Growing up on 00s indie classics, but adding in a big dose of gloss, Glossy Boy fuse “Red”-era Taylor Swift hooks with shimmering Paul Simon funk to create infectious and instantly memorable indie pop/rock anthems. Supported by a strong streaming performance driven by a devoted and growing fanbase, Glossy Boy are an exciting new trio on the up.
Who are ‘ Glossy Boy ’
Glossy Boy is three old friends – raised on music and bound by the shared experience of coming of age in an all-boys school (feels like a red flag right?). Chris (the words guy), Ryan (the funk guy) and Zak (makes a lot of noise). We all played in orchestras and cover bands throughout secondary school and back in 2022 we (finally) decided to come together again and create tunes, combining our different influences and ideas into something new: Glossy Boy!
For someone that is yet to discover you, how would you describe your music?
We’d usually put ourselves in the “indie pop” camp – our tunes have a fun, hooky energy to them that we hope stays with people. At the same time, we like to experiment with new instrumentation each time to create something unexpected. Sometimes (as with our new song) that takes us a bit heavier!
What inspired you as an artist?
We grew up with bands like The Kooks, Arctic Monkeys, The Vaccines – the memories of these songs always stay with us and we want to create something fun and nostalgic just like that! The AMCD was pretty much permanently in Ryan’s car when we were driving around with him as 18 year olds so the first note of Arabella instantly takes us back there!
We’d boil it down to the indie bangers you can always throw on at a house party.
What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands?
We’re actually a very amenable band I think! Our preparation usually involves a panicked
soundcheck and an adrenaline infused pacing until we go on – we’ve played some great venues and the vibe and the crowd is always different at each one so we have to adapt each time to make sure the shows are as good as they can be. One thing that we did once and had sort of stuck is we fist bump just before we burst into our first song. No idea why because we never ever do that in normal life! I suppose it just gets us in sync.
Where do you feel you fit into the music scene?
We reckon our songs fit comfortably into the indie pop scene. Each new song is a learning
experience and we’re growing with each release – but we’re proud of each one and we know from the audience reactions how much they resonate with people and that feels amazing!
What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
We have quite an eclectic taste between the 3 of us! Chris loves a bit of pop punk whilst Zak has an affinity for the pop princesses at the moment such as Dua and Charli. Ryan works mainly with classical music in his 9-5 so brings a great technical knowledge and inspiration to our song writing! He’s been known to say things like “well Tchaikovsky often does something like this” in rehearsals. In terms of genres we dislike I don’t think we could single out one that we wouldn’t at least give a chance!
Is there a story behind you’re the band’s name ?
Actually yes! Because we all grew up in Gloucestershire we wanted to have a fun nod to that – hence “Glos-sy Boy”. The “boy” part was just for fun (shout out to Zak’s mates who helped brainstorm that one on a long car journey back from the Lake District).
What would you say is your greatest strength as an artist?
Creating a great hook in a song that keeps you singing along for days to come!
What would you say is your greatest weakness as an artist?
Time management! We always seem to be in a rush to get things done or get a rehearsal in! The curse of trying to juggle a band and a 9-5!
What can fans expect from your new single ‘ Iguana ’
Iguana takes a pivot into heavier sounds for us, combining powerful bass riffs, driving percussion, and brooding vocals to create a standout alt-rock track. It captures the intensity of a dangerous lover: cold-blooded, reckless, and irresistibly thrilling. Representing an evolution in our sound for a new generation of fans, it’s our most energetic song to date!
What music artist would you say have influenced your work?
This track was heavily influenced by Jack White, The Hunna & the grittier guises of The 1975. We worked really hard in the studio to build up a wall of sound, and get the lead guitar parts sounding like a kinda chaotic ball of energy threatening to explode – and massive credit to our amazing producer Mark Winterburn for masterfully bringing the vision to life.
Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
There are so many great artists that are on our dream list! Blue sky dreaming we’d obviously love to collaborate with our idols and some of the great producers working today like Jack Antonoff – his work across different artists is instantly recognisable and hearing his process is inspiring.
What was your worst performance?
I can’t say one particular performance sticks out to us as the ‘worst’ one – we’ve had inevitable blips here and there including guitars cutting out or rowdy audiences – but each performance is a chance to improve and we just love to play live so any opportunity to do that is a great gig every time!
What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it?
A lot of our obstacles are the same that face a lot of small independent artist: lack of money and lack of time. We want to create the best songs possible which requires planning and a little bit of saving to ensure we get the best people on board! It’s always worth it though to create something we can all be proud of
What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?
Usually one of us will have an idea and bring it to the rest of us where we’ll jam it and work out what we want to say/how we want to say it. Usually it will form pretty smoothly, developing over time into something each of us individually couldn’t have thought of without the others!
Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?
We have our own set of goals we want to accomplish with this project: festival slots, radio plays etc. but overall if in 10 years all we have behind us is a great catalogue of work that we know was the best we could have created – that would be enough for us!
Your Top 3 Overrated Musicians, who when you hear them you think ‘ How The Fk… ?
Ah to be honest even if we don’t ‘get’ an artist’s appeal we have to respect someone is going to vibe with it – everyone’s creating their own thing and someone else out there loves it! That being said Chris has never really gotten the hype around Muse (much to Zak’s chagrin
