Tuesday 21 March 2017

VIOLET FLARES LOOKBOOK @ Cambridge Band Competition Heat Three



 Hiya me lovelies, so this Sunday just gone my band and I competed in the third heat of The Cambridge Band Competition. This was a huuuuge deal for us as it was our first time gigging in Cambridge. I've wanted to do a band lookbook for a while now as we all have our own individual styles, but have a little bit of coordination of looking like a band. We aim to be as comfy and maneuverable as possibly on stage, yet still having our performance aesthetic. 

Olivia 

Our lead guitarist Liv normally takes center mic on stage, so it's important for her to have an outfit that's going to draw and keep the attention of the crowd central. She layered a funky printed babydoll dress over a long sleeve mesh body suit, and paired them with some black tights and black brogues. I love how the mesh looks with the black and red leopard print as it gives it effortless soft grunge appeal. We normally opt for flat shoes on stage purely because we're jumping about and it's never easy balancing with a guitar and stilettos. 
Mesh bodysuit - Missguided
Dress - ASOS
Shoes -  Vintage
Headband -  Amazon







 Lucille


Luc who plays rhythm guitar has a never ending collection of cool, wacky t-shirts and this is a perfect one from the mix. This shirt gives an unexpected clash of colour with the pastels and the edgy tiger motif yet somehow it just all works perfectly. As a shirt like this makes such a loud statement, she kept the rest of the outfit simple by adding a small black choker, a pair of hoops, black jeans and a pair of old school vans. This outfit has got a great balance of comfort and quirkiness.  

Top - The Ragged Preist 
Jeans - H&M 
Shoes - Vans
Choker - Asos





Katrina

Kat always looks effortlessly cool and mod, usually going for an all black ensemble with little hints of bold colour to add some flare. Luckily for her as a drummer she gets to sit down for an entire set, so she gets a little bit more leeway on practicality of clothing. For her all black look she added texture with a leather moto jacket and a pair of denim shorts with some tights. She went with a bold bright red lip which brings out the accents of the graphic t-shirt, and added a little tattoo style choker and timberland style boots to finish off the look. 
T-shirt - Gap
Shorts - Primark
Jacket - Primark (mens sesction)
Choker - Asos
Shoes - Primark



Amy (das me)


Bassists tend to have the stereotype of being the moody, reserved members in a band. However I prefer to channel a more vibrant vibe when on stage. My go to gig outfit is anything that has mesh/net in it as I love how it looks under the lights. I layered this red string mesh vest over a high neck black top, jeans and some converse.
I wore this vintage jacket over it as you never know how hot or cold you're gonna be on stage so layering a pieces like these are gonna make so much more bearable. I usually throw my hair up into a messy pony tail as it's keeps it out of my face yet is still able to flip around. 

Mesh vest - Vintage
Black top - New Look
Jeans - Topshop
Jacket - C&A
Shoes - Converse






We've already announce this on all our social media but we made it through to the U18s Cambridge Band Competition Final! It's this Sunday 26th March at The Portland Arms, Cambridge and kicks off around 1;30pm. We'd love to see as many people there as possible and part of the judging is based on crowd cheer, so the more we get there the better! 
Tickets - Under 18s £3
              - Over 18s £5




(Special thanks to Rob and Richard for the sick photos!)

Saturday 18 March 2017

Absolute Bangers - MARCH

Hiya lads, so this is the start of a new monthly blog series I'm starting. The majority of my blog posts are primarily fashion based, however anyone that knows me is aware of the fact that music is a pretty important aspect of me life. So the drill is once a month I'll gather up my go-to-bangers from the past few weeks and share them here, comprende? Peachy.


This six piece indie band from West London who released their five-track debut EP, 'I Wouldn't Worry', last June have the perfect sound for the summer. Creating a fresh, minimalistic influenced sound with the help of a saxophone, it creates the perfect blend of funky vibes and indie rock. Their track 'Pill' is one of their most well known, probably because of its 'can't help but sing along' qualities, is comparable to the likes of Circa Waves and Viola Beach. Their lead singer Dan harmonically wails in a Luke Pritchard (The Kooks ref.) fashion over delicate guitar riffs on this track. Chatting to Dan about the lyrics behind it, they go into how friends get into hard drugs (I was given a pill by a man who was wearing a suit that was falling off // He told me don't worry if your heart stops,or your skin starts turning yellow // I just wanna feel mellow) and how quickly young people go into decline, written in the early hours of one morning. Considering the true meaning behind the lyrics, the song is so painfully good and upbeat you hardly notice.

Links: BandCamp
            Twitter
            Instagram

Dates
20th March - The Half Moon, Putney
31st March - The Brunswick Pub, Hove




There's no way I could've written this post without mentioning these guys. These four lads (Stan, Stephen, Lewis and Alex) that make up Deep City are based in Cambridge and supported my band (Violet Flares) last week at the second annual charity gig, Feel The Love 2.0, together raising £500 for the charity Mind. With a typical band set up and the addition of synths, they create this beautifully contemporary sound similar to The 1975. This track was only released last week and I've already listened the shit out of it. I also highly recommend one of their older tracks 'Slow'. 

Links: SoundCloud
             Instagram 
             Twitter

Dates: 
24th March - The Fiver @ The Junction, Cambridge





I saw both of these artists on separate occasions towards the end of last year; The Big Moon supporting Mystery Jets at the Cambridge Junction, and Marika at an intimate church venue in Bethnal Green the week before christmas. Completely falling head over heels for these babes, I was stoked when I saw that they'd collabed on Marika's first single for new label AFM Records. Released 9th of February, this track has been my pre-gig song to get me hyped and in the right mentality to perform. 

Even though Marika Hackman comes from a beautifully folky-acoustic background, she's definitely taken her sound to a whole new level with 'Boyfriend'. The song itself is mellow and psychedelic, with 'dont fuck with me' lyrics masked by their soft blend of vocals. It has the same progressive sounds as Superfoods first album 'Don't Say That'. 

Links: 
Marika- SoundCloud
             - Twitter 
             - Instagram 

The Big Moon - SoundCloud 
                           - Twitter 
                         - Instagram 

Dates:
17th May - Great Escape Festival, Brighton
29th May - Mama Roux's, Birmingham
30th May - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
31th May - Deaf Institute, Manchester
1st June - Heaven, London



All the way from Las Vegas, my band supported these guys at The Met Lounge in Peterborough a few weeks ago. As it was our Met debut, we were pretty nervous considering we were the youngest and only all- girl band on the bill that night. It's quite intimidating being surrounded by professionals and not really knowing any of them. However after an unfortunate powercut the other bands were so chill and made us feel right at home at the venue. Having just finished their seven date UK tour with Retro Youth, their set to do more dates in Nevada over the course of the next few months. 'Before You Go' is upbeat, synthy, and one of those songs you can't help but bop to. This is definitely a band for fans of Passion Pit, Crystal Fighters and Two Door Cinema Club. 





Lisbon - Vice

I found this track in the depths of my recommended on SoundCloud and went straight onto my prinks playlist as it gets me pumped for a night out or a sesh. Comparable to the likes of Walk the Moon and Madeon, Lisbon's 'Vice' is colourful, enigmatic and feel-fucking-good. Originally from New Castle, they're set to play their first headline tour this April. 

Links - SoundCloud 
         - Twitter
            - Instagram

Dates:
8th April - Think Tank, New Castle
11th April - The Green Door Store, Brighton
13th April - O2 Academy, Islington
14th April - The Rocking Chair, Sheffield
17th April - FRuIT, Hull