Matt Breen of The Endings. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
The sound of the station announcer’s voice at Liverpool Lime Street Station booms over the crowds making their way home after a hard day’s work in the city or as they pile in to the bars and music venues dotted around arguably the most vibrant city in the North of England. In amongst the organised chaos, the serenity of having a conversation with Matt Breen of The Endings about music, the band and being on the next step of his career is an oasis of calm.
The Endings have been making waves in the city with their music and as the face up to the challenge of being part of set of the next wave of Liverpool music that include Hoag’s Object, Brothers ‘n’ Bandits, The Liberty Vessels, The Guardians and The Sundowners, there is a lot of pressure and high expectation upon them to be a voice for a new generation. However, Matt Breen, Adam Holmes, Alex Davies and Vanessa Murray are more than capable of not just meeting that challenge but throwing down the gauntlet to their already established fan base in return to urge them on to bigger and better things.
The news that you have signed your first record deal must be quite thrilling for you and the band?
“Yes of course, it was just a matter of chance actually. I sent this demo over to E.R. Records which is an independent label but previously I had been sending it to bigger labels like Delta Sonic and other indie labels round the city and we really didn’t get much feed-back from them…In fact one of them said we were too professional with the E.P. and for that reason they didn’t want to sign us which sounded absolutely preposterous to me. We sent it to E.R. Records and as soon as they listened to the E.P. we got offered the contract and within days we were organising a signing.”
You have done the hard work but you must obviously realise that the even harder work awaits you now?
“Of course, the thing is people think there is going to be a lot of work putting towards it, I mean there is but all the stuff we were doing originally, half the stuff will be going to the label and they will be helping us with that, like promoting the gigs and selling tickets and stuff. It was hard before as there are four people in the band and on average 10 or 15 people will come and sometimes none at all, which is hard but the label says they are going to take some tickets and sell them but the gigs up until the end of the year are with us as they are previously booked so they won’t get a cut of it but anything after the new year they will be working with us on.”
The gigs that have been leading up to this have been very spectacular and very intense. How have you found the progression of the band and the music now coming across to the audience?
“I’m not sure, it’s just about what fits the style of the moment. Originally we were going through a punk rock phase. When we first started we were punk rock and then we kind of progressed into synth rock and even after that it was a bit rocky but now we are pushing towards an Indie style which the audience seem to dig it a bit more.”
You are still a young man and you have kept your feet on the ground which can be hard but you seem to be coping with it well.
“Yes its one of those things that you don’t want to get shoved off your feet with it too quickly. I could have gone to the label and acted like the big rock star and said I can’t believe I’m signed any month now, but I’m not. It’s one of those things that a band can away and brag about being signed, they might not go and do anything but they will go away and brag. People will then realise that they are just being Prima Donnas. From a band point of view we are kind of looking forward to taking it slow really. We have a six month deal which is a long time and take it as slow as we can really.”
What can your followers and fans expect from the music over the next six months and beyond?
“It’s hard to say just yet but before the end of the year we will be recording a new E.P. which will be released on the 23rd November if it gets done in time. It’s all a bit but at the same time we are going to enjoy this. The fans should expect great things, slightly different things in terms of how their ears are attacked. I was going to say something else but it sounded rude (laughs).”
What do you think to the current music scene in Liverpool?
“There are some young bands out there that could be big in the next five years. There is a band called Watchtower and they are unsigned at the moment. Their style is quite similar to the likes of The Coral and The La’s. It’s like a combination of that and The Beatles and even that… I know it sounds weird. Look back in time and you’ve got bands like Kooks and The Raconteurs have got a very vintage sound and people who like them will like Watchtower. There is also another band which are good who are called The Young Tine and they are signed to the same label as us. They are quite similar too, they have a more ambient sound to a band called The Temper Trap. The Young Tines seem to be one of those young bands that could make it.”
When you first started out, what drove you to do the music that you created?
“The style that we were playing at the time…There were a lot of bands playing out there that were on the international stage that were playing such as Paramore, Kings of Leon and they were huge and we wanted to go with that style so at first we were subscribing to what was going on but when that band dissipated and just fell apart we formed another one within three days and I decided we were going to start again and we were going to try and make something new, something different.”
Ian D. Hall