Interview by Georgia Cummings | Header Image by Lexi Goodland
On a typically Cornish mizzly day in Falmouth I made my way to to the infamous watering hole Beerwolf, a half library half pub located in one of the many nooks of Falmouth. As I made my way up the stairs I found today’s subjects, the wonderful boys of BAGGS. Immediately their energy is friendly and funny, they were all enthusiastic and in good spirits. After loving their first show in FIVES, I was keen to learn more and get a proper feel for them and what they’re about.
Georgia: Whats happening in the studio?
Charlie: Lots of things! We’re releasing a 3 track EP, so far it’s going to be called ‘For Life’, because… BAGGS for Life…it would be a wasted opportunity otherwise. It’s recorded but there’s a slight issue with mixing at the minute, we’re just trying to figure out what we’re doing with that and hopefully have the artwork done soon. We’re planning to announce it in the next couple of weeks… this has all been decided ten minutes ago, or I’m making it up on the spot! Also we will possibly be dropping a music video too but that is all I am saying.
Joe: Some sandwiches will be involved.
Charlie: Sandwiches are definitely going to be involved…then we’ve got the CLUNK show in March, and we’re thinking after that we’ll possibly release on cassette. We’re going vintage.
Joe: I like a cassette.
Charlie: Looks cool. You can put it on your shelf, put it in your sandwich.
Joe: That’s a nice sandwich.
Georgia: Whats the name about?
Kyle: BAGGS stands for Big And Gnarly Grunge Sarnies. That’s why they’re on about sandwiches.
Joe: If someone took the cassette and unravelled it and put it in some slices of bread…
Charlie: Yeah with some mayo.
Joe: And marmite.
Charlie: Mayo and marmite, you are crazy.
Joe: It’s a Big and Gnarly Grunge Sarnie Charlie, thats the whole point.
Charlie: Oh okay.
Georgia: Who are you influencers, do you define yourself as a grunge band?
Charlie: I wouldn’t necessarily say that we’re…it’s just easier to call ourselves a grunge band. We all like Pearl Jam and we like grunge stuff, but at the same time we take a lot of influence from other modern bands like Joyce Manor, Basement, Basement, I’m going to emphasise Basement! It’s just kind of an accumulation of lots of stuffed slammed in together to make the perfect sandwich.
Georgia: What gigs have you been doing so far, any outside of Falmouth?
Kyle: So we’ve done two in Falmouth, and most recently one in Plymouth last week.
Joe: That was fun to get out in a different city.
Georgia: What was it like gigging in Plymouth?
Charlie: Funny.
Kyle: Yeah funny.
Charlie: The thing about playing in your hometown is, there’s all you friends there, but when you go and gig somewhere you don’t know anyone, you can just do anything you want, and you can try and flog some vegetable bags for £7 and call it your merch.
Joe: Exactly because nobody knows who you are!
Georgia: A few of you are in other bands, what is it about BAGGS that you like more than other projects?
Joe: It’s a lot more raw and real for me, when I’m playing in this band it’s more like, I’m not thinking about it and then the gigs done and it just comes out of me. Whereas with other bands its more, I know my parts and I’m doing this, but BAGGS lets my raw playing and emotion come out.
Charlie: As serious as some of the lyrics are, the thing about this band is we don’t really take it massively seriously, it’s just 4 friends jumping around getting sweaty together. We don’t go like, oh we have to do this chord progression because thats what sells. We just kind of do what comes naturally to us.
Joe: I think, when we were in Plymouth and we said there’s not many people here and Will was like I just wanna play, it’s just fun to play. Some of our lyrics and songs are not particularly happy topics, but it’s fun to play and I think we balance the darkness of some of the lyrics with the fun we have on stage.
Kyle: With this band I feel like, it doesn’t matter how many people are watching. The type of music it is, it’s fast and heavy and fun to play. It doesn’t matter who’s there. Yeah it’s different, it’s sort of a release.
Joe: It’s…lose yourself in the music kind of stuff.
Georgia: What are your songs about?
Will: I’m the lyric writer. I don’t know where to start. I always try and make sure that the music is socially relevant because I feel thats quite important. So a lot of our songs are about mental health, rape. Most of them are dark, there’ll all dark, things that have affected us one way or another and we’re all familiar with. When you’re on stage as a vocalist you have a lot of power. People are listening to you and you should take that opportunity to raise awareness.
Georgia: What are your political stances?
Will: It’s very liberal. I’m trying to talk about issues that are important. I think our music is inherently left and liberal. It may not be directly political but there are definitely political charges underneath it.
Georgia: I want to end this interview on a positive so what is your ideal sandwich right now?
Charlie: Tiger bread..
Joe: Okay good start, *turns to me* are you writing this down?
Charlie: Tiger bread, butter, smoked cheddar, ham – the 80p stuff, then a little bit of mustard. Honey mustard. Get in there with the rum ham. And then, more cheese – grilled halloumi.
Joe: I think bacon you know, you gotta have bacon in a sandwich, like I’m a vegetarian now but..
Charlie: I’m the only meat eater in the band, so I will have as much meat as possible. Some Levi Roots Reggae Reggae BBQ sauce. Getting spicy in there. I’d look to also mention at this point that when we realise our EP, sandwiches will be provided.
Joe: A sandwich bar, where you can make your own sandwiches.
Georgia: Do you have plans for your launch event then?
Charlie: That’s as far as we got. We’re going to put on a gig, and have sandwiches.
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