Brite Spires: New Oxford band set their sights on fame

Fronted by the dynamic Clare Violet, the band are the antidote to a scene stuffed full of identikit indie bands and predictably generic pop.

While relative newcomers, Brite Spires have already made a splash, with a thumbs up by this newspaper, a ‘demo of the month’ in Oxford’s esteemed free music mag Nightshift, and the support of Dave Gilyeat of BBC Introducing in Oxford.

The city’s newest band take to the stage at the Jericho Tavern, Oxford, on Saturday night for a show that promises to be just a little bit special.

The show comes as they release their debut single Pale In LA, for which they star in a glitzy video.

With musical references from Depeche Mode and New Order to St Etienne – or Blossoms, St. Vincent and Wolf Alice – depending on what generation you are from, Brite Spires are one of a growing trend of female-fronted break-through bands – and Clare is the perfect star with a unique and gripping voice complimented by cool catwalk style.

After a few one woman shows around Oxford last year, she has the perfect platform for success with Brite Spires alongside Drew Atkinson, Cal Brumhead and Matt Gilbert, who have been busy rehearsing at Oxford’s Glasshouse Studios.

So what can we expect from the show?

“New music!” says Claire. “We’re so fresh, this will be the first time these songs have been played on stage.

“That’s what makes it so exciting for us. We have no preconceptions as to how the songs will go down and how people will respond.

“Hopefully it will feel like a party more than a gig.”

Picture by Elisabetta Vacchetto

And while they are just beginning, they have their sights set on big things. “We are going for the top,” she laughs.

“We want the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. I’ve not been before so am waiting for the invite before I go. They need more female stars, so ‘hello!’”

Drew, who, along with Cal, cut his teeth with local 60s-inspired Mod-rockers The Anydays says the band are electro and rock.

“I write on guitar but then try and make sounds that don’t match what you’d expect from a Fender Jaguar,” he says. “You’ve got Johnny Marr who has already mastered that so I am trying to do something different!”

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He goes on: “I am playing and writing songs that people interact with, dance to, get excited by and appreciate.”

Matt elaborates: “I guess me and Cal have more of a groove thing going on than your standard bass and drums rhythm sections, which make us more electro than rock.

“That being said we do it all live and loud against a rhythm track – so we get that big sound.”

So how did the band get together?

“Well we got together in March this year properly as a four piece and have really clicked musically since then,” says Cal.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but essentially me and Drew were getting some songs together last year that were heading in a guitar direction, so we changed it up a bit with new arrangements and electronic sounds, found Clare and Matt, and then everything fell into place, pretty much from the first rehearsal.”

And why the name?

“That came from Bandnamegenerator.com!” jokes Drew.

“Well not quite, but given this has happened so quickly, we didn’t spend too much time thinking of names. It’s a good one though and references our home town and style to some extent.”

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With Glastonbury firmly in the sights of the four piece, the band acknowledge their place in the vanguard of female-fronted rock, a topic highlighted by the festival hosting 43 per cent female acts. That compares to Reading Festival’s average of just five percent.

Does Clare think people will look back at 2019 as being a watershed moment for female artistes?

“I certainly believe things have got a whole lot better in the last year or two,” she says. “The music industry is finally catching up with the other arts.

“Where us girls used to be the exception – PJ Harvey, Bjork, Florence + The Machine, for example – now we are getting even with the boys!

“So many bands we love are out there touring, be it Stealing Sheep, St. Vincent, Chvrches, Anna Calvi, Haim, Big Moon, She Drew the Gun... the list goes on!”

Is there a danger that it could be seen as tokenism?

“Well, possibly,” she concedes. “I mean, the all-female Queen Tut stage at TRSMT had good intentions, but why not just put girl bands on with the guys? We don’t bite!”

Drew admits to having seen a huge change in attitudes to women in bands since his time in the The Anydays?

“Definitely,” he says. “Most of our changing rooms were the men’s cubicles!

Picture by Elisabetta Vacchetto

“Once we shared a dressing room with Sophie Ellis Bextor when we played Cornbury Festival’s main stage. We all left fairly quickly and sheepishly. I felt bad for her. Now it’s common for not only the performers but also tech and DJs to be women.”

And having served with Cal in The Anydays, what made them want to be in a band second time around?

“I guess firstly we missed making and performing music,” he says.

“We kind of have it in our blood. That power pop sound, quite basic and raw, was fun and easy to record and gig.

“But this time we wanted to stretch ourselves. Plus not enough people danced to 60s inspired Mod rock!”

Brite Spires play The Jericho Tavern on Saturday.

Tickets in advance from EventBrite, or pay on the door. Pale in LA is out now (i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify).