We ran a competition, in association with Dragon, to interview and have brunch with Sunset Sons when they were in Newquay for the Boardmasters last week.
The winners, George and Meg (plus bonus mate), dined at the Headland Hotel with the boys, Ben Skinner and us. After various combinations of bacon, egg, sauce, coffee and juices were consumed we sat down for possibly the most tangential, wide ranging “interview” ever. The publishable highlights are below.
There are some deep insights on tattoos, lyrics, the pressing issue of what duvets are measured in and some shocking bad ass rock star behaviour from Rob towards his equipment and Rory’s previously unknown ninja tambourine skills. Also we learn that Jed can multitask, unlike most men, and Pete is all but doomed if he ever shaved his moustache of power…
Huge thanks to the guys for being total stars and the Headland Hotel for tolerating a raucous breakfast shift, made that bit sweeter by a bonus singing of happy birthday by the guys for a young girl at the next table with her family.
Here’s Meg’s Sunset Sons interview.
This isn’t the first time I’d met the band. After interviewing them two years ago at the Compton Martin Cheese and Cider festival when they were hardly known but shortlisted for the BBC’s sound of 2015, it was a great joy to see them again at the Beach Sessions at Boardmasters 2016 and have the chance to have a catch up now that things have rocketed for the band.
Although we arrived with a hangover after seeing Sunset Sons and Pat Smith at the Beach Sessions the previous night, everyone was upbeat about the day and happy to be eating eggs. The boys were as cool as ever and with Ben Skinner in his sunglasses chatting about the surf, the mornings brunch couldn’t have been more ideal. Dragon Alliance was also around to give out gifts of sunglasses that float in water as well as being polarised for the best performance. Here’s what the boys had to say over brunch.
Why did you change your band name from, ‘ The Cheerleaders’ to ‘Sunset Sons’?
Jed: Our name The Cheerleaders came from when we asked if we could play at a gig, we were told we could but only in the half time slot like ‘cheerleaders’ so that’s the name we gave ourselves. We then started to write our own music and wanted to change our name to reflect our change in playing our own music instead of covers.
How do you feel about fans getting the lyrics of your songs tattooed onto themselves?
Rory: It’s pretty cool that people relate to, and feel our lyrics enough to get them inked onto their skin!
Jed: Its weird!
Do you have a favourite song to play?
Pete: My favourite song to play is ‘Blondie’ I love the vibe that it brings to the crowd and its just a fun song to play.
Jed: I love playing Bright Lights.
Rory: For me “Lost Company” is a great song to play cause it is really meaningful to me and the band, we felt that it was a song that really needed depth so we added an orchestra into the mix to create a tune that had loads of capacity to it.
Then we asked Ben Skinner a couple of questions;
Ben, do you feel that there needs to be more education around safety in the water and surfing?
I think that the government is slowly bringing in different schemes to help educate children, the RNLI are doing a lot at the moment to introduce safety at a younger age. There’s always room for improvement, but people need to learn to respect the ocean.
Do you enjoy making your own boards and then riding them?
It makes competing really personal and special as I know my board and how it works, I can make the modifications I need to so that I am at the best of my ability. The board I’ve made for Boardmasters took me two days to make and I’ve been checking the conditions to get it spot on.
We would like to thank Carve Mag, Dragon Alliance, SurfGirl Mag, Ben “SkinDog” Skinner, SunsetSons and their team for an amazing opportunity.
Sunset Sons Signed Merchanise Competition
We have Dragon Alliance sunnies and vest, signed by Sunset Sons to giveaway!
To be in with a chance to win simply email [email protected] with the name of the new Sunset Sons album.
The winner will be announced via our weekly newsletter on Friday 2nd September.
For more on Sunset Sons go to www.sunsetsons.com
To find out about the latest Dragon Alliance range go to http://www.dragonalliance.com
