The Sheffield Scenester

On a cold Saturday morning at the top end of Chapeltown, we met up with Lewis, Kierran, Jack and James of Searching 4 Evidence for a little chat. Formed in 2008 with their first gig played in December of the same year they have gone from strength to strength building a formidable fan base whilst gigging at The Boardwalk, The Plug and the O2. Having been Eliot Kennedy’s Limelight winners (resulting in them performing in front of a sell out audience at the City Hall) as well as giving them the opportunity to work with him in the recording studio....and that’s not all...they are also in the regional final of this year’s Live & Unsigned (again at City Hall)...So as you can see they are busy, busy, busy! However they did manage to grant us a few minutes of their time....

SS – So what’s happened since the City Hall gig then?
Kierran – Everything good, we’ve gone into the studio, got some more gigs and more fans...
Lewis – A wider range of fans really.
SS – You’ve always had a good following though, what was it like working with Eliot Kennedy in the studio?
Lewis – It were really good, yeah!
Kierran – We’ve got a few more days left to work with him.
SS – You’ve been in a studio before, so is it different now that you’re working with a legend?
Jack - Yeah just a bit, this one’s actually got wallpaper on the walls...?!
SS - How’s the new single coming along?
Lewis – It’s going to be really good.
Kierran – It’s going to be released isn’t it?
Jack – I don’t know...they said it could take seven weeks or something
SS - That’s good, so could you take us through how you got together?
James – It were me and Jack, we were in the music rooms up at school just to mess about, and we had the great idea of starting a band...
Lewis – I knew Jack and he asked me to come up cos he’d seen me sing before.
James – We found Kierran because our old drummer didn’t come to practises.
Jack – And he couldn’t really play either....
James – Me and Jack were sat in Maths and Kierran asked about for drum lessons, so we asked him to join the band.
Kierran – It weren’t too serious to start with, it were just a case of messing about, being together and that...and then we thought we could actually play something, that’s when it started picking up then.
Jack – When we could actually finish a song from start to finish....!
Lewis – We started out playing to the school.
Kierran – And then to The Boardwalk and then to The Plug.
SS – So how do you write your own songs then? What gives you the inspiration?
Kierran – We all do it really, sometimes we’ll do it on our own...like we’ll do it in our bedroom or something or we’ll get together at school or something and just write.
Jack – As part of our English lesson...
SS – Your last gig at The Plug encouraged some crowd surfing, so what did you think when you saw that happening?
Lewis – I saw the security guard try to stop your brother, but then my brother just stood in the way and it was right funny!
SS – I’ve seen the photo of you with Peter Kay, so what is he really like?
Lewis – Exactly what he’s like on stage, he’s that funny everywhere.
Jack – It’s like anything he says is just funny!
Kierran – he’s just funny even if you don’t get a joke or something.
Jack – He’ll probably try and talk civil to you and you’ll just burst out laughing, he’s that funny!
SS – Did you get to meet any other celebs when you were at the City Hall?
James – We were sat at a table with S Club 7.
Kierran – They were alright...
Lewis – It was the after party we talked to more.
Jack – I went home cos I were tired.
Lewis – I left about two in the morning, we went round getting peoples autographs at the party.
SS - Eliot has been quoted as saying “Good things are going to happen for these boys as long as they keep their heads and focus on their music”, so is it hard to keep focused?
Kierran – It’s hard at the minute cos we’ve got loads of exams and stuff, it’s going to be even worse next year but it’s like we just want to carry on doing it though don’t we?
Jack – Yeah...then you don’t need them exams as much!
SS – You have quite a big following from your school though don’t you?
Kierran – Some people say it’s a disadvantage cos you’re younger and stuff, but with all your school mates you can get everyone to come.
James – You get all your friends to come, then they get all their friends and families as well and then it’s just growing from there really.
SS – So where do you get to practice then?
Jack – We get to practice at this proper rehearsal room down in Ecclesfield called The Hive.
Lewis – We sometimes come here or my house, mostly come here now and write songs here.
SS – Where did the name come from?
James – Wandering around school I saw this poster, in the history corridor and it just said evidence on it, and then I was sat in history, I was supposed to be doing my work but I was playing with this word ‘evidence’. It just kind of developed from there, I thought...searching 4 evidence...and we used that.
Lewis – It was better than our first one...
SS – What was that then?
James – Err...it were Frozen Missiles or something....
SS – So who do you aspire to get as big as?
Jack – Muse!
SS – So what sort of things would you like to happen for the rest of this year?
Lewis – Get like a wider fan base, not just in Sheffield.
Jack – I just want loads and loads of gigs, so that when you look at our webpage it’s full with gigs lined up.
SS – So with your exams coming at school what sort of things are you thinking of going into, when you’ve left?
Kierran – I’m definitely thinking about going into music.
Lewis – I like drama.
Jack – Plumber or something cos I can’t read music.
SS – Anything else you want to add?
Jack – We’re doing the S1 gig at O2 Academy on April 17th and we’ve also got the regional finals for Live & Unsigned at City Hall, plus I’d like to say cheers to Sean for putting us on at The Plug the other week.
Lewis – Yes and thanks to Dave...
Jack – Yeah thanks to all the Daves in the studio...
Kierran – There’s about a hundred Daves....
SS – If it came to the point where you had to choose between University and carrying on with the band which would you choose?
S4E – BAND!
A resoundingly positive answer from one of Sheffield’s brightest and talented young bands, many thanks to them for taking time out for us to interview them.

Interview by Gail & Geoff Buckthorpe

Studio photo's courtesy of S4E's Parents
Couch pic by Geoff Buckthorpe