San Francisco – Just Friends

Release Date – 1st August 2020

Record Label – Unsigned

Words: Cerys Hubbard

A modern indie tune reminiscent of The Strokes and Catfish & The Bottlemen.

‘Just Friends’ is the debut single of up and coming Leeds based musician, San Francisco,
who have just 97 monthly listeners on Spotify. It’s the first of several singles to be released this
year, and with his music being described as “high energy”,  ‘Just Friends’ certainly
adheres to this. Greeted by a short ambient opener, before kicking into full guitar bass and drums. Carnage was about to happen. 

When speaking to Iwan, the man behind the mask, he spoke about his influences for the track and what this track means for his future in music.

He said “there were no artists that particularly influenced ‘Just Friends’, but in general, my main influences for music are other indie artists such as The Kooks, The Strokes, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Kasabian.” You can definitely hear elements of the influences listed in the song, from the high energy guitar music of The Strokes to the catchy and relatable lyrics of Catfish & The Bottlemen. I would also say that it’s also somewhat reminiscent of Viola Beach in terms of sound.

The song is almost like a letter to a past relationship, questioning where everything went
wrong, “Was it on your mind to leave more than just friends?” I asked him whether the
song was based on personal experiences or a hypothetical situation and he responded
by saying that it’s based on a personal experience, saying that he finds it hard to write
about things he’s never been through. This makes the song seem more authentic, and
convinces listeners that might have been through a similar experience, that they’re not
alone.

‘Just Friends’ is definitely a taste of what’s to come from this up and coming musician,
saying that the next few tunes will have a similar sound as he wants to start establishing
a fanbase, but he also stated that he hasn’t got an extensive catalogue of songs that
sound like that so isn’t in a dangerous territory of having a bunch of albums that sound
the same. Most importantly, he says he enjoys making music like this and feels as though
it’s what he’s best at, so he will stick to this for the time being and that maybe one day he
would take his music in new directions.