Soul band on the rise

Photo: MIKE McARDLE

BELTING out the songs, Krys James, left, and Andy King.

THERE'S a certain excitement surrounding Tuscan Sun, and though the highly-rated 'neo-soul' outfit are merely enjoying just playing together at present, maybe the time is almost right to make that next step.

Tuscan Sun - frontman Krys James, bassist Andy King, lead guitarist Ali Thurston and drummer Wayne Hutchins - have only been together for six months, but already they're causing a stir.

Their original tunes are kind to the ears and they've just sold out back-to-back gigs at Dave Flint's Shure 5 Studios set-up in Royton.

The four lads just enjoy being up there on stage, it would appear.

Drummer Hutchins said: "The original plan was to just get together, enjoy playing, and treat it as a hobby. But as we're getting more and more popularity, it's pushing our confidence up.

"We're going to take this thing as far as we can.

"We'd like to get on the festival stages next year, but for this year it's just about establishing ourselves, getting heard, and getting our album out there.

"Long term there's that amazing thought of getting signed, you never know, but for now we're just enjoying it and getting the live experience.

"Performing live is where you get the buzz from."

Tuscan Sun featured at the Lowry Food Festival last weekend, they are due to support Jess Kemp at Manchester's Live Rooms soon, and are then hoping to spread their wings later in the year by organising their own 'mini-tour'.

As for their sound, however, and what exactly 'neo-soul' encompassed, frontman James offered his thoughts.

He said: "Neo-soul is a mix of soul and R&B really. You can hear it from people like Lauren Hill and maybe Maroon 5.

"With the Christians' influence of soulful singing, we kind of wanted to incorporate that.

"We do have that love of soul, though without the trumpet and saxophone, so we've done it on the cheap basically.

"It is contemporary soul, though."

Fans will hear much more from the band later in the year when the plan is to release and EP and later, an album.

A visit to Studio Studio in Rochdale could be on the cards, but wherever Tuscan Sun end up recording, they've got plenty of great material tucked up their sleeves.

James added: "We've got 11 songs that are album ready, and we could probably push that to 15.

"Having said that, we don't want to sell ourselves out too soon.

"We'd rather do a shorter album that does us justice really, as opposed to pushing it and putting out songs that maybe we don't all believe in."

Keep up to date with the exciting Tuscan Sun goings-on by logging onto the band's Facebook page.