For this week’s deep dive series we are interviewing an amazing UK band: Standing Like Statues.

This popular rock band has recently reached 2k followers on Clapper and over 100k listens on Spotify. Standing Like Statues is formed by 5 amazing rock stars: Jamie (vocalist), Effy (drummer), Nigel (lead guitar), Meitar (rhythm guitar), and Chris (bass player). In this live radio interview, we talked about the beginnings of the band, the source of their inspiration, and what makes them share their content on Clapper. Joining us, Effy and Nigel, tell us their personal stories and journeys to become the musicians they are today.

Make sure to tune in every Friday at 4pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Interviews.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Your name, what instrument do you play, and what inspired you to be a musician.

Nigel

My name is Nigel, I am the lead guitarist. What made me want to be a musician probably was being a teenager at a friends house where they had all sorts of music channels. I watched those and they were bands like Green Day, Pink 182. I heard them so often that I got obsessed with bands. My friend got a guitar and he took me to play “Last Resort” by Papa Roach. That’s the first time I learned how to play and have been playing ever since. In the band, I’m also in charge of branding and the creative side of it.

Effy

I am Effy, I run most of our social media, I am also the drummer, but I wasn’t always the drummer. I was base and vocals for years and then, we just had a bad time with drummers. So, I took one for the team and went back to drumming. I do 50/50 of the writing with Jamie, the vocalist. When I was younger, I always wanted to play soccer. That was my dream. I played all day, every day, you couldn’t keep me inside. I actually got really sick and had to learn to walk again and a few other difficulties came into my life. So, what I did was channel all that into music and never looked back. I also run the admin side of things, like behind-the-scenes website stuff, distribution, arrange interviews and meetings to get on the radio, tv gigs, and booking shows. It’s a whole lot bigger than sitting behind a drum kit.

Tell us about your beginnings in the band.

Nigel

They first found me through a friend that used to be their drummer at some point. It was back when they were in college. I had just finished college and was working on retail where I met their drummer at the time. He said that they were looking for a guitarist. I was on metal band, but I wanted to go back to the roots of the music that I loved. I just missed punk rock, so I started right away. The truth is, I was a little insecure and I didn’t have a lot of confidence and they helped me through it.

How does a typical day in Standing Like Statues look like? Walk us through your creative routines, rehearsals, team meetings, etc. 

Effy

Wow. Okay. So, when we have a show coming up, the way that we would start planning is: I will live on phone, my tablet and my computer. I’ll be sending stuff during the day. Nigel would be at home creating the graphics and the posters. Me and Jamie are hopping in and out of zoom meetings, arranging stuff. I sometimes get the guys together and I filmed them just being themselves. That is so important to me. Sometimes they don’t even know I’m there and that’s when the magic happens. We usually rehearse in my little studio where we will demo new ideas, record them and send them to our producer. He kind of lets us know what he thinks and that’s it. It’s kinda busy. I spent 4 to 5 hours a day doing band stuff. Dealing with the other band members I am married to.

What are your musical influences and inspirations when you are in the songwriting process?

Effy

We all individually draw from particular bands, but when it comes to approaching a Standing Like Statues song, it tends to be me and Jamie lyrically. We’ll sit together and we’ll say “what’s up man? What’s in your head? What did you see today that you want to make an active difference in?”. That’s kind of how we roll. Just process that into a song. I and Nigel will get together and we’ll start coming up with ideas and play each other music that we are listening to at the moment and explain what we like about it. For me, it is not just music, I’m driven by social and political events and I shadow everything negative that I am feeling into a positive.

Let’s talk about your beginnings on social media. How did your journey as creators begin?

Effy

I would say our social media journey began 3 years ago. We had social media before, but that is when we sat down and decided to do more with it. We need to find our people because it’s not gonna appeal to everyone, but music is subjective. You have to find the people who you merge with, and what better way to do that than putting your heart on your sleeve on social media.

After finding those connections on other social media platforms, what was it about Clapper that drew you in more than other social media apps?

Effy

We actually enjoyed the live platform on Clapper. I feel like people are more laid back and that is really toxic across other platforms. I think when you are musician sometimes you are having a bad day and people don’t see that. On clapper, people see that and they understand and support you. We’ve only gotten that feeling here.

Nigel

For me, I am still coming out of my shell. I am a little bit of a perfectionist, so I like uploading videos. I feel like on Livestream, there is a lot of pressure from people, and I fall apart, which usually doesn’t happen on stage. But, the main thing I like about Clapper is that I find that is very open and I am always seeing new people. Clapper just seems more exciting and natural. These are people that I can relate to.

How do you battle social anxiety and stage fright being a musician in today’s world?

Nigel

Definitely, for me, that is something I need to work on. I am not used to being in those massive social circles. It’s just one of those things with time, your fears eventually will get out of the way. Someone told me, when you have to perform in front of a lot of people and you are nervous and anxious, to sort of look at the back of the room and not focus people staring at you.

What advice would you give musicians and bands who want to be successful on Clapper?

Effy

You get back what you’ve given. We invest so much time on Clapper and have met some incredible people. I care about people here and I watch their videos and engage with their content, because it matters. If you spend time and invest it and don’t expect anything you’ll get a lot farther, because you are a rockstar man.

Make sure to go and listen to Standing Like Statues on Spotify and on all their platforms linked to their Clapper Bio.