Cleargreen | Rebellion | Manchester | Interview | 16/06/17

On Friday night, Rebellion Bar held an event to celebrate the single Joy which was recently released by alternative hip hop group, The Moods and will be featured on their future album Missing Peace. I attended the event to see the upcoming band Cleargreen perform as support for the headliners. Other artists who showed their support were Gas Panic and John Reynolds.

Cleargreen were the second act to take to the stage. Their sound is an eclectic mixture of many different genres, one minute they appear to have taken influences from Oasis and within the same song you can hear aspects of The Jam along with features of Everything Everything. The mixture of these genres pulls together extremely well and the diversity is mirrored by the individual appearance of each member, they all have their own unique style both aesthetically and musically, this makes the group stand out and undeniably works in their favour. The Mancunian quartet opened with their song Washing Machine, a seemingly alternative title to an extraordinary track, everything from the unusual lyrics "...throw my life into a washing machine..." to the lively music is captivating and definitely drew in a good audience. By this point in their set the venue was already buzzing and fans were chanting "...We are green, We are green..." which only lifted the atmosphere even more. Next up was the song Cozener, a slightly more mellow track which still makes you want to dance and sing along, this song, along with one of the groups slower tracks I Wish That I Was Rock And Roll, can be listened to on Spotify and SoundCloud. The group continued their performance as energy continued to fill the venue. They closed their set with future hit Stargazed, this track will be released as a single over the coming months, and I can almost garuntee it will be a success. After the group closed their set I was lucky enough to have a quick conversation with them and ask them a few questions regarding their new single and any other plans they have for the future. The band is made up of Ali Staley on vocals/lead guitar, Tyrone Heeley on Drums, Liam McIver on bass guitar and Jack Blair on lead guitar. Where do you take inspiration from, as I can see you have a great mixture of genres within your style of music? Liam Main one for me is The Stone Roses, to be honest, it's the only band I listen to Ali Anything really, Roses, we've all got different like, I like Bob Dylan and stuff like that Liam Obviously Oasis Ali Well that goes without saying Jack I'm just the mod, I just like, well I don't just like modern stuff. I like a mix of like everything. Any particular bands? Liam Everything Everything *looking at Jack* Jack Well Everything Everything, just bands like Tame Impala, stuff like that really and obviously what these have said so Stone Roses, Oasis Ali Kendrick Lamar as well, number one *jack laughs* Do you think you take a lot of influence from Manchester groups then? Liam Oh yeah, Happy Mondays and shit like that Ali At the end of the day it's irrelevant where they're from, as long as the tunes are good, then the tunes are good How did you meet and come together to form a band? Ali Me and Jack and Ty, well I've known Ty since we were like kids and me and Jack went to the same secondary school and Liam got recommended to us through The Dantevilles so we just got on to him and it's like a match made in heaven. Liam Then we became Cleargreen

Tell me more about the single which is due to be released? Liam It's an absolute fucking tune *all laugh* Liam It's called Stargazed, with a d on the end Ali It'll be September, well we've not got a date set for it yet Jack Everything's there, it's just a matter of when not if really, like we've got a video, we've got a recording, we've got everything sorted out its just... Ali ... Deciding a date and then sorting a venue out and doing a launch gig really *Tyrone walks into the room* Liam Here he is Tyrone I've been looking for you, I lost you Ali well you're here now

If you could tour and go anywhere to perform where would you most like to visit? Tyrone Amsterdam *laughs* Liam Amsterdam, that would be a good one. Cali-forn-i-a Jack Anywhere that's warmer than Manchester, apart from you [to Ali] you don't agree with the sun Ali Anywhere, to play anywhere would be a blessing, you know what I mean Tyrone I'd like to play in Japan Ali Japan, yeah Tyrone or the southern coast of America, Columbia or something like that *others laugh* Liam Nah, anywhere that'll have us Are you playing any festivals over summer and are there any gigs you're particularly looking forward to? Jack We're doing Sonder Fest at Ruby Lounge on the first of July Liam Blackthorn Fest, Bolton Food Festival Ali We're quite busy upto like September, got a few festivals Tyrone we've got that gig for the charity in Wigan Jack Yeah, next Saturday we're playing a gig in Wigan for a charity night for the Manchester attack, so that'll be nice Is there anything else you'd like to say before we finish? Liam we've got a number one coming out *all laugh* Liam In about a year, and it's gonna blow everyone's head off, its called Steal You Ali We played it tonight Liam It's the acoustic one Me Last time I saw you perform I was with my Mum and I think she quite liked that track Ali It is a bit of one for the mums Liam Its good though, a proper tune

It seems that Cleargreen have a lot lined up over the coming months, so I wouldn't be shocked if you're lucky enough to come across the band over summer. The new group are one to look out for and they put on a great show, you can find them at Sonder Fest in Manchester on 1st July, as well as at Blackthorn Fest and Bolton Food Fest as well as at many other venues in the coming weeks and months. Also keep your eye out for their single launch because that gig will be a blast. Liv X

#REBELLION #CLEARGREEN