Hailing from Bridlington in the north of England, Seafret are an up-and-coming singer songwriter duo for whom 2015 has been an impressive year. The duo already have the notable CV of opening for renowned artists such as James Bay, Jake Bugg and Hozier, and now they can add a brand new album to that list. We interviewed them in Bristol at Rise Records, on the day of their debut album release, Tell Me It’s Real.
What were your first impressions of each other when you met?
Jack: I was very impressed by Harry. He was 15 and playing the banjo and we were both playing at an open mic night. It was pretty cool, it was different and different is cool.
Harry: Jack was playing for his first time in front of anyone, and when I heard him sing I immediately thought we could do something here. It was love at first sight!
Did you find adjusting to London difficult after moving from Bridlington?
Jack: It was strange. We grew up in Bridlington, and there’s not a lot there. Its amazing here though, we have the opportunity to go to gigs and bands, and party every night if we want!
Harry: Which you can’t really do in Bridlington.
Jack: We’ve got about three pubs there.
Harry: And they’re all a bit dodgy.
“we started experimenting with different sounds and it was addictive”
Do you think your overall sound has changed over time?
Harry: Definitely! When we started we wanted to keep it just as stripped back as we could, just acoustic guitar and vocal for about a year. Then we started experimenting with different sounds and it was addictive. We didn’t want to just stay in that box.
What are your plans for touring following the new album?
Harry: It’s going to be a busy year. We’re going to be in the van for a lot of miles.
Jack: March will be the UK and Europe tour –
Jack: We were talking about how many miles we’ve travelled. We did one tour just up and down and that was around 3000, it was hours and hours in the car.
Harry: Get the tunes cranked up and a couple of beers!
Jack: Bromances falling apart… Just kidding, we never argue.
“I did have a little cry, I was proud”
Who would you cite as your biggest inspirations for your music?
Harry: For me, there’s a guy called John Martyn. As soon as I heard him play guitar I wanted to pick it up too, so he was my biggest inspiration. Growing up with my dad I listened to a lot of blues.
Jack: I got into Bob Dylan, Jack White, people like that. I liked Michael Jackson when I was younger.
Harry: Maybe we could moonwalk?
Jack: Yeah I got my moonwalk down for when the time comes, could be tonight, who knows?!
Your song ‘Wildfire’ was recently included in the film The Longest Ride, how did it all come about?
Jack: We went over there to all the different film companies we were asked to play in Warner, Universal, Lion Studios, which was very intimidating. We literally just had to go into an office with the guitar, no microphone no nothing.
Harry: With all the top music producers there, it was crazy. It was an amazing experience but very scary.
Jack: And then we got a call saying they wanted to use our song in this film, as it fit the movie perfectly.
Harry: It was right at the end, the best place it could have been. I watched it on the plane.
Jack: You had a little cry didn’t you?
Harry: I did have a little cry, I was proud. I did enjoy the film though.
What was it like working with Maisie Williams for the ‘Oceans’ music video?
Jack: It was insane, we just got a tweet by her saying “I love Seafret”. She’d heard the song, and the director who we were working with for the video contacted her. Two weeks later we were on set, and it was incredible. It was really cool being there. I love doing videos, you can be creative all over again.
If you were an ice cream flavour, which flavour would you be?
Jack: I’d be mint-choc-chip because it’s got the word mint in it. We love the word mint, we use it if something is really good, like “that’s mint that is”.
Harry: I’d be mint-choc-chip as well.
Jack: No you’d be my little blueberry mate.
Harry: What, no! You’d be my little blueberry.
Jack: Mint-choc-chip with a blueberry? Sounds quite nice.
by Ana Khot and Hannah Klair
