Words & Photography: Izzi Glover
You know you’re at a Stoke Underground gig when you’re sat in the green (red) room and you can hear angsty riffs and raspy vocals sound-checking while you’re trying to interview Stoke’s next best thing: Genius of the Crowd.
“We were very excited until everything started going wrong in the bloody soundcheck,” exclaimed the band’s guitarist, Matt.
I chatted to the band ahead of their headline at Stoke’s Underground, where everything seemed to break during the soundcheck.
Genius of the Crowd are Matt Frederick, Sam Galway, Matt White, Jack Baker and Dave Smith.
“It’s nice to get a full body of work out”, frontman, Matt, said in response to the new release of their EP, The Darkest Side of Hope.
“It’s nice to hear what everyone’s favourite song was off the EP”, explained drummer, Dave, “Feel More is the best.” It’s definitely a good contender.
When asking about any notable inspirations that went into the crafting of their project, Matt immediately answered with, “well we can’t go a single gig without playing a Fontaines cover.”
Boys in the Better Land being a staple of the band’s gigs; Fontaines D.C. always stand out as muses.
“I’d never listened to them before I joined this band,” laughed Dave.
I photographed the band in their rehearsal studio last year and seem to remember everyone stopping to have a karaoke break to Nabakov. It must be a requirement to like them to join Genius of the Crowd!
“It’s not just Fontaines though, some of it sounds very Cure” added Matt; his observations are very clear in some of the tracks like Baxter. The moody riffs, epic drums and poetic lyrics are very reminiscent of the classic gothic band.
Genius of the Crowd were not always the Genius of the Crowd that we know and love. The band had a lineup change and a rebrand in 2023, going from zero to hero within a few months.
“It was all because I joined,” proudly stated Dave. The drummer joined last year before the band rebranded.
“When Dave joined, he was the most dedicated one out of us all, and we all thought ‘we can’t fucking have that’, so we all stepped up our game,” was the answer to why the band had very quickly become a big name in the Stoke scene, when before they had really struggled.
“We owe a lot to the Underground,” Matt adds. The venue were the ones that got the band their first proper gig. So we have them to thank.
Dave then explained how they managed to organise their gig. “I got a message saying: ‘do you wanna do an EP release’ and we were like right lads we need to write an EP!”
Rewinding back in time, The 509 was what the band were known as, but apparently things weren’t great.
Jack told me that they were never happy with any of the songs they put out and Sam added that they never had a sound they were all happy with either. So they started fresh and changed their name, which Matt took from one of his favourite poems.
But what I wanted to know was what other names had been up in the air before settling on the one they have today.
Jung, Sex in Budapest and Krakow were some of the rejects. Who else thinks Matt needs a full time job in naming bands?
“When you change your name and play your first gig, you get a feeling of ‘this is Genius of the Crowd’ and if you don’t then change it again.”
Wise words from Dave.
To finish, I asked the band who they thought needed shouting out in the Stoke scene right now. Clay Lake have recently re-entered the scene and Dave immediately suggested them.
“It’s nice to see them branching out again.”
Matt mentioned Head Dent.
“He wore dungarees and went fucking mental.” What more could you want?
“We’re gonna have to say Rocky Ostrich aren’t we?”
Yes. Of course. How can you talk one second about the Stoke scene without bringing up Rocky Ostrich (read our chat with them here).
You can listen to Genius of the Crowd’s new Ep, The Darkest Side of Hope, here.
And you definitely should.
