Getting to Know… Docksuns | Interview 🎤

For the 84^th interview on The Musical Hype, guitarist Steve provides insight on behalf of  Sunderland (England) rock band, Docksuns. 

What’s something that makes Sunderland (England) collective Docksuns standout?  Well, according to one of the band’s guitarist, Steve, it’s the fact that there are three songwriters within the band.  He adds, “…lots of musical influences and songwriting abilities, combined with the input from the other members, creates an exciting musical environment.” Awesome.  Steve serves as the representative for the band, answering our burning questions on the 84^th interview in The Musical Hype’s Getting to Know… series.  As always, we become ‘woke’ thanks to great insight into the band’s craft.  Who makes up Docksuns? Well, in addition to Steve on guitar, we have James (vocals), Neil (lead guitar), Adam (bass), and Glenn (drums).  Without further ado, we proudly present Getting to Know… Docksuns: Interview #84.

Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with Docksuns, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off? 

Steve (guitar): Personally, I think that having 3 songwriters in the band makes us distinctively different from other bands. Having 3 [songwriters], lots of musical influences and songwriting abilities, combined with the input from the other members, creates an exciting musical environment.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Docksuns form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?  

Steve: James (vocals) and Neil (lead guitar) started writing songs back in 2013 and have been consistently doing so for the last 7 years. Docksuns were formed with the addition of Steve (guitar), Adam (bass) and Glenn (drums) at the start of 2019. Starting off we had visions of playing big named festivals etc. but our main goal is to play Glastonbury in a Sunderland shirt!  After a year of gigging and learning about the music industry, with the knowledge we’ve gained, it’s opened our minds in how we approach reaching our goals and what steps we need to take to get to where we want to be.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?  

Steve: We aim to keep gigging as much as we can up and down the country and then hopefully progress to play in Europe.  We will continue to record as much as we can and we hope to release a music video sometime this year, but the drive to play big named festivals is still there. Hopefully, there’s people out there that likes our music and can makes it happen.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

Steve: We’ve all got different musical influences but we all cross paths with our love with the noughties indie scene. With bands emerging from it such as, Milburn & Arctic Monkeys. But for me, it has to be Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) that has been my biggest influence, I love how diverse he’s songwriting is. Stretching from the deeply psychedelic work he done with Josh Homme in the desert on the Humbug album, to that 70’s sci-fi feel of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

Steve: The list is endless… but it has to be when we played a gig down Manchester. We lugged all of our gear down in the van and took a rowdy crowd down in a minibus. We turned up at the gig to find out the sound engineer had pulled a sicky. We spent about an hour of franticly ringing around to find someone and just say managed to pull together a makeshift sound system, and luckily, being the legend that he is, the Denim Prince (Martin, our manager) stepped in and done a job, which sounded banging btw.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

Steve: Personally speaking, I think the best song we play live has to be “This Is the Last Time”. The energy levels at gigs goes through the roof, with its catchy chorus and high tempo, it really gets the crowed going and if reflects on the band playing live. Our latest recording, “Dancing on the Radio” has been hands down my favorite experience in the studio. As a whole, I think we’ve been a lot more creative and experimental on this recording.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Steve: Our Guitarist (Neil) can change a snapped string in about 20 seconds.

Definitely utilitarian! Closing this thing out, what is Docksuns currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

Steve: Before this global pandemic we were in the process of recording a music video for our new single, but that’s been put on hold. We’re hoping to get back in the studio to do some more recording as soon as we can. 

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Docksuns Socials & Such:

Photo Credits: Docksuns, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype; Icons made by https://www.flaticon.com/authors/freepik (Freepik)