I am very happy to have had a "virtual chat" with Brodie (vocals) and Lewis (drums) from Bristol's new up and coming band Cuffs. They just released their new single "You make me sick" and I can't wait to hear what else they have in store for us!!!
I am hoping to see them live at Attitude Festival 2021 at the Exchange Bristol - so fingers crossed it will go ahead!!
Please give us a little intro about your band.
Brodie: Our name is Cuffs and we’re a modern punk band from Bristol. We don’t bite our tongues when it comes to our songs and we definitely don’t bite our tongues when it comes to live shows either.
You're not all originally from Bristol - what makes this place special for you?
Lewis: If you really want to, you can play a gig every night in Bristol. There's so many great venues and opportunities for us, we don't have back home. Bristol enables us to do what we love most.
Brodie: Bristol is a hub for all music of all genres, and one of the most multicultural cities in the UK. It’s beautiful. The towns we’re from have a fair bit of that ‘small town state of mind’ that seems to rear its head in most places. Bristol is the complete opposite of that. We love this fucking place.
How did you come up with the band name 'Cuffs'??
Brodie: There’s two answers to this. The first is that we’re a fairly political band and Cuffs is essentially derived from the word “handcuffs”, which is a form of restraint, and symbolises what we write about. The second is that Brodie wears dickies trousers and rolls up the bottoms of them. You’ll probably will never see me in a pair of tight jeans!
Lewis: Cuffs is a symbol for an unjustified use of restraint; social, emotional, chemical psychological and physical.
You all met as students - What’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
Brodie: Running through the fields of wheat. Nah just kidding. Lewis did a stage dive from the balcony down to the bar in Mothers Ruin, Bristol, when we played there for free for all festival. We didn’t think much of it, until looking back at the footage and saw the horror on the people who just intended to have quiet drink at The Ruin. That was probably a bit naughty. (Shout out to Mothers Ruin - we love you!)
Lewis: I’m not going to bait myself with the worse trouble we’ve got into! But yeah that Mothers Ruin show was wild!
Give us one fact that no one knows about you.
Brodie: We argue a fair bit. We’re all best mates and we get along a lot of the time, but we piss each other off constantly. It does sort of help the agenda of our music though. We rub each other up the wrong way, which makes our shows and songs all the more intense.
Lewis: I write poetry in my spare time.
You are described as the newest sound in British punk – in your opinion what makes you different from other punk bands?
Lewis: We don't try and follow any method or model we just do what has always come naturally to us, so our music remains organic. I'm sure loads of bands do that too, but we aren't trying to be anyone else, but we aren't trying too hard to be different either.
Brodie: We hope that people see our music is genuine. We really care about what we’re saying, and we mean every fucking word, note and beat of it.
What inspires you? / Do you have any hobbies that you turn to to rejuvenate your creativity?
Brodie: I paint a lot. It’s a large form of expression for me. Sometimes, it’s hard to put into words how you feel about something, so I paint it, then get inspiration from that.
Lewis: Although it's in the same vein as what we do, I love watching old live performances from bands I like. That always makes me want to play and write. If you watch a sick live show or better yet you go to a really good gig, you leave thinking wow I need to work harder.
Your latest song “You make me sick” is aimed at people who think sexual harassment is ok – is there a story behind that song and why did you feel it was important to write a song about it?
Brodie: We constantly hear stories of sexual harassment and assault from people. It happens so often, to the point that if you aren’t angry about it, you are part of the problem. You Make Me Sick is about that. It doesn’t matter who you are. You Make Me Sick is a message to anyone who ignores that disgusting behaviour, and especially a message to the scum that commit these acts of pure selfishness and violence.
Lewis: Fuck anyone that think it's okay to touch someone without their permission or to speak to or about anyone in a demeaning or disinhibited way. I can't see any excuse for it.
Chek out the video for the latest single here:
You are still a very young band and I read that you did gig relentlessly – how are you coping with the physical and mental demands that comes with touring?
Brodie: Obviously we haven’t gigged for a while, but when we do, the main thing is rest. Not getting enough rest is the worst thing any band can do when playing shows. Our gigs are fast paced and constantly bouncing. They’re basically raves with punk music. Staying hydrated and getting enough sleep is key.
Lewis: Injuries aches and strains etc come with the territory we like to push the boundaries with what we do with live shows and we know the risk we take but we'd never encourage anyone else to do those things but if they want to that's great. For me, I always know the risk involved and that's my choice to make.
What’s next? Plans for 2021?
Brodie: If we can gig, we definitely will be, as much as we possibly can! We’re all getting cabin fever from having not played for so long. We’ll definitely be releasing more new music and we’ll definitely be burning the candle from both ends.