JUDAS are gaining a reputation around London, playing a multitude of venues in the process. Their anthemic tracks and energetic performances recall the swagger of Oasis. They have been endorsed by Premier League footballer Peter Crouch. Before their set, I spoke to John (singer), James (bass), and Todd (guitarist) (Drummer Sam couldn’t make it as he went to get some food) in their small, smoky tour van. This set the backdrop for an intimate down to earth interview.
The Indiependent: Can you tell me how you guys formed?
John: How we formed? We formed almost a year ago now. I moved to London and found these lads (James, Sam, and Todd) just all looking for bands and looking for the same goal.
James: Online, through friends and all that.
John: 21st Century band. We got Todd through Tinder!
The Indiependent: Really?
Todd: I just sucked some dick, really. (laughs)
The Indiependent: Have you guys played The Good Ship before?
John: Yep. We’ve played The Good Ship a few times, and we’re based in London so we play London quite often. We’re based in Camden in North London so it’s a hometown gig for us, really.
The Indiependent: Oh awesome. What other venues in Camden have you played?
John: We’ve probably played them all. We played KOKO, which was really good, a couple of weeks ago, which was big.
James: We’ve got a gig at the Hawley Arms next week.
John: Yep. We’ve got a gig at the Hawley Arms on the 30th, a Halloween Special. We’ll be dressing up for that, if you fancy coming to that, get your costume on, and we’ll be headlining that.
The Indiependent: Oh wow!
John: Put that in your interview!
The Indiependent: What can we expect from your set, and how are you feeling ahead of it?
Todd: What can we expect? Explosions! No, it’s gonna be a highly energetic set with some good songs, and hopefully people will dig what we have to offer.
The Indiependent: Nice. You mentioned that you’ve played nearly every venue in Camden. What’s the reaction been like to your shows?
John: Really good, we’re getting a bit of a following now. So we’ve got fans coming along, singing along which is always good. And erm, yeah, getting a pretty good reaction from the industry, which is pretty good, 10/10.
The Indiependent: What do you guys get up to on tour? Any hilarious anecdotes?
Todd + James: Oh no!
John: Go on James, you can take the towel for this one.
James: Most of it we don’t remember. That’s probably a good thing!
John: We had a fire extinguisher fight, didn’t we?
James: Yeah we did, we shot ourselves in the face with a fire extinguisher. It was fun for about five minutes and then…
John: Everyone was soaked, and the whole place was trashed! It was very rock n’ roll of us, very cliché in fact.
The Indiependent: Nice. Before I came down to London, I listened to your tracks and they are big, anthemic, and really really catchy. So, what’s your approach to songwriting?
John: Literally if people can’t sing it back, then don’t put it in the song. Literally, we just try to be as catchy as we can.
James: It’s gotta be the thing that sticks in your head until you get annoyed.
John: But still being quite cool and rocky or whatever.
The Indiependent: One of your tracks got played on Soccer AM, which one was it?
John: Youth Of the Young Age. That was good, we played live on Soccer AM which was amazing.
The Indiependent: Oh wow, what was that like?
John: it was quite good, it was quite nerve-wracking at first but we just had to deal with it and get on with it.
The Indiependent: I remember a few years ago The Pigeon Detectives played live on Soccer AM, what’s it like actually playing onstage?
John: It’s amazing especially when you see the whole set in real life, it’s so different to what you’d expect it to be.
James: Everyone was so down to earth and friendly, everyone who works there is great. You didn’t feel like you were in a business or television situation, it was just like “ahh I’m fine,” then you get offstage.
John: It was more of a joke kinda thing.
The Indiependent: That’s just the Soccer AM atmosphere. I went down to the Sky studios (for a college trip) and I saw Rocket (Soccer AM crew member) casually coming out and doing keepy-uppies.
John: They actually come to our gigs, the Soccer AM people.
The Indiependent: Oh wow!
John: Dev and Tubes (Soccer AM crew members) are our biggest fans.
The Indiependent: That’s amazing! How did you guys get in touch with Peter Crouch?
John: Well I’m related to him, so it’s an honour really. (John is the brother of Crouch’s wife Abbie Clancy).
The Indiependent: That’s cool. Which other bands excite you in the London indie scene?
John: We like Redhouse Glory, they’re epic. They’re playing on the 30th in Hawley with us, you should check them out, they’re really good. Who else did we see that was really good? That band the other night were good, weren’t they? What were they called? They were a bit like JAWS remember?
Todd: Oh in the Monarch? I can’t remember what they were called but there was some really hot chick head banging to them, it made them so much better! (laughs)
John: it’s so annoying that I can’t remember them. Redhouse Glory I’d say were the best ones we’ve played with so far in London.
James: Glass Caves were really good but they’re based in York, they’re great.
John: Glass Caves are our mates, we’ve played with them they’re really good. Crows, listen to them, they’re good.
The Indiependent: Yeah, I’ll definitely check them out. My last question is who have you guys been listening to at the minute?
John: What’s the name of the band we supported? Starsailor?
All: Yeah!
James: We supported them a couple of weeks ago, it’s just been 24/7 Starsailor!
The Indiependent: What was it like supporting Starsailor?
John: it was amazing, so much fun!
James: Amazing.
Todd: Awesome atmosphere.
John: It’s nice to play in front of a big crowd, instead of the Good Ship, ten people. (All laugh)
The Indiependent: Oh wow that’s awesome. That’s all my questions.
John: Oh perfect, thank you so much!
Interview conducted by Ermis Madikopoulos