It’s a noisy, busy Saturday night at Headrow House tonight, and we’re sat in Fizzy Blood’s tiny dressing room surrounded by crisps, cookies, and beer. Paul Howell and Ciaran Scanlon chat about the very beginnings for Fizzy Blood as well as their most recent projects and the band’s future.
Paul (guitarist and vocalist) first started the band back in January 2014 with Benji, a former bandmate from a previous life. They both wanted to carry on making music after that band had run it’s course. Advertising around Leeds College of Music, Jake Greenway (drummer) was the first person to respond. The success of bringing him on led to Ciaran and Tim getting involved too. Ciaran laughs: “Jake rang me up and said ‘hey, do you want to play bass with Fizzy? Can you learn a set in a week?’”
Influenced by a variety of bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and Tiger Cub, the band have different tastes of music. Paul tells us that he loves artists who are storytellers, like Frank Ocean.
When Fizzy Blood first started, they booked their own gigs and “played to about five people in pubs”. They started to get help from promotion companies, and their following has continued to develop since then. Tonight they’re celebrating because it is their first sold out home town headliner. But it’s festivals where Fizzy Blood have noticed the biggest progression. Says Ciaran: “When we played Tramlines for the first time, we literally played in front of three or four people, and when we went back last time, people were wearing our merch and singing our songs”.
Fizzy Blood have played the South by South West festival in Austin, Texas twice. “The first time we went we had the time of our lives, but the second time didn’t capture the magic the same.” Sipping their beer and sinking further into the sofa, Paul and Ciaran are clearly comfortable with their progress as a band. “We were asked to go back this year, which we are really grateful for, but we have the ball rolling in the UK now, so we wanted to concentrate on that”.
