Hiya Pomona Park, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Chris – I love the feeling of performing live, and even more so the feeling when people sing your own songs back to you. I also love the journey songs take from me writing them to some messy guitar, eventually ending up as a fully produced track. There’s also something exciting about being honest lyrically then opening that up to anyone who wants to listen.
Aaron – yeah pretty much the same as Chris. The live performances of songs that you’ve spent hours working on and everyone is enjoying and singing along makes all the time worthwhile.
Introduce us to you all and your musical history.
Hello I’m Chris, Lead Singer, Guitarist and Songwriter in Pomona Park. I have a very musical family so I’ve always been exposed to different genres of music. I got a guitar when I was about 14 and taught myself whilst singing along to tracks and eventually jumped on the YouTube cover hype which then gave me the confidence to start performing live and writing my own material! Bobby and I then started a band in school called Common Tree Frogs, then we reunited in 2021 as Pomona Park.
Hey Im James, the Lead Guitarist for Pomona Park. I started out with music in high school playing drums and being really into rock and metal music, which seems a far cry away from the indie-pop kind of music we play now! During uni I moved more towards indie music, Arctic Monkeys, Catfish and the Bottlemen, think every late teens early twenties indie playlist. I couldn’t bring the drums with me to uni, so I moved to playing bass for a while before finally getting a guitar for christmas and not looking back. I’ve been in one or two musical projects before, but Pomona Park has been the first one to really take off and I’m excited to see what this new year brings for us!
Hi I am Aaron the drummer for Pomona Park. I started music playing clarinet at school and progressed to the saxophone and eventually tried my hand at drumming. I took to the drums as I love the noise! I play a lot of jazz music on the saxophone in multiple bands around the north west and I had tried getting into a good band with the drums, but nothing really appealed to me over the years so I mostly played in my bedroom with my headphones on. At work I met Chris and we enjoyed the same style of music and decided to get together and try a few things and I really liked the songs Chris writes. The story telling is great and love the riffs.
Hello, I’m Bobby the bassist. After several failed attempts at learning guitar I became interested in the bass after seeing Flea play in the music video for ‘Under the Bridge’. It’s far from the most impressive of his bass lines but I loved how solid and powerful the bass sounded; the fact there were only four strings was also appealing. It was great to play because most people learn the guitar and everyone always needs a bassist, which was the case with the first band Chris and I were in, the Common Tree Frogs. Following that, I played casually on my own but could never really get motivated until we started again with Pomona Park years later. Nothing beats playing in a band together!
What’s the live music scene like in Manchester right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
The Manchester music scene is (as ever) jam packed with an absolute raft of talent. Gigs aren’t hard to come by and we’ve played with some amazing artists over the past few months/years. We recently played with Gathering of Strangers and they were brilliant. Really catchy tunes with a tight live performance. There’s also a really young band called Sunstate that supported us last year and we were really impressed with them. For such a young band their music is really mature and they’re really tight as a 4 piece.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
The industry is a bit of a mess in my opinion. Without backing or a shake of the old money tree, it seems near impossible to get anywhere. We all have good full time jobs which fortunately allows us to continue recording and releasing music, but at some stage this becomes unsustainable if numbers aren’t growing. There are plenty of promoters out there who are helping and putting money back into musician’s pockets but without some serious investment I find it hard to believe you can churn out song after song; writing, recording, mixing, mastering, distributing, plugging, and PR consistently. The frustrating part is once you’ve started, you can’t stop. Momentum is everything.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
We are probably a couple of levels below this year’s breakout bands. I expect the likes of M60, Alex Spencer, Pentire to really break ground over the next few months/this year and I suspect we’re a level or 2 below them in terms of popularity. We’d love a support slot though!! We believe our music is as good as anyone’s. We just need to get it heard and then back it up relentlessly with hits.
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
One of us has sausage rolls for Christmas dinner – T
One of us has vinegar on our pancakes pancakes – T
One of us is vegan – F
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
Not particularly no. We’re all pretty easy going and we don’t tend to take sides on the controversial things people worry about nowadays. Other than the odd political debate at rehearsal we tend to not weigh in on things we don’t know enough about. It’s kind of like when actors and musicians give an acceptance speech and start preaching to people about things, have a day off mate.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not, why not?
If the moon ain’t made of cheese, then I don’t know what to believe anymore.
There’s no way aliens weren’t involved with the pyramids. Conspiracy theories are the best kind of theories because you don’t need to go through the hassle of getting evidence!
What was your best experience on stage?
I think our first headline show we played Manchester Club Academy just after releasing our debut single Overdrink. The crowd sang it all the way through and it blew our minds. My dad recorded it and I still watch the video sometimes when I’m low on motivation.
What was your worst experience on stage?
Probably when the set was about to start and my pedalboard broke. I had to swiftly reroute a load of cables. Good job i’m a spark!
Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Chris – I really enjoy musicals haha, I love the storytelling in the songs and you hear some of the most insane vocals.
James – I like puzzles and all things math-sy. My personal record for a Rubix cube is 32s although I haven’t tried one in years, so that might be closer to 32 hours now.
Aaron- I’ve never bought a bed frame. I enjoy woodworking and have built my own from scratch twice now.
Bobby – I love Coronation Street. My partner got me into it and now I can’t imagine missing an episode. It’s genuinely hilarious and never fails to crack me up. Favourite character: David Platt.
What are the next steps you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?
We are back in Kempston Street Studio with Alex Quinn in February to record another couple of singles which we’ll release this year. We plan on getting out gigging a whole lot more and all over the country, basically anywhere that will have us. Growth on social media, growth on Spotify, Apple Music etc. We know what we need to do, we just need to execute it.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
Yes! Seasons came out at the back end of 2024 and it’s probably our favourite release yet musically.
Seasons describes the anxious over thinking from the perspective of a single man/woman throughout the Autumn/Winter months. As the weather gets colder, the nights get darker, the SAD (seasonal affective disorder) kicks in; everybody wants a companion. But when the sun comes out again, the nights get shorter, the need for companionship seems to be suppressed. We see throwaway comments on social media like “I just want a boyfriend for the winter”. And the song takes these statements literally and anxiously overthinks what the future holds when the sun comes back out.
What was the recording process like?
We went to Kempston Street Studios in Liverpool to record with Alex Quinn for the first time. We recorded 2 tracks over 4 days, “The Ick” first followed by “Seasons”. The process was really smooth as we had already made strong demos to a click. We basically worked with Alex to fine tune all the parts and add/subtract things to improve the songs. There was a great moment when Bobby recorded the bass in the chorus. We were trying to figure out something melodic and just by accident he played this weird slide thing and that’s what you hear now in the chorus of Seasons.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the tune?
I think the biggest learning curve is to really spend time with the song and make demos. They’re such a useful tool to have and especially when you’re time limited. Invest in an interface and start recording different parts. You can have more than one version, but it gives you a bunch of ideas when you’re sitting in the chair ready to add your part.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
In all honesty, probably not. I think sometimes you can add too much and ruin a song, and with this I think we left it at the right time. We try not to overthink things and Quinny really helped us to know when enough is enough.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
All we’d say is be sure to keep your eyes peeled on our social media. We plan to be really busy in 2025 to be heard by as many people in as many different places as possible!
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