Formal Sppeedwear Discuss New EP And Stoke's Unexpected Scene

Jacob Swetmore

UK Photographer from Staffordshire with a passion for documenting live music; whether it’s in a Stoke dive bar, or at a major music festival.

We chat with Stoke-on-Trent’s wonky new wave trio Formal Sppeedwear ahead of their debut self-titled EP

Formed in the furnaces of Stoke-on-Trent, Formal Sppeedwear have announced a new 4 track self-titled EP under Melodic Records, accompanied by lead-single ‘Bunto.’

Formal Sppeedwear are comprised of Beck Clewlow (Bass, Vocals, Synthesisers), Charlie Ball (Guitar, Synthesisers), and Connor Wells (Drums, Guitar, Synthesisers), who defied the usual path of moving to a larger city to find their feet in the music industry, instead choosing to remain in their hometown of Stoke-on-Trent. Here they have created their own studio from charity shop finds and cash-converter equipment.

We spoke with the band to find out more about their work and their experience navigating a music scene within a city that seems to have been largely forgotten, following the de-industrialisation of Britain under Thatcher.

Jacob: How would you describe your sound?

FS: Somewhere in the middle of art rock and synthpop, with some more angular/punky bits thrown in for good measure.

Have any artists influenced your latest EP?

Yellow Magic Orchestra and their far extending branches of influence leave the most immediate traces over everything we make.

The band also list a whole heap of other artists and producers who have helped in honing their sound, including; Bill Nelson, Japan, The Normal, DAF, Conny Plank, Harmonia, Cluster, Neu, Eno, Fripp, Holger Czukay and Martin Hannett.

What does the creative process look like for Formal Sppeedwear?

Ideas appear either independently or as a result of us writing small parts and improvising together, then we usually combine and expand them at Beck’s home studio in his front room. Sound manipulation plays a lead role in forming a basis for tracks, and there is constant experimentation in each third of the sonic palette wherever any ideas strike.

Ideas that we take to Beck’s are sometimes non musical, too; we’re all fascinated by the use of sound design and field recordings in music, and so ideas have been sparked on numerous occasions by recording interesting sounds or textures, usually very crudely with the iPhone voice memo app!

Rehearsal spaces serve really as a vehicle for the fundamental sections in the tracks to grow. It’s where we can work on the bits we can’t access in the home (loud guitar parts and drum parts etc) owing to Beck’s studio being in the front room of a terraced house. Here we can consider how these parts complement the work we bring in from the studio.

Formal Sppeedwear in said home studio. Photography by Jacob Swetmore

How has the Stoke-on-Trent music scene helped in shaping the band’s identity?

Stoke has served as our blank canvas. There’s a lot of empty creative real estate that people are sometimes woven into, and sometimes neglected year to year. We have a number of cornerstone spaces and venues, but circling those is a slow stream of strong ideas, backed by too few people.

Our venues are like little sacred weeds. They’re set against unsuspecting areas like the backs of supermarkets or bus stations, growing against the odds. As a band in Stoke it’s very fun. I think physically postering your band is one of the funnest occupations of being in one. Most of our home gigs are decorated with some sort of one-off merchandise, art or track demo.”

Could you tell us more about the Stoke-on-Trent music scene as a whole?

Stoke is not striking from the roads but it has a roster of talented and dedicated contributors to our arts. There is no sense of geographical confinement here, there’s a wealth of talent who act indifferent to their surroundings. It’s particularly nice that some of our friends from here are starting to receive attention from elsewhere – The likes of Christian Music, University, Mercury etc.

There’s a tonne of other projects too that we think are fantastic – obviously we can’t name everybody but Morning’s Thief, Ox Scapula, Onyda, Walter Kocays, Borogoves, Head Dent, Lucid Waters, Gas Kunst as well as a whole heap of others all help to contribute greatly to our scene.

We’d consider The Underground (venue) to be very much the centre of our music scene here – head honcho Lee Barber is consistently doing the hard work of supporting local bands and giving people a place to play. Lee really helped us out with our first gigs in Stoke and essentially let us do whatever we wanted creatively with the venue – we’re particularly indebted to him for all of the wonderful work he’s done for us and for Stoke as a whole.”

If you’d like to see for yourself what Formal Sppeedwear have to offer, lead single ‘Bunto’ is available everywhere now, with a self-titled EP to follow on May 3rd, complete with a super limited 12” vinyl available for pre-order.

Watch/Listen to ‘Bunto’ here: