Hailing from the south coast, Crystal Tides’ infectious blend of indie-pop is just what your ears need to hear. I caught up with their bassist, George, for a little intro to the band…

RECORD WEEKLY’S INTERVIEW WITH CRYSTAL TIDES

Hiya fellas, how are we doing?

We’re good thank you!

We’ve recently been briefed on the ‘roadmap’ out of the pandemic — what’s your general mood?

I think the mood is just excitement at this point! We can’t wait to get back on stage to play live, so having a light at the end of the tunnel feels good.

For sure, I know what you mean! Now, enough lockdown chat — tell us about when and how you formed Crystal Tides.

Billy Gregory (vox) and Harry Knowles (guitar) met while at university and began writing songs together. I had previously played with Billy and he asked me to join on bass, then, last to the party was Joe Knights on drums in 2018.

Which artists have influenced your sound the most?

We’ve all got different influences which I think really adds depth to our songwriting, and we try and bring in modern influences as well as that of the bands we grew up loving. We’re fans of all sorts really — Catfish and the Bottlemen, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Circa Waves, and so on.

Outside the realms of making music, what are your hobbies? Did you ever buy into last year’s banana bread or ‘Tiger King’ hype?

The main thing that kept us sane was writing music throughout the lockdowns! I did try exercising but decided it wasn’t for me.

Haha, at least you have it a shot, eh? Now then, you hail from Portsmouth. So I guess I should confess I’m from Southampton. Do you feel very much connected to the south in general or are you equally proud to be from Pompey?

Oh yeah, we’re proud to be from Portsmouth but we don’t buy into the rivalry when it comes to music. We love being part of the south coast music scene generally and always enjoy playing Southampton’s venues.

Glad to hear it! And as Portsmouth lads, are you into football and do you support your local club? As a Saints fan, it’s always tense for me…

Billy’s a Portsmouth fan so he can be found at Fratton Park pretty often. We were lucky enough to have a couple of our songs played in the stadium actually!

That’s massive, congrats!

Within a quick search or two, all my readers will be able to find your insanely catchy tunes. Can you tease any new material, while you’re here?

The next single on our debut EP, ‘Last Time’, is out on April 16th, so not too much longer to go now. We can’t wait for you to hear it!

If you’re as ready for that EP to drop as I am, follow Crystal Tides on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify to stay in the loop. Prepare to be in your element.