FEATURE: Spotlight: English Teacher

FEATURE:

Spotlight

English Teacher

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A great and promising band out of Leeds…

I wanted to spend a little time with English Teacher. Whilst a lot of the hotly-tipped acts of this year are solo artists, there are some terrific bands who have the potential to be long-lasting and festival mainstays of the future. English Teacher have already been endorsed by none other than The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess. If he gives them his thumbs up, then that is a good indicator that you are in the right path! Whilst there is probably not as especially arresting or original story about how they came up with their name, the music itself is very compelling and different. I am going to scatter in a few interviews where we get to know better a fantastic northern band who are making big strides. I am going to jump back and forth a little in terms of the date of the interviews. I want to start with NME’s interview from November of last year. They were keen to boost and boast about a tremendous young band:

“Made up of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums), Nicholas Eden (bass) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar, synth), English Teacher are no strangers to self-deprecation. Formed in 2020 after meeting at Leeds Conservatoire, their brand of indie is more kitchen sink drama than straight-to-the-chorus smash.

Having wasted no time post-lockdown, they’ve already racked up over 20 gigs supporting the likes of Do Nothing and TV Priest, conquered their first Reading & Leeds and created enough buzz around double-A-side ‘R&B’/‘Wallace’ to sign to Nice Swan, home of Sports Team, Courting and The Rills. It’s enough to swell any young band’s ego, but if you ask them why they think their music is resonating, Fontaine will give you an effacing answer.

“Honestly, I feel like a lot of places have been looking to spotlight bands that have got women in them, and women of colour in indie just isn’t really a thing,” she says. “I don’t want to put ourselves down, but I do think it’s helped, being visually different. Obviously I hope it’s something to do with our music too…”

English Teacher are not necessarily a band who would boast about themselves, so it’s a good job that NME are willing to do it for them. As exemplified on ‘R&B’, a brooding narrative that ricochets between sweetly-satirical compliance and open confrontation of the racialised expectations of a frontwoman of colour (“Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B / Even though I’ve seen more Colors Shows than KEXPs”), this is a group that are willing to enter potentially awkward conversations while moving with a melodic speed that defies direct comparison. “Last night at a gig, this guy said we sounded like Pixies without sounding anything like Pixies,” says Douglas. “I don’t know what that means, but I’ll take it!”

There’s also their tireless work ethic. Deeply involved in the north Leeds scene, English Teacher exist within the same hotbed of creativity that has incubated smart-rock breakout bands such as Yard Act, Alt-J and Wild Beasts, feeding off a spirit of collaborative ideals. For Fontaine especially, keeping her diary straight is quite the task: English Teacher and her other band, Eades (in which she contributes keys and vocals), were both signed to labels in swift succession, creating a deluge of commitments. “As an incredibly disorganised human being, I’m not the best at it,’ she says, laughing. “But it’s nice to be doing what you’re passionate about so much of the time. It’s a good kind of stress!”

And what exactly is that band? Let’s throw modesty to the wall: what would Grade-A success look like to English Teacher?

“I think when [music] becomes something we can do all the time,” says Whiting. “The idea that you could possibly be lucky enough to have your whole job be music, that would be the dream.”

“That’s it,” chips in bassist Eden, quiet until this exact moment in our chat. “We want to sound lucrative!” It’s a pragmatic answer, but it’s one that perfectly suits their style: level-headed, cautiously confident and letting their music do the talking. You know how the old saying goes: it’s often the quiet ones you’ve got to watch out for…”.

In terms of the band’s best tracks, R&B definitely ranks up there with them. DORK chatted with Lily from the band early last year. Already gaining headway and steam, they recognised a group that were certainly worth keeping an eye out for:

“Leeds bunch English Teacher excel in the on-point sort-of-post-punk-but-not-really-and-definitely-more-enthusiastic controlled racket that has found their latest drop ‘R&B’ a place in Nice Swan Records’ singles club. Just one weapon in their vast musical armoury, it’s a fantastic start for the foursome – made up of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums, synth), Nicholas Eden (bass, synth), and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar, synth) – who can also be found at The Great Escape’s virtual bash next month. Lily introduces her band.

Hello Lily! How’s it going? What are you up to today?

Hi! It’s going unnaturally well – I am currently listening to my 2021 playlist and doing some writing in the sun with a coffee. If I squint my eyes and move my head real fast I can almost pretend I am sat on a continental balcony and not in our backyard in Headingley surrounded by broken glass and that drain smell.

How did you lot meet and decide to form the band, then? You were studying in Leeds, right?

I met our ex-guitarist in 2018 on a uni trip to Valencia (he’s currently on a grad-scheme training in property development because he likes buildings, but we’re working on his return). I put out a demo on Soundcloud, and then a local promoter asked if I wanted to play a gig, so I said yes and asked him if his band would help out. We haven’t given up since, for some reason.

You’ve not long dropped your single ‘R&B’, how did that go? Was it one you were sat on for a while?

R&B came together weirdly quickly for us; I’m pretty sure the whole thing was written, demoed and recorded with Theo in the same month. That was January, and it’s been a bit of an agonising wait for the release because it’s quite different from the singles we’ve already released; we weren’t sure how it would be received. But, some people have said some really nice things, so we’re all currently in a state of relief, with a hint of pride.

Where did that single come from? Do tracks find you, or do you have to find them?

Lyrics and themes usually find me, and then I have to go searching for the music. It’s simultaneously an ode to the worst writer’s block of my life so far, and what cured it. I wrote the bass riff on Logic’s piano scroll, and then Nick knocked it out of the park with his chorus melody. Doug had already decided on the bridge section’s drum part, and when Lewis and Nick started jamming their polyrhythms over it, it really started sounding like us”.

I shall include one more interview. There are other interviews and bits of information online that are well worth reading. Far Out Magazine spotlighted English Teacher back in December. It was another dose of praise and attention pointed at the excellent Leeds band:

“What’s the state of the current scene in Leeds and what other bands from the area should people listen to?

“With the Brudenell Social Club at its centre, the Leeds music scene is this crazy little petri dish of literally everything great. Small, semi-incestuous and forever multiplying. Some of the artists we’d recommend: Treeboy and Arc, Big Softy, Thank, Rodeo, Honey Guide, Fuzz Lightyear, Pop Vulture

Since forming in 2018, how much has the identity of English Teacher fluctuated?

“We were originally a dream-pop band so yeah, a fair bit of honing has happened. There have been a few lineup changes over the years so I guess with that, we have naturally progressed into what we are today.

Returning to playing live this summer must have been an even sweeter experience after the prolonged absence coupled with all the new songs you released during that period?

“It’s been intense but very fun. As a band, we’ve now shared many beds, megabuses and deodorants so it’s been an excellent bonding experience too. Will never get over seeing people sing our music back to us either, tempted to tell them to learn the words to better songs, to be honest”.

If you have not acquainted yourself with English Teacher, then go and check them out now and see what all the fuss is about. Although they have not yet confirmed if a debut album arrives this year, we definitely will hear more of them in terms of live gigs and singles. Revealing something new about themselves with each song, it is exciting to see them blossom and develop! The wonderful English Teacher are…