Interview Team Waterpolo

do not play water polo. This, and other shocking news is revealed to Guy Purssell as he chats to frontman Freddie about where they’ve come from and where they’re heading.

Do you play water polo?
*laughs* No we don’t play water polo.

What’s the story behind your name?
Our guitarist made the name. it was a random thing where he wanted to use the word ‘team’ and he wanted a random word following it. And he liked the word water polo – thought it was a bit cool name, as it is a sport that not many people play. But we have our own thing that water is a refreshing, cleansing element, and the polo is also refreshing, cleansing mix. Does that make any sense?

What was your first ever gig like?
It was amazing. It was at a hotel in Preston, where we come from. The crowd was just amazing – a lot of A&R people were there. They were all at the back of the room though and the rest of the crowd was just all our mates who were going mental really. So it was quite easy for us to play

How long was that after you formed?
We got together, three of us, in June 2007. We wrote a few of our songs, and then we started rehearsing as a whole, live band in September and then the first gig was in November. It was roughly two months after we became a proper band.

Who are your influences?
Oh man, it’s a massive wide range from Metal, like Deftones and Rage Against The Machine, to things like Wu Tang Clan and kind of Beastie Boys and Radiohead and other bands too. It is a massive range of different genres.

Which bands do you think don’t deserve the attention they get in the music industry?
Oh man, I don’t know, it’s a hard question. We haven’t been in the industry long enough to tell you a right answer. We’re the new boys. We can’t start picking on bands yet. [The band is tempted by a few suggestions we give them, but do not wish to commit them to anything controversial it seems.]

What is the secret behind your success?
MySpace. They featured us when we made our first 4 songs and because of that feature slot, we had the whole music industry chasing after us. If it wasn’t for that, who knows where we would be now?

Is that your proudest moment, being featured on MySpace?
It is one of them. I think one of the proudest moments we’ve had was playing at gigs, like playing some really big gigs supporting the likes of The Wombats and Supergrass. It happened pretty quickly and it was pretty amazing being on those massive stages playing to thousands of people. That was probably some of the proudest moments for us.

How is the tour going?
Really good. We’re quite tired today. We played in Manchester last night got like two hours sleep and then had to come down here [London’s Brick Lane].

Have you ever gone searching for 4-leaved clovers?
I FOUND ONE! I found a 4-leaved clover like two years ago in Wales. I actually kept it as well and put it in my bag. But it dried and died. And by the time, I got it out of my bag, it didn’t look like a 4-leaved clover anymore so no-one believed me but I did find a 4-leaved clover.

Did you make a wish?
No I didn’t, are you supposed to? I didn’t know you were supposed to. I just thought it was really good luck and I thought ‘oh cool’.

What are your plans for the future?
Straight away after this tour, we are playing with the Wombats again on 5 shows [3 in London, one in Edinburgh and Glasgow]. Then we are going to record our album in France in December and January.