Interview with Feverjaw: ‘We’re a rock band, we can do catchy but also dirty and faster’

Cardiff-based alt-rock band Feverjaw will release their debut EP, Brightburn, tomorrow (29 Jan), offering four massive tracks alongside an acoustic version of the titular track.

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

The EP comprises five tracks, including the titular song, ‘Wolverines’ and ‘When It Rains’: ‘I had the melody for ‘Brighburn’ but I needed the words,’ Hawkins said, ‘I was in work in the lift on my own and I had a couple of minutes to think. In the lift, I came up with the word ‘brightburn’. I’d been listening to bands like Weezer and I studied a bunch of different songs and thought I knew what a formula looked like. I’m not saying we got it 100% right but I think we’ve made it simple with layers.’

Hawkins acknowledges that his own life seeps into his songs: ‘Sometimes it’s biographical, something that’s happened in my life but with a protective filter. I don’t even know I’m doing it until afterwards. ‘Brightburn’ is my attempt at an early 2000s throwback song. It’s about chasing a goal, the sense that you’ve reached your destination, so it’s about when when you set yourself a target but it’s also from the perspective of someone else trying to attain their own goal.’

‘When It Rains’ features the powerful vocals of Cait Johansen from Cardiff’s alt-rock band Mawpic: ‘It’s actually an original Feverjaw track from four years ago,’ Hawkins said. ‘A friend called Natalie did the vocals, she killed it, it was the best part of the demo but she dropped out after ‘Arcade’ and I settled into it just being my vocals. When the EP was coming together, I thought of Cait and thought what if she sang it? She did it and sent me 12 files, it was amazing. She’d done like main vocals, backing, the harmony underneath and she’d harmonized the harmony!’

The track is actually about Hawkins’ hatred of the rain, which stems from a personal experience. ‘It’s about an experience I had, an old relationship with horrible arguments,’ he said. ‘My house to hers was a 40 minute walk, we lived in the valleys at the time. I was walking to hers and got drenched. I called her when I was halfway there to see if she would pick me up but she wouldn’t! We were still together for a little while after that. It was like swimming in all my clothes.’

Hawkins was adamant that he didn’t want to recycle existing songs for the EP. ‘We’re a rock band, we can do catchy but we can also do dirty and faster,’ he said. ”Wolverines’ came out of the riff. I played it once through and built a song around it. I did a basic demo and sent it to our drummer, Lewis, and he laid down his drum bit. It’s one of the best solos. The whole idea of that track is friends and family sticking together like a pack of wolves in the wild. That’s a message that’s very prudent right now. I wrote it around the time Biden was elected president.’

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