Beth Doherty
Live music returns to Brown Street this (Friday 28th January) with local band Carsick taking to the stage.
Ahead of their hometown, headline show, Love Salisbury sat down with brothers Jack and Joe Richardson from Carsick to learn all about the band and their debut single Is What It Is.
This four-piece indie rock singing, punk playing band came together in Salisbury in 2021. Made up of brothers Joe, 22, and Jack Ricardson 24, Bailey Saunders, 20, and Jack Hardiman, 21, the young band have come a long way in a short space of time.
The band members met while studying music and Andover College.
“Bailey and I met in college and that’s when we started recording songs together and they were terrible – but we also got a lot of good stuff too every now and then. Later, the other two guys – my brother and our drummer Jack came into the fold and we fully formed in 2021 to release our first single,” said Joe.
Describing their genre as a mash-up of post-punk, electronic, and indie, the band say it’s their different musical backgrounds that help to create their unique sound.
“It’s a genre-bending, mind-blowing sound,” says Jack.
“It’s a combination of a lot of different sounds. We all come from different musical backgrounds – my brother is into post-punk, and our drummer Jack is into metal and Baliey and I are into electronic, jungle, indie and a bit of punk. So it all comes together into this really cool, slightly unique, slightly not unique sound,” added Joe.
Their debut single Is What It Is reminds me of the likes of Brit-pop stars Blur, English rap sensations, The Streets, and modern rock duo Slaves. Did these bands inspire Carsick’s single?
“You have massively hit the nail on the head there,” says Joe.
“That is exactly what we were going for. We were massively inspired by bands like that and we grew up with a lot of Brit Pop and UK Rock such as Blur and Oasis. The Streets and Slaves are two great bands that have massively inspired us.”
Is What It Is already has over 4,500 plays on Spotify. It has a catchy beat, a chorus that makes you want to sing like a Londer, and headbanging riffs. But what does ‘Is What It Is’ actually mean?
“Joe and I wrote that song while hungover and it’s kind of an observation on really annoying geezers. It’s a tongue-in-cheek comment on hypermasculinity and lad culture on nights out,” explains Jack.
As well as releasing their debut single on their verified Spotify page, the band have also been recently recognised by BBC Introducing.
“We emailed BBC Introducing with our single and then on the same day James Threlfall, who is the host of BBC Introducing for the south messaged us on Instagram and said he liked the track! Eventually, we got Showcase Track of the Week and it felt amazing when we got that news,” said Jack.
“It was also so good to be recognised by such great people,” added Joe.
Aside from their BBC Introducing Showcase Track of the Week, Joe’s biggest achievement while in the band so far is being bought half a pint of beer in the Winchester Gate pub.
“Somebody bought me a half-pint at the Winchester Gate which was really cool and he said “I love What It Is” – which isn’t even the name of our first song but it was close! It was great to be recognised by whoever that guy was, and cheers for the half-pint!”
Stepping onto the lively Salisbury music scene, the boys say they have been welcomed with open arms.
“It’s a great community and there is definitely a growing music scene in Salisbury which is great. There are a lot of really cool bands coming out of the city like Borts, and Oversized. There are also a lot of really sick artists too and lots of talented musicians like Tom Armstrong,” said Joe.
“We are massively looking forward to our upcoming Brown Street gig. We have got lots of friends and mates of mates coming down which will be really cool. I am really excited to play our new tracks live.
“Muzzle comes out on the 28th January, which is the same day as the gig so you have a whole day to learn it before you come down and I am really excited for that,” Joe added.
See Carsick at Brown Street, Salisbury on Friday 28th January, tickets are free and can be booked here.
Andy Munns
