Aqualine are a young indie band from Guildford, UK who have developed their own unique sound that mixes lofi rap, electro indie and shoegaze in a way that’s all their own. With their new video and single ‘Tomb’ they’re staking their claim to be the next UK breakout indie band.
indieRepublik: How did you come up with the name Aqualine?
Aqualine: From the beginning, we always had a dreamy floaty sound, and the theme of water seemed to capture the way we flow between genres in a kind of borderless state. Although we have developed to have a grungier sound, we have kept that ethereal quality and most importantly the foundation of mixing between numerous genres.
The second half of the name ‘line’ is derived from following a path or a journey. We always went on long drives late at night and dreamed of making music our whole life. That idea of chasing one option in life felt like taking the right road or dancing the ‘line’ of destiny if you will. Thus, forming Aqualine.
indieRepublik: How did you get together as a band?
Ben (singer): Patrick and I went to the same primary school in a little town called Cranleigh. It was only in Secondary school however when we decided to form a band. Patrick who had developed a burning passion for guitar was seeking out a singer, he then approached me (Ben) as I was in the boys’ choir.
The first day we properly hung out was at Patrick’s house, we wrote a song instantly and discovered we had great musical chemistry. We asked a guitar teacher at our secondary school if they knew any guitarist who would like to join the band, and we found Will who seemed to fit in with us instantly.
After playing together for a couple of years with some great friends of ours we found ourselves in search of a Bassist and Drummer who wanted to commit to the band long-term. After putting flyers up in the local area Gray our Bassist and Sam our drummer, both studying at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, reached out to take their rightful places! The five of us have been playing together for over a year now.
indieRepublik: How does the songwriting process work for you / in your band?
Ben (singer): Generally, Patrick and I write the music and present it to the band, everyone then adds their own flare, and we develop the details as a band. We start with bringing a song, some chord progressions or the beginnings of a demo that we’ve written in our spare time to a writing session.
We focus on the acoustic version of the song first, as we feel it’s important to solidify the core of the song this way. We bounce ideas back and forth with each other to develop vocal melodies and a loose structure and then share the emotions it evokes with each other. From this I go away and write the lyrics and Patrick writes the guitar arrangements. Then we put together a solid demo and the band learn it.
indieRepublik: If your music was a movie, which genre would it be in?
Aqualine: We feel it needs a wacky obscure genre to suit our quirkiness. Something along the lines of ‘Supernatural mind-bending romantic action thriller’.
indieRepublik: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Aqualine: We draw inspiration from other alternative bands and upcoming musicians, we’ve been really inspired by bands like Geese, Momma, Lime Garden, Murder capital, DIIV and Junodream recently. The subject of our songs tend to be inspired by experiences and emotions. In our upcoming EP ‘Lurker’ the themes of intrusive voices and negative thoughts and the battle of trying to confront these as burdens are very prevalent.
indieRepublik: What music do you listen to when you’re touring?
Aqualine: As a band we listen to everything together. We have recently been listening to a lot of James Holden, Frost Children, Auto lux, The Smile, Olivia Rodrigo and Dominic Fike. But we mix it all in with songs from all genres from country to dubstep to classical to Jazz.
indieRepublik: What was the last concert you went to?
Aqualine: A few of us saw the amazing Fever Rouge most recently at the Green Door Store in Brighton, then we saw Lipfiller a week before that at the Victoria in London who crushed it, and a couple weeks back we witnessed an outstanding night of The Smile and James Holden at Ali Pali. We feel like it’s important to see live music as a band for inspiration and to learn, its also great to enjoy music live as a group without the pressure of playing!
indieRepublik: What was the nicest compliment you’ve ever been given?
Aqualine: One time after we played at ‘The Finsbury’ in London a member of another band that night said we are ‘the next big thing’ which is crazy, and after our headline show in Brighton recently we had a member of the crowd who is also a musician say ‘that was the best live set in Brighton I’ve ever seen’ which was a massive compliment!
indieRepublik: How would you define indie? What do you personally think it means?
Sam (Drummer): I always viewed indie as independent, so people not mainstream, doing it their own way, and growing.
Patrick (Guitar): It’s now more of a big umbrella for lots of sub genres, all quite DIY and most importantly, full of insane vibes.
indieRepublik: What do you like most about indieRepublik?
Aqualine: We love the fact that you are giving bands and artists, small upcoming bands like us, amazing exposure and a chance to share information. Especially stuff that not everyone would be aware of if it wasn’t for these really cool questions. It’s blogs and labels like ‘IndieRepublik’ that give a platform for young aspiring musicians, its super important for music everywhere all round the world.
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