An interview with ‘Sounds Mint’

Interviewer: Ruby Corrigan

On the 25th March, despite illness all around, I caught up with the up and coming indie-punk band ‘Sounds Mint’ to chat about everything from the making of the band, to their dream festival lineup.

So first do you mind all introducing yourselves for us ?

Hi, I’m Rudy, I’m the drummer in ‘Sounds Mint’.

I’m Robby and I play guitar.

I’m Layla and I’m the bassist.

I’m Kelvin, I write the words down and uh, scream into a mic.

How did you guys meet, was it school, something else – and has this always been your dream? 

Kelvin: Music’s always been our thing, I think we can agree. Me and Rudy were in a band that started in 2017 or something and then ended in 2020 and we were like ah man, we need to keep doing this. Let’s take this into our own hands. So we started making tunes in my bedroom, we made like six tunes. We were inspired, we were hungry, it all just felt really right.

We knew Robby from ages ago. He was in a music video for our old band and he’s always been someone we’ve been in touch with. SO when we were looking for a guitarist we didn’t have to look very far. We met Layla in the studio, she was assisting the sound engineer but she learnt all the bass lines and was really vibing. So it all came together like that really.

Rudy: It was a bit crazy, but we managed to settle on us four in the end.

That’s interesting, you hear a lot about bands forming at school but it seems very different for you guys.

Kelvin: Yeah, it meant we were a lot more free in how we came together to make music.

Rudy: Also I think we all struggle academically so I don’t think we would have met down that pathway.

Layla: Well speak for yourself.

Rudy: Yeah I mean, Layla studied law so…

Who or what inspired you to come together to make music? And who would you say are your biggest musical influences? 

Rudy: Me and Layla would probably say we’re inspired by ourselves.

Layla: Yeah.

Rudy: Not in an arrogant way, I think we all just came together through a shared love of making music, that’s what inspires us.

Kelvin: I think for me, I always have to look back to when I was thirteen or something and who made me fall in love with music. A big one for me has to be Zack De la Rocha from ‘Rage Against the Machine’. Just cause he was someone who looked like me and was making alternative music, and saying important things that need to be addressed. I grew up in an environment where y’know, everyone wanted to be a rapper and I had bars but I was also a musician. I was playing guitar, playing bass, I grew up learning instruments so I was definitely looking for a way to do that.

Robby: I grew up listening to a lot of punk, my dad used to listen to that. And then I got into metal, I really love metal music.

Layla: I grew up doing classical music, so this is kinda my introduction to this type of music. Obviously I listened to not just classical music growing up but like I’d say this is the first time I’ve made, or wanted to make this kind of music. I listened to a lot of, I don’t know, R&B.

Rudy: I don’t really feel like Layla puts on tunes that much, I need to know what you listen to.

Layla: I keep it secret.

Kelvin: Layla listens to R&B, now we know. Ruby this is an exclusive, we didn’t even know this!

Brilliant, so I really do have an exclusive!

Rudy: One more thing, I used to go to sleep as a baby listening to dub-reggae so I feel like groove was just in me from when I was little.

Your music is heavily political, what in particular motivated you to explore this path of music?

Kelvin: Listening to people who had an angst made me really fall in love with music and I resonated with that angst, especially the punk movement from the 70s and 80s. I don’t know just listening to what made me feel alive made me think okay, I HAVE to pass this down to my generation. As a song writer my job is to make a time capsule of the world and just put into words what everyone is going through.

I’m a very chill person, but there are just things going on that feel right to speak about.

Do you think there is a real need for punk at the moment?

Rudy: Yes, yeah, this is the time for it. People have things they wanna get off their chest and now is the time for people to listen and relate to it.

An important question for me has to be did the E.P ‘idea’ come first, or was it shaped by the material you already had? 

Kelvin: It was the songs first, a few of them were the first songs we ever made. A few were from after we played more shows together and really developed our sound as a live band. It’s a great way if seeing the journey we’ve been on musically. We started off very stripped back and then people just joined in and it shows.

Rudy: It came from a time of experimentation. There’s some solid differences within the E.P – it doesn’t necessarily sound like we’ve gone into one studio with one producer and recorded it all within a few weeks, it’s different people, different studios, different places in London and us working with whatever we had in that moment.

Kelvin: The name really captures the era we’re from as well.

Rudy: Yeah, we’ve got other songs where Kelvin’s called it something like ‘microsoft word’. It’s always some weird reference to our youth.

A big thing for you guys last year was supporting blur – how did you find that experience? Do you feel like it has affected your following in any way? 

Kelvin: Those big gigs definitely exposed us to more people who like our music. i think it was so nice to see people who love a massive band, resonate with our music too, it was definitely a big motivator.

Rudy: If you look on our spotify, we played those two big gigs in Dublin and in Lucca, Italy and we now have a strong amount of listeners from both of those areas, so we can definitely see the translation.

If you could cast your dream festival, who would you choose for your three headliners ? 

Kelvin: Dead or alive?

Any, it’s your dream!

Rudy: ‘James Brown’, I think hes the best performer that ever existed, ‘Fela Kuti’ and my last one would have to be either ‘Led Zeppelin’ or ‘The Who’.

Kelvin: Imagine that at Glasto, unreal. For me it would be ‘Rage Against the Machine’, ‘Joy Division’ and ‘Nirvana’. If I saw that, it would be the best concert I’ve ever been to.

Layla: I don’t know who I’d pick, that’s tricky, who would Rob go with? Let him go first.

Robby: Probably like, ‘Young Thug’, ‘Mayhem’ and probably like ‘Fetty Wap’.

Kelvin: wooooow

Robby: Also a band from Sweden called ‘Marduk’.

Layla: I wanna see ‘Paramore’, ‘Nickelback’ and I’d say ‘Nirvana’, I love ‘Nirvana’.

Kelvin: Honorary mention for ‘Slipknot’ and ‘Bloc Party’!

Layla: Ugh you guys have said some good ones.

Do you have any advice for budding musician trying to break out in the industry ?

Layla: Be assertive, don’t let anyone walk all over you.

Rudy: Be a boss bitch.
Layla: Yeah, be a boss. Walk into every room like you know what you’re doing. DOn’t be arrogant, but be confident and assertive.

Rudy: Stay humble and work hard.

Kelvin: Yeah work hard, be on it, stay diligent, keep playing shows and making music. You’ve just gotta make it happen.

Finally, what’s coming next for the band? 

Rudy: We’ve got a second E.P coming out this year, it’s wrapped up, it’s ready to go and that;s gonna be with you very soon. And then hopefully some record company will give us half a million pounds and we can record the best album that’s ever been made.

Kelvin: That’s the plan!

Rudy: but yeah E.P 2 will definitely be coming out and then hopefully a headline show.

Kelvin: Or a headline tour.

Rudy: Yeah a headline tour of all our favourite cities.

Kelvin: Onwards and Upwards for us!

Well those are all the questions I have for today!

Kelvin: Ah Ruby, thanks for chatting.

Rudy: Thank you for putting up with our madness.

Thank you for making it work considering you’re all unwell.

All: No problem!

Rest up and get well soon!

Stream ‘Sounds Mint”s Debut E.P ‘Club Penguin’ below.

Album art: Dennis Branko