Sara: "Good! Is that it! Fuckin' great!"
Aside from good (and indeed fuckin' great), we can add sleazy, sexy, punky, punchy, rocky, and any number of alt rock characteristics with dwarf-like
names. The Hull based quartet of Sara (vocals/guitar), Martin (bass), Paul (guitar), and Carl (drums) are all these things and more, but there is one thing they (along with every other female fronted rock band around at the moment) wish to make abundantly clear to us all:
M: "But we've got a female singer! So we must do. We have got a bass player though."
S: "That’s the thing, because there’s not that many female reference points, you always get compared to the obvious. We’ve been doing this for quite a while now, before we’d even heard of the Yeah Yeah
M: "It's just laziness, I mean we can't be compared with the latest bloke band."
The Favours came into being when Sara and Martin's previous band, in which he had sung, while she played guitar, called it a day. Sara took over vocal duties, with Martin switching to bass, and they poached Carl from another band. Paul joined later after approaching the band at a gig and offering his services.
They are one of a number of bands beginning to emerge from Hull, and feel the local scene is starting to gather momentum.
there are quite
a few younger bands coming through now, and they’re not in other
people’s bands, it is looking up a bit."
And tonight's gig supporting M.A.S.S.
at Hackney Ocean should help give the burgeoning scene another push
into the limelight;
S: "It was actually organised by a promotion company in Hull called
Humber Bridge, they’ve been putting gigs on, trying to get Hull
bands seen, ‘cause people don’t tend to go to Hull to watch
bands."
M: "What do people go to Hull for?"
The Favours are certainly doing their part in putting the city on the
S: "We played at a place called Satan’s Hollow, and with it being In The City, and knowing that there were industry around, there was a lot of pressure on. I think we were all a bit nervous. Plus the venue’s a bit strange – they’ve got a big statue of Satan overlooking the stage. It was intimidating in every sense."
M: "The doors had red eyes on them."
S: "And then the following night we played at Hull
Uni. People were really getting into it, really appreciating it, dancing. It was really nice, so refreshing to have that really comfortable kind of gig."
Over their time gigging around Hull & beyond, The Favours have managed to amass a rather
S: "They're our own special dance troupe. They’re not like normal dancers – they don’t just headbang or jump up & down, they’ve got nice little dance routines worked out. They are a little bit stressed if we play any new songs ‘cause they won’t have a dance routine worked out for it, but their improvisation’s quite good anyway. Some of them are Paul’s mates & that’s how it started, but it’s gradually grown as a dance troupe. Like when we played the Hull Uni, there was only one of them there, and bless him, he came to the front and
started dancing on him own, and gradually everybody came and joined him. They’d probably stood there thinking ‘What the hell is that idiot doing?’ and they all came & started dancing with him… It was quite a touching moment."
So do yourself a favour; dust off your dancing shoes & head for the front, if you're lucky they might even let you join.