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”.

Fizzy Blood have two EPs under their belt, with ‘Feast’ in 2015 and ‘Summer of Luv’ in 2017. Continuing their positive direction, we asked them if recent single release ‘CFO’ is a hint that a full album might be on the way. “Don’t read too much into the signs – there’s going to be a lot of new stuff coming out, in fact it’s the best stuff we’ve ever written and CFO is a taste of what’s to come”.

Most of their ideas appear to come from Paul, although this is in part due to the difficulty of getting together, as they’re often in different areas of the country. Nevertheless, they are dedicated to sharing ideas, and join up for writing sessions, not just rehearsals.

Though being in a band means having a lot of fun and doing what you love, it’s also intense. A full-time job without the full-time wage: “It’s also hard to balance life and finances, whilst also maintaining relationships with friends and family”.

Before starting their own tour, Fizzy Blood ran a twelve date tour with Spring King. “We were toying with the idea of doing another tour after this one, but we aren’t going to do it now.” The next steps for Fizzy Blood are to take a bit of chill time, write some music, make some videos and come up with new ideas.

A recent tweet from Fizzy Blood stated that they will play some old songs for the last time in a long time tonight – perhaps never again.  They’re aware that fans love the old material as much as the new. “We play them because people want to hear them – some kids last night were having the time of their lives, one fan slapped their hands on to their face like the shocked emoji and shouted to his friends “they’re playing that song! They’re playing that song!”

Meeting Fizzy Blood, it’s clear that they’re a hardworking band, who will no doubt become grow in popularity in the future. Their continued commitment to growing their reputation within the UK is admirable and these boys are an inspiration to other local upcoming bands.

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Fizzy Blood Live:

MAY
05 LEEDS, Live at Leeds
06 NEWCASTLE, Hit The North Festival
12 LONDON, Hanwell Hootie

JULY
26 DERBYSHIRE, Y Not Festival