Up and Coming Pop Punk Bands | We Were Lions

Today for our up and coming UK pop punk bands we'd like to introduce to you We Were Lions. The band, who hail from Essex, have recently released a new EP entitled Horizons which you can listen to below. Taking influence from A Day to Remember, 36 Crazyfists and Brand New, Horizons combines big choruses and powerful hooks. We Were Lions answered some questions for us about how they formed, how they came up with their band name and told us all we need to know about the new EP...

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

Lloyd (Vocals): Essex, land of fake tans and low cut men’s shirts.

James (Guitar): We own a fair number of those t-shirts though.  We have the market cornered really.  That’s our schtick – He-vage! Every band needs a USP and that’s ours!

HOW DID WE WERE LIONS FORM?

Dan (Drums): About 4 years ago Lloyd started the band with Dean (our old guitarist), and they found myself and Marc on a site called “joinmyband”. After a year Phil came on-board to replace the original bass player.  All was going well for 2 years and we released our first EP ‘Rebirth’. Unfortunately Dean and Marc (Guitars), had to leave and we picked James and Rob after a number of auditions. Since then we've gone from strength to strength. 

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR BAND NAME?

Dan: We all came up with a name each and voted. Unfortunately the voting process lasted quite a few weeks due to some small differences in opinions! But then we all decided We Were Lions was best and that was that. 

Rob: I believe Lloyd has an interesting story for this.

Lloyd: Nicked it from a Charlie Simpson EP.

James: Short and sweet story…

YOUR MAIN GOAL AS A BAND IS?

James: Our long-term plan is to be as successful as we can be, but short term we are trying to build a local and nation fan-base so we can plan a UK tour for our next release.  We already have some awesome fans on twitter and enjoy interacting with the people who listen to our music.

Dan: Our main aim is to build up a big fan-base. We all love jamming in the studio but there's nothing better than playing live gigs and getting a great response from the audience. 

Rob (Guitar): I want to be creative with music, perform it to millions, tour the planet, global domination and own more guitars than my mansion can hold. 

YOUR TOP 3 INFLUENCES ARE?

James: A Day To Remember, Architects and Tom Waits.

Lloyd: A Day To Remember, Four Year Strong….aaand Taylor Swift

James: Lloyd and Taylor sitting in a tree…

Dan: Tool, Arch Enemy and 36 Crazy Fists 

Rob: As an individual guitarist I have too many influences to narrow down to just three. Names like Mark Tremonti, Anthony Armstrong and Syn Gates come to mind, although since joining this band I have discovered the Pop Punk genre, so bands such as A Day To Remember, Sum 41, Amity Affliction among others have influenced me when writing for WWL.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW EP HORIZONS...

James: I was really excited about this EP.  I have never been in a band before that’s got to that stage.  I trained as a sound engineer so I am familiar with being in a studio but it was exciting to track the parts we had all written and be there for the process.  We recorded at ARU as Phil was studying there at the time so the whole EP was recorded and produced by Phil and myself.  I am very proud of it!

Lloyd: Four vastly different tracks to show off each element of WWL. If you haven’t listened to us before, its a great intro into what we do.

Rob: I really have nothing to compare this with as I wasn't a part of the 'Rebirth' EP. ‘Horizons’ is, in my opinion, merely a warm up for our release. The tracks are great, but the songs we have written for the next release have surpassed every song from Horizons in terms of quality and song-writing. With ‘Horizons’ I think you can tell that we were a 'new' line up, but with the new material we have, it sounds so much bolder and I think we've definitely found our 'sound'. 

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TRACK FROM HORIZONS AND WHY?

Dan: All 4 songs have elements that I love to hear, as well as play, so that's a tricky one! I do like a good guitar solo.  I'm Not Angry has an epic solo so if I have to pick it's that one, but the others aren't far behind!

Lloyd: “Health” is incredibly personal to me, and is the last track written. Going forward you’ll hear a lot more of that honesty in the lyrics.

James: “Guadalajara” is mine.  It has everything I love in a song; riffs, lots of changes and energy.

TOP FIVE FAVOURITE POP PUNK ALBUMS?

James: Common Courtesy by ADTR and I really like Dogs Eating Dogs by Blink 182

Lloyd: The Story So Far - What You Don’t See and Four Year Strong - Enemy Of The World

Dan: I love a lot of pop punk songs and it’s a fun genre to play, but I'm more of a rock/metal fan.

Rob:  Rebel Revive by Jamie's Elsewhere


Listen to Horizons below:


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