It’s time to get to know You Win Again gravity! We set the band 10 questions about their musical likes, tastes and guilty pleasures…
How would you describe your taste in music?
Dan: Although our tastes revolve loosely around post-hardcore, we all have different roots and influences. It all adds to the songwriting process, where we might have our own preference of where a track should go or how it could be reworked.
Who do you consider to be your favourite band and why?
Not an easy question to answer but we’ve all chosen here based on our overall favourite band:
Jack – Oceansize
Dan – Brand New
Johnny – Meshuggah
Andy – Circa Survive
James – Poison the Well
Who is the best live band you’ve ever seen?
Jack: The Chariot. Their performances are so emotional and engaging it’s difficult not to raise it above other live acts, even if their albums aren’t on a constant spin for you. It becomes more about the experience, and the moment that you’re all sharing together, the band included, and The Chariot handle that better than anyone else I’ve seen.
What is one song that you could listen to forever?
Johnny: Weezer – Island in the sun
Dan: Finch – What it is to burn
James: Protest the Hero – Bloodmeat
What album, if any, was a turning point in your ‘musical life’ and why?
Dan: I think Overgrown Eden (InMe) was the first time I’d drifted toward music without a set genre attached to it. I loved the unique vocals, with contrasting falsetto cleans against the harsher screams. Around the same time I’d been listening a lot to Deja Entendu (Brand New) as well, they both took my musical taste away from the pop-punk formula I’d grown up with which had now become a bit too familiar.
Jack: Difficult to pinpoint, but I’ll have to go with You Come Before You by Poison The Well. Overall, I feel like I outgrew the band after a while, and they’re not one I listen to a lot anymore, but I still have extremely fond memories of loving their music and lyrics. I was younger and more musically pliant, I suppose, when I first heard YCBY, and it was such a step up in my eyes from their previous efforts. It kept their intensity and their consistent emotive contexts alive, but it added more creativity, more diversity and more interest, without losing its way like “Versions” tended to after it. Moriera’s vocals took another step up too, and neatly counteracted the almost continued aggression they showed in their preceding works. Basically, it opened up the Post-Hardcore genre for me, and showed that it could cover all sorts of songwriting, while still carrying the same weight.
In 3 words, what makes a good album or song?
Structure, Intensity, Production
A festival or a gig? Why?
James: Festival. I just love getting away from the world for a couple of days and the atmosphere and camaraderie of the whole thing. You can also check out a lot of bands who you might not necessarily go and see at a dedicated show.
Dan: For me, I prefer a gig in a smaller, more intimate venue. I enjoy the atmosphere of getting the chance to see a band you love perform a fuller, longer headline set… And y’know, cleaner toilets.
Who would be your 3 dream festival headliners?
James: Northlane, Poison the Well, Blink 182
Dan: Letlive, Alexisonfire, Misery Signals
Andy: Circa Survive, Periphery, Between the Buried and Me
Who are the best new band you’ve discovered lately that everyone should know about?
Dan: Although they are not ‘New’ as such, I’ve recently got into Arcane Roots and their writing and delivery is just outstanding. Really worth a listen if you haven’t already heard them!
What band or artist is your secret, or not so secret, guilty pleasure?
Johnny likes Taylor Swift, so I think that’s enough embarrassment for all of us to carry. :-/
Check out Grace & Focus by You Win Again Gravity below;