we’re back with our next Knead To Know interview, this time with the fantastic Manchester-based band The Distance! 🤘
we’ve known these lads for a while now, they’ve been making waves on the music scene, performing and coming down to gigs each week – real lovely chaps with a proper determination to get involved and play their tunes. they’ve got some proper bangers under their belt as well, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store and this interview has been lovely way to find out more about their plans! 😊
you can find the full interview below! ⬇️
You’ve been all over the Manchester music scene for the past year or so – how have you found it? What have you been up to?
Everything started from playing Manchester open mics. We’ve seen so many great musicians and bands who’ve pushed and inspired us to write more music for our band. Many of these open mics have given us further gig opportunities, allowing us to play at venues such as Lions Den, Aatma, and The Empire in Rochdale, as well as multiple independent festivals.
We’ve seen you go from predominantly a two-piece to a full band, how different is it performing with a band and what’s the best thing about it?
The Distance originally existed as a three piece, before Sam joined as the lead guitarist. It was then when we started playing local open mics to help promote our band’s music. Having a lead guitarist in the band gave us more options to include guitar parts, melodies and guitar solos in our songs. We prefer playing as a full band whenever possible, because the energy a full band creates can never fully be replicated as an acoustic duo.
What are your main inspirations for your songs?
We’ve all got different personal influences as musicians, but when these influences are combined as a band, we feel it helps to create a unique sound for our songs. If we were to give one band that has influenced us the most it would be The Stereophonics – who have really helped to shape our sound as a band.
How do you write? Do you take a group approach to it, or is it mostly one person who writes the songs?
We have tried multiple different methods of song writing, which we feel helps to really keep us inspired creatively. Most recently, Jack and Sam have found a song idea, recorded a demo, and brought it into a band rehearsal for Rhys and Aaron to help complete the song.
Over the past few years, how have you been spending your time musically? (recording, writing etc)
The band originally started when Jack met Rhys at college. When they moved to University in Manchester, Jack asked Rhys to dep for a gig and Rhys joined The Distance full time shortly after. Jack and Sam then met at an open mic night in Manchester, and Sam completed the line-up in 2021. Regarding music outside of the band, Rhys releases his own music under the name ‘Serene’ and Sam released an album during Lockdown followed by a number of singles. As a full band we have been writing new songs together, as well as working on new covers to add to our setlist. We have recently recorded a new single which will be released in the near future.
We’ve seen you popping up on bills all across Manchester and beyond now – whereabouts have you been gigging?
We have played many venues in Manchester over the past 6 months, and have started to venture outside of the city to venues in places such as Leeds and North Wales. More recently, we have been talking to promoters in London and Liverpool in order to expand our fanbase around the UK.
When you’re performing live, what do you each find best about it?
Sam – The thing I like the most about performing live is the adrenaline rush you get from seeing the audience’s reaction.
Jack – The thing I like most about performing on stage is being able to bring to life songs that both I and the band have written. We thrive off the positive feedback but also the constructive criticism helps to push us further.
Aaron – I get to play my drums.
Rhys – The best thing about performing live is getting to play gigs at new venues and getting out with the rest of the band in new places. (Also having a drummer deafen me every weekend before we’ve even started playing).
Where do you record? Have you got a home studio?
We record demos at each others houses and sometimes send files or record our parts remotely. We just recorded our upcoming single at Through The Roof Recording Studio.
You guys have got some real bangers, we’ve heard your tunes so many times now and they never get old. What kinds of music inspire you?
The thing about writing your own music is that it’s difficult to imagine people actually wanting to hear your band’s songs again and again (no pun intended). It’s hard to believe that so many people like yourself back our music and what we do as a band – and we appreciate everyone who comes down to our gigs (we never forget a face or a name). We’ve worked so hard to constantly be present in the music scene so it’s no surprise why people have heard our songs so many times. As far as influences go, we all have our own different inspirations such as Punk, Indie and Rock, which as mentioned before, we aim to merge these to create our own unique sound as a band.
Have you got any plans for new music at any point soon?
We have just finished recording our new single ‘Falling’, which we are in the final process of announcing. Our plans after this are to release another single, which will hopefully be followed by an EP.
Have you got anything else planned for 2022?
We have several gigs already booked for the rest of 2022, including The Royal George in Todmorden (20th August), Gulliver’s (27th August), Off The Square (8th October) and of course at Lion’s Den with Bread Records on the 12th of November. Any new gig dates will be announced on our Facebook or Instagram, along with the release of our new single ‘Falling’.
it’s fantastic to be able to chat with these guys here, learn more about their influences and what they’ve got planned – we can’t wait to see what’s in store for them! it’s been fantastic to see them grow over the past year, performing at bigger and more places across the country. well worth catching them live! a big thank you to Jack, Sam, Rhys and Aaron for this interview – let us know what you think! 🍞
opening up with a great groove to it, and erupting into a huge chorus that we can imagine would be absolutely massive live.
Bread Records 