Meet Bristol's premier indie trash quartet The Love Handles, who are descending from the sounds of early garage indie. They channel an anthemic intensity, snarky yet somewhat serious lyricism, a driving rattling rhythm with a melodic twist on an awry discordant wonk. Latest single 'Little Yellow Jacket' was released in November 2021.
Please give our readers a little into of you who are / Sum up your band for me in a few words.
We are and continue to be The Love Handles (Danny Little - vocals & guitar, Elliot Mason - drums & vocals, Ben Monnox - bass, Emile Fedeczko - guitar), Bristol’s premier indie trash band.
When you create music, what is your personal purpose or goal?
We are four pals who have a collective drive to create music with heart-on-sleeve, unashamedly poking fun at the state of things with snark - all the while creating an accessible and energetic sound and live environment.
What impact did the pandemic had on you mentally/creatively and how did you stay motivated throughout it?
Not being able to even see each other when lockdown was imposed definitely slowed the momentum of all we had worked up from at the tail end of 2019. We got by with reworking acoustically and sharing a couple of tracks we recorded remotely before we were allowed back in a room to thrash out some new material that Danny had accumulated, and thrash them out we did. We had a new lease of life when the four of us were able to do that again and now have a whole new batch of songs to show for it.
Tell me about the latest single 'Little Yellow Jacket' – What's it about? What was the process for writing and producing it? What was it inspired by?
Little Yellow Jacket was actually one of the first songs we wrote and has always remained a song that pops up in the setlist. It's about escapism and not waiting around for something that's never going to change. It was made in true The Love Handles fashion - hastily formed from a small idea that is then painstakingly arranged once we had laid down a basic structure. Since it was created early in our existence, it can't hide from the influence of indie bands from the turn of the 2000s to 2010s.
What do you love about Bristol/the Bristol music scene? For us outsiders – best thing to do in Bristol?
Bristol is home to so many friendly faces and a collective diversity, particularly in the music scene. There are a plethora of excellent venues dedicated to live music that are a consistent platform for artists. It's difficult not to feel welcome when playing/watching artists perform. The best thing to do in Bristol is indulge in experiencing these venues and events as it's something we never tire of doing.
If you could be eternally stuck in one year's / decade's music scene, which would it be?
We each have unique music tastes which helps challenge our sound, but we all have a fondness for garage rock bands kicking around in the mid 2000s. So we wouldn't mind having to watch We Are Scientists or Bloc Party perform their debut albums every night.
If we were to look at the artists you are listening to, who would we find on your playlist?
A lot of local Bristol artists for one, Grandmas House, Sapphire Blues, Belishas, The Pleasure Dome to name a few. Otherwise mostly a variety of emerging post-punk. In fact, to close the year we created a playlist of what the four of us had been listening to in 2021 - take a look here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7t7y0nu62wPbyoqlzuZwZr
What's next? What are your plans for 2022?
We feel we are moving on to a new chapter of The Love Handles, exploring more complex sounds and influences to bring a more aggressive, yet typically accessible side to our music. We're in the process of recording demos and working towards new releases, all the while performing whenever we can.