{"id":3550,"date":"2019-01-28T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=3550"},"modified":"2019-01-23T00:01:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T00:01:18","slug":"lauren-tate-interview-hands-off-gretel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=3550","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Tate Interview \u2013 Hands Off Gretel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>South Yorkshire band Hands Off Gretel deal in 90\u2019s Grunge swagger, deliver riotous live shows and have enough bubblegum hooks to scale the top of the charts baby! It\u2019s no surprise to find their Pledge Campaign for sophomore long player \u2018I Want The World\u2019 currently sits at a staggering 230%. Not bad for a relatively unknown and completely independent band.<\/p>\n

We caught up with lead riot grrl Lauren Tate to get the lowdown on all things pink and girly and find out exactly what she\u2019s been up to, locked up in her bedroom all these years.<\/p>\n

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Your pledge campaign reached 100% in under 24 hours. Were you expecting such a quick response?\u00a0<\/strong>Ah, dude! It was crazy, we were all sat hitting refresh every second, it was so exciting! I\u2019ve teased the album for a while; people were ready and willing to pre-order it. I was blown away that we hit it so fast though, it really gives me so much hope for the future of independent music.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Your new album is entitled \u2018I Want The World\u2019 \u2026so what\u2019s the message there then?\u00a0<\/strong>\u2018I Want The World\u2019 is about how I\u2019ve felt since I was a little girl. I\u2019ve always felt shushed and muted, with everyone always telling me to shut up or stop being unrealistic, leaving me constantly thinking of ways to give everyone who doubted me or ridiculed me the middle finger.<\/p>\n

\u2018I Want The World\u2019 feels like my rebellion. I\u2019m chewing gum, I\u2019m not smiling because someone told me to, I\u2019m not just being a nice pretty girl, I\u2019m fucking angry sometimes and I deserve more, be it friendships or respect from others without being patronized. \u2018I Want The World\u2019 to me, means \u2018I deserve more than this world is gonna give me and I\u2019m gonna kick and scream until I get what I want\u2019!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You\u2019ve always been an independent DIY band, handling all the artwork, design and even producing the videos. Why choose now to go down the PledgeMusic route?\u00a0<\/strong>The Pledge route to me is the best way for independent artists to self-release their music. It shows there is demand for your music, that your fans believe in you without needing a label to put it out for you. With Pledge too, you’re giving fans exclusive content. You can get personal with them, which would never be an option signed under a label. I\u2019m not saying getting signed is a bad thing, I think if you\u2019re wanting to be world famous it\u2019s easier to be signed than it is to get there independently. But until the right deal comes along on my terms, I have no interest in searching for a record label.<\/p>\n

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Recent singles \u2018Kiss Me Girl\u2019 and \u2018S.A.S.S.\u2019 suggest a more commercial direction and a definite sense of stepping things up a level. Was this the intention when setting out to write the album?\u00a0<\/strong>The first album I ever wrote was our first album. Before then I\u2019d written a few acoustic songs here and there, but I\u2019d never done an album before. Since that point in 2017 I\u2019ve learnt so much about myself playing live and working with song formulas, that this time around I was just naturally better at composing songs. I knew more about what kind of artist I was too, without worrying about what anyone else wanted me to be. Songs like \u2018Kiss Me Girl\u2019 and \u2018S.A.S.S\u2019 came to me almost instantly, it was a very natural progression for me mixing more of a melodic pop sound with distorted heavy fuzz guitars, creating the newer sound we have now.<\/p>\n