ATH | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Oh that is so good. I love that. I love that.

0:03 Speaker 1: The name of.

0:03 Speaker 2: The track is my prettiest mistake. The band is Ath

0:06 Speaker 2: and we've got Adam Hughes from Ath with us. We're

0:09 Speaker 2: gonna speak with him in just a second. Welcome everybody.

0:11 Speaker 2: We are, of course enjoying our number two. We're about

0:14 Speaker 2: a little more than halfway through our number two, Numaradosa

0:17 Speaker 2: Matt Connerton unleashed on this Saturday. If you are listening

0:20 Speaker 2: live November twenty second, twenty twenty five, here from the

0:24 Speaker 2: studios of WMNH. And let's go go ahead and get

0:27 Speaker 2: that mic up and get Adam on the line with us. Adam,

0:29 Speaker 2: can you hear us?

0:30 Speaker 3: Hey?

0:31 Speaker 4: How's it going?

0:31 Speaker 2: Man?

0:32 Speaker 1: Good? Good, Welcome to the show. Now. Is anyone else

0:34 Speaker 1: from the band with you or is it just you?

0:37 Speaker 2: Sadly, that's all right, No, we're happy to have you here.

0:43 Speaker 2: I love that song so much. That is so good.

0:46 Speaker 2: And I did listen to some other stuff too from

0:49 Speaker 2: the band, great great stuff, thanks man.

0:53 Speaker 4: Thanks.

0:53 Speaker 2: By the way, so i'm looking at I was gonna

0:55 Speaker 2: ask you where the name Ath comes from, and I'm

0:58 Speaker 2: looking at your name and have seen your middle name.

1:00 Speaker 2: By the way, you and I have the same middle name, Thomas,

1:02 Speaker 2: And I'm wondering is that yeah, yeah, so we have

1:05 Speaker 2: something in common. I'm wondering, is that where the name

1:07 Speaker 2: comes from? At you are at H in effect?

1:11 Speaker 3: Yeah, something, it's yeah, along those lines. He started off

1:15 Speaker 3: as a solo project.

1:17 Speaker 1: Ah, yes, that seems.

1:20 Speaker 3: When when the lads joined in, that's that's when we

1:23 Speaker 3: decided we're going to put it down to a H

1:25 Speaker 3: instead not just me.

1:27 Speaker 1: Oh, I got you. That seems to be a trend lately.

1:30 Speaker 1: It's funny. Uh. I don't know if you heard.

1:31 Speaker 2: In the previous segment, I talked with Jamie Higgs and

1:34 Speaker 2: other great artists from from the UK, and yeah, he

1:37 Speaker 2: was telling me about how, you know, he started out

1:39 Speaker 2: as a solo artist and now he's you know, he's

1:41 Speaker 2: put a band together. He's still performing as Jamie Higgs,

1:44 Speaker 2: but but he's got a band with him. And that

1:46 Speaker 2: that seems to be the trend, you know. Uh, the

1:48 Speaker 2: sole artists songwriters, they yeah, get a little lonely and works.

1:53 Speaker 3: Yeah. I think I think there's usually one person who

1:57 Speaker 3: starts it off yep.

1:58 Speaker 4: On you bring people around you to help you play live.

2:02 Speaker 3: Usually and then and yeah, I'd turned into such a

2:06 Speaker 3: collaborative process that I thought we should just be a

2:11 Speaker 3: band and we're better as a collective rather than me

2:15 Speaker 3: just on my own.

2:16 Speaker 2: Well that's that tells you too, that you've really got

2:18 Speaker 2: something there, right when you when you have something that

2:21 Speaker 2: sort of happens organically like that, you know, you put this,

2:23 Speaker 2: you put this group of people together to play your songs,

2:26 Speaker 2: and then it ends up being so good you're like, oh,

2:27 Speaker 2: we should just make this a band.

2:29 Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty cool. So was that not your

2:35 Speaker 1: intention originally?

2:36 Speaker 2: Like, like, had that not happened, had that not gone

2:39 Speaker 2: as well as it was, do you think you'd still

2:41 Speaker 2: be a solo artist?

2:45 Speaker 3: I don't Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I wouldn't have

2:47 Speaker 3: given up on music.

2:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, never give up on music.

2:50 Speaker 4: Yeah, you never know where life takes you.

2:52 Speaker 3: But out of hope that was in a band. I

2:57 Speaker 3: always think, I always think the process of music is

3:00 Speaker 3: but as a collective rather than a singular person. Yeah yeah, yeah,

3:07 Speaker 3: so I'd always like to be with other people.

3:09 Speaker 4: Coluse, I'm not that good?

3:14 Speaker 1: What was it? Was it easy? It sounds like for

3:17 Speaker 1: you because some people struggle with this.

3:19 Speaker 2: It sounds like for you, though, it wasn't that difficult

3:21 Speaker 2: to kind of let go a little bit and open

3:23 Speaker 2: yourself up to that, because some people can't do it.

3:25 Speaker 2: Some people say, you know, I've got these songs that

3:27 Speaker 2: I've written, and these are my songs, and if you're

3:30 Speaker 2: coming in, you're going to perform them my way. But

3:32 Speaker 2: these are my songs, and and people are some people

3:34 Speaker 2: are very protective sort of their work that way. But

3:37 Speaker 2: it sounds like for you it wasn't really difficult to

3:40 Speaker 2: open up.

3:41 Speaker 3: No, absolutely, no, I mean that takes for like great

3:45 Speaker 3: pride and all the stuff that we're doing right now,

3:48 Speaker 3: especially that it's all written by me. Yeah, but there's

3:53 Speaker 3: there's an element of I don't care. I don't care,

3:56 Speaker 3: I couldn't come. I'd like I'd like people to hear

3:58 Speaker 3: my ideas and projects. Yeah, that I couldn't care if

4:03 Speaker 3: it's my face on it or if I stood at

4:05 Speaker 3: the back of it.

4:06 Speaker 4: No, that's like making music.

4:08 Speaker 1: Man, that's excellent. Yeah.

4:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't have your own ego getting in the way,

4:12 Speaker 2: which is good because.

4:13 Speaker 4: Some definitely do.

4:15 Speaker 3: I definitely do, probably do let where you go take

4:20 Speaker 3: over a little bit sometimes really Yeah, Yeah, I mean

4:24 Speaker 3: I think everybody in music.

4:25 Speaker 4: You've got to have a bit of an ego. You've

4:27 Speaker 4: got to have a bit of pride about it that

4:29 Speaker 4: you're doing.

4:30 Speaker 1: Yeah so throwing but but but it's not. At the

4:34 Speaker 1: same time, it's not getting in the way.

4:37 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not. It's not getting in the way. I'm

4:39 Speaker 3: just I let it. I let it do his thing.

4:42 Speaker 4: I guess.

4:43 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely So how long how long has

4:47 Speaker 2: ath officially been a band? It has it been less

4:50 Speaker 2: than a year? It seems like it's kind of new, right.

4:52 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I guess it would be the first eighty

4:58 Speaker 3: h gig.

4:59 Speaker 4: It's been about eight.

5:00 Speaker 3: From maybe Oh no, sorry June, okay, oh yeah, so

5:08 Speaker 3: really really not that long headline gig when we decided

5:12 Speaker 3: we're going to cement it as eighty Hates the Band

5:15 Speaker 3: rather than Adam Thomas Hues.

5:16 Speaker 4: And the band.

5:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're off. You're off to a very strong start,

5:20 Speaker 2: that's for sure.

5:21 Speaker 4: Thank you, Thank you man.

5:23 Speaker 1: Absolutely.

5:23 Speaker 2: Now, as as these members have come into the band,

5:26 Speaker 2: are they also contributing to the songwriting as you go forward?

5:29 Speaker 1: Or is that is that still more just you? Or

5:31 Speaker 1: how does that work?

5:33 Speaker 3: There's there's no rules, there's there's no rules, man. There's

5:36 Speaker 3: We've got to the backing guitarist Paddy. He He's wrote

5:43 Speaker 3: a song that I think will end up being one

5:46 Speaker 3: of an an eighty hate song. And I've got no

5:50 Speaker 3: wells or anything, you know what I mean. I'm not

5:52 Speaker 3: going to let that bother me because I want to

5:55 Speaker 3: be a song right.

5:56 Speaker 1: Yeah.

5:57 Speaker 4: If it's a good song man, we're going to do it.

5:59 Speaker 1: Yeah.

6:00 Speaker 3: But so far it has just been me who wrote

6:03 Speaker 3: the lyrics and melodies usually. Yeah, but I don't care

6:09 Speaker 3: going forward.

6:10 Speaker 1: I noticed.

6:10 Speaker 4: I guess I'll just bring some ideas.

6:12 Speaker 1: Yeah.

6:13 Speaker 2: No, that's great. I noticed too. Now tell me if

6:16 Speaker 2: I'm if I'm right about this. Uh looking at looking

6:19 Speaker 2: at the backgrounds of the members of the band, are

6:22 Speaker 2: you guys all like, uh, majors in music at university?

6:27 Speaker 4: No?

6:28 Speaker 3: Uh, kind of kind of okay, kind of We've got

6:34 Speaker 3: I think most of the lads are studying or did

6:37 Speaker 3: study at university something to do with music.

6:41 Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, so that's interesting.

6:45 Speaker 2: So you're all, I mean, you all know what you're doing.

6:47 Speaker 1: You know you're not.

6:49 Speaker 2: You're not You're not just dabbling in this like you

6:53 Speaker 2: you know you're at a young age. You're you're all pros,

6:56 Speaker 2: like you've got some some actual education in music, which

6:59 Speaker 2: is great.

7:00 Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely don't flaunt that about that. I know

7:04 Speaker 4: what I'm doing.

7:05 Speaker 3: I'm a very basic intermediate player myself. But we've definitely

7:09 Speaker 3: got two or three of the lads in the band

7:14 Speaker 3: classically they know what they're on about. Yeah, so that

7:18 Speaker 3: really helps me.

7:19 Speaker 2: No, that's excellent. Yeah. And then so in terms of

7:24 Speaker 2: since you've played your first show as a band, you

7:26 Speaker 2: said that was in June.

7:27 Speaker 3: Right, Yes, as a under the Ah collective. Okay, we

7:32 Speaker 3: did play a few shows before.

7:34 Speaker 2: That, ohta, So now since then, I mean my impression

7:41 Speaker 2: is you've you've got a lot of momentum in a

7:43 Speaker 2: short time.

7:44 Speaker 1: Are you Are you playing out a lot? Are you

7:46 Speaker 1: doing a lot of shows?

7:47 Speaker 4: We have been.

7:48 Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been been shows every week every week, which

7:53 Speaker 3: our size and at the start of a musical project.

7:57 Speaker 3: I guess that is a little bit unheard of that

7:59 Speaker 3: you could be playing every week. But yeah, no, we're trying.

8:03 Speaker 3: We think live music's our favorite the music. Oh yeah,

8:08 Speaker 3: playing in front of people?

8:11 Speaker 1: Did you perform it?

8:12 Speaker 2: Tell me if I'm saying this correctly. Wigan or Wagan

8:15 Speaker 2: Warriors Rugby Wigan.

8:17 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we played at that stadium once for

8:23 Speaker 3: that wasn't no longer will.

8:24 Speaker 4: It was to open up a big match for them,

8:27 Speaker 4: which was a really big moment for us. Oh wow,

8:30 Speaker 4: one of the best cakes I've ever played, No kidding.

8:32 Speaker 1: How many people were at that? That must have been

8:34 Speaker 1: a big crowd, right for something like that.

8:35 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the it was twenty to twenty two thousand,

8:41 Speaker 4: Oh my god, yeah the tickets sold.

8:44 Speaker 3: I think when we were playing it was more like

8:47 Speaker 3: fifteen or sixteen. Yeah, but definitely it was still and

8:52 Speaker 3: you know what's crazy, man, it's I was far less nervous.

8:57 Speaker 4: For that than plenty of the other gigs that we've done.

9:00 Speaker 4: Fifty people.

9:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think I kind of understand. I mean, obviously,

9:05 Speaker 2: you know, that's a you know, playing in front of

9:07 Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of people at an event like that's

9:10 Speaker 2: a big deal. But I can kind of I can

9:11 Speaker 2: kind of guess. I mean, I'm curious to hear what

9:14 Speaker 2: you say, but I can kind of guess that maybe

9:16 Speaker 2: because when you're in a when you're in a in

9:18 Speaker 2: front of fifty people, that's just such a much more

9:20 Speaker 2: intimate thing.

9:21 Speaker 3: And uh, yeah, I think every art is so no

9:25 Speaker 3: matter how big or small you whoever you talk to

9:28 Speaker 3: will say the same thing. When you play to fifty

9:30 Speaker 3: or one hundred people, it's so much more intimate and

9:35 Speaker 3: you focus in on all the stuff that you doing

9:39 Speaker 3: even more than when you playing in front of thousands

9:42 Speaker 3: of people.

9:43 Speaker 1: Yeah.

9:44 Speaker 2: Uh, you know, and obviously you know there's people, like

9:49 Speaker 2: if you're on stage, you look out into that into

9:51 Speaker 2: a small crowd and you can see people you actually know, and.

9:56 Speaker 4: You see the eyes looking at you. You see the

9:58 Speaker 4: eyes yeah.

9:59 Speaker 3: In and it could just be a bit of a

10:02 Speaker 3: like a blur. It's just like a wall of stuff

10:05 Speaker 3: is in front of you.

10:06 Speaker 1: Yeah.

10:07 Speaker 2: I remember a long time ago reading an interview with

10:09 Speaker 2: Don Henley of the Eagles. He was talking about how

10:12 Speaker 2: when the Eagles first got really big, he would get

10:15 Speaker 2: terrible stage fright. So when because he was afraid of

10:19 Speaker 2: being in front of these big crowds, so he would intentionally,

10:22 Speaker 2: you know, he never really wore glasses, but he wouldn't

10:24 Speaker 2: put his contact lenses and because he was nearsighted, but

10:28 Speaker 2: he wouldn't put his contacts in before they went on

10:30 Speaker 2: stage because he didn't want to be able to see

10:31 Speaker 2: the crowd of people, so he'd be behind the drums

10:34 Speaker 2: and and to him it was like, yeah, he could

10:37 Speaker 2: hear them, but he couldn't actually see them.

10:39 Speaker 4: So awesome. That's that's awesome to be honest.

10:42 Speaker 3: That is something similar when I did most of my

10:45 Speaker 3: eyes are closed for most of the most of the show.

10:50 Speaker 1: Oh, there you go, Yeah, there you go.

10:52 Speaker 4: It just happens.

10:53 Speaker 3: I think it's like a subconscious thing that it did.

10:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, it just closes because that's not.

10:59 Speaker 3: Thinking of about the music, I guess, and thinking about

11:02 Speaker 3: my playing and singing rather than thinking about who's staring

11:05 Speaker 3: at me.

11:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. Also, see something here

11:11 Speaker 2: about the Deaf Institute in Manchester. Obviously that's Manchester, UK

11:14 Speaker 2: where in so no one's so none of our listeners

11:16 Speaker 2: are confused. We're in Manchester and yeah of course. But

11:20 Speaker 2: and did you sell that out the Deaf Institute in Manchester?

11:23 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, the first iconic venue you sold that. That

11:27 Speaker 3: was the first gig we've first headline gig we did

11:30 Speaker 3: is a band and it was the best moment of

11:32 Speaker 3: my life so far. Wow.

11:35 Speaker 1: Oh that's incredible. That's incredible.

11:37 Speaker 2: So what is kind of the forward trajectory for you guys,

11:42 Speaker 2: because this is a subject that comes up all the

11:45 Speaker 2: time on the show, is talking about strategy in terms

11:49 Speaker 2: of releasing music and the cadence with which you release music.

11:52 Speaker 2: And I know you've got some singles, but did I

11:55 Speaker 2: read this correctly too, that you've you've got a lot

11:57 Speaker 2: of things you've recorded that you haven't released yet.

11:59 Speaker 1: Is that?

12:01 Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, we've got about we're sitting on. We're sitting

12:04 Speaker 3: on a lot of music right now, to be honest

12:06 Speaker 3: to if you that we're ready to next year, there's

12:09 Speaker 3: going to be a bit of a refresh with at

12:12 Speaker 3: H where we we go for a very not different sound,

12:18 Speaker 3: but we're a sound we're very happy and proud of

12:22 Speaker 3: and we're just waiting for the right moment to kick

12:24 Speaker 3: that off. I think that's going to be January first.

12:28 Speaker 3: I'm very excited for next year's.

12:32 Speaker 2: Do you know in terms of releasing that music as

12:34 Speaker 2: you do that in the starting in January, the refresh

12:37 Speaker 2: as you put it, Uh, do you know is there going.

12:39 Speaker 1: To be an album do you think? Or or is

12:41 Speaker 1: there going to be another series of singles or.

12:44 Speaker 3: There'll be a series of singles? First and we're gonna

12:48 Speaker 3: we're gonna lead up to a big EP that hopefully

12:51 Speaker 3: will be next year. Okay, that is the plant and

12:55 Speaker 3: I'm very very proud of it.

12:57 Speaker 4: I can't say much about the EP.

12:59 Speaker 2: Though, Okay, okay, understood, understood, Well, you gave us some clues.

13:04 Speaker 1: That's good. That's good.

13:05 Speaker 4: Yeah.

13:06 Speaker 1: Yeah.

13:07 Speaker 2: And then so the single, oh me, well, actually, let

13:11 Speaker 2: me ask you this. I'm going to kind of backtrack

13:13 Speaker 2: a little bit, you know, because because we did play

13:16 Speaker 2: the single, which I love, my Prettiest Mistake, You've got

13:19 Speaker 2: other music online that I'm curious if this is actually from.

13:23 Speaker 2: There's another track that I found of yours that I

13:25 Speaker 2: love called left Behind.

13:27 Speaker 1: But is that is that sort of pre band officially behind?

13:33 Speaker 2: Yeah?

13:34 Speaker 4: Okay, Well, to be honest, all of.

13:37 Speaker 3: It was the last two Prettiest Mistake and left Behind

13:42 Speaker 3: were made with the band, okay, but they were made when.

13:44 Speaker 4: It was a solo act.

13:47 Speaker 1: Oh okay.

13:47 Speaker 3: Whereas the stuff that's all been made for next year

13:51 Speaker 3: is all the band stuff.

13:53 Speaker 1: I gotcha.

13:54 Speaker 4: So yeah, but no, a very left behind kids kind

13:58 Speaker 4: of similar to what we're doing next.

14:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, I'm sorry.

14:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, and and thank you. I the correct title title

14:04 Speaker 2: is left Behind Kid. I think that through the kid

14:06 Speaker 2: the kid is in parentheses and the title, So in

14:09 Speaker 2: my mind, I just ignored the kid part, but left

14:11 Speaker 2: behind good. That's a great song too. I think I'm

14:14 Speaker 2: probably going to play that at the end of our

14:17 Speaker 2: our segment. And also also I might sneak in, Uh

14:22 Speaker 2: you did? I found this on YouTube? You guys did

14:24 Speaker 2: a cover of Arizona by the by Wonder Horse and

14:29 Speaker 2: this is the Barn live session. Now that's not a

14:32 Speaker 2: show that I'm familiar with, but is that a Is

14:35 Speaker 2: that a YouTube show where they have musicians come in

14:37 Speaker 2: or what is the Barn?

14:39 Speaker 4: The Barn is completely us. It's our rehearsal space. Is

14:45 Speaker 4: the Bar?

14:45 Speaker 1: Oh no kidding? Oh okay, yeah, yes.

14:48 Speaker 3: So when we do some recordings in we like to

14:50 Speaker 3: call them the Barn sessions.

14:52 Speaker 4: Oh you just this shed that.

14:54 Speaker 3: We've turned into a studio. We've just named it the Barn.

14:57 Speaker 3: And then you're going to see a lot more of

14:59 Speaker 3: the Bar next year. Definitely.

15:02 Speaker 4: We love the live stuff.

15:04 Speaker 2: That's fantastic. Yeah, because I also love this. I love

15:06 Speaker 2: the I might sneak this in too. I might play

15:09 Speaker 2: both of those at the end of our conversation if

15:11 Speaker 2: I have time, because I also love this. I'm not

15:14 Speaker 2: familiar with the band Wonder Horse.

15:17 Speaker 3: Oh man, you need to do it.

15:20 Speaker 4: Do it?

15:20 Speaker 3: Yeah, fucking when you get home tonight, put your headphones

15:23 Speaker 3: on and listen to their out of them.

15:25 Speaker 1: Where they Where are they from? Are they? Are they

15:28 Speaker 1: from over there? Yeah?

15:29 Speaker 3: They were UK acts, okay, from like London and Cornwall,

15:34 Speaker 3: and I think you'll be into them if you like

15:37 Speaker 3: you a bit more grunge, punky rock. I guess it's

15:42 Speaker 3: been adopted into the indie scene really right now.

15:45 Speaker 4: But at the heart of it, it's it's it's.

15:48 Speaker 3: Punk and grunge, okay, and they are possibly our biggest inspirations.

15:54 Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I'll check them out because you guys did

15:56 Speaker 2: this cover of Arizona and it's really good, really good,

16:01 Speaker 2: really good. Well, Adam, that time does go quickly, but

16:05 Speaker 2: we will definitely have you back on in the future.

16:07 Speaker 2: I'd love to as Ath is releasing new music, we'd

16:10 Speaker 2: love to have you back on.

16:11 Speaker 1: Love what You're doing to, Love to really great star.

16:17 Speaker 2: Before we let you go, Like I said, we're gonna

16:19 Speaker 2: hit this track left Behind another great song, but before

16:22 Speaker 2: we go, where's the best place for people to go

16:24 Speaker 2: online to keep up with everything that you guys are doing.

16:28 Speaker 3: I'd say everybody go and check out the Instagram. We

16:31 Speaker 3: were very on it with the Instagram. We're posting announcements

16:34 Speaker 3: for shows and music that's coming out.

16:38 Speaker 4: Okay, so it's.

16:39 Speaker 3: Official at H on all social media platforms.

16:44 Speaker 4: Definitely check out the Instagram, guys.

16:46 Speaker 2: Absolutely all right, we'll let you go for now. We're

16:48 Speaker 2: gonna hit this track. But Adam Hughes of at H,

16:51 Speaker 2: thank you so much, my friend. And like I said,

16:53 Speaker 2: we will definitely definitely talk again in the future, but

16:57 Speaker 2: absolutely as well.

16:59 Speaker 3: Oh that would be excellently We'll jump over that side

17:02 Speaker 3: of the pund fantastic.

17:04 Speaker 2: Can't wait, can't wait? All right, Adam, we'll talk to

17:06 Speaker 2: you soon. Take care see him man, bye bye.

17:09 Speaker 1: All right.

17:09 Speaker 2: That is Adam Hughes from the band at H and

17:12 Speaker 2: as promised, let's give this suspend. This is another great

17:14 Speaker 2: song from them. This is called Left Behind Kid,