1) 23 Fake Street is an up-and-coming band comprised of Sam Kydd, Jack Hardisty, and James Mitchell. They describe their music as "emotive" and "rhythmically pleasing." 2) Sam Kydd discusses the band's origins and influences. They have known each other since childhood and their strong friendship makes them a tight-knit group. 3) The band prides itself on writing their own songs and focusing on the music rather than money or fame. They have an EP coming out soon and hope to record a second EP and get signed by a promotion company.

1. Double Page Spread Article -23 Fake Street
Describing their music as “emotive, capturing and rhythmically pleasing” 23 Fake Street are the
newest kids on the block and they are here to stay. Rachel Jones spoke to the front man of the band
Sam Kydd, to find out more...
Words and Photographs: Rachel Jones
You might google “Sam Kydd” and be greeted with the face of the 20th century actor, famous for his
role in Orlando. But soon the front man of 23 Fake Street and his other two band members; Jack
Hardisty and James Mitchell will be taking over the search websites as they are set to be big stars in
the future. The boys have a bond which makes them stronger as a band than most manufactured
bands have. “Me, James and Jack have known each other since we were... At least twelve months
old.” Sam begins “We played together as little kids and we grew up together. And we kind of split up
and then we came back together and I really do think that it was meant to be that we were in a band
and just being best mates all the time, it’s been amazing.”
“I really liked watching people on the TV and seeing what they’d got, and seeing how they
performed to people. And then I just took it from there, cause I thought, I wanna’ be like them.” Sam
starts off explaining how he became interested in becoming a musician. “When I was younger, I
think the first album I got was The Kooks, Inside Out and I absolutely loved it to pieces. And that’s
kind of influenced me in the way that the band is and the way that we write songs. I also used to
listen to a lot of rap artists as well which was a bit strange, considering we are quite different, and
not rap band. But yeah, that’s the kind of stuff. Most of a lot of things as well, and quite a lot of Jazz
cause I thought I was cool.”
You might think these boys are nothing you haven’t heard before but they say they are
“different from other artists” as they bring “a lot of friendship and togetherness as a band”.
“We are always looking at each other on stage, and we’re not just about making money,
we’re just about enjoying it onstage, and about making sure the songs we write relate to
each one of us, so we can really express what we’re feeling through our music.”
“We write our own songs and we have an EP coming out soon. But it’s not easy writing your
own songs” Sam begins “You have to try and, sometimes you’ll just be sitting there and you
just don’t know what to do with a song, and I just say leave it, and come back to it another
time.” As for inspiration Sam says that it comes from a number of things; “everyday life,
everyday things that happen to you, relationships or just family wise, good times or
whatever happens.” Sam moves onto their process of writing after coming up with
inspiration “I used to just do the music and then do the words, but now I’ve started, like if I
come up with a tune in my head or something and I’m singing a random tune, I’ll record it
on my phone, and then I’ll go home and try and add some chords to it ‘cause sometimes
that’s better, because you can already sing, its more developed in the way you can
improvise because singings already naturally built into your body.”
23 Fake Street have an amazing stage presence, they jump around, get the audience
jumping up and down, even to the extent of Sam’s mum getting knocked over it was that

2. crazy! Sam’s tips to help nerves before performances allow their great stage presence to
show while they perform. “I would say... Have people in the audience that you know, is
good ‘cause it means you can see them, also make sure you interact with your band
members as well, and make sure you don’t look nervous, even if you’re feeling it , make sure
you don’t look it, cause then everyone else feels awkward so it’s not good.” The boys stage
presence also means they can cover mistakes easily and if they make a mistake they just get
on with it and have a laugh about it. “I just kind of laugh about it and get on with it to be
honest.” Sam says, being a guitarist he also always breaks his guitar strings but he manages
this situation well. “You just carry on until the end of the song and then get another guitar.
Definitely always have two guitars if you are a guitarist.”
Sam, James and Jack would love to make their mark on the music industry but they also
would like some things to be changed and improved. “I’d take a lot of artists who are just in
it for the money and the stuff like that and take them out and get rid of them. And just put
people in who write their own tunes and the music means more to them than the money
and stuff like that.” Sam continues. “Then I’d stop people like, Simon Cowell just promoting
people just because of the way that they make money which is through their image and not
their music. Which is a good thing, the image is obviously a good thing, ‘cause loads of
people like the image but, in my personal opinion, that’s not what matters”
Sam starts talking about what he would like to do in the future and who he would love to
collaborate with. “I’d really like to perform with Dizzee Rascal because I think he brings rap
music into a different dimension, even though we don’t write rap music, I think it would be
amazing to have him featured on one of our songs, and I really like his ethics and stuff. And
Rita Ora because I think she’s gorgeous and she’s got really good songs, she writes her own
tunes and she’s cool.” He then moves onto where he’d like to be in a year.“In a year’s time, I
would like to see myself, doing slightly bigger and better gigs with the band. I’d like us to be
maybe recording the second EP, and hopefully getting on the back of a proper promotion
company. Maybe got a manager, stuff like that. And just giving it our all.”
Finally, Sam asks nicely if he can give some advice to future musicians as he loves seeing
people share his passion.
“Just get out there, get on Facebook, get on Twitter, get on all those social networks. And do
gigs, write your own stuff, whatever, no matter how bad it is or how good it is, and practice
like mad.”
Something tells me that we will be seeing and hearing lots more of 23 Fake Street in the
next year or two. Their rhythmic and capturing music has captured the ears of many people
so far and continues to spread, especially with the boys gigging more than ever and pushing
so hard to get out there and more well known. These boys are moving on up...