As Time For T prepares to play three shows in this year’s Alternative Escape – the grassroots sister festival to Brighton’s celebration of international new music – Tiago Saga introduces us to his multicultural band and the concept of free hugs.

“We are from all over the place but we all met in Brighton a few years ago. I grew up in Portugal but am of English origin, we have Juan from Madrid, Martyn from Kettering, Oliver from Luzern, Joshua from High Wycombe and Harry is a Devonian. We all moved to Brighton around the same time to pursue our musical dreams and we ended up forming the band in 2012, going from a solo project to a full band of six!

“We all come from such different musical backgrounds and cultures. At first it might have been a little too extreme but we have now honed our sound and managed to create a harmony between what we all like and what we want from our music. All of us are heavily into world music, particularly West African music. The desert blues are probably one of our main common grounds.

“Our biggest gig to date was probably last summer’s Optimus Alive Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. We were playing on a stage bigger than all our houses put together.

“The concept for our Free Hugs video came from Kerry Lockwood, Joshua’s girlfriend. I decided that we should just go out in Brighton and capture as many amazing moments of raw emotion that we could, regardless of a storyline. It was one of the nicest days we have spent together, our cheeks hurt from so much smiling. There were three hours of hugs and some rejections too but they were just as important as we wanted to capture the sentiment of the song which is of feeling alone amongst others love.

“Our Indie GoGo Crowd Funding adventure was more successful than we had ever anticipated. Our very supportive fans raised over £2,260. It made us take the project a lot more seriously and we got the opportunity to work with some true professionals such as the producer of the album Tim Bidwell. We’re really happy with the final result of the new mini album and can’t wait to get it out there – it will be officially released in June this year.”

Time For T play the Marwood Cafe, in Ship Street, on Thursday, May 8, from 8.15pm, Beyond Retro in Vine Street on Saturday, May 10, from 6.15pm, and Brighton Arts Club, in Providence Place at 8pm as part of the Alternative Escape. Time For T also curate their own free night on Tuesday, May 13, from 7pm at the Green Door Store in Trafalgar Street Arches, Brighton.

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