our dates, merch and new music on. You can sign up at www.thetangents.co.uk.
