We’re sat outside Cielo’s coffee in Leeds city centre, where FURR guitarist and vocalist Jack Byrne works, when we notice a couple wearing the band’s shirt walking past us towards the venue where they’re playing tonight. “Hey!” guitarist Sam Jackson shouts, “If you say you’re here to see us, they’ll only charge you a fiver instead of what you’re paying in on the door”. They’ve already got tickets, but thank him for the offer anyway before heading off towards the gig. Jackson turns back to me and pauses for a minute. We’ve been talking about balancing a DIY ethic with the financial responsibilities of being an adult, and it’s a point that’s causing a lot of discussion in the band. “I get anxious and stressed,” he concedes, “because I care about this. A lot.”

It may have just been coincidence, but it best summed up the message taken away from meeting FURR. Collectively, they exemplify the creativity of the DIY scene at its best, collaborating resources to produce, mix, master and release their own music independently. They’ve had plenty of experience in developing as a band, having met as room-mates whilst studying together at Leeds College of Music and playing together under the name Humans As Ornaments.

Latching onto the tail-end of Leeds’ nu-grunge revival, the group pedalled their Dinosaur Pile-Up and Weezer inspired riffs around the north of England for the last four years, recording and releasing their material entirely on their own. “To date we haven’t had to pay for anything we’ve recorded, because we just record it where we work,” Byrne says “It gives us one less thing to worry about, give us a bit more control, and that’s handy.”

2016 marked a new start for the band. It wasn’t anything to do with their line-up – Byrne, Jackson, bassist Guy Read and drummer John Reads had all been together since the start -, instead a more natural and pragmatic evolution. “Would you ever remember the name ‘Humans As Ornaments’?” asks Jackson. Reads agrees. “We’d get called ‘Hummus As Ornaments’. Or it’d be “what’s the name of your band? Humans ornaments?” Furr. It’s got two R’s. That’s it. Monosyllabic”.

Relaunching themselves as FURR has seen the band take on a new life of energy and enthusiasm. “We’ve got to the point where we’ve got more material, than we can play in a set,” says Read, “and we started out at a point where we were trying to stretch out our sets. Now we have to cut two or three songs just to play a set.”

And giving themselves an overhaul has also given them a confidence to talk about new subject matters. New single ‘Padlocks’, a fuzz-filled energetic hybrid of grunge-pop, delves into the anxieties and apprehension felt in “being sure – but not certain – of something important to you” in a relationship. In making music for themselves and not for any audience, FURR found a place for themselves in Leeds’ vibrant DIY scene.

“I think we’re lucky to have gotten through this path really, to have enough collective knowledge about recording and performing to get to this stage where we can record,” Read says, “I think we’re lucky that we’ve had the resources that we have.” Byrne agrees. “It’s so easy for young bands to just get together enough money, hire a venue out, it feels very personal as a city.”

Jackson is also pragmatic about the realities of reconciling a DIY ethic with financial struggles. “If you can’t afford to pay rent, it doesn’t matter what you want to achieve.” Jackson reasons, “You’re fucked. If music isn’t your job, then it’s the best hobby in the world, and if it ever turns into a job, it’ll be the best job in the world. But I’m quite happy with it being the best hobby in the world.” Or, as Read puts it “I quite like having central heating. It’s quite a nice comfort.”

With a vault of riffs to demo, talks of a winter tour and a future EP, FURR look like they have future plans to make their hobby something more than just that. But in this moment, the band are buzzing about their upcoming single and the gig they’ll play later. “We’re at a stage where we’ve got a set full of stuff that we all genuinely like” says Read.

For all our talks about money, ethics and name changes, it’s business as usual for FURR; play shows, have fun and enjoy themselves. Right now, that’s all it really needs to be. FURR are looking to take their experience and enjoyment as far as they possibly can together, one gig at a time.

Furr’s new single ‘Padlocks’ is out now and available for digital download now.