A Chat with Boston Light Band (17.06.2020)
Boston Light Band is an indie-rock sensation coming out of Cape Town, South Africa. The band is known for their high-energy performances and the emotional stories behind their music. We sat down with Andreas Potgieter (guitar, vocals) and Simon Orrey (drums, vocals) from Boston Light Band (BLB) to talk about their new single ‘In Her Feels’, their music and much more!
OSR: What drew you to the music industry?
BLB: It started out as a creative outlet, just jamming with friends in a basement and sort of grew from there. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing, other than having the most fun we could possibly have – and then one day, we were like ‘hey, we could do this as a career!’ and the rest is history!
OSR: Who are you inspired by?
BLB: Definitely Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, his story and all he has achieved, has been a massive inspiration in the band’s life. For Simon, he can pin-point it to an epic Foo Fighters concert in Cape Town where the band didn’t stop playing for over three hours – his ‘I wanna be like that’ moment!
Otherwise, we tend to draw inspiration from a variety of people like Ryan Tedder (One Republic), Mike Kerr (Royal Blood) & Tyler Joseph (Twenty One Pilots) to name a few.
OSR: Please explain your creative process.
BLB: Most of the time our songs start on the acoustic guitars. One of us will come up with a concept and/or a melody. From there we tend to migrate over to a full band set-up and jam it out until we have a full track.
It is very important for us to make sure that we capture feeling and meaning in our songs, which means that often when we start recording we tend to change patterns and beats to better realize the essence of the song – mostly, taking things out!
OSR: What prompted you to write ‘In Her Feels’?
BLB: ‘In Her Feels’ is loosely based on a story about a mutual friend, who is a bit of a tragic case. One Saturday, in a melancholic setting, it wrote itself – we had this deep piece of music which seemed the perfect backdrop for what was weighing on our minds.
From there, we grew to love playing it live. It always elicited such a connection with our audience, and it evolved into the version we recorded.
OSR: Do you play at festivals? If so, which was the most enjoyable? If not, which would you like to play at?
BLB: We have played a couple of the smaller festivals around Cape Town. The most enjoyable, and potentially one of the best shows we’ve ever played, was the Kill City Blues Rock Festival!
This year was potentially the year to crack a major festival. We would have loved to have played at Up the Creek, Rocking the Daisies or Splashy Fen, but alas, COVID-19.
OSR: If you were an animal, what would you be?
BLB: I think we are both on being birds. There is just something about the freedom of flying and going wherever you like and of course just flying away from your problems!
OSR: Do you feel like your music has evolved since you started in the industry?
BLB: Oh yes, dramatically. The first inception of the band was an unnamed grunge band that recorded just three songs and that was that (you will never hear them, anywhere).
Once we started regularly gigging as Boston Light Band, we started changing our set based on a combination of audience appeal and what we really loved playing. Since we never play covers it’s been a process of adapting our songs or writing new ones, whilst keeping an ear out on current trends.
OSR: What makes your music unique?
BLB: We don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s a combination of fun, deep and keeping things catchy! We like to make people really feel something, whether that is gut-wrenchingly deep, or having a good laugh. It does sometimes mean not sticking to one genre as we are more focused on realising the song.
OSR: What’s the biggest problem you’ve had to overcome so far?
BLB: Learning. Neither of us are formally trained as musicians or in the music industry. We have just picked it up along the way, which has led to a lot of big mistakes, both financially and emotionally, but also great triumphs!
Most of the time, we find ourselves making great discoveries of things we probably should know. On a side note, discovering how to make the noise of a five-piece band as a two-piece, has also been fun.
OSR: What’s next for you?
BLB: For this year, while the world is locked down, prolific music releasing – we will continue to make music and bad home videos!
And when we are all safely through the current crisis, TOUR!
Thanks to Boston Light Band for chatting with us! You can find more about the band on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
