The Amazons are a blistering, melodic rock quartet who take the aggression of grunge and punk and splice it with melody and harmony.
In 2015 the band went from Reading favourites to national acclaim. With support throughout the year from Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens and Annie Mac, as well as fervent backing from BBC Introducing in Berkshire, The Amazons gathered fans nationwide.
Coupled with a host of live dates throughout the summer including Reading & Leeds, Dot to Dot Festival, Live at Leeds and Barn on the Farm their fan base swelled substantially.
And in 2016? Well, the roof is ready to blow, and the secret is out - they are even sitting pretty on the BBC Sounds of 2017 list. Previous winners include Adele, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith.
The band is currently keeping the autumnal chill at bay with some of the hottest dates of the year, and the tour bus rolls into Bedford this week coming (Dec 9) you lucky people...
Frontman Matt went On Track with Total MK, and talked Nivana, QOTSA and faceless DJs....
The song that first awakened your musical senses
There were two songs I'd hear on the radio when I was very young that got my blood pumping. Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit' and The Undertones 'Teenage Kicks'.
At the time I obviously couldn't hop onto Youtube or Spotify to find them, so when I heard them on the radio every now and again I'd go mental. My parents played some great music at home but these songs were my discovery.
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
I try to buy physical.. I bought a good turntable and speakers last year. I love the artwork on a big scale, the sleeve notes etc. However I have to say Spotify is my daily go to for music. You can find music you haven't heard for ages.. and then discover similar artists you've never heard of at all.
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'
I've never considered music to be a job. I wanted to be a historian when I was young because I was obsessed with the Ancient Greeks.
I wanted to then be a footballer for Newcastle Utd for a couple weeks and then it was music from about 10 years old. My goal was always to find a way to somehow make enough money from my passion to escape conventional work.
Your best on stage memory...
We got heckled the other day in Manchester, supporting Jimmy Eat World at the Academy. We didn't respond but sometimes you need something stupid like that to make you play that bit harder, we loved it.
And the worst gig you've ever done
Probably our first with our drummer Joe. We were playing under a different name at the time a couple months before The Amazons was born. First song I broke half of my guitar strings, carried on without the guitar, forgot words etc etc the list of calamities continues. It's never got worse than that which is nice.
What made you take up singing?
I learnt the guitar first.. though I must've started singing before that. It's just fun, its a release. When you're young you don't think about it too much, it's just whatever you like doing at the time.
Which one song by another artist do you wish you had written
Make It Wit Chu by Queens of the Stone Age. It's the coolest, sexiest song ever written.
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
I like 'In My Mind'. It's pretty raw lyrically, I pick myself apart a little bit. It was good for my conscience to get that stuff out and try and make sense of my behaviour.
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
Maybe someone part of a bigger ensemble, like E Street Band or Arcade Fire. Just to slot in, I wouldn't want to be the main guy.
I’ll strap on a bass or guitar and just slot in behind Springsteen or Win Butler, that would be alot fun.
Are there any current influences you look to?
Over the last year I've been playing a lot of the Last Shadow Puppets' new album. The strings on that record are so beautiful. Been getting into Miike Snow too since they released 'Genghis Khan' which has been my favourite song this year. Their sound is much more electronic than ours. Who knows if any of those sounds will bleed into our work, but we're always open.
And any genre of music that you simply can't stand?
To be honest, most of the music in the Top 40 over the last couple years has been fucking dire. It's either Tropical House or Dancehall by these faceless DJs you never hear of again with some vacant popstar singing over it or really bland singer-songwriter acoustic stuff.
The most exciting artist in the charts at the moment is The Weeknd by a country mile. I'm definitely not saying I want to see a top 10 full of guitar bands.. Just a bit of variety would be great.
We've released 4 singles this year, most recently a song called 'Little Something', so they'll all be in there. We've been working on our debut record over the summer too so you can expect to hear a couple tracks from that. We like to leave it all out on the stage so hopefully it'll be a fun show.
