Tragic are three uncompromising and worldly teenagers. Their grunge-punk self-titled debut EP is brimming with life, and everyone who has heard/seen them so far immediately joins the fan club. There’s simply no denying they’re here to shake things up. New Boots speaks to singer/guitarist Cameron Godfrey about how we got here.
How did you guys get together?
Me and Lewis were bored of all the music we were listening to and playing at the time, and then we found the culture of punk and we found it as a convenient release from all the stresses of life. A way to let out what we are thinking and feeling without words; leaving it all behind us so we could have a happier day. Then when Will joined the band and we played our first gig at the Garibaldi Hotel we realised we can use that feeling of release and share it with everyone who listens and comes to see us live. And that became what we strive to do with everything to this day.
How would you describe your sound?
Post-punk/90s grunge. We love bands such as Nirvana, Idles, Metz, Wire, Joy Division and Surf Curse, but we’re also big fans of Chicago and Portishead.
What was the reaction like to the ‘Walking’ single, and the video too? We saw quite a lot of video shares last month…
We were massively surprised by about the amount of support we were getting from it, and it made us feel like we were part of something so much bigger than three teens jamming in my garage.
Tell us about this self-titled EP.
This EP is our first EP, showing our earlier work when the band started, as we recorded it soon after. It’s a raw representation of what we think is pulling people down in their lives, such as toxic media. We our very proud of what we have accomplished with this EP, and are ready to show everyone what else we can do. It was recorded with Jay Russell at Parlour Studios, who did an amazing job and was so easy to work with and may be one of the nicest people I know.
You like to get out there and play live as often. What’s makes for a good Tragic live show?
A good show for me is when were all looking at each other at the end drenched in sweat, tired as fuck and knowing that we enjoyed ourselves, knowing we have accomplished something. It doesn’t matter to us what the audience thinks of us; the only thing that matters to me is knowing that we have played the best we can – and we just hope that they have as much fun as we do.
Any favourite bands to play with?
Blood-Visions is way up at the top of our list of favourite bands to play with, but we also fucking love playing with Nailbreaker – he’s such an easy person to work with, and is such a lovely guy.
What has been your favourite band moment of 2019?
At the last Garibaldi Hotel show in November, when everyone sang back the lyrics to ‘Walking’. It was the most surreal experience of my life.
What was the last album you bought/streamed?
Sessions (live) by Pond
What is your burning desire for the band to do in the future? What plans do you have?
Our plans are to spread the word, and keep releasing and making music because it’s what we love to do and it’s a beautiful thing when you have the freedom to do this. With all the technology we have we will be making music no matter how much money we have.
The Tragic EP is out now via the usual digital platforms. Tonight [Dec 13th] they play The Lab with Skirt and Ex-Pets.
