-Is your deal with Small Town a permanent thing, are you officially signed?
Sean: It's not official yet. We're just testing the water to see how it goes for the single I think. We've kinda sorta an album out but we're sitting on it a bit. We'll go from there.
-So the album's done, it's just a case of waiting to release it?
Sean: Yeah, we've got some songs recorded that aren't waiting in the bag. We'll be playing a few of them this afternoon. It's hard when you've got new music and you can't show it.
-With a lot of female fronted pop-punk bands, there's always going to be the obvious, un-namable comparison. What makes you stand out?
Sean: I think we have a different feel about us. We're a lot more easy going, we're not as dark. We're more poppy I guess. If we didn't have a female singer I'd probably compare us to You Me At Six and bands like that.
Katy: I think if completely ignore the fact that I'm a female, you'll see that the music is completely different to the other bands.
Sean: It's like comparing You Me At Six to Enter Shikari just because they've got a guy singer. Obviously Enter Shikari are a bit different, but you can see where I'm coming from. We just get the comparison.
-Are you getting a bit tired of it?
Sean: Yeah. Well, I mean it doesn't bother us! If anything it's a compliment.
Katy: We're talking about Paramore, right?
-Yeah.
Katy: Just checking!
Sean: If anything it's a compliment to be mentioned on that level.
Katy: If they're going to compare us to a really cool band, then do it! Just don't compare me to a really rubbish band.
-Who have been your main influences then?
Sean: We get it from a lot of places, I think. You Me At Six, Kids In Glass Houses. The guy from Kids In Glass Houses was one of the judges, but I do actually like their music!
Katy: Loads of American bands like Mayday Parade. Mainly guys, to be honest.
-You mentioned the album and single, but what can we expect for the rest of the year?
Sean: Well, obviously we've got everything lined up from now until August with the festivals.
Katy: We're jam-packed, and we've got shows in between.
Sean: We want to tour the single a bit, do a few shows around the North End. Most of our gigs have been down south where we're from.
Katy: Apart from T In the Park, which will be in Scotland.
Sean: The plan is to tour the single after it's been released in August. Then probably the next single.
Katy: It's all just a bit undecided.
Sean: It's all come out of nowhere with the Red Bull thing.
Katy: Our schedule was...well, let's plan everything. Now it's go, go!
-Is it hard touring and doing all these shows funding it yourselves, rather than with a label backing you?
Sean: It is difficult. We all have jobs. Me and Katy both teach, I teach guitar and Katy teaches vocals. That's how we fund it. We've got to afford to live as well, but most of our money we put into the band. Any money we make out of the band just goes right back into it again. There's no profit or anything.
Katy: It's a hard life, but who cares? Obviously Small Town helping us out with the record is wicked. It's a lot less stress for us.
Sean: Yeah, it's good to have a team behind us now. Up to this point, we have done it ourselves. We released our last single ourselves, which went really well but we're hoping to have more backing behind us now.
-Are you noticing more of a following lately?
Katy: Yeah, even since Monday when we got announced for the festivals.
Sean: From the point where we uploaded our video, we slowly edged up to 3,000. In two weeks, we made about 50 fans, then in the last two days we made nearly a hundred fans. It's definitely picking up and we're excited!
Female First - Alistair McGeorge