Intimate Friends Interview

INTIMATE FRIENDS "WE'RE REALLY PROUD OF HOW OUR ECLECTIC OUR SOUND IS"

Interview by Andrew 'Prone' Sedman

After spinning the mesmerizing track "Love Come Through" on his renowned "Mixed Bag Show" on Indie Soul Radio, DJ Prone digs deeper into the story behind the London-based Neo-Soul band responsible for this infectious single. Here's the inside scoop on the talented musicians captivating audiences with their soulful sound

Please introduce yourselves and your in the band. We’re Intimate Friends, a 4-piece romantic neo-soul band from London. We’re made up of lead singer Olaré, lead guitarist Tom, Aphoenix on drums and Joe on bass. 

Please give me a little bit about your backgrounds. Where are you from and how did you come together as a band? Tom and Olare have been good friends since 2015, making music together after meeting at a SOAS jam night where they were both studying. Separately, Tom and Aphoenix met playing in a backing band for another South London singer in 2019, and had been wanting to work together again since. On a trip to Tom’s hometown studio in Nottingham, Olare suggested starting a band, which Tom had also been wondering about and he loved the idea. He knew the perfect drummer in Aphoenix who was also keen to start a band, and after a first meetup at Franco Manca Intimate Friends (initially The Hopeless Romantics) was born. We played with a few different bassists, before one came from an unlikely source on Gumtree. Joe (affectionately known as ‘grandad’) always had untapped passion in soul music despite growing up in metal bands, which he’s part of to this day. We also played with a great keys player, Xátiva, who Olaré met at a jam night. 

How did you come up with the name 'Intimate friends'? Tom wanted to name the band after a song that captured the sound we were aiming for and suggested Intimate Friends (Eddie Kendricks) and Strawberry Letter (Shuggie Otis). We all sat with it for a while and asked for opinions and in the end we went for Intimate Friends. We’ve always had really positive feedback about the name and feel like it suits our on stage dynamic, we all have a lot of love for each other. And now we intro all our sets with the iconic opening riff from the song.

What has been the most memorable moment in your music careers so far? Summer 2023 was really fun, we played three festivals in total but the highlight was Ealing Jazz festival. It was a gorgeous sunny day, all of us playing the biggest stage we’d ever played, loads of friends and family in the audience and a really supportive engaged crowd!

What have been your most challenging moments? Interpersonal relationships in the band and navigating our relationship as friends / colleagues and expectations for the band. We are all at different stages of life with different backgrounds and commitments, so balancing our lives and remembering we’re all on the same team even when we disagree or don’t meet expectations can be tough. Also the classic for any independent artist - Money, please help us. 

Who are your musical influences both national and international ? Ok this question is too tricky so we’re each going to give one answer. Tom - what we’re aiming for is what it would sound like if the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were the backing band for Corinne Bailey Rae. Aphoenix loves Hiatus Kaiyote & the sounds of the east coast and the hip hop swung beats of J Dilla. Joe grew up listening to metal, grunge and dance music. Olaré grew up listening to a lot of Tracey Chapman, Nick Mulvey , Fatoumata Diawara and also likes Hiatus Kaiyote plus has different influences depending on songwriting, vocals and lyrics so it’s also hard to choose one! 

How would you describe your music? We’re really proud of how eclectic our sound is. Each one of us has a very different musical background but we all give each other space to bring our own influences to the song. Tom generally writes some chords with a soul/jazz feel, Aphoenix will put a funky or R&B type backbeat to it, Joe gets the song moving with an active, syncopated bassline, and Olaré brings some depth of emotion with the lyrics.

Who are your past and present favorite artists? Again each of us individually here, Tom - Prince/Lil Yachty. Aphoenix- Curtis Mayfield/D’Angelo. Joe- Lola young/Paramore. Olaré- Ella Fitzgerald/Lianne La Havas.

What was your most embarrassing moment while at a live performance or interview? Olaré spilling red wine on stage (multiple times).

How many singles/albums do you have out presently and are there any new projects in the works? We released our first two singles, ‘Tell Me’ and ‘Love Come Through’ in 2023. We are currently working on our debut 4-track EP, to be released this summer (2024), which we’re really excited about. The EP brings together a mix of our different influences and shows the breadth of our sound.

What are your either strange habits or traditions before performing live or recording? Olaré spilling red wine somewhere… on stage, her dress, or shoes. Olaré sometimes likes to burn sage or paolo santo, much to Tom and Aphoenix’s dismay. Joe needs a coffee no matter what time of day it is (we’ve seen him brewing up at 9pm).

What other skills do you have under your belt apart from music? We have lots of skills between us! Olare, Aphoenix, and Tom all work in education,  Olare delivers song writing workshops and Aphoenix drum and percussion and Tom teaches languages and linguistics at SOAS, University of London. We’re also an active bunch, Olare and Aphoenix are big gym heads, Tom is a marathon runner, and Joe is a big cyclist (also works for Brompton (yes we’re still waiting for matching IF brompton bikes) and snowboarder.

With thousands of new releases every day what advice would you like to give to an upcoming artist in this saturated market? We are the upcoming artist in this saturated market. If you have money, please help us.

Ok time for Under The Radar's silly question. What would be more of a challenge , having a dance off with a three legged donkey on an ice rink or singing the national anthem with a mouthful of grapes whilst moonwalking? Singing the national challenge it would be a struggle to hold down the vomit never mind the grapes and moon walking. The national anthem glorifies imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and inequality, and as four loving people committed to justice it’s not something you’d ever catch us singing!

Social Media:

Artist page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3aD0oqemFbV8NonsoN3UOZ?si=aImhN-6hSaOKa6LCMnu_aw

Donations: https://gofund.me/e22471e3

Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3aD0oqemFbV8NonsoN3UOZ?si=aImhN-6hSaOKa6LCMnu_aw

IG:  intimatefriends_

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Photo credits: Intimate Friends