East London-based indie five-piece North America present their cinematic new single, Leave Us To Fate.
Rich, warm vocals weave a bittersweet tale of surrendering romance to whatever outcome it’s destined to undergo. Airy soundscapes create a contemplative tone and the dynamic build within the track perfectly portrays the emotionally torn nature of the song.
I had a chat to frontman P.F Phillip to find out more about North America’s influences, how they’ve learnt to run their band like a small company and what they’ve got planned for the next few months…
Hey guys! Can you introduce North America to our readers?
We’re a five-piece indie rock band, obviously from East London!
We met on a music course at Metropolis Studios a few years ago and bonded over our mutual appreciation of trashy American comedy films and pizza, so we started a band and a few of us moved in together too. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time together and so far we don’t hate each other!
Congrats on your new single, Leave Us To Fate. I see you produced it yourselves. What was the writing / recording process like?
Thank you! Yeah, every track we’ve put out so far has been produced by our amazing bass player Sandro, who just so happens to be a producer and mixing engineer wizard, as well as a sick bass player.
The songs are usually written by me (P.F.), then brought to the band to work on, and for everyone to write their parts. Then we go in the studio – first, we record it live as a band, before doing overdubs and adding new parts, instruments, and just trying to build on it as much as we can without losing the band feel.
What were the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome as a band?
I’d say one of the main challenges we’ve faced and still face is trying to stick to the deadlines and goals we set ourselves, as we have to juggle other jobs and activities around the band.
A new band is almost like a start-up company these days – there’s so much more to it than just writing songs and playing shows, and it can get pretty overwhelming at times. But we definitely give it as much as we can, and overall I think we’re doing a good job at managing everything.
If you could tour with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Probably The Strokes! They’re a sick band and I think we’d get along quite well too. If not them, Mac DeMarco looks like he’d be a lot of fun to be on tour with as he’s just a hilarious guy, so he’s up there on the list too.
What’s coming up next for North America? Any live shows coming up?
We’re recording our debut EP at the moment and and it’s our first time working with an external producer, which is really exciting for us. So far it’s been amazing and we can’t wait to get the songs finished!
On the live front, we should be announcing our last London show of 2019 on our socials soon, so watch that space if you wanna catch us live before the new year.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Current faves are Angel Olsen’s, Wilco’s, and Brittany Howard’s new albums, all amazing and definitely worth checking out!
