Interview with The Covasettes: ‘A band shouldn’t just have one sound’

Manchester-based indie rock band The Covasettes changed musical direction on their last two songs ‘Be Mine’ and ‘Spin’ and have shaken it up once again during lockdown, according to their frontman, Chris Buxton (lead vocals, songwriter and guitar).

‘A band shouldn’t just have one sound,’ he said. ‘You should go where the wind takes you. We like to change it up. The new songs are chill, surfer-style. Eventually, there’ll be a song for everyone! One song we did in lockdown is ‘Forever Talk’, which is a chill indie vibe song, maybe a bit Beach Boys. I won’t say what it’s about as I like people to work that out for themselves [laughs].’

‘Every time we play ‘Be Mine’ at gigs, it gets such a lively reaction and creates a real buzz in the room’

Their latest track, ‘Be Mine’, came out in July and is their rockiest song to date. ‘Every time we play ‘Be Mine’ at gigs, it gets such a lively reaction and creates a real buzz in the room, so when it came to deciding our next single,
‘Be Mine’ was the clear favourite,’ Buxton said. It follows on really well
from ‘Spin’, according to the band, as it has a raw, gritty sound.

The band ‘has so many new songs’, according to Buxton but is holding out to play them live to gauge people’s reactions before putting down more tracks.

The band also consists of Matt Hewlett (lead guitar and vocals), Jamie McIntyre (bass and vocals) and Matt Buckley (drums and percussion).

‘We’ve written so much in lockdown, so that’s a silver lining’

Like other bands, their April tour has been pushed back until February next year. ‘At our age (they’re all 23/24), it’s a lot to lose a year,’ Buxton said. ‘We could go under like some bands or just keep going. We’ve written so much in lockdown, so that’s a silver lining.’

Buxton is a huge fan of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and would love to collaborate with him: “If I could get close enough to smell his breath, that’d be great,’ he said, laughing. ‘I judge myself on Coldplay’s first album (Parachutes). I love his songwriting and their melodies. Growing up, I was a fan of slower rock, so people like Pink Floyd and Damien Rice.’

The band have previously appeared on BBC Radio Manchester and amassed over one million streams on Spotify after featuring on their popular playlists ‘The Indie List’ and ‘Summer Indie’.

(Photo: Chris Buxton is second from left.)