We chatted Leeds, future plans and everything Gotts Street Park with the emerging cinematic soul outfit
Leeds’ Gotts Street Park are rapidly establishing themselves as a major force in UK music. Having produced already for artists such as Mabel, Celeste, Yellow Days, Kali Uchis, Grentea Peng and Rejjie Snow as well as carving out their own material, the outfit look set on a trajectory to greatness.
Their stripped back, soulful sound has hosted a wide variety of guest vocalists, with each as captivating, compelling and diverse as the last. This is an exciting, ceiling-less, expansive four-piece that boasts an incredible CV of collaborators and tracks that looks only to expand. We had a the outfits own Joe Harris to find out a little more about them and their unique project.
Who TF are Gotts Street Park?
We’re a band of songwriters, instrumentalists and producers. We’ve been writing and recording most of our music in Josh’s studio space in Leeds.
How long have you been making music?
As Gotts Street Park we’ve been making tunes for about 5 years, but we’ve been creatively linked since much earlier.
Why do you make music?
Cause we love music!
What are your biggest influences?
Tons of old soul and jazz for the atmosphere and sonic quality. Older recordings with live instruments.
What would you say has been your best moment so far?
It’s always nice when someone tells us they enjoy our music or bigs us up to their mates. Also a lot of the artists we’ve worked with are people whose music we enjoy and respect, so it’s pretty cool to actually meet and collaborate with them.
How would you describe your sound to someone unfamiliar with it?
Raw, stripped back, atmospheric music with real instruments and a bit of soul
What’s your dream “I’ve made it” moment?
For me it’s a signature Gibson 335.
We love your latest single ‘Favourite Kind of Girl’, could you tell us some more about it?
Thanks! Yeah we wrote and recorded 2 or 3 tunes with Flikka over a couple of days in Leeds and this was one of them. We came up with the instrumental part in the room and Flikka wrote all her parts. I remember saying at the time, we would have never produced that vibe as an instrumental without her in the room… I think just being around another artist puts us in a different musical space and probably vice-versa.
How do you think that Leeds and the dynamic of the city has impacted you and your sound?
Leeds is a creative place with a proper lack of pretentiousness. It’s cheaper to live up here so it frees up a bit more time to get creative and to minimise the stresses of everyday life. There’s definitely a vibe of substance before style in the scene here which suits our outlook. People generally don’t believe the hype in Leeds and I think that’s a good thing for staying grounded and true to your craft.
What does the rest of 2020 have in store for Gotts Street Park?
We’re putting the finishing touches to our 2nd EP to release later this year, and already working on an album. We’re playing Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston on 28th April and there’ll be a few more one-off live shows featuring some of our favourite artists and collaborators, so stay tuned!
And finally, who is your biggest fan right now?
My mum is always solid for a like on Facebook.
