Interview with The Farrago

We went to see the Brighton-based upcoming musicians The Farrago practice in Hove for their upcoming gig.

With energetic riffs and singer Archie's bright vocals The Farrago need to be on your list of bands to lookout for this summer!

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Band Members:

The Farrago is made up of six band members and songwriters; singer Archie McKeown, guitarists Nat Kardas and Louis Janota, drummer Ruby Parent, bassist Carmen Mellino, and keyboard player Quilla Robinson.

Louis is from Bath, Nat from Dorchester, and the rest of the original members grew up in Portsmouth. Bassist Carmen Mellino is from France and joined the group after their first single.

Songwriting:

The band described their songwriting process as being very collaborative.

"Usually someone writes a full song or at least the "skeleton of the song" and the band then "bounces off ideas and people come up with riffs and stuff" for the track.

Guitarist Louis described the six piece's writing process as "feeling more structured and prepared because we don't start from nothing" when writing a new song.

The band started just before the initial lockdown in the UK and recorded/released their first song Amber in February.

Although having only played a couple of gigs together before lockdown started, they already have an exciting lineup of concerts for this year!

How The Band Started:

Most of the current band members knew each other from studying at BIMM in Brighton and singer Archie McKeown got everyone to start playing music together in 2019. The group planned on just recording a few studio recordings but after having such a great time together they decided to go forward as a band.

"everyone plays really differently in the band"

Where the Band Name Came From:

The word farrago means a confused mixture; which the group thought was a good name as they all bring something different when writing and they don't want to limit themselves to one sound.

Influences:

From rock influences like The Killers (Archies all time favorites) and The Smiths, to The Beatles, to Mac Demarco The Farrago takes influence from a wide variety of sounds.

Drummer Ruby explained that a lot of The Farrago's writing structure in inspired by early rock n roll. Guitarist Nat has a lot of acoustic influence in his playing while bassist Carmen's inspired by a lot of grunge music and Keyboard player Quilla was described as having an Amy Winehouse-esc style.

Each member of the group's style really bounces off each other a the band and this all comes together when they're playing songs live.

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Recording:

The Band has been working on new music for later this year and recording in Mayfield Studios in Portsmouth.

The band's studio set-up is more comfortable now but during lockdown they recorded their music very differently. Their songs Hat Lips and Semantics of Suburbia were recorded during lockdown but the band couldn't meet in person so everything had to be recorded separately or at home. The drums and vocals were recorded in the studio, bass was recorded in France, and keys in Brighton. The group feels that recording in such a different way made the writing process a bit more challenging because they were not able to practice any songs together at first.

Venues:

The band would love to play Concorde 2 in Brighton one day and are a big fan of The Green Door Store and The Hope and Ruin in Brighton. They played a couple of songs at Brighton's Open Market before lockdown started and although they've only been together just over a year they've got exciting plans for new tracks, a possible EP and some groovy gigs this year.

Upcoming Shows:

Concert at The Hope and Ruin: July 29

Victorious Festival: August 27, 28, 29

If you're in Brighton or Portsmouth definitely get tickets to a gig

and checkout The Farrago on Spotify and Instagram: @thefarrago_band!