Getting to Know… Riveryard | Interview 🎤

Manchester indie-rock trio Riveryard serve as the subjects of the 110^th interview in our ever-colorful & informative Getting to Know… series.

“The balance of Dom’s elegant finely tuned guitar tones against the powerful bass tones can make some amazing sounds possible.” Sounds appetizing to me Riveryard! The indie-rock trio from Manchester was founded back in 2018 and have been a thing for “roughly two and a half years.” Who are the three individuals that comprise the collective featured in our 110^th interview in the Getting to Know… series? Well, that would be Simon Holdsworth (lead vocals and bass), the aforementioned Dom Jakubiak (backing vocals and guitar), and Lennon Scollick (drums).  As always, with these interviews, we get some great insight into bands we might not be aware of or as familiar with.  But now’s the time to get familiar with these boys! Without further ado, let’s jump right into Getting to Know… Riveryard: Interview #110!

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

I would say our music makes us unique. The balance of Dom’s elegant finely tuned guitar tones against the powerful bass tones can make some amazing sounds possible. And Dom’s way of writing lyrics to fit on top of the music is quite distinct to anything else out there right now. As for rocking the audience’s socks off, we just make sure there’s plenty beer floating around, that always does the trick.

Yes, beer certainly has that effect! Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Riveryard form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

With our current lineup we have been a band for roughly two and a half years. Lennon and Dom were already a part of the band and I joined after their previous singer quit the day before a New Year’s Eve gig. Knowing probably two songs from the whole set, I decided to fill in and the gig went better than expected. Looking at the music industry then we noticed that there was no band or artist that really dominated the indie scene like some had done in the past and we wanted to be that band. We wanted to make our own legacy just as iconic as bands had done before us like The Smiths and Oasis and we have been aiming to do that ever since.

Awesome! 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?

Currently we still haven’t seen any artist truly succeed in getting to the top, so we are still aiming to dominate the indie scene just as our predecessors have done. We also have more of a means to do it now with a catalogue of tunes that have been finely tuned to be the best they can be.

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

We each have our own reasons for getting into music, but we have many joint influences in artists. The Smiths, for example, with Johnny Marr’s chiming guitar melodies making a massive impact on Dom’s songwriting, as has the music of Oasis’ Noel Gallagher. Catfish and the Bottlemen and Arctic monkeys are also a big influence to us.

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.

When we went recording in London with the animal farm, we ended up staying in a hostel to save some money. That was an experience to say the least. We realised that London was similar yet so different to our home city of Manchester. When we went to the local pub we were instantly met with friendly faces and conversation. A few pints down the line the pub was rammed, and we were chatting with everyone, eventually deciding to go clubbing. Me and Lennon were pretty drunk at that point so we got distracted halfway and lost Dom. Presuming he could handle himself we went back to the hostel and passed out. At around 4am he walks in trying but failing to be silent and wakes everyone up and his first words were, “She was a ******** lesbian.”

Oh my! 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? 

I would say my favourite song we’ve recorded would be “I only wish goodbye”, mainly due to the energy and hype we get from playing it. The lyrics are also very meaningful and relatable to me so I can put so much passion into performing it.

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

Special talents? Dom said he can eat an ice cream without getting brain freeze.

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

Currently we have 3 songs waiting to be released, “I’ll find you” being the next one on the 28th August. After the situation with COVID-19 subsides we will be playing as many shows and festivals as we can until our name is signposted on every bill going.

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