Glossop born acoustic duo Maybe Frank has quit their day jobs to pursue their music full time. Ahead of their appearance at the Mottram Show, we met up with members Josh Wood, aged-23, and Sam Winterbottom, aged-24, to find out more about the guys behind the guitars…
How did you both meet?
Josh (J): When we were 12, and we hated each other but our mums were friends so they made us be mates as well. We’ve regretted it every day since.
Sam (S): We did amateur dramatics in Mossley every weekend for years and ended up going to the same college together doing musical theatre and half-way through we realised that we absolutely hated it.
So when did you decide to get involved in music?
S: Josh was involved with a cover band in college called Silhouette (which sounds like a girls dance troop) which I tagged along with at first, and then we eventually decided that we wanted to do original material.
J: It started really because we were getting bored. So we were just jamming and writing and I don’t think we thought we were actually doing it until after our first couple of gigs.
S: We’ve always sang, but writing songs was a different experience. You can be a guitarist and play guitar, and you can be a singer and sing – but to write music as well, it’s a completely different skill.
What would be your dream gig?
S: Next year I want us to do a set at Glastonbury, not on one of the big stages because that is a big thing to ask but I honestly believe we could do it.
How are you managing, money-wise, on being full-time musicians?
J: It’s been fine, in a way this is actually the most money I’ve had because we get a lot of things paid for. We have never lived the life of luxury; we live like homeless people most of the time.
S: He’s right we have about seven t-shirts and seven pairs of boxers; and that’s between the two of us.
What are your motivations/inspirations?
S: One of our main inspirations is definitely John Mayer, we watched him in London last year. If we could get the chance to support him that would just be mad.
J: The way I see it, if there is something you really want, and you keep pushing it thinking it is going to happen, you will always be happy. Even when I’m 90, if I get to 90, there won’t be any doubt and you are always going to be motivated then.
Where do you see yourselves in five years?
J: Honestly? I see us being big; I can see us doing world tours.
S: Every time I drive past the O2 Apollo in Manchester I think: ‘We are going to headline that one day’ – and I think we have to think like that otherwise there is no point or no motivation behind what we’re doing.
Maybe Frank: Four things we’ve learned
- Sam loves astronomy and is a self-professed ‘space geek’
- Josh was planning on going to University in September, but decided to pursue Maybe Frank instead
- Sam was an actor before Maybe Frank, his last job was at The Globe in London
- Josh loves reading, his favourite author is Alan Watts
Check out their new song, Semaphore
Author Lexi Gagan