Interview with Feverjaw: ‘Our next song, ‘Bright Burn’, is the strongest from the batch, it’s catchy and anthemic!’

Cardiff-based alternative rock band Feverjaw brought out their latest single ‘Bloodwork’ last month, a punchy and boisterous track that hooks you from the off.

Feverjaw comprises Dale Hawkins (vocals/guitars), Steve Manning (bass) and Lewis Bligh (drums).

‘Bloodwork’ was the first track that they wrote as a collective, according to Hawkins. He and Manning have known each other for years and he met Bligh at work, when Bligh overheard him tell someone he was looking for a drummer.

Hawkins actually wrote ‘Bloodwork’ around three years ago. ‘I try to write about my experiences, so it’s half autobiographical, half fiction. I can’t always find the words for what I’m feeling. The opening riff for ‘Bloodwork’ came first. I had it for a week and thought I can’t put anything to this bloody riff! When I finally got around to it, this melody came into my head.’

‘It was about trying to smack me out of a slump and wake me up’

The line in the song ‘save me, hold it, bring me back to life’ very much reflects how he was feeling at the time, he said: ‘It was about trying to smack me out of a slump and wake me up. I wrote it before ‘Landspeed’ and ‘Arcade’. It was the start of a new batch.’

Other lyrics in ‘Bloodwork’ reinforce this: ‘As the day is dawning, night becomes the morning, you wish this would end, just hold on tight, look for the light to lift you back again, deep down inside us, push, start, remake this.’

‘Arcade’, which came out earlier this year, was put together using Apple’s GarageBand software. ‘I had a shiny new toy,’ he laughed. ‘I had to stop myself adding a whole orchestral section! I decided to put a string section on for the final chorus but I accidentally played the piano too long, so the piano kept going! Without these layers, the song wouldn’t have as much colour as it does. It’s an alt rock stomper. As the song continues, it shows more of itself.’

For Hawkins, ‘Arcade’ is ‘a track that’s almost like two songs but one train of thought’: ‘I think it’s about human connection and holding somebody, maybe it will resonate better now because you can’t just hold a random person. It becomes a yearning when you can’t have it. There’ll be spontaneous, serial hugging going around after Covid, won’t there? The song speaks more maybe on a musical level with all the layers, it kind of feels soothing after the build up, which is thundering, and then the words dissolve around you at that moment.’

He writes the music first – typically the chords on his guitar – but says that ‘sometimes words will inadvertently attach themselves to the melody but sometimes you are forcing yourself to make decisions’. He’s also happy for people to interpret their songs in any way they see fit: ‘If a song helps or gives you comfort when you’re having a shit day because you think it means something particular to you, then that’s ok.’

‘It’s the closest I’ve ever got to pop punk’

Cardiff has just entered another lockdown due to a spike in COVID-19 figures, meaning that most people are only leaving home to go to work and for essentials, he said. ‘Now we’re back to where we were in March. We’ve already finished our next track ‘Bright Burn’, which could become the Bright Burn EP. We have around half an album done, although not all the songs are at the same degree of ready, but we could finish it within three weeks. We think this track is the strongest from the batch, it’s catchy and anthemic! It’s got a very distinct lead line, very hooky, it’s very hummable. It’s the closest I’ve ever got to pop punk.’

He cites Weezer as ‘ a big reference point’ for him: ‘Their Blue and Green albums are very much the holy grail for alt rock with punk overtones. I listen to them every year.’

(Photo from left to right: Steve, Dale and Lewis)