Tell me a bit about yourselves, what have you been up to over the past 12 months?
The past year has been both great as well as quite strange for us as a band, with uni pushing half of the band across the country we've had to deal with not knowing exactly what will happen next, even to this day we still don't know how these things will affect us as a band. However we can say that we've definitely been trying to make the most out of the time we get. The past year has mostly been in the studio up until this summer where we decided to push a few more gigs in. It ended up being ironic that despite us being less available than ever, we've probably made the most progress in terms of writing and recording. Although we have had to adapt to this new situation, we've done our best to remain productive when we get our chances. We're glad we were able to be as productive considering we've not made a push like this since 2019 and we needed to get ourselves back into it. - Daniel
What has been the biggest highlight of making music so far?
I think the biggest highlight for me personally has been seeing the evolution of our band and us personally since we started. This band began in 2019 as four secondary school friends just messing about and having fun playing music, practicing in our schools music room and maybe writing a few songs or doing a gig every few months for fun. It’s been really cool to see our growth since then, especially this year where we’ve started to take things more seriously, doing more frequent and better gigs outside our local area, finally releasing music for the first time, writing better songs and developing our fan base. Although we’ve obviously grown since we began playing in our schools music room, with myself and Jack now in college and Patrick and Daniel in university, it’s great to see that at our core we’re still those same four friends with a passion for playing music together, and our love for playing together as a band is still our main drive for continuing forward. - Alex
So how did you first get into making music?
We all grew up with a lot of interest in music, we all had differing tastes growing up but we all enjoyed music as an escape and that was something we all had in common. From then, all it really took was us four meeting in secondary school. Patrick met Alex and Jack through just hanging around in the music room and originally we started as a 3 piece until Patrick brought Dan along to one of our practices, at that point he seemed quite interested and so we asked him if he thought he could try learn to play bass, and surprisingly from there it picked up rather quickly and from then on its pretty much history.
How would you describe your sound?
At the moment, I think our sound is very reminiscent of a lot of the pop punk bands of the 2000s, using a lot of fast energetic power chord based instrumentals - some of our biggest influences are bands like blink-182, Sum 41, Neck Deep and Real Friends, but recently we’ve been taking some influence from other artists like Title Fight (we used Shed as a reference for the shouty vocals and the mix on Out Of The Question), Pierce The Veil, Modern Baseball and the Chats. I found a band recently called Sap who have influenced a lot of the riffs I’ve been writing too so I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out. We also have a hardcore punk song that takes influence from Nirvana, Bad Brains and Black Flag. I try not to put our sound in a box and we’re always looking to try new things in our material, taking inspiration from things like Midwest Emo, Grunge, Metal and Post Hardcore in addition to our usual Pop Punk sound. I’d hate to be a band that just releases the same song rearranged over and over again and it’s always exciting going to writing sessions and just seeing what we can come up with- Alex
What was the process like in recording your latest single 'Out Of The Question'?
When recording out the question, I was one of the engineers and producers along side Paul Moore, as well as the band (Dan, pat and Alex) all being there along for the recording process, so we can all recall the process quite well. I would say that precision sums up the process. Experimenting with lots of different sounds to try and get the best and most unique result possible. Countless takes of songs, mic placement, mic choice and of course the big one: creativity. These were major focuses for me and the rest of the band in the recording process, making sure everything was at the highest standard we could get it. Pauls knowledge and gear helped out a bunch, being a huge help when tracking vocals and mixing in his studio, with mixing and understanding what we could try out in order to experiment with our sound. We couldn’t have done the release without him, so a massive thanks! (He also kindly offered to master the track for us which again helped us out greatly adding the finishing touches). As well as this, as me and Alex are students there we were lucky enough to be able to use Bede Sixth Form college to track drums, bass and guitar and it came together along the way. - Jack
What is 'Out Of The Question' about?
At the time when we wrote out of the question there wasn’t an idea beforehand of what the song was going to be about so it was moreso just going with the flow and going what what came to mind first. At the time when we wrote out of the question it wasn’t long since I had got out of a fairly long term relationship so the natural flow was to just go with how I was feeling. Working with Alex we came up with what you hear which is about someone leaving a relationship because they didn’t feel their efforts were reciprocated and about how there was no malice or intention but that they are just seeking to find something where they are treated equally. In the final parts of the chorus, in which the title of the song comes from, it is purely about how they will not go back to that relationship as they are seeking to find what they deserve. We believe this is the type of song that many people will be able to relate to and at the end of the day that’s why we write about most of the topics that we do. - Patrick
What can your listeners expect from your upcoming music?
Following on from our releases of “Why should I?” And now “Out of the question” we are looking on towards our next musical venture in the studio. We’re looking to release a 5 song EP within the coming months, which is currently being recorded. Listeners can expect to hear much of the same early 2000s style, high energy pop punk music on this next EP as they have already experienced with our previous releases, but with a bit more edge and grit than you may usually find in the genre. Following this we have a few more ideas of what we would like to do next but as for those we plan to keep those under wraps for a bit longer until we can confirm them for definite. We’re always experimenting with new styles and influences however, and we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on. - Patrick
What's next for you as a band?
Up next for us as a band we’re hitting Newcastle with Tyne and Queer at The Globe as part of their Halloween fundraiser, as well as 2 gigs at the Bunker and Museum Vaults in Sunderland. Our closest gig however is at on September 9 at NE Volume in Stockton, supporting the amazing Motions alongside Beatnik, which we can’t wait for. We’re playing more gigs than before, so make sure to check out our social media pages to keep up to date as to where you can check us out playing next. In terms of gigs we’re playing along side many great bands and expect to hear many new original tunes live as well! On stage antics will be the same chaotic mess as usual and big things are in the works for the future as we hit the studio for what are in my opinion some of the greatest prices we’ve got yet. Stay tuned. - Jack
Rare Breed is:
Alex Graham - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Jack Cowell - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Daniel Ottaway - Bass
Patrick Kilcullen - Drums
By - Katie Graham
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