The Covasettes in Interview: Debut Album, returning to Leeds and all things Social Media

Amongst the hubbub and commotion of a stacked Kendall Calling weekend, I managed to take a moment of refuge in the press tent to catch up with Manchester indie-rock darlings The Covasettes ahead of their Friday night set on the Woodlands stage. Chatting all things new music, social media presence and love for Leeds, frontman Chris Buxton and bassist Jamie McIntyre found themselves spilling all their secrets for The Gryphon readers. 

One of the lesser highlighted perks of interviews is that I can get a band to do my job for me. The boys clearly felt emotion and feeling were the salient qualities when they were asked to describe their sound; McIntyre: “Good vibes- there’s a lot of happy songs that are secretly sad songs, but they feel good to listen to” / Buxton: “If you want a happy vibe you’ve got it, but if you want to listen deeper you can be really upset about it” 

Songwriter and frontman Buxton was donning an Oasis shirt, an apt outfit choice considering the band’s Mancunian roots. Despite Buxton being in attendance for the iconic reunion, both Buxton and McIntyre were cautious in lending too much credit to the Gallagher brothers in influencing their energy-filled and guitar-driven discography; McIntyre: “ I guess in the songwriting because they’re [Covasettes songs] simple songs but done well- because the songs always start with Chris’ lyrics and chords and I think there’s definitely an influence on that side of it for Chris. But I’m not sure so much sound wise” 

As the producer for the band, McIntyre is arguably the chief authority for discussing the sonic details of The Covasettes. Whilst often seen as the unconventional route to production, McIntyre holds strong that having the producer being a member of the band is advantageous, despite its hardships; McIntyre: “Well it saves us a lot of money. But I also think the best part of it is the fact you’ve got complete control over your own sound, because there’s nothing worse then going in [to the studio] with someone else who doesn’t know how to get that sound and then you go and spend all this time and money just to not be very happy with the product. So, we can work until it ticks every box even if it is very tiring.” 

The exhaustion has been pushed to its upper bounds over the course of the last year as the band have been working on their debut album, a project, whilst unannounced at the time, has been a long time coming for the four-piece; McIntyre: “I mean I’ve been working, working, working on this album that we’re talking about, I don’t know if we’re supposed to be but we are, for the last several months and I’ve not seen sunlight” 

News of the first full-length project will be music to Covasettes fan’s ears, with the band having gained a steady yet devoted following over the course of their 8-year career. When asked about the album and its schedule, Buxton had this to say; “We started in October when we were on tour, and we were meant to have it finished by February. It’s now technically not finished but just about finished. When we say we work until its done we mean we miss every deadline and everything’s always late.” 

Buxton further noted how the band was conscientious of the timescale pressures artists often thrust upon themselves and how they were wary of it impacting the creative process; “I think we didn’t want to succumb to any pressure to get it out or settle. We did it until we were like ‘yes, its done’, which is sometimes a risk but I kind of feel like it all fell into place and wrote itself. We went to a cottage in Macclesfield and wrote it all for a few weekends. It was out the way and there was no internet, and it was very cheap. We wanted that feeling of not doing it broken up or coming in from work and not fully being in it. I feel like when I listen to it I think it holds up and I’m proud of it”

Evidently the Manchester four-piece hold an appreciation for the classic tendencies of a musicianship, retreating into solitude to perfect their craft. However, the group have been firing on all cylinders when it comes to being a modern-day band. Evidence of this can be found in their strong social media presence, including a string of covers and mock football post-match interviews for fans and new listeners alike to sink their teeth into; Buxton: “With the TikTok stuff its good for us, because we don’t necessarily like the way things are going so we kind of thought how can we do it in a way that we actually enjoy, as opposed to doing stuff where you feel like you’ve got to do it. The covers for us were like a fun way to be silly and not take ourselves too seriously because we don’t. I think we’re just getting started with that unfortunately or fortunately”. 

With clear mixed feelings on the music industry’s laser focus on virality and personalities, the boys have managed to reclaim this trend in a way that feels natural to them; McIntyre: “Well the thing with TikTok is that you’ve got to find a way to hook people in, and apparently having Chris and our drummer nose to nose looking like they’re about to snog is quite a good way to hook people in. I don’t even know how we came up with it, but it was just a combination of a ridiculous hook and then saying the wrong song which gets loads of comments.” 

As much as I delight in trying to get artists to do my job for me in interviews, I would ultimately be failing my duties as a University of Leeds student journalist if I didn’t ask the band their feelings on heading east to the Yorkshire city; McIntyre: “We always love Leeds and we always have a good time with Leeds. There’s something about crowds in that part of the north that’s nuts, it’s so much fun! We haven’t announced when we we’ll be back yet, I know the answer to that but yeah, we will be back soon.” 

The Covasettes are many a thing; energetic, proud, vibrant and true. Tight-lipped however, is not one of those things, letting slip news of an upcoming album and tour. Whilst this might be maddening to the illusive higher ups of the music industry, it couldn’t be more in line with the sincere nature of these lads, a nature which infects the wonderfully honest songwriting in their tunes. With a set booked at the upcoming Live at Leeds in the City 2025 and a debut album on the way, there is a palpable excitement surrounding the future of The Covasettes.

Words by Daniel Brown