For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to The Riff? How long has the band been around?
Tommy (Drums) and Chris (bass) started the band while they were in school so they've only ever been in The Riff. Me and my brother Sam (Keys) are a couple of years older than the lads so we did a similar thing with our schoolmates. All of us started playing covers in pubs/clubs from about 15 years old. We joined The Riff in 2014 and carried on with the covers for a couple of years, but we started writing and playing our own shows in May 2016. So the name has been around for around 6 years but we've been doing our own stuff for 2.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Tommy came up with the name when the lads were in school and its just stuck, we've never seen any reason to change the name. I think it was supposed to be a temporary thing but here we are!
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
The majority of writing is done between myself and Tommy. The topics vary from our own life experiences to witnessing things on nights. It could be anything sometimes one line you overhear in a conversation can materialize into a whole song. I imagine they probably will, you go through different things at different stages in your life at I think that changes your perspective on things and obviously things that seem massively important to you in your teens may not be so relevant in your 30's; Just look at the differences in Noel Gallagher's writing now compared to his Oasis days or Alex Turner from the first album to Arctic Monkeys new album.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
The Strokes seem to be popular in the dressing room at the minute so I'd have to say them at the moment, but it changes all the time, for the majority of time its bands we've grown up with so British indie bands mainly.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I wouldn't say there's one in particular but the early 2000's for me, with the explosion of British indie bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Libertines, Kasabian etc. definitely made me realise this is what I want to be doing.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
We're pretty chilled to be honest, there's no real routine just a few beers and a chill out. Occasionally we'll get an acoustic guitar out but that's just to prevent boredom rather than to warm up.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We've literally just come back from playing our first European show in Spain last Saturday, that has to be up there. When we started out our aim was to try and get around the UK as much as possible so to be asked to go over there was epic.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Oasis in the 90's would've been amazing, Presently Kasabian seem to be killing it with their live shows so to tour with them would be ace the atmosphere in those gigs is always immense.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Check us out on social media @theriffuk.... Keep your eyes peeled for a brand new single very soon!