My article for my DPS

24/03/17 James Borland

The Phase Interview

Since starting to climb the indie-rock ladder to stardom, The Phase have been very busy. From an EP launch

to a UK tour. I met with the duo in the day of the final leg of their tour in their home town of Birmingham.

George, the lead singer told me to meet them in the café in Digbeth, a small place filled with teenagers and

young adults. George quietly stepped through the door and walked towards me, as he looked over his

round sunglasses. He smelt of cigarettes and day old beer. He quietly whimpered “Joe’s gonna be a

bit late”. I asked him why, wondering the possibilities. George sat down and put his sunglasses on the table

“He just overslept.” he said, I found this hard to believe but just carried on making some small talk. Joe Starr

and George Clarke are 19 and 20 respectively, so I was not surprised to see that one of them would not

show up. As I ordered both of us a black coffee, Joe burst through the door “Alright,” he yells “Sorry, I over

slept.”

There was a big difference between Joe and George, George was quiet in person and did not talk much but

Once he was on a stage he went wild. Joe was a loud, friendly more open guy but can be quite quiet on stage

and a bit moody. George was a little more colourful wearing blue jeans and white Adidas superstars.

Joe stomped towards me with his Dr Marten boots, he was wearing almost all black.

Joe grabbed a chair and sat down. “So when’s this getting started?” he happily said. I just asked at first

how life on the road was going and how they felt about such a big tour. “We couldn’t be more pleased with

how this is all going.” George mumbled then Joe rushed to state “It’s our dream come true, you know. Not

many get the chance to … well, live their dreams, all in all it’s a pretty good job.” They both were very humble

and that fact seemed to be very important to them, that they stay humble. Even Joe as boisterous as he was

still spoke fondly of his past and was friendly. They are of a similar age but Joe is the younger which maybe

explains his louder attitude and late start.

“We just tried to work as hard as we can to gain some popularity across the country making sure are social

media accounts were all well used,” George stated. “People will say that we are just lucky but we have worked

as hard as we can for the last year making sure to build as big a fan base as possible. “Now that we are back

home it puts this whole year into perspective.” George mumbled, “England feels way smaller now.” Joe

laughed. They had started to conquer England so I brought up whether or not they were trying to make it in

America. “I’m hoping we get out there soon, we are trying to push the trip on all of our social medias, try and

make sure that everybody knows about us soon.” They seem to have a good idea of what they are trying to

achieve and how they will do it.

After a sold out tour across the UK, you would expect the duo to have started acting too big for their

boots and a bit cocky but they were actually quite the opposite. They both were friendly and rather

understated, no designer brands just pretty plain clothes in a dinky café. They won best new artist at the NME

awards last year and also started recording with help from Johnny Marr from The Smiths.

“The NME Awards were a big shock to us we did not expect to do as well as we did, we used to watch the

show (NME Awards) online just a couple of years ago.” Joe exclaimed. George said “Being nominated boasted

our online presence even more and got the attention of John (Johnny Marr), recording with him was an

amazing experience, he got a great sound out of the two of us and helped to layer it all together.”

“He’s a real inspiration to me as a guitarist.” Joe said. “His records were my dad’s favourite and made me want

to play the guitar.”

Their musical style was clearly influenced by the big names of indie-rock and Brit-pop. I wondered why they

had such big 90s influences as they didn’t live through much of the 90s. “Well everyone loves Oasis don’t they?

I guess my parents both listened to a large mix of music and we both just love music and are always looking for

new sounds, to help inspire.” Joe said.

They have had a big year as far as gigs go. They have played at various different festivals and on various

different stages including the likes of T in the Park and the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds

Festival.

“Reading was a dream come true for us both, we have been going to watch the bands ourselves each year

from 2012 onwards and this year we got our chance to perform.” George spoke a little louder due to his

excitement. He started to brighten up. They clearly both loved this work and could not wait to see where it

would take them next. They were ready for the future as it was now all falling into place for them.

After such a big year I wondered how they could make the next one better. “It will be hard to top” George

said. “Well… We’re back in the studio.” Joe casually mention with a grin on his face. “2017 will be bigger and

better.” Joe claimed.

I see an even brighter future for this group they have started out well but the question is can they maintain

this growth. They seem to think so and I think that they will manage it. They seem to know what they are

doing and I guess next up will be conquering America. Watch out for this duo in 2017 and onwards.