FROM Radio 1 airplay to entertaining Eliza Doolittle, jangle pop duo Her's have made quite the impression on the music front. LAUREN PAGE spoke to the boys about festival life and getting starstruck

By Lauren Page ( email )

AHEAD of their set at Kendal Calling next week, Liverpool-based duo Her's are hard at work practising and prepping for their set on the Calling Out stage.

Being raised in Barrow, Stephen Fitzpatrick is looking forward to returning to his home county.

"It's going to be marvellous - any excuse to come back to the Lakes," he says.

"I went to Kendal College so being able to say I'm playing at Kendal Calling is incredible."

Meeting in university at Liverpool, Steven and Norwegian Audun Laading discovered a mutual love for indie music.

Audun explains: "In the musical university environment, there's so many people wanting to be session musicians and practising together, but not many people wanted to be indie musicians.

"We have very similar ideas about music and we formed the band together due to having similar ideas."

Even though it's early days, Her's have also received a lot of interest from big names in the business.

Stephen explains: "We've had a lot of recognition but it's so weird when big artists recognise you. We had Eliza Doolittle attend one of our gigs a while back.

"She said if we ever need advice, to get in touch - she's really nice."

The band have also manged to gain quite a fanbase abroad, with Audun joking that they're currently saving up for their visas.

The duo both play guitar and vocals, but are without a drum player

Stephen says: "We've thought about it but we have a drum machine and we like the chemistry of just being us two in the band. We've talked about changing the balance but it works well at the moment just us two."

Because of it, the pair's dreamy, jangle pop sound is unlike most other bands.

Audun says: "We listen to a wide range of music, and we're recently into an American band called Whitney, and 80s and 50s music. It works well with our music we produce."

The pair have been playing a range of venues since they started, but Stephen admits that they haven't had many stages like the Calling Out marquee at Kendal.

"It's a bit hit and miss at the moment; we've played a lot of gigs but they've been packed small gigs.

"We've not had the opportunity to play to a large audience but we love the intimate gigs."

Arun adds: "With it being just the two of us, when we have intimate rowdy gigs we get to be on the same level as the crowd and we can travel through the audience much better. It's great."

With worldwide recognition building, famous fans and a set at Cumbria's biggest festival next week, what can we expect from Her's next Saturday?

"Expect a dreamy, melancholy, melodic, boisterous type of music," says Stephen.

"It was so fun attending Kendal College and Kendal Calling is the Cumbrian festival to attend. I'm excited."

Arun quickly adds that, "we're a serious band but we don't take it too seriously. We hope that fans enjoy our music and share a moment with us."

  • Her's will be playing at Kendal Calling, which takes place at Lowther Deer Park from Thursday July 29 to Sunday 31

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