Dirty, loud rock ‘n’ roll which makes you head go dizzy with flamboyant, edgy riffs and heartbeat drums – do you want to experience this? Of course, you do! Then get to know The Modes, their music and never look back.
What was the beginning of The Modes as a band? What brought you together and what inspired you to start the band in the first place?
As a band we have been on a long journey to get to where we are today, we have been in a number of bands together over the past 6-7 years, from nu-jazz to folk. This has really helped us to understand each other better when playing, we must have at least a few hundred hours of total jam-time. We both just ended up with all this equipment and studio time, we thought fuck it let’s make a band. Jon, the drummer, comes from a Jazz background when first learning drums, we use this to our advantage when it comes to song writing, messing around live with using different time signatures like 3/4 and 7/4 over common time blues riffs. Jon’s current drum influences would be Benny Greb and Thomas Pridgen, taking these ideas and playing fills that blow his own mind. Jon also plays synth in the band simultaneously with drums, creating dirty bass drones to give the music that extra layer. Dan mainly plays Guitar in the band, using a number of different pedals to create real time improv when making the sounds. Using 3 amps, essentially being the bassist at the same time Dan can become very versatile when it comes to playing the Guitar, from dirty bass lines to Jazz inversions, this really helps when it comes to spontaneous sounds and moods. Dans main influence is Jack White, playing erratic fuzzing octaving solos like no bodies business that can last up to ten minutes, if your into it that is.
How would you introduce The Modes to your potential new listeners?
Firstly we have been told that we are what The Black Keys should have been, strictly duo and blues heavy. One of our songs we play in our set is called 10/12, the whole song is improv/a jam, this is also how we approach songwriting. As this is a very important process for us, we thought we would like to take this a step further and write/jam a new song every set, so every gig as its own uniqueness. We use this opportunity there’s aways something new happening, you won’t be bored.
Your single ‘Risk Taker’ is officially out. What were the main inspirations for this song? How was the song born?
This song just came from a Jam one day, it was mainly the riff and then wrote the rest of the song around it. We are not sure how we up with the lyrics, it’s started off as a melody and then just sang what ever sound the most provocative. The main riff has a quite odd feel to it, lots of tension and relief. The whole song uses a lot of in sync simplistic stabs.
What makes The Modes stand out amongst other bands on the scene?
We have people wondering how two dudes can make that much noise with only a drum kit, guitar and synths. With a bunch of our songs on our live EP, out 12th July, we really play of each other, using hand signals across the stage to each other to trigger parts of the song, running from instrument to instrument and trying to get to them on time, throwing plectrums and drum sticks at each other, this can create quite an intense feel on stage.
What’s your approach to your live shows? How do you make them memorable?
All of the above.
In your opinion, what are the benefits of being a duo in comparison to traditional four- or five-piece bands?
Straight up the benefits of a duo would be the ease of communication/creativity, simple. I think it would pretty hard to hand signal to four other dudes to go into half time in 3/4 in the next bar and then out again.
What’s the biggest goal you ideally want to achieve with The Modes?
End game, every summer festival. What better then to get high off your nut and watch two dudes jam their tits off.
Q & A With Rock Britain Music Blog http://rockbritain.com/2014/06/19/getting-to-know-the-modes/