By Corella on returning ‘full circle’ to Grimsby ahead of their Docks Academy show!
A local musician is returning to Grimsby with his highly successful band Corella, as part of a fantastic night of live music at Docks Academy, with lead singer/guitarist Joel Smith saying how ‘it feels incredible to come back to Grimsby where it all started for me musically.’
Joel is originally from Immingham and attended Franklin College, where he dedicated his craft and began busking around Freshney Place, he then moved to university in Manchester and formed Corella, though he always remembers his routes as a ‘full circle sort of moment’ and as a returning local is ‘buzzing to get a good chippy.’
The sold-out show at Docks Academy is to take place on September 2, with support acts to be announced shortly. The group has carefully crafted their sound as they said “we can’t really label it ourselves, but we’re definitely running down the Indie lane.”
“I think when we write we play whatever sounds good to us, sometimes that’s Indie, sometimes it’s punky, poppy.. but it’s guitar music.
“We’ve been told our tunes are anthemic, we really put a lot into the live shows, so either way, I’m sure there will be some foot-tapping going on inside Docks Academy,” Joel said.
Joel spoke further of his influences, and coming together collectively as a band:
“Believe it or not, Ed Sheeran got me into music. I’d learn his songs back to front, all being self-taught I picked up some pretty bad guitar habits along the way. But when I met the lads, we all loved bands like Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Little Comets. That feel-good indie is something we all couldn’t escape, I’d say that alone has influenced us into making the music we do today.” he said.
Gi Grimsby News spoke further with frontman Joel Smith, who spoke about his Grimsby influence, and praise for others:
“There are some mint bands in Grimsby. Some great up and coming, and some great older bands. The lead singer from Orphan Boy taught me in school which was cool, that sort of inspired me. Artists like Eden Rae Lake and bands like ‘Mint’ who we are close to, we love them. It’s hard, especially from a smaller area, but we respect each and every person doing it in Grimsby.
“Growing up in a working-class background is relatable to a lot of people when we talk about the problems we all face. Most of our songs are about the struggle, but the people you grow up around mould you as a person, and I couldn’t have asked for better people,” he said.
Speaking about their latest release ‘Blush’ Joel said “It’s been different to the last releases! We wrote the song with producers SOAP, and it really brought out a different element to Corella. We’re looking forward to releasing the EP next month, all the tracks are different to each other.”
“My roots were to keep going, keep digging in, and don’t stop. I think I speak for Ben, Jack, and James here where we’ve all had the dream to play big shows and write incredible music. We’ve never stopped believing and we will never stop, we have to make it work. That is part of the success, and we are only at the start, it’s exciting and we’re ready to take on whatever comes our way!” Joel added.
(Image:Corella)
