Photo Credit ©Adam Chandler
Emo pop-punks Time of the Mouth are fast becoming one of our favourite new bands. 'RIDE (Here we go Again)' was a track we played a lot on the show and as they release new single 'You're Falling Apart Kid' we had a lovely little chat with founding member Chris
Hi Chris, thanks for chatting with us today. Introduce yourself and tell us what you do in the band?
My name is Chris Jones. I am the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter.
Tell us a little about your band, how you got together and the story behind the name if there is one.
The band was formed in the spring of 2011 and has been through several lineup changes and genre changes over the years but the latest lineup has been together for 4 years and wrote the majority of the material on the forthcoming album. The name came from myself and original bass player James Chatfield coming up with names in the living room at my parent house and we came up with the name “Time Of The Month '' which did not go down too well with my mum. So we decided to settle on “Time Of The Mouth” instead and it has just stuck ever since.
Tell us a bit about your latest single, what’s the story behind the song?
I wrote this song at a very delicate time after just going through a rough breakup. The song is very introspective and it just describes how I felt at the time. It’s one of those songs that will mean something to me for a long time and I feel that every time I sing it. It captured that moment in time perfectly and the production massively amplifies all the emotions and nuances of different emotions throughout the track. Dave Draper (our producer) did a fantastic job of bringing all of those feelings to life.
What is your writing process like? Do you start with lyrics and then come up with a melody or is it the other way round?
We have a pretty efficient way of writing songs now. I will usually write the song as an acoustic track first, Just guitar and vocal. Then take it into the practice room with Mitch and Ollie and build the rest of the song from there. I have new song ideas all the time. I always have lyrics or melodies recorded as short videos on my phone that I will sit down and pick from when I feel like writing a song. I probably have 2 more albums worth of ideas already.
What bands were you listening to when you were writing this release? Do you think it had an effect on the end sound?
I think the bands that I grew up listening to have an effect on every song I write in a subconscious way. Fall Out Boy and Four Year Strong are 2 of my favourite bands of all time and you can hear their influence all over the new album. Dave Draper also has a huge part to play in our sound. We wouldn't sound like we do if it wasn't for his influences and I think those 2 aspects combined is what creates our sound.
You have a music video to go along with this single, what is the story behind that, was it fun to make?
The video was actually shot very quickly. We filmed the video 2 days before the very first lockdown so all the filming trips we had planned for the original video had to be scrapped. We decided to go for a more minimal approach instead and we had a great day filming and we are so happy with the result and felt the style of the video was quite in keeping with the theme of the song.
What can you tell us about the album that the song has come from?
The album “30 Seconds” is the culmination of about 7 years worth of songwriting spanning 2 different lineups of Time Of The Mouth. It’s like a book of my teen years into my early 20s and I think you can hear that in the lyrics. Finishing the album was like closing that book on my younger days and all the experiences and crazy things we got up to as a band and as people. I think anyone that listens to this album will find a piece of themselves in the songs and will be able to relate to a lot of it.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
As well as being musicians all 3 of us in the band are avid sportsmen. I play cricket for my local club. Ollie plays rugby at a good standard and Mitch is a really good footballer. Sport is another thing we all have as a common passion which I think is another reason we get on so well as people.
Do you have any shows coming up that we should get ourselves along to?
We have wound down our calendar for 2022 now so we can focus on the album release but keep an eye on our social media pages for shows in what is shaping up to be a very busy 2023.
Thanks for chatting to us today, Chris. We've been wondering about the name for ages and we will look forward to hearing the album.
'You're Falling Apart Kid' is out now and the album '30 Seconds' is due for release in January
Find the band on Socials
Comments