The Lomax has history, great bands have performed there, some iconic, others are part of the music heritage that Liverpool celebrates justifiably. It disappeared for a while and as other venues sprang up, it seemed that The Lomax, like many others up and down the country, was gone forever. Then like some phoenix arising out of the ashes, The Lomax returned and music has been playing on its stage once more.  One of the young acts that has recently performed there is the band Chasing Infinity.

Made up of students from the University of Liverpool, Chasing Infinity has a great following and their sound is one that is garnering much interest. With images and posters of some of the bands that performed in the venue looming over them, Adele Halsall, Rob Saunders, Paul McCormick and Megan Eldred are enjoying a quick break before heading upstairs to soundcheck before their part of the evening’s music entertainment. To get to talk briefly to a band who are making steady progress and enjoying what they are doing is always a thrill and in Chasing Infinity that thrill is intensified due to the way they talk readily about themselves and future projects.

This is a band though who have no pretensions, they know it’s going to be hard work but as we talk underneath posters advertising bands which have become big names, it is with hope that this foursome will become bigger and better with the right management and advice.

I hope you are all well and looking forward to playing at The Lomax?

Rob: “Yeah, great.”

Megan: “We’re really excited to be back playing in Liverpool again. It’s a new venue for us; we have never played here before.”

Have you been upstairs yet and had a look at what you can expect?

Adele: “It looks like a really great place up there.”

Megan: “Yes and we’ve seen the balcony as well, that looks really cool.  People can maybe get up to the balcony.”

I’ve only seen it open once. You’re in exalted company, over the years, it’s had some magnificent bands here – The Sterophonics, Fish and Oasis.  Some cracking bands from Liverpool have played here too.  Does that sense of history weigh on you?

Rob: “I think you can take it too seriously, you can say oh my, look at all the posters – Oasis, yeah, lots of people have played here and have clearly gone onto bigger things but I think The Lomax set up is, in my opinion, one of the best venues for up and coming bands.  The chance it gives to people like us means that a lot of people are coming to see and so it’s great to be here,  with regards to those greats who have played here and also in the sense that we’ve been given an even shot like everyone else.”

Where do you go from here then? You’ve already said you’ve got an album coming out soon.  Is there a sense of excitement about it? 

Rob: “There’s been a keen sense of excitement about it for a while! It’s already available. I’m pretty sure you’ve already been given the details prior to this and we’re looking to getting it on to I-tunes, Spotify – all those kinds of digital music posting sites.  We’re also looking to getting physical C.D.s done as well so I’m particularly excited.  I’ve always wanted to make an album, it’s always been one of my personal goals, something you can hold in your hands and to be able to is a fantastic achievement.”

What’s the idea behind the album?

Paul: “The album basically started with an E.P. recorded across town down by the docks.  We recorded three songs and then a week later, we won the Band Society’s Battle of the Bands competition, which gave us more recording time, which enabled us to record four more songs but then there were too many songs so it was difficult to choose from them.  We had enough for two E.P.s so it was going towards album territory and so we finished it in that regard, so I think we had the idea that we’d record all these tracks and make like a 13 track album.  It seems like a big challenge at first. I’m personally happy with it as a finished product.”

Rob: “We got Sam Jones from the Band Society to mix and he did a fantastic job and some people were not able to initially tell that those songs were recorded in completely different environments, some are done across town and some in the living room and bedroom!  I think overall the quality has held up.  It was recorded over a period of six months, the first three songs were done in March, the next six were done in June and the last four were done in August.  Then they were all mixed and mastered.”

Chasing Infinity is quite an eclectic mix – you’ve got two women and two men within the set up – what were your influences to bring the four of you together?

Adele: “Well, Megan joined us about two and a half years ago, once we got Megan we thought we had the right line up.  We used to be a five piece but eventually our last bassist left to do his degree abroad for a year so we then searched for a bassist for a bit but then we were playing as a four piece.”

 Rob: “We were getting good feedback about it so we didn’t really decide to become a four piece, it just happened, it turned out that way, it changed the balance for the better.”

Megan: “We were worrying about trying to re-write the songs around one guitarist and not two but it kind of worked for me and Mark.”

Adele: “We’d written son many songs as a four piece, we thought if we were to get a fifth one back in then we were going to have re-write everything again.” 

It’s strange if you don’t mind me saying so, it’s a particular passion of mine – female drummers, it’s so rare to find.  There have been so many in the past but there seems to be a dwindling amount, do you feel a sense of responsibility on your shoulders?

Megan: “I’m not familiar with the history but I definitely get it whenever I say I’m in a band and people say what do you play and I say I’m the drummer, I’ve never had someone go up and go ah, alright, yeah. People have always been like oh wow, a girl drummer – I’ve never met one of those before! It’s pretty good.”

You all came through the process of the Band Society at the University of Liverpool, I saw you play there two and half years ago at the September Fresher’s Fayre.  Has that experience of going through the Band Society has changed you?

Paul: “To be honest, it’s the best time anyone has experienced. I mean you said you saw us two years ago, that’s a long time to be playing for and I think we’ve got immensely better since then but that’s just getting through.  How the dynamic works, changing that one guitar only, that kind of thing but we’re used to it now and so it’s been a nice experience personally.”

Megan: “The time at Liverpool University has been the grounding and how we’ve gotten the experience and getting into the venues and building our audiences with our band.  We wouldn’t have formed in the first place if it hadn’t been for the Band Society, that’s where we all met. We’ve had so much support from them, it’s been amazing.”

Adele: “The majority of our performances and gigs come from them, like last year when we entered the Battle of the Bands and we won and it was a big achievement and we had kind of been born out of the Band Society and two years after that it’s weird to win it.”

Rob: “To go out on such a high note in our final year was a nice kind of end to things in a roundabout way.  It’s one of those to tick off your to do list.  What was particularly nice about it was we entered that Battle of the Bands and it was daunting, just playing a gig in the first place then getting through to the final was quite exciting.  It was in The Cavern and we’d played The Cavern before but only to about ten people.  It was quite exciting to play with about 40 bands!”

Ian D. Hall