Introducing...Innercity Pirates

Innercity Pirates are all over the airwaves at the moment and have just announced a summer tour with Hadouken!, but this Welsh four piece are not the average indie-cum-pop band you'd expect. Having seen them play a searing live set the night before, it struck us that their eclectic music which flicks from the disco-synth sounds to more melodic tunes full of ‘do-whoops’ and harmonies is very different from the conveyor belt of indie bands. Imbued with variety, they really do have a song to suit everyone and anyone.

Catching up with them in the pub the following day, Gigwise sat down to talk all things musical and beside with the band post-previous night antics which appear to have been drunkenly covering each other in makeup several times over (the traces of which are still faintly visible across their slightly nervous but grinning faces) and picking up an artistically decorated cheese board and matching dinner place mats along the way.

Vocalist/guitarist Russ and synth player Jon are the most bubbly and extrovert of the group and leap in straight away telling the magazine how they got Innercity Pirates together. Before bassist Stephy and sticksman Dave joined the band there were some ups and downs with the first incarnation of the rhythm section which culminated in their departure, but which spurred Innercity Pirates on to brighter things.

All natives of Cardiff, they came across each other via the music scene although Russ reckons his first meeting with Jon was slightly more emotional, “When I first looked into his eyes it was like the first time I listened to The Beatles! I don’t know who these two are”. He gestures at Dave and Stephy who are sat at the other end of the table laughing into their drinks. Russ quips “We met Dave online” to which Dave responds with an indignant look shot at the comic frontman.