Freeda follow in their footsteps

BLUES-INSPIRED indie rock . . . Freeda

SELF-proclaimed 'blues inspired indie-rock' band Freeda are proud of their Mossley roots - it is a town they believe is currently churning out some of the best new music around.

Freeda - frontman Sean Rowles, guitarist Callum Hignett, bassist Adam Barton, rhythm guitarist Cameron Meekums-Spence and drummer Adam Jackson - were only dreamt up seven months ago, but already they look well on their way to hopefully following in the footsteps of anarchic fellow townies Cabbage and Proletariat.

Rowles said: "It's been 20 years or more since Oasis came out, before that it was 30 years since guitar music first came out, but Mossley really is a hot-spot for it right now.

"There's so much talent in Mossley at the moment.

"There are a few pubs in the town that put music on, but there are just so many talented people here.

"Maybe because it's quite small everyone seems to come together. Lots of people are putting ideas together and it's happening.

"Everybody has probably passed through the Rising Sun at some point or other.

"We've all seen one another play at that particular pub. It's a kind of meeting ground for everyone.

"That's how people get to know one another and that's how bands form, and Mossley is a real hot-spot for talent at this very moment."

Freeda are currently fresh from a cracking gig at Manchester's Band on the Wall last weekend, while just last month they released a hugely impressive, self-recorded three-track EP featuring title track 'Voodoo', 'See the sun' and 'Now you're gone'.

Response

"The response (to the EP release) has been alright, in fact it's been surprisingly good," added Rowles.

"It shocked me to be honest.

"In the past, whenever we've released stuff as a band, friends and people we know have liked it, but this time we've had people who've never heard us before liking it.

"There have been people from other countries saying to us 'wow, this is good'.

"We've got it on Spotify now, which is good too."

Another EP release is already being worked on by the Freeda lads, with determination among the group strong that they can enjoy a degree of success, whenever that might come along.

Barton said: "We have been through this a lot before.

"We've released EPs before lots of times over the last four years - under a different name of course - but then we just kind of let them fizzle. This time we're not, though.

"We're older now and we're not prepared to do that this time.

"We want to do loads and loads of gigs and though it's not necessarily a dream, if we're still playing Night and Day and Band on the Wall in 10 years time, we'll still be doing it.

"This is just what we love doing."

As well as the recording, much attention is also now being thrust towards rehearsing for the next big Manchester gig, at the Castle, for promoters Double Denim, on September 30.

"We'll probably sell it out," said Hignett.

"We have known bands that have played there and apparently it is a good venue.

"When we released the EP we sent it out to a few places, and Double Denim got in touch about the Castle.

"It's good because they also asked us to play a return show, if you like, up in Leeds the week after. That's where Double Denim is based."

Check out Freeda's Facebook page for all the latest information regarding gig dates and new releases.