Up and coming Sumwot are a four piece Punk/Heavy Post Punk band from Wolverhampton and made a righteous Rebellion debut this summer. Aggy Gillon sat down and had a chat with Alex (Guitar & Vocals), Rowan (Bass & Vocals), Stace (Guitar), and Esme (Drums). They discussed their new album release (29th of August), how they get over pre-show nerves, their hunger to play more live shows and their love of the stage.
Is this your first Rebellion?
In unison: Yeah!
How does it feel for you guys to be playing here?
Rowan: It’s like a dream!
Stace: Playing alongside some of the bands we have been listening to for years is like a dream come true.
When did you form Sumwot?
Stace: Early 2022 I think.
How did you all get together?
Rowan: I met Alex at this summer music programme thing.
Alex: Yeah, it was like a rock school.
Stace: I’ve known Alex for like ten years or something.
Esme: I’m a bit of the odd one out because her (Stace) Dad taught me how to play drums at my school. We met each other separately though at a youth zone and that was when we figured out her Dad taught me drums.
What’s the story behind the name Sumwot?
Stace: We had to quickly come up with a name.
Rowan: It was originally Sumwotgrrrl but we didn’t feel that was the right fit for us anymore. We took the Grrrl bit off and became Sumwot.
What EPs or albums do you have out at the moment?
Stace: Under our previous name we released a four track EP that is on our old Spotify page. With Sumwot we have a new album coming out on the 29th of August called ‘Over The Line’.
Are you currently doing a tour right now?
Alex: Just playing what gigs we can at the moment I suppose.
How did you get involved with playing Rebellion?
Rowan: We played some gigs in Birmingham as they have a little punk scene there and through that we met Tony (Tony John band manager).
Stace: We played alongside Thee Acid Tongue and they gave us Tony’s Instagram page.
Alex: Thee Acid Tongue are great. I think they sort of saw we were like a young band that were really into what we were doing.
So you’re playing tomorrow on the RIS stage, do you have any pre show rituals to get yourselves ready?
Alex: I take a shit *laughs*
Hey, there are no wrong answers to this! *laughs*
Rowan: Mines really bad I just drink a can of Monster *laughs*
Stace: I just listen to a lot of aggressive music to get me in the mood.
Esme: I try to be sociable and talk to. People to get my confidence up a little bit.
Alex: I get very nervous.
Yeah? How do you manage to overcome that?
Alex: I don’t. I just start shaking and get on stage and I’m fine. Every time I perform I’m like “I can’t do this!” and everyone is like “shut up!” I’m like, am I gonna die? Am I gonna pass out? No just get on stage *laughs*.
That’s the way to do it. Just do what makes you scared and eventually it gets easier. So for those who have never heard you before, how would you describe your sound?
Stace: Loud and aggressive.
Rowan: Experimental.
Esme: Yeah, experimental.
Stace: We have a lot of different things we play around with.
Esme: Different vibes.
Stace: We don’t stick to one distinct genre. We play around with what is interesting.
When it comes to your influences, do you find you share a lot of the same or are you quite different?
Stace: I think we have a lot of different influences but more specifically our sounds are quite different.
Alex: I think we merge pretty well.
Rowan: I think we merge pretty well. I tend to be the odd one out a little bit *laughs*.
How so?
Rowan: My music taste is very different to theirs but I also love horror punk and things like that. I didn’t listen to punk before I joined the band. These guys got me into it.
Stace: We indoctrinated you *laughs*
Alex: We just kidnapped her.
Surprisingly that’s not the first time we have heard that this weekend “We just hijacked them”. Seems to be a popular way to build a band these days *laughs*
Rowan: When it comes to bassists it’s what you got to do. They are like gold dust *laughs*.
What’s your vision, what’s the dream?
Stace: Whatever comes to us we will take it essentially. There is no five or three year plan.
Esme: We want to share our music with people if you want to listen. And do more gigs everywhere and anywhere we can. That’s the dream.
Rowan: I just love being on stage.
Alex: It’s like an unmatched feeling. You can’t compare it to anything.
Well you guys are playing Rebellion and for a young and fairly new band the sky’s the limit. We like to support up and coming bands and then watch them progress. It’s amazing to see. Just reach for the stars. Is there anything you would like to add?
Rowan: Free Palestine!
Stace: We were supporting Sham 69 in our hometown at the end of June. At the end of the show as I usually do I pull out a Palestine flag. A couple of people, maybe six or seven, were giving me and my beautiful band mates some really harsh words.
Rowan: They were not impressed.
Alex: The type of skinheads you don’t want.
Rowan: They were threatening to get us when we got outside.
Stace: We didn’t back down. Sham gave us a shout out though.
Interview and photo by Aggy Gillon