We were back at the Purple Turtle on the 2nd of April 2025 for another quality line-up and to interview the excellent Nothing Rhymes With Orange.

Three more bands were on tonight. Apollo are a relatively new outfit and performed a mix of enthusiastic covers (Miserlou, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Just) and original material, including tracks called ‘Waiting,’ ‘Control’ and ‘Stuck in the Clouds’. Emerson were tonight’s headliners, though it was quiet and a number of people who had snuck in for Nothing Rhymes With Orange did not stick around for them. They missed out though, as it was an engaging set and I would recommend giving their recent EP a listen:

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

The main draw for this evening were the hard working young guitar band all hailing from Devizes. They have been gigging up and down the country for a couple of years now and are in the process of perfecting and maturing their sound and identity. They already have a genuine stage presence and all the ingredients for success. Somehow, they pull off the trick of sounding like every decent indie band from about 2005 without ever seeming derivative. At their most mainstream, a comparison to The 1975 would not be out of place and you could imagine them developing into that sort of scale of band with that much adoration.

Tonight’s set is blistering, all energy and enthusiasm. They clearly love playing live and are putting in the hard work to make what they do seem effortless. It is a huge amount of fun. They were kind enough to sit down for a chat before they went on stage.

Nothing Rhymes With Orange (NRWO) are Elijah Easton (guitarist, lead vocalist), Samuel Briggs (bassist), Lui Venables (drummer) and Fin Anderson-Farquhar (lead guitarist). 

Reading Indie Life: So, what’s your story, how did you come together?

Eli: We met at secondary school. But we didn’t really talk until sort of the last year of secondary school. Started a little school band and we got into a battle of the bands. And from there it just kind of became more and more busy with gigs. Yeah. Now here we are.

RIL: You were saying you have all moved to Bristol?

Eli: After about a year and a half, we’d all finished college and sixth form and stuff like that, and it was time to go to uni. So, we all just went to uni together and live together and live in Bristol. Now we’re gigging about in Bristol doing loads. We got Dot to Dot, which is pretty big for us because like all the local Bristol bands are on there.

RIL: What are you all doing at Bristol uni?

Sam: Me and Finn do exactly the same thing, which is Music Forms and Production. You (Eli) do Songwriting and Performance and Lui does Performance.

RIL: It is all geared towards the band then?

All: Yeah, yeah.

RIL: So what’s the Bristol music scene like?

Eli: There’s a lot of opportunity, yeah. There’s a lot of electric stuff, which is good because we enjoy that. There’s a lot of like sort of house and drum and bass. It’s a big move from Devizes, which was like…

Fin: Folk bands.

Eli: Yeah, I love Devizes, but the music scene wasn’t really popping off there. There’s a lot of opportunity. We played Thekla to support a band called Bilk. That was like huge for us because we’d seen them in Southampton I think like the year before and all-of-a-sudden, we’re supporting them. So that was really fun.

Sam: There’s a thriving grassroots scene in Bristol.  There’s lots of like, lots of little venues which put on lots of little bands and stuff, but there’s actually opportunity to go further than that there like Dot To Dot. Yeah, it’s good.

RIL: How would you describe yourself as a band?

Lui: There’s a lot of genres you could put to us. It’s like he (Eli) says we’re pop sometimes and then we’ll shout at him. But then I’d say we’re like in between indie-rock and then we’ve got a few songs that are like on the verge of grunge, but I wouldn’t really say we are.

Finn: We’re definitely not grunge.

Eli: Indie-rock.

Sam: Yeah, indie-rock and then a lot of other influences.

Eli: I’d say one word to describe us is energy. Loads of energy on the stage. Like we drink loads of caffeine (Lots of group giggling).

RIL: So do you guys have similar influences or do you all bring different things?

Eli: I like hip hop, I like indie-rock. But I think like, because we all live in a flat together,

Sam: Me and you are quite similar.

Eli: Yeah, we, we always, like, end up listening to the same music whether we like it or not because there’s only one pair of speakers in the living room, though, and our flat’s quite small…

Sam: We do all like each other’s music tastes, apart from his (points at Fin and everyone laughs) Eli’s into a lot of softer music, apparently to me or Fin, for example, you know, Fin stretches to some very intense, like Knocked Loose, progressive stuff. Then I might be more into part of that grungier stuff, you know, Alice In Chains. And Lui loves Michael Jackson.

Lui: Who doesn’t like a bit of Michael Jackson here and there?

Fin: When was it that we did an interview, like, “Who would you play with if you could pick one person?” And Lui was like, “I’d love to do a collab with the Jackson 5.”

Lui: Yeah, Jackson 5. Little Michael Jackson, him and Eli on the harmonies.

RIL: So, if you could go anywhere in time and space, music wise, it would be to see the Jackson 5, that’s top of your list?

Lui: Yeah, I’m, I’m sticking to that.

RIL: So, if the rest of you could go anytime, anyplace, who would you see?

Eli: That’s an insane question. I think I’d have to go on like a hip hop route. You know, like Rick Rubin, the producer, I think he cooked with the Beastie Boys and stuff. I think that would be really fun.

Sam: I think I’d go and see one of the first ever Arctic Monkeys gigs back in the early 2000s. That’s what I’d have to go for, maybe 2007 Glastonbury.

Fin: Oh, probably like in the late 90s, like Blink 182, or something like that. 1999. (To Lui) And you get the Jackson 5…

Lui: Haters gonna hate.

RIL: So if you guys are all sharing a flat, does that ever get quite intense? Is there ever a point where you think, ‘I just need a break now‘?

Eli: Loads.

Lui: Too many times.

Sam: But you know what, we’re actually quite good like this. We’re not worried about arguing with each other. We have the history to say that we’re annoying each other, which is probably like the healthiest way to be about it. We respect each other. If anyone ever says, “But that’s too much singing and playing guitar all night” or whatever.

Fin: But it’s not normally phrased as nicely as that.

Sam: No, No. But it’s… it’s not ever. Like, it’s not ever in a bad way. It’s just, it is a small flat.

Eli: Yeah, it was a bit of trouble before we had separate sections in the fridge. It was kind of like a free for all when we first (moved in), but we sorted it out.

RIL: So, I know you guys post in the Gig Life Crisis Facebook group every now and again, but you seem a little bit young to be having a gig life crisis.

Sam: It’s been crazy. It’s like the things we’ve done as a band, that’s probably the best thing we’ve ever done because it’s such a committed community of people that genuinely do go to gigs all the time. I think all of our recent gigs there’s been at least one or two, up to like 7 or 8 people.

Fin: I was speaking to one of them the other day and they’re like, yeah, we’ve been to like 7 or 8 of your shows.

Sam: It’s just crazy. We played the Gig Life Gathering in Cheltenham and yeah, ever since then that was like just so good. That was like maybe 150 people there who love their music and so many of them turn up for us at shows, which is hard to do now, to get people that consistently come to your gigs, so that really benefits us.

RIL: I think it speaks to your classic indie sound. You appeal to a lot of different camps at the same time.

Eli: That’s the goal. It’s those songs that you hear down the pub playing all the time. That’s the goal. It’s like everyone, everyone can get behind it.

Sam: We have interesting stuff as well. You know, we go out to that, like, grungy side of things every now and again or whatever, but yeah, we try and make it something that anyone could like. It’s just that’s the most fun time. Everyone’s enjoying it.

RIL: What can we expect from you tonight?

Sam: This is our favourite venue as well, actually.

Eli: We’ve played here three times.

Sam: It’s a 30-minute set. I think the set you’ll see tonight is probably our best one, honestly.

Eli: It’s the one we’ve been gigging a lot. Last summer, we sort of like perfected a set and it just keeps like progressing now. And we play the same songs over and over trying to get like the transitions and the speech right. And then yeah, it’s, it’s very diverse, I think.

Sam: And it’s got sort of like all those influences.

Eli: It sort of represents us more so than our Spotify does, I think. And that we really work on that live sound to try to represent how we want to sound. So hopefully tonight we get that across to everyone.

RIL: I get a sense that you guys really love the gigging side of the music?

Lui: Absolutely.

Eli: It’s the best feeling is a gig.

Sam: Yeah. I think even like, you know, we have our hobbies and stuff, but like if all of us could just do one thing for like, as opposed to a night out or go and play football, whatever. I think we’d always drop what we’re doing and go and do a gig because it’s just fun. It’s like sometimes it’s stressful and sometimes it’s hard work to get there and get a sound, whatever. Once you’re playing, yeah 8 or 9 times out of ten it’s the best bit of the year.

Eli: Playing with the boys.

Lui: Playing when people are enjoying your music is like the best part of gigging.

Sam: And it’s also the true format. I personally feel, you know, the studio is good, but what you want it to be is how you wrote it and how you created it. And I feel like when you’re recording, you’re trying to make that something and you’re trying to synthesise that with devices, which is hard.

RIL: I think a lot of bands can struggle to capture that live essence. You can end up compromising something.

Sam: Yeah, which is why we like playing. There’s no compromises.

RIL: What are the music plans for the rest of the year?

Lui: Yeah, we’ve got a lot lined up.

Fin: I think it’s probably our busiest year maybe.

Sam: Oh, definitely the busiest so far.

Eli: We’ve got a lot of festivals. A lot of outdoor festivals. We’ve announced Camper Calling, which is sick because we get free tickets. We get to go see Razorlight. Which is a big one.

Fin: And Example.

Eli: Yeah, so we’re all gassed for that.

Lui: A lot of the bands we grew up with.

Eli: And we got 110 Above, which is a really cool one. There’s like so many cool bands that we’re playing on (the same) lineup as and it’s just a bit overwhelming to be honest. But yeah, there’s a lot of festivals. It’s going to be busy. I haven’t booked any festivals to go to.

Sam: No, it’s literally mad. You can’t go on like trying to book a holiday with your family and like whatever it is you want to normally do in your summer just doesn’t, doesn’t happen. Yeah, it’s like my Mum was, “Oh, is there a chance for us like having some family time this summer…” I was like (shrugs).

Fin: One week away, please!

Eli: Yeah, it’s great because we get to go up and down the country. It’s just different places.

Sam: It’s the best.

Eli: It’s going to be so fun. Eat a lot of different food.

Fin: Got Manchester tomorrow night.

Eli: Fin is now an 18-year-old. So, we’re going to go out for first time in Manchester tomorrow. It’s going to be good.

Fin: Finally, after worrying about every venue he can get into!

RIL: Any plans to get back into the studio?

Sam: It’s coming soon, soon where we’re recording.  We will be back in the studio and then…

Eli: For a couple of days as well.

Sam: A couple of different things. I’ll confirm that there’s definitely a new song on the way. Yeah. And there’s something else that we’ll be doing there as well, which will be pretty sick. It’s good now because we kind of got to the point of our last single where it was like we, we kind of started to nail the sound that we’re looking for a bit more. I don’t think it was perfect in any way, but you know, we, we were searching for a while for the right sound and now we’re getting there. And I think this next one, it’ll be very much closer to the real thing, to what we want it to be.

Eli: Yeah, the live sound we’re looking for.

RIL: That last single was ‘Stepping Up My Spine.’ What’s the story, or the inspiration, behind that one?

Eli: All of our songs is normally stories like, I think up until about now, they’ve all been about girls. And it’s, it’s just sort of like heartbreak and, and sort of want, like wanting and lusting and, you know, different emotions you feel in a relationship.

Sam: It’s about youth as well. It’s like, it’s a very youthful take on it. I think that’s the one unrelatable thing for a person above the age of 30, maybe, it’s the references in the songs. And I think ‘Stepping Up My Spine’ you often say it’s quite a violent depiction as opposed to, like all the songs have like different angles on it. Like ‘Stepping Up My Spine’ has got quite aggressive lyrics if you really listen whereas ‘Cat’s Eyes’ is a lot more friendly and a lot more happy, summer festival romance kind of thing.

Eli: Get the emotion out. So yeah, but like we want to, we want to sort of get emotion out with our songs, like in the lyrics and stuff. But also giving it like a proper shouty chorus. You don’t get too sad listening to it. Yeah, yeah, you can still have fun listening to it and not cry or try not to cry.

Fin: The next song, however, might be a bit more sad.

Lui: Shhhhhh.

RIL: Is that top secret?

Eli: Maybe, possibly.

RIL: So, when you do get a spare few minutes what other interests do you have?

Sam: Well, it’s music as well. I DJ a little bit.

Eli: We all go to the gym together sometimes. I think a big one for us is we all like food a lot.

Sam: Yeah, that’s true.

Fin: Yeah.

Eli: So we go for, for meals, a lot.

Sam: Yeah, like, it’s pretty much our money is music, food.

Lui: And the pub.

Eli: We love a good meal for everyone’s birthday.

Lui: So, we went to this place in Bristol for Fin’s 18th. It’s called the Harbour House. And basically, there was this, there was… was it rum?

Sam: It was rum.

Fin: 63% Jamaican rum and pineapple juice.

Eli: So, yeah, we asked what we should pair our meal with. And he was like, you know, this is what this Jamaican man used to come in and drink.

Lui: At nine in the morning.

Fin: Just neat. Just 63% rum at 9 in the morning.

Sam: “I drank that neat.” Jesus Christ.

Lui: Me and Eli are like, “Can we get a double?” So, he gave it to us. He’s like, “It’s not very nice.”

Eli: Truffle fries is a good one. We like truffle fries.

Fin: We eat burgers relentlessly.

Sam: There’s a burger place.

Lui: Yeah, what’s that burger place in Bristol?

Sam: Oowees. Shout out for Oowees. It’s a little hatch in Saint Paul’s in Bristol, which is a cool area. And yeah, man, if you want a burger and you’re in Bristol…

Fin: We went in some time. And the guy was like, oh, it’s my first day. Let me, let me make you this burger. And you bought it and it was the most insane thing.

Sam: Yeah.

Eli: Another big one in Bristol me and Sam always go to is Roosters. So, Roosters does the best chicken wings. They’re huge. They’re like twice the size of Nando’s. I love Nando’s, but Roosters, they’re huge and they’re only a fiver for three wings, chips and a drink. So, we go there a lot. That’s a, that’s a recommendation if you’re ever in Bristol. It’s on Gloucester Road right at the bottom.

Fin: (To Sam) Yeah, you cook a lot as well.

Eli: Yeah, Sam makes a banging katsu curry.

Lui: Yeah, Sam does do that.

Sam: I’ve always been into food a bit, you know, We’ll always go to the gym for a week after all of that. Like, make yourself feel better about it.

Eli: Sam’s actually got a torn meniscus or something.

Sam: Yeah, Yeah, yeah,

Eli: He’s limping about the stage.

RIL: Is that slowing you down?

Sam: The limping actually is. The funniest thing was the night it happened. Oh, sorry, the night after it. Well, the night it happened, we had a rehearsal which I had to kind of lay on the floor and sit on a chair and try and play bass at and then I went to the hospital the day after and then I had a DJ set at a nightclub. Like the evening after it happened. I was stood on one leg trying to DJ this energetic house set.

RIL: You said you’ve been to the Purple Turtle a few times before. Have you ever been to Reading Festival?

Fin: So, the first time we played here was in the middle of Reading Festival. We were at the festival; we (left the festival to play). We had a gig the day after from Red Bull outside the station.

Sam: That was weird.

Fin: That was a weird one.  But we got free Red Bull.

Eli: Yeah, lots of free Red Bull. We saw them the day before as well and they gave us loads more free Red Bull.

Fin: They just opened up the boot of this car and gave us like a box of Red Bull.

Eli: Yeah, loads of Red Bull. And that was just before we played in here and we were buzzing.

Fin: That was not healthy. It was like a heart attack.

Lui: I fell asleep on that sofa over there.

Eli: Yeah. The caffeine crash was crazy.

Sam: We’ve played here a few times. I think this is the third.

Eli: I really like it. This is a really good venue to play.

Sam: Neil, the guy who organises stuff here is an absolute legend as well.

RIL: So, if you were at Reading Festival last year, what were your top acts?

Sam: I’m going to give three things. Two are obvious, Wunderhorse and Fontaines. I mean, if you’re into music at the moment, you know what they’re about. And Overmono, that would be my other pick. They’re an electronic group, 2 guys. I think they’re brothers.

Eli: He’s in the T-shirt.

Sam: I’m wearing the T-shirt. Yeah, they’re great. They kind of set up like Underworld, if you know them, with lots of synths and drum machines and stuff. But yeah, crazy good visuals as well behind them. Amazing.

Fin: You all know what I’m going to say. Blink 182 headlining with their original lineup and I saw them by myself. I was like “Guys, guys come on, come on, come see them too.” And they all went, “No, no, no, no, sod that we want to see The Prodigy.” And they all hated The Prodigy.

Eli: Oh, It was packed. It was so packed.

Sam: It wasn’t The Prodigy’s fault.

Eli: Couldn’t move. It was a sick set. Like we, we were just stuck.

Sam: (Pointing at Fin) He was crying.

Fin: I was, I cried 3 times at Blink 182.

Lui: And getting bullied by old men.

Fin: Yeah. There’s these 3 old men in front of me. They’re probably like, I don’t know, in their mid-50s or something like that. And they were, “Oh, you here by yourself?” And I was like, “Yeah I am.” They were like, “Oh, come with us.” And then they’re like trying to pick me up and something weird. And then the next day I got really ill and missed everything else. Watched Two Door Cinema Club and threw up everywhere.

Eli: It did end in a mess, that festival, to be honest.

Lui: I said mine was… no one, no one agrees with this. But I said Fred Again because I was at the front and I was like, like half a bottle of wine deep.

Fin: Not quite sure where he’s going to appear from.

Lui: Yeah, yeah, I thought he’s going to be on stage. Then he turned up behind me. I was like, what the hell? It was sick. It was very good. But I’d say that’s mine… and Wunderhorse.

Eli: Confidence Man.

Sam: Oh, Confidence Man were really unbelievable.

Eli: I mean, we accidentally walked into a tent and that was just like… these two people like dancing all over each other, like jumping on the shoulders. We were just like, we were blown away because it was like euphoric music and we just accidentally walked into this tent.

Sam: It was like something out of the 90s.

Eli: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was insane.

RIL: Thank you so much for your time guys.