💖 What’s Dr Stuart about? How did you set up?
Bex – Dr. Stuart is just 4 mates who love to create music, whilst having a cuppa.
We want to share music people can relate to & we aim to provide a live show that people will remember.
We are just having fun & we want to share it!
Zak – It’s really a chance to follow something I enjoy most.
I’m grateful the band has given me the opportunity to release & perform music. I’m proud of us. The name was inspired by Dr. Stuart’s herbal tea. ☕
💖 What inspires you to play music?
Bex – One thing that always inspires me is when we are playing live & the crowd are enjoying themselves.
My constant drive for creating music is because it’s me expressing any emotion/feelings I am experiencing, good or bad, & making it into something I enjoy, & that other people can enjoy.
I think it’s amazing that some of my worst experiences are now songs that I love playing!
George – I love just seeing people enjoy what we create. It inspires us all to keep making music & keep gigging.
It is such a good feeling to see what we create rub off well on other people.
Zak – Listening to & discovering any music that makes me move is always inspiring enough to keep me playing. My friends & family are very supportive so that’s my reason to make the most of it.
I’d like to one day find my own voice on guitar & hopefully inspire someone else to start playing too.
Josh – I’m inspired by the thrill & enjoyment of writing & playing songs for people.
I keep making music because it’s the way I express myself best & seeing other people genuinely enjoying the music we create is a fantastic feeling.
💖 What’s your writing process?
Bex – We don’t have a set writing process. I don’t think any of our songs have been written in the same way.
Each song is different & comes from a different place, meaning we can’t use a set process to write each song.
George – We kinda just mess around with stuff randomly, just mess about, explore new sounds & see what we can come up with.
Zak – We’ve come up with a lot of songs just by jamming & working with anything we like the sound of.
Josh – Every time we write a song it comes together in a different way.
Sometimes we jam & mess around to see what sticks, & other times one of us comes up with an idea & the rest of us put our own parts to it.
💖 We have a lot of love for a good logo, what’s the design behind the Dr Stuart logo?
Bex – I initially came up with the idea of having a devil with the head mirror – however I am no good at drawing.
Stanley put his own spin on it & everyone loved it!
Zak – Talented graphic designer & friend of mine, Stanley Lucas, was kind enough to bring to life his own interpretation of the band name.
💖 Who are your main influences in music/life?
George – I am heavily influenced by Travis Barker & his Blink-182 styles.
I really have incorporated his styles & techniques for creating music in my grooves & fills. I enjoy learning his grooves & patterns & exploring his grooves really makes you think creatively.
Zak – I’ve discovered a lot of my influences through my dad’s awesome taste in music, others I’ve come across on the internet.
My playing is mostly influenced by rock bands that emerged through the 70’s & 80’s. For fun I like listening to pop music of that era, dance music or anything feel good.
I try not to look up to anyone specific but draw from the things that make each person great.
Bex – I am heavily influenced by a band called The Pretty Reckless. I think Taylors vocals, lyrics & live performance are amazing, very powerful.
Recently I have been listening to a lot of Guns n Roses & Slash is a big influence to me.
Over lockdown my music taste has really expanded & given me a lot of inspiration to put into songwriting.
Josh – Personally, my aggressive playing style & music influence come from a lot of the old school thrash & progressive metal bands such as Megadeth.
My writing tends to incorporate more of the progressive style.
💖 Tell us about your aesthetic & how you came up with such a strong visual style.
Bex – Our aesthetic came from us trying to combine each of our styles into one. It’s something that will continue developing over time – we don’t want to limit ourselves.
Our music & our style will grow & we are excited to see where we end up.
Nowadays people seem to feel like they have to fit into a certain aesthetic, & I really hate to see this, we weren’t made to fit in boxes.
As a band we don’t have a set ‘aesthetic’, we wear things that we like & try not to feel pressured to fit into one set style.
Zak – I like wearing whatever I feel good in at the time, look as best I can.
💖 Take it or Leave sounds like it comes from a pretty deep place, how much do you draw on your own experience to write songs?
Bex – I believe that if I relate & connect to a song I write then other people will be able to – I can only write what I know.
Take it or Leave is personal to me, & has a large reflection on how I was feeling in the time of writing it.
💖 When you’re not doing band stuff what do you get up to?
Bex – Dr. Stuart never sleeps!
One of my hobbies is seam-stressing. I enjoy making my stage wear. It’s another form of personal expression.
George – If I’m not doing anything Dr. Stuart related I tend to drum for my own personal enjoyment.
I also enjoy just lazing about doing nothing; It’s quite fun.
Zak – I enjoy photographing things, being around my friends, researching guitars & music gear I don’t need.
Josh – I tend to spend a lot of time making things & tinkering with all my tech – which I then enjoy fixing when I inevitably break it.
💖 What does feminism mean to you? / What 1 thing could everyone be doing to make the scene a better place?
Bex – As a female fronted band we are trying to help raise awareness of all women in music.
I feel one thing that needs to be noticed is sexualising female musicians. If we are dancing on stage, wearing “suggestive” clothes, or even our lyrics – it’s not an open invitation to anyone when we leave the stage!
💖 How has lockdown affected your creativity & coming up with new ways of writing?
Bex – Lockdown has been quite hard for us. We went from living together, practicing & writing everyday to not seeing each other.
We have been writing individually & sharing ideas with each other. However, I think for us it will be a case of when we can meet up again we will work on everything together & complete all the song ideas we have.
George – It’s been hard not having the equipment we had before lockdown, but we are finding ways around it to continue exploring new music ideas.
Zak – It’s helped me realise I need to be putting a lot more time in practicing, catching myself discouraged a lot more often with all the time to reflect.
Josh – It has definitely been an interesting challenge.
To start with there was quite a hit to creativity because we were used to all being together & writing together. But as lockdown has progressed we’ve got more used to it & personally I’ve settled into writing music again.
💖 Tell us about your next release – what’s the feeling to it/what’s it about?
Bex – Our next single is different. It’s something we all love, & one of all of our favourite songs to play live!
The song has two messages behind, which the music video will reveal.
Josh – Can’t say too much yet, other than it will be a banger.
💖 What’s next for you guys?
George – We hope to just continue to release music to those who follow us & try to increase our fan base.
We have our singles music video “Take it or Leave” on Youtube!
We want to continue to be creative & share it with everyone. The single is also on all streaming platforms.
💖 What is your favourite thing about being in a band/making music?
Bex – It’s fun, there’s nothing else I would rather do!
I get to share the most personal thing to me & people can enjoy it. I love that we can share all our individual tastes of music & create something we all love & want to share!
George – Nothing beats being in such an enjoyable band with your friends. It’s really all I ever want to do!
I completely forget about any stresses in my life when creating & sharing music.
Zak – I love being behind a guitar making noise, performing is always good fun.
I like seeing the process of developing a song from scratch to getting into the studio with it. I’m lucky I get to play with such creative people who are just as passionate for putting on a good show.
Josh – Just enjoying creating & playing music with people who love it as much as I do.
💖 Dates for any upcoming shows/livestreams/releases etc?
Bex – We have a headline show at the Boileroom on October the 27th, it’s our postponed single release.
💖 Links to any social media 🙂
Of course! Here is our Instagram, Facebook, Youtube & Spotify!
💖 I want more Interviews
💖 I want more Rumour Has It
💖 Take me the hell Home
