Ives: ‘a fully functional Indie-pop band’
There are so many cases of a band coming together that are just meant to be. They don’t go through half a dozen members before they settle on their line-up, they just come together as they are and have great chemistry from the very beginning. Manchester band Ives have proved this can still be the case with a solid run of singles including their latest, ‘Let Me Know’.
Ives. From left to right - Jack Hayward, Luis Sullivan, Jesper Krieg, Alejandro Urbina and Mark Zanker. Image Credit: Majken Hansén.
Ives are a five-piece band that came together at The Royal Northern College Of Music with Jesper Krieg on vocals, guitarist Jack Hayward, keyboardist Luis Sullivan, Alejandro Urbina on bass and drummer Mark Zanker. A multi-cultural band, Jesper comes from Stockholm, Sweden and Alejandro hails from Mexico. The remaining English Jack and Luis come from Manchester while Mark grew up further south in Leicester. Against the odds of not being able to play gigs, Ives have built up a dedicated fanbase in the past year or so, beginning with the release of their debut single in December 2019 called ‘Coming Home’.
Ives’ first single is a gentle start to their career, characterised with Jack Hayward’s opening electric guitar picking in an even-tempered clean tone that continues when Jesper Krieg brings in the rhythm section with his vocal. Everybody’s playing is clear and considered, with Jesper’s voice a good match for the instruments underneath. Alejandro’s bassline is melodic without stepping on Jack’s toes and while Luis Sullivan’s keyboard playing is strictly straight piano chords for the verses, it kicks up a notch for the choruses with more of an anthemic synth sound. The wobble on the notes during these choruses is unusual but it’s what made me sit up and pay attention to that sound. Mark Zanker’s drum performance helps to set the dynamic in each section of Coming Home, those choruses wouldn’t have quite the same punch without Zanker’s heavy-handed cymbal play.
And so Ives were off to a good start, proving that there is a place for band-orientated music on the radio with BBC Introducing East Midlands playing Coming Home on their station in early February 2020. Coming Home has a combination of winning elements with relatable lyrics and a fusion of a singer/songwriter tone with louder sections a live audience can jump to.
Except of course that Ives barely had an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a live environment, though they did support Mark Sharp & The Bicycle Thieves at The Castle Hotel in Manchester just prior to the first U.K. lockdown. Playing to a sold-out audience of 80 is not a bad first show when you consider most people play their first gig to five people, three of which are the band’s mothers.
Ives followed up Coming Home with their second single ‘Prove’ in mid-January. Even before the first lockdown, Ives were on the ball with their supplementary content, releasing a stripped back version of Prove in early February. Much more would follow, with the band shooting their own ‘Isolation Sessions’ over the course of 2020. In a situation we’re all familiar with by now, Ives recorded parts in their own spaces and edited together video clips - the first isolation session would debut with Coming Home in late March. A cover of The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ came in mid-April, and by the end of that month the band released a new single in ‘Better Than Me’.
Better Than Me gained a thousand streams on Spotify in less than 24 hours, showing that the momentum for Ives was growing. They released their first lyric video for the track, and continued their isolation sessions with a re-recording of the song, premiering in early June on their YouTube and Instagram TV accounts. When the band were able to reconvene that summer, they shot rehearsal footage synced to their debut single, and were able to continue recording future material. Their follow-up single to Better Than Me was released in late July, entitled ‘Seventeen’.
With a fade-in synth and a drum fill, we know straight away this is an anthem for summer when you hear those keyboards at the start of Seventeen. It’s got the combined bounce from Sullivan and Zanker that people can dance to, and the nostalgia element that takes us all back to our carefree teenage years. Jesper Krieg delivers the lyric that brings it all together; ‘Summertime, let’s go down, let’s go down, jump in the sea, I’ll bring the drinks and we’ll have everything we need. No rain will fall down, this is the time for you and me, let’s take it back and party like we’re Seventeen.’
The band’s arrangement skill between Krieg’s faster verses, stripped down choruses and back to the synth instrumental parts is a lesson on how to get everything just right. Everything is in balance – as Luis Sullivan drops out for the choruses, Jack Hayward’s melodic guitar fills out the sonic space. A special mention goes to Alejandro Urbina for his exploratory bass part, listen closely, you’ll hear it!
Seventeen was also played on BBC Introducing East Midlands, just shortly after its release. By the end of August Seventeen had hit more than 10,000 streams on Spotify and Ives recorded another Isolation Session for the track, with much of the band playing out in the sun under blue skies. In September, Ives released a special acoustic version of ‘Better Than Me’ and began working on even more new music.
Despite the band rehearsing for potential live performances, ultimately Ives were quiet for the rest of the year due to the second U.K. national lockdown. The band did release one more cover though prior to Christmas with The 1975’s ‘Milk’ in the style of their previous Isolation Sessions. However, January 2021 would bring their first single release since July’s Seventeen, their latest entitled ‘Let Me Know’.
Let Me Know has an entirely different vibe from the singles Ives have released before, starting with a tension building introduction from Jack Hayward and Mark Zanker, supported by the deep tones of Alejandro’s bass playing. It’s easily the most guitar-orientated track Ives have released so far, with Luis Sullivan’s contribution most obvious in the choruses. His atmospheric keys in the verses compliment the acoustic guitar strumming well. With Jesper Krieg demonstrating his ability on guitar on the band’s Instagram account, would he be playing the acoustic parts in live performances?
You’d never know Ives recorded all their parts separately at home during lockdown, the production is as good as anything else they’ve done. Even though the band has most likely been apart longer than they’ve been together over the past year, they still sound like a tight-knit unit in their performance on this track.
Let Me Know was premiered on FM radio station XS Manchester and was chosen as Track Of The Week on BBC Introducing for BBC Radio Leicester. Mark Zanker joined presenter Ben Jackson live on the air to speak about the track, and later on both Zanker and Jesper Krieg would speak live on Radio Leicester again, this time with presenter Summaya Mughal.
Wider marketing is difficult on individual singles when there’s limited material to spin in support of them. If Ives were to release an album in 2021, there’s no doubt they’d go far using the momentum they’ve already built. It’s a winning sound, and if the pandemic hadn’t run concurrently with their career, Ives would definitely have landed bigger support slots in bigger venues and expanded their fanbase even further. Their progress over the last year is a testament to what can be achieved without touring and performing. If the material is good enough – the audience will come.
Ives. From left to right - Jack Hayward, Luis Sullivan, Jesper Krieg, Mark Zanker and Alejandro Urbina. Image Credit: Bonnie Kemplay.
1. 'Let Me Know' is your brand new single, how did the writing and recording of that come together?
Mark Zanker: We wrote this tune before COVID came and locked us all down. Jesper our lead singer came up with the initial idea that we later then all worked on. When we have the idea, we worked on our own parts to fit the song. Later when we all got locked down the writing process had to happen over zoom. It forced us to have another way of being creative which really improved our outlook and made us push forward with new innovative ideas.
Jack Hayward: We couldn’t go to a studio to record so Mark recorded drums in his home studio (living room) and the rest of the band remotely.
Jesper Krieg: Once all of the parts have been recorded, Jack gets on to the mix, master and producing process and he’s nothing less than a genius at it. He makes everything sound 10 times better.
2. How did the band come together in its current formation?
Luis Sullivan: The formation you see today is the same from the start. We first met in freshers at University. We had, let’s say too many drinks and we all just got on so well. Having similar tastes in music and wanting to do the same in our careers in music was really rare. It just so happens that we had the right musicians for a fully functional Indie-pop band! We had to make the band for a university performance where we played a set full of covers as we didn’t have any original songs at the time. We loved every minute of it so we just kept going and here we are today!
3. One for everybody - what music inspired you personally to pick up your respective instrument?
Jack: I think we can answer as a whole for this one because it’s all pretty much the same reason for us all! It’s mainly the upbringing we had. Either our families were into music and were musicians, or it was just being very inspired by the music our parents listened to, I guess this is where it all started really.
4. Jesper, where did the lyrical inspiration for 'Let Me Know' come from?
Jesper: I wanted to write something that musically sounded happy and big but lyrically described a feeling of discomfort and a constant search for love. The music mixed with the lyrics symbolizes the mixture of feelings you can have when you know exactly what you want but you don’t understand why you haven’t found it yet.
5. It's a shame Ives haven't been more a part of the live scene in Manchester, what's a venue you'd all love to play? It can be the size of a living room or the Manchester Arena!
Alejandro Urbina: We’ve only been together for just over a year now so gigging has been seriously limited for us due to the industry basically shutting down so we can’t wait to get back to it and show Manchester what we’re made of! Any venue at the minute we’d love to play at the moment, I’d say Manchester Academy and arena would be incredible. Got to aim for the top right?!
6. Mark, what's the best gig you've ever played, in Ives or otherwise?
Mark: I’ve done so many gigs it’s hard to keep track, there has been so many great ones! I’d have to say the gig we did at the Castle Hotel; it was just incredible to play the new tunes to everyone that had been waiting to see them for so long!
7. Luis, was 'Coming Home' always meant to be the debut single? Or were there other tracks being produced at the same time?
Luis: It was just the first track we finished, so we thought it would be good for a debut release. We were super impressed with the finished product and were very excited!
8. A question for everyone, tell us about the equipment you each use?
Jack: We all have loads of gear so we can be as diverse in our sound as possible.
· Luis: Nord stage 3
· Jack: Fender Strat & Tele & Vox AC-30 Amp
· Mark: Mapex drums, Ludwig 402 Supraphonic snare & Zildjian K’s with the SPD-SX
· Jesper: Neumann U87
· Alejandro: Fender Jazz bass
9. Alejandro, how did the single 'Prove' begin in the writing stage?
Alejandro: Jesper came up with the whole idea for Prove and we didn’t change a thing from when he first showed it us, it just worked!
10. You released an acoustic version of 'Better Than Me' back in September, who’s idea was it to strip it back?
Luis: We came up with the idea collectively. The song started off as a ballad stripped back so it just made sense to do one after the release! We were pleasantly surprised to hear that some people preferred that version as it took us 2 days to record!
11. I loved the band's isolation recording of 'Seventeen', who's been producing the isolation sessions?
Mark: Jack our guitarist does all of our production for our releases and isolation videos, however Luis produced the Seventeen video as it suits his style.
12. Everyone - out of the band's five original released tracks, which is your favourite and why?
Jesper: Obviously, our older releases we still love but we all absolutely love Let Me Know. We think it is a start of something special as it is a new sound for us. Getting BBC introducing track of the week is testament to this.
13. You've released a string of great singles since 2019, can fans expect something bigger in 2021?
Jack: In 2021 you can expect a refreshing sound. Because of the way we have had to write over the last year or so, we have had a lot more time to spend on each tune. We feel this has made us find a sound that’s more mature and thought out.
Jesper: It’s hard to say what 2021 will bring as it’s very uncertain times for everyone but behind the scenes we are still working very hard.
--------
Follow Ives on Facebook and Instagram @ivebanduk, and on Twitter @ivesband.
--------
Follow and interact with Moths and Giraffes on Instagram and Facebook @mothsandgiraffes, and on Twitter @mothsgiraffes.
To apply to appear on Moths and Giraffes for yourself or on behalf of an artist, or if you’d just like to send us your thoughts, don’t hesitate to contact us via our social media accounts, our contact page, or via email at mothsandgiraffes@outlook.com
