Getting to Know… Point Clear | Interview 🎤

Be prepared to be totally compelled with the 145^th interview in our Getting to Know… series, courtesy of the eclectic band, Point Clear.

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think we’ve got a distinct sound – it’s a mix of our collective styles and influences and I think it comes together to make something quite special, kind of like a sonic marble cake if you can imagine that. Awesome 🎙 Point Clear – AWESOME! Folks be prepared to be blown away not only by this band, but also the interview at hand – quite detailed and incredibly insightful and intriguing! Point Clear is comprised of four guys: 🎙 Jamie Pottinger (vocals, guitar), 🎙 Josh Ivory Wood (guitar, backing vocals), 🎙 Benji “Ben” Cranmer (bass) and 🎙 Matt Hinton (drums). Josh answers on behalf of the band (and does a ‘bang up’ job). Enough background already! Let’s let Josh/Point Clear speak for themselves! Without further ado, here’s Getting to Know… Point Clear: Interview 🎤 # 145! /otw_shortcode_dropcap]

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Starting things off right, for those who may not be familiar with Point Clear, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off? 

🎤 I think we’ve got a distinct sound – it’s a mix of our collective styles and influences and I think it comes together to make something quite special, kind of like a sonic marble cake if you can imagine that.  The variety in the music means we like to think that there’s a bit of something for everyone, no matter your preference. Jamie’s got a talent for writing a decent hook too so the tracks get in your head – we have running jokes about which of the other tracks we can sing to replace the one that’s been stuck in our heads all day. I mean that in a good way.

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

🎤 The band was essentially formed from the ashes of another when the first drummer, Ivo, met up with Jamie who was keen to get a band behind his originals project. He’d been playing in covers bands for years and finally felt it was time to spread his wings and break away from the warm bosom of covers.  Ivo then introduced Ben and myself (Josh) and the project was underway. Me and Ben have been in bands together since school and had been playing with Ivo for a few years too so, we already had really good chemistry and Jamie’s presence and energy meant he was a natural fit. We thought the music was good and we gelled well, so we entered a battle of the bands for the experience.

We got there expecting an informal shamble, like BOTB usually are, but it was super well organized with a panel of judges, stage crew and a local TV channel filming the event and doing interviews. There was a real variety of music that night and all the acts were great – which made the feeling of winning the competition even greater!  In 2017, when Ivo had to move back to Portugal, we were lucky enough to find our drummer Matt in time for the Point Clear poker to still be sizzling hot. A brilliant addition to the team, Matt brought passion and drive and a real go-get-‘em attitude which has definitely been a huge part of our success thus far.  Early on, we didn’t think too far ahead of the music, and playing a few shows but as we played more, we were spurred on by the feedback to do as much as we can with it.  Now we’ve released two music videos and this November we released our EP, 💿 Far and Wide, which has had awesome feedback (links to it on all major platforms below!).

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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?

🎤 I think the more we’ve grown as a band the more we’ve gained an appreciation for what it takes to be an artist on the virtual world stage (our Instagram and Facebook are @pointclearband!).  We had initially started out enjoying music and playing local small gigs, but this has now also moved into the realms of strategizing on social media optimization and gaining most online traction.  We work hard on this and making contact with event organizers and networking which has landed us some really cool festival slots and have had radio play across the country.  We’ve also had plays all over the world on our EP, which is a really cool feeling!

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

🎤 Jamie’s hard-hitting sound is reminiscent of the man who influenced him: Stevie Ray Vaughn. He plays his Strat with heavy hands through an amp from the 70’s, giving him a distinctive bright and punchy tone. He also loves bands like Rage Against the Machine and Beastie Boys which come out on many of the tracks, mixing clean blues melodies with big heavy rock drops his style is definitely his own.  Aside from that, there are a lot of tracks that are much softer and really make use of space, creating a sort of transcendental resonance. It keeps things interesting and engaging having a varied catalogue of music to work with and develop. I’d really like to think it keeps audiences engaged too.

Matt’s got a cool open-handed traditional grip like the drummer in the film 📽 That Thing You Do with Liv Tyler. I don’t really know why the style stuck with me but when Matt busted it out, I thought to myself: Yea, that’s cool!  He takes his drumming very seriously and pens down notes and ideas we come up with when rehearsing – which is one of the famously great pieces of advice that no one ever follows! He’s an international student of the New York Jazz Drummer, Daniel Glass.  He’s influenced by Steve Copeland (The Police), Omar Hakim & John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and he plays with an upbeat and energetic groove!

I was mostly inspired by the Les Paul guys like Slash, Jimmy Page, Scott Gorham – there was something about the way they sounded and looked that I found just so impossibly cool. To this day stuff comes up on my Instagram feed or YouTube and I just think ‘fuck me, that’s so cool.’ So, whilst trying somewhat to be my own version of this I also hope I’ve developed something near my own style in the shadow of these guys.

Ben’s got a rich variation of influences, he’s really versatile when it comes to bringing his sound to a track. He’s been a big thrash metal fan all his life and loves anything with a drop to the floor gallop tone, so when he stomps on the big muff it’s a serious sound – but being a big Duff fan too, his bass lines are clean and floatingly melodious when it’s called for. It’s one of the things that keeps us out of being too far in any particular box as a band, I think.

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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. 

🎤 Ben went to the wrong venue once.  They’re sister venues with similar names – one in Bishop Stortford the other in St. Albans. Luckily though, he went to the closer one in error, so it was just a detour. But he really went there, he was inside talking to the sound guy and the other bands before it twigged.  He made the right show in time though and it was all good.  Jamie has a history of electrocution via microphone, which has caused worried faces among sound engineers on a few occasions and mine is avoiding electrocution by pints of beer spilled down my amp. I had a mouldy pedal case for a while once where it bore the brunt of a hoppy spill. Other than that, our shows have gone mostly as planned.

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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? 

🎤 Personally, I love to play 🎵 “Throwback to You” – it’s a real foot-stomper and really builds to a big finish, it just seems to keep gathering momentum.  It’ll be on the album so keep an eye open for that!  🎵 “Hit and Run”, the opening track to the EP, is one of Jamie’s favorites, it’s a real upbeat jumpy song and he can’t keep his feet on the ground when we play it! 🎵 “Aint Gonna Change Ya”, another one for the album, which you’ll be able to come and hear us play live as soon as possible! It’s another really upbeat track that’s got a lot going on.

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

🎤 Jamie is self-nominated for a Michelin star for his prided spag bol recipe – I’ve had it, it’s good! But what’s more impressive and perhaps a little worrying is the precision and consistency with which he chops his veg.  Aside from building cars and motorbikes he loves to have a scratch around with his metal detector on foggy Sunday mornings – apparently you can tell what he’s dreaming about by the frequency of his snoring.

Ben is an avid gamer and accomplished thespian and I’m pretty sure he’s got the biggest tie-dye wardrobe of any metalhead ever.  His hidden talent is having a mind like Sheldon Cooper when it comes to music and has bailed me out so many times when I’ve totally forgotten what I’m doing.

Matt is a keen photographer, which has come in handy for band photo shoots. He’s also enjoys sharing his photos of other bands we’ve played gigs with, which has helped us build up our network with other local bangs.

I am low key in awe and a little jealous of Ben’s dexterity and accuracy with a paintbrush – his Space Marines look better than the poster and being an Airfix modeller I would love to bring the same caliber of skill to my builds. I’ve been working on a model of the HMS Victory… for about 10 years…

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

🎤 We’re currently promoting our EP [iTunes; Apple Music; Spotify; Amazon], trying to spread the word as many times around the world as we can.  We’re really proud of how it’s turned out and the feedback has blown us away so far!  We’re hoping to line-up some online virtual gigs in the near future so that’s exciting too- watch this space! Other than that, while we’re not gigging, we’re trying to build our online presence and looking forward to when we can get on stage again!

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[📷: Point Clear, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype; Icons made by https://www.flaticon.com/authors/freepik (Freepik)]

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