As their long-awaited debut album Loom is released later this month, Fear Of Men’s Jessica Weiss talks about playing New York and her literary inspirations.

“The album’s been in the works for more than a year. I was writing songs on my own and bringing them to [bandmates] Daniel Falvey and Michael Miles. As we grew in confidence about the kind of record we wanted to make, we would go away to stay on Mike’s parents’ farm to seclude ourselves and immerse ourselves in the project. It took quite a long time to get something we were proud to sign off as our debut album, and a lot of effort, but we feel it was well spent.

“Dan and I started the band – I had just started writing songs and asked Dan for advice on loop pedals so I could do something live. Through sharing mixtapes and hanging out we realised that we wanted to work together. Mike I’ve known for years, we’ve played in bands since we were teenagers so he’s an old friend – he’s a great band member because he’ll just pick up whatever instrument you throw at him. On the record we got him playing a lot of organ, timpani and musical saw, which he was mostly learning on the day of recording. Becky our live bassist is a friend of a friend who was looking to join a band and fitted in nicely.

“My main influences are things that I read or see rather than hear mostly – Sylvia Plath, John Donne and Philip Larkin books were ever present in the studio. Sound wise, bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel with an intensity and emotional honesty, who experiment with high and low fidelity. Vocally, Broadcast. In general, while writing and recording, we listened to a lot of Deerhunter and Bon Iver, as well as Simon And Garfunkel.

“We headlined a night of Seaport Festival in New York on the docks last summer, which was pretty fun. There was a beautiful view from the stage, we were right by the water, the sun was shining and we’d been flown over specially. It was good. We’re already getting started on album two, which we’re excited about, but first, with our debut album, Loom, out on Monday, April 21, we’re working towards that. We’ll be touring America, Canada and Europe.”

Find out more...

Fear Of Men play Spectrum, Resident’s new music night at the Brighton Dome Studio Theatre in New Road, on Tuesday, April 15. Doors at 8pm, tickets £4 from 01273 709709. Visit fearofmen.co.uk or facebook.com/fearofmen