Tuesday, 3 March 2015

The Fret Q&A

Your name: 
Phil Thompson.

Where are you from? 
Portsmouth/London.

Name of band:
The Fret.

Who else is in your band?
Wilfy Williams - Vocals / Guitar 
Dave Gazey - Bass 
Paul Hassket - Keyboards 
Phil Thompson - Drummer 
Past members 
Dean Clark - Vocals / Guitar
Wayne Mellor - Drums 

How would you describe yourselves and your music? 
The Fret came to be in 2002 when singer-songwriter's Dean Clark & Wilfy Williams decided to put a band together. So they got their friends Dave Gazey on bass, Phil Thompson on rhythm guitar and Paul Hassket on keyboards. 
They all moved into a house together and were jamming everyday for months and eventually got another friend Wayne Mellor to play the drums and recorded almost an albums worth of music:
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/wanted-3rd-recording-session-2004
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/get-out-of-it-3rd-recording-session-2004
as well as playing live in the Portsmouth and Southampton area. 
The band split in early 2004 and Dean and Wilfy went on to form a band called Daily until they split in 2005.
Around this time Phil Thompson had started learning to play the drums and The Fret decided to get back together and give it another go. Spending 2006 and 2007 recording and playing lots of gigs in Portsmouth, Southampton and London as well as playing to gigs on spit bank fort in the Solent.
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/dazed-grace-4th-recording-session-2006
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/adamant-6th-recording-session-2007
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/take-today-6th-recording-session
The band had a great couple of years really gelling together as friends and musically, but by the end of 2007 split up again. They met up for a few rehearsals in the first six months of 2008, but in the June Dean Clark died in a tragic accident while visiting friends in London. 
The band were devastated by the loss of their friend but regrouped with Wilfy Williams now on lead vocals to play a fundraising gig at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms to raise money for a trust fund for Dean's two children. 
They played a couple more gigs after that and recorded three more songs 
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/wanted-7th-recrding-session
But it didn't feel right for the band playing without Dean, so they split up. 
Dave went travelling, Phil and Paul went off to play in other bands and Wilfy moved to London to work as a busker on the underground. 
At the end of 2014 The Fret reformed after Dave Gazey returned from traveling and in 2015 they will be recording new music and playing live again. 

Who are your main influences musically?
We are influenced by a lot of nineties indie bands. Plus all the greats such as The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
We just like making music and playing live and it's going to be nice playing to the people who have always supported us over the years. And obviously a record deal would be nice, with a world tour thrown in. 

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
2007 was a great year for us, we worked really hard and had a great time as a band. 

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
We wouldn't want to forget anything really. We will cherish these memories forever. 

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
It would probably be Learn to Love as we recorded around the time when everything was really coming together.

Where can we listen to it?
https://soundcloud.com/the-fret-portsmouth/learn-to-love-5th-recording-session-2007


Where can we find out more about your music?

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