Okay, so combine Foals with Peace and maybe splash a bit of Two Door Cinema Club in there and you’ll probably end up with something along the lines of High Tyde. The Brighton based band consists of Cody Thomas-Matthews (Vocals, bass and electronics), Spencer Tobias-Williams (Guitar), Connor Cheetham (Guitar) and Louis Semlekan-Faith (Drums and backing vocals). The band formed four years ago but it wasn’t until the release of their first EP ‘Fuzz’ in March 2014, when things began to take off.
It’s been a crazy year for the indie quartet. From touring with the likes of Little Comets, Young Kato and Peace, to playing at festivals like Boardmasters, Y Not and Dot to Dot. Their EP, ‘Fuzz’, consists of four lyrically diverse songs; accompanied by angelic guitar riffs and an intoxicating beat throughout every song. The boys definitely seem to have captured a very ‘Antidotes’ vibe from Foals’ early career with this EP.
After releasing ‘Fuzz’ in early 2014, the boys later released their summery single, ‘Karibu’ in July, radiating huge amounts energy with the melodic tones of the guitar. Lyrically the single talks of being young and free and the energy behind the song definitely mirrors this atmosphere.
The BBC have also supported the indie group over the past year. Huw Stephens recently premiered their single ‘Do What You Want’: the single that has left fans eager for the next EP, ‘Glow’. The boys thought of getting their fans involved with the video for their single, ‘Do What You Want’. Fans were invited to send in footage to contribute towards the quirky new video, it not only added edge to it but also reflected on the band’s dedicated connection with their fans.
High Tyde recently treated fans to another single from their newest EP, ‘Glow’. The single off the EP, also named ‘Glow’ is full of catchy riffs, invigorating rhythm and seems to have slight reminiscence of earlier single ‘Karibu’ with its tropical guitar.
I had the pleasure of talking to lead singer Cody Thomas-Mathews about the band, their inspirations, highlights from this year and what we can expect for the future.
Q. It’s been a crazy year for you all! Do you have a specific highlight from this past year that’s stuck out for you?
A. Um yeah, I think just playing live shows! This year we went on kind of like a two week tour with no days off, which was cool. We also supported Peace and played the Koko… Yeah it’s all been pretty mad, doing all that at such an early stage in the game. We’ve just released ‘Do What You Want’ and it got played on Radio One and stuff so it’s all good really.
Q. You’ve toured with Peace, Little Comets and Young Kato so far. Were these quite surreal experiences for you all?
A. Well, all we really wanna do is play shows so… I mean obviously you’re meeting and playing with some of your favourite bands, so that’s obviously quite surreal! Touring with Little Comets was just crazy because at the end of it they were our mates, whereas before they were just one of our favourite bands, it’s all we’d listen to. So yeah it’s definitely kind of surreal but after a while it does just become a normal type of thing I guess.
Q. Your sound definitely shares similarities with a number of different musicians. Do you have any specific music that had influenced your sound?
A. Initially, when we first started out as a band, it was bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Foals and stuff like that. We’re all into quite a lot of different stuff, from Kendrick Lamar, to a lot of electronic stuff. Oh there’s loads of stuff! Like Foals, they still influence us now, definitely.
Q. So, is there a diverse taste of music in the group or do you all listen to the same music?
A. Oh yeah yeah totally! We’re all into kind of like indie music, we love that. Me and Louis, the drummer, are into hip-hop, like Kendrick Lamar… that kind of stuff. Then Spencer, he’s like into Jimi Hendrix and all that. So yeah, definitely a wide range of inspiration when we come together and jam and make songs, it’s definitely a special thing.
Q. The band has quite a unique name. Why the name High Tyde?
A. Basically, we were originally called like, I can’t really remember, something to do with tides and then we realised there were loads of other bands like that. So um, we just called it High Tyde. We live right by the sea in Brighton and it just always stuck for us really. We were gunna change it at one point, but I think we’ve always found comfort in that name. Now I think with our sound, it fits the name High Tyde, I dunno why! That kinda sounds weird, but we’ve been doing this now for 4 years so if we changed it, it would just be the weirdest thing.
Q. How did the band first come about?
A. So we met Connor… Well actually, we were all in this bar in Brighton and Connor was caught pouring his own pints and stuff and yeah it’s a pretty funny story actually. Basically, we all managed to get kicked out of this bar and just decided to make friends and start jamming a stuff, so yeah, good story [laughs].
Q. It’s your first headline tour this month! Will fans be getting a taster of new music from ‘Glow’ on the tour?
A. Yeah 100%. We’ll be playing, um, the majority of the EP, ‘Glow’ I think. We’ll be playing a lot of new songs that are going to be coming out next year as well, so it’s definitely a show you don’t wanna miss, it’s going to be really good!
Q. We had a taster of the new EP with your one of your latest singles, ‘Do What You want’. Is the rest of the EP following the same sort of sound?
A. Yeah in a way, I think if you wanna compare ‘Glow’ to ‘Fuzz’, it’s definitely a step up, lyrically and emotionally as well. There is a lot more of our lives, like, stories from our lives in the lyrics. There’re also a lot more catchy riffs in this EP. Yeah, I’m really excited to get it released!
Q. The ‘Do What You Want ’ video… Who’s idea was it to get the fans involved?
A. It was just an idea we came up with collectively. It’s just something to make you feel good really and on a worldwide scale. It gets the fans involved too, Tommy from Young Kato actually wanted to get involved as well, so that was really cool!
Q. Finally, what can we expect from you guys over the next year?
A. Next year we’re gunna be announcing a lot more shows, playing in some new places that we haven’t been before and releasing some more music. Just keep building it all up really. Hopefully we’ll do a lot more shows next year too and get everywhere that we haven’t been for people that haven’t seen us before. I’m really excited!
High Tyde’s Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/wearehightyde
High Tyde’s website – http://wearehightyde.com