Whilst their band may be named after the famous seaside town, neither of the five members that make up Ives come from anywhere near the Cornish tourist destination. In fact, frontman Jasper Krieg was brought up in Stockholm, Sweden, whilst bassist, Alejandro Urbina is from Mexico. The rest of the band originate from all corners of the UK, music college in Manchester being the force that drove the team together. It only took the first few weeks of university for the band to be formed. As well as Jasper and Alejandro, the group consists of Jack Hayward on guitar, Luis Sullivan on keys and Mark Zanker as their drummer. With sold-out shows all over Manchester, and three well received singles under their belt, it’s safe to say their getting off to a good start…
Their latest track, Better Than Me, is a culmination of everything that is great about popular music: a melancholic piano ballad fused with a zealous chorus which somehow doesn’t feel out of place. Krieg’s soothing voice is perfect for a track which explores the sadness of losing someone you love to the big, wide world. This is the track to show your cynic friends that pop can be catchy and emotional, that it can build up in energy throughout the track, yet never lose its sentiment. In short, this is a track you need to listen to!
But, enough from me! Here’s what Ives have to say about Better Than Me and their goals for the future:
1. You all come from very different places. Where did you meet each other and what clicked between you?
“We do! We all met at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. During the first few weeks of University (especially freshers) we got to know each other, and we got on very well and we all clicked instantly. The RNCM books a yearly gig at a place in Manchester called Dimitris and urges the first years to make bands for the event. We played covers for this as we didn't have any of our own material. During the practice sessions we all got closer as a band and it just worked! So, after the gig we decided to keep the band going!”
2. When did you first think of starting a band together?
“Because we put the band together just for the Dimitris gig, we didn't know we'd actually stick together until we realised how well we worked together and enjoyed every minute of band practice. We instantly knew that it's what we wanted to do, and we all were inspired by similar bands and artists. There wasn't a specific time we 'started the band' as such, it just kinda happened in the most natural way and we are so happy it did.”
3. Who (or what) inspired you to start making music?
“From a very young age we all have loved music. Going to gigs and watching bands and artists live has always been one of the biggest inspirations for us because to put it simply, it's what we have always dreamt of doing. When you're in a band it's usually seen as what you do unless you class yourself as a cover band. When we started education, it was always taught to us and that's what first got us into it.”
4. Are there a range of musical influences in the group or did you bond over your love of the same artists?
“Individually we all have different influences. As musicians we are encouraged to listen to everything. We listen to genres ranging from Rock and metal, to Jazz to hip hop, and everything in between. Artists such as Sam Fender, Jacob Collier, The 1975, The Band Camino, Fickle Friends and more are our main influences. Despite all this, we all love the same artists which really helped us figure out the direction we wanted to take the band. Having our own individual influences really helps the band as a whole, sound unique.”
5. Does your song writing process begin with writing lyrics, music or both?
“Usually the music comes first. Before Corona happened, we'd write usually in Jack's room in our university halls. Our process changes each time, but it usually starts with either Jesper, Luis or Jack coming up with a main idea (the basis of the song). Once we have that we'll each come up with new ideas to improve it and put our own unique touch on the song. We write usually on Logic. We think that this is the way song writing is heading nowadays and we know of many bands that do it. However, after a few rehearsals playing the songs we may come up with new ideas to add or take away some parts to improve it. You get more of an idea how the song will sound when we play it all together. Lyrics usually come after we have a structure and a basis for the song, but these can be edited very late, even when we are recording the song for the final time.”
Due to coronavirus stopping us being together, Zoom calls have been the way to solve this. We screen share the Logic project so we can all see it and work that way. We have been sending the projects around so we can record individually.”
6. What was the inspiration for your latest track, Better Than Me?
“Better Than Me was in fact the first song we ever wrote. It's about a story based on Jesper’s own experience and stuff that has happened to his friends inspired by modern pop. “
7. Keys and synthesisers are a lot more prominent in this track. Was that your intention from the start?
“Funnily enough, Better Than Me was written by Luis to start with. This is probably why they're more prominent than any of our other tracks at the minute. As long as we like what we hear we'll keep it, we aren't too harsh on what we create at the minute and we don't want to put a cap on the creativity we can come out with. We love synths so you can look forward to more of them in our future tracks!”
8. Is this the style fans can now expect from Ives or do you intend to write a mix of both guitar and piano led tracks?
“Definitely! Like we mentioned in the previous question, whatever we like we will use. If we come up with a guitar lead part and we feel it would benefit from the piano being blended into that we will do it, and vice versa. You may even hear that in our next release...”
9. How quickly did the track come together and when did you know you had the song you wanted?
“It had 3 stages to get it to what it is today. At first it was a piano ballad which is where it gets its emotion from. Once we started adding to it, it then became EDM. It was very electronic, and it had no acoustic instruments on it at all. We all knew from when Luis showed us the demo, he had put together it was a song we were going to love. It needed a few tweaks, but we knew it would be the basis for the final song. After we heard it, it wasn't more than a week or 2 before we finished it. Most of the time, songs that come together quickly are the best in our experiences.”
10. You have created the perfect pop chorus. Did it take a lot of experimentation to end up with that mix of synthesisers and electronic beats?
“We take a lot of inspiration from pop, so this has kind of been engraved in us from the start. In the final recording, there are real drums on the track so it's not electronic at all!
We didn't have to experiment too much but in rehearsals we just jam the song a few times and that makes us tweak some of the parts. We edited a few sounds here and there in the post -production section after recording. It's usually a case of searching through sounds and editing sounds that you already have so it doesn't take too much experimentation.”
11. How different did it feel releasing a track in lock down?
“It was very strange for us. It's like a big excitement leading up to the release expecting something to happen. It's hard to know what people are thinking when it's purely over social media. For the first 2 releases, we were together so we usually would go to celebrate together! This time was very different. We obviously were on the group chats, but it was a shame we couldn't celebrate the achievement properly. To try and connect with fans we went live on Instagram which was nice. Not being able to gig post release is also a challenge, but it's what every band is facing at the minute.”
12. How much are you missing live shows?!
“LOTS. This is the hardest time for every band at the minute... We're just waiting for the time when gigs can go ahead again, we think the atmosphere will be amazing because everyone will be bored of staying at home!!!”
13. Are you planning on doing any live streams while non-virtual venues are closed?
“We have already done quite a few live streams on our Instagram. We love interacting with our audience, so they are the next best thing! We just usually do them when we like, nothing better than surprising the people that follow us with a live session!”
14. What are your goals for the future?
“Get big, get rich, get famous...
Jokes aside, we love to see the band grow and get bigger and meet loads of new people. Plans are to keep gigging as much as we can, perfect our live set further, write bigger and better songs, and just have a lot of fun. We don't want it to stop!”
15. And the question everyone wants to know: How do you manage to create such catchy yet emotional songs??!!
“That's a really tough question! We want most if not all of our tunes to be happy and up-beat, so our gigs continue to be a blast. I'd say write about topics that mean a lot to you, and something you as a person can really relate to. This will get the emotional meaning of the song. We also think about the structure, where we want the song to be calm and where we want it to build. It just happens like that really. We have been song writing individually for years so it takes a lot of practice!”
‘Better Than Me’ is available on all streaming services