Interview with Hybrid Kid: ‘Our next single, ‘1,2,3’, is about being stuck at work… clock watching until you can get out and play some guitar again’

Brighton-based indie band Hybrid Kid brought out their single ‘Freeze Frame’ in July with another single, ‘1,2,3’, due out later this year.

Hybrid Kid, who have been together for around five years, consists of three ex-art college rockers: Danny Lloyd (guitar/vocals), Tim Sanpher (bass), and Fabio Sclafani (drums), who bring an experimental edge to this band of rock ‘n’ roll travellers.

”I,2,3′ is a song about being stuck at work in a job you don’t want to do, clock watching until you can get out and play some guitar again,’ Lloyd said. The lyrics make that clear: ‘Hold position and wait ’til the evening of the day, I will keep myself enclosed, nothing here has come about, if you feel like lettin’ it out…1,2,3, I can’t believe it, you just can’t mean it, I can’t believe you would lay this on me. You know it’s getting kind of late to be planning your escape, should be heading for the door, instead of sitting on the shelf.’

Their last single, ‘Freeze Frame’, has a completely different feel and is about arguing, according to Lloyd: ‘I saw a road rage incident involving a car and a cyclist, and that started off the idea. On lockdown, everyone seems to be arguing, don’t they?’

Lloyd writes their songs and finds most of his inspiration on trips: ‘It’s just what comes out, I mainly get song ideas when I’m away or if I’m sitting in the car up in the hills, just getting a view.’

They say they’re inspired by the collective history of British music and the traditional three minute song formula.

‘The song tells of a small-town boy’s struggle to escape social conformity’

Their album, The Minor Escapes, came out in January and offers ‘snapshots, observations, about feeling one step removed from all the fast paced stuff going on around me’, according to Lloyd. One track on the album, ‘Dropped’ was ‘written on the sea shore to the backdrop of a pounding ocean, the song tells of a small-town boy’s struggle to escape social conformity’, he said. He describes another track, ‘Kids From Fame’ as being about ‘all the bands these days seeming to come from talent contests or having gone to a certain music college, as if you need to get a degree in pop stardom before you can do this’.

He is a fan of local bands such as post punk band Grasshopper, indie rock band Porridge Radio and punk band Guru. ‘I got heavily into bands like Pavement in the 90’s and then Interpol. If I could collaborate with anyone it would have to be Jimmy Page (guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin), just the way he plays, the riffs are so clever as is his production – and how it pans around your speakers!’