DON'T MOVE! represent the ultimate in shaggy-haired, woolly-jumpered, accordion-playing, decently wholesome pop bands. They are fun-loving, colourful, catchy, and most importantly- an incredibly talented bunch of lads pouring their souls out into qualitative tunes.Think Love. The Beatles. The Byrds. The 60s! So delightfully retro, without an ounce of contrived pretention. Matt, Joe, Mason, and Cedrick Confuegos simply are.
Having come from parents who played their sort of hippy-ish, folksy – to rocky, guitar driven music, the boys found their inspiration very early on... They just had to find each other.
“Part of being a teenager is you discover your little secrets and the things that make you feel better than everyone else. We each had our musical loves that did that for us, and we shared it together and wrote songs we were kind of influenced by” reveals Mason Le Long the band’s front man.
They came together through mutual friends on a night out, when a mate of Joe’s decided to ditch him in place for couples’ capers, and Joe was left stuck with Mason. The two, living in Leamington at the time, went back to Mason’s house for a joint and a jam- where it was that Joe decided “oh man, you play like Jimi Hendrix man”. And the seeds were officially sown for DON'T MOVE!’s potential. Matt Rheeston and Mr Confuegos were then poached earnestly along the way.
The duo that is Mason and Joe, are akin to American disco band Chic. “The song writing duo of Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards were at the core of the band Chic” reveals Joe. “Mason is really into Nile Rogers’ guitar playing, I’m really into the bass playing and we both like their songs and their band- so they’re like our heroes I suppose”. Lyrics are then often crafted out of bitterness and resentment, capitalized on by the band’s first album The New Pop Sound Of. Mason jokes blithely how the “first record is pretty much a bitterness concept album”.
And with such breezy sweet acrimony officially on sale at Tin Angel Records, surprisingly it takes a fair while to construct these potent emotions to the stage of completion. “I come up with a bass line, and three years later it might be a song” Joe adds with whimsical finesse.
“We spent about two years writing songs and practising them, and just sitting on our little secret. Getting stoned together and writing and not even playing our first gig until a year and a half after we started” comments Mason.
The Tin Angel is not only Coventry’s coolest cafe bar, record shop and label; but it’s also a sanctuary for DON'T MOVE! “I don’t think we’d still be around, or even alive if it weren’t for the Tin”, Mason discloses. The band came over from Leamington one night to do an open mic, and found themselves immediately ‘discovered’ by their manager Rich Guy.
“A couple years later we were working here, four years later we were living here, now we just use this place to practise and work as well” Joe muses of his home-from-home, come feeding ground. Mason too shudders at an existence independent from the Tin.
Up next for the band, is a single released early next year featuring jazz angel of the Tin Devon Sproule- with arrangements and production courtesy of fellow label-resident Mantler. But to immerse yourself in the blissfully melodic DON'T MOVE! for the meantime; the boys are doing a small UK tour in December, and their current album is available online and at Tin Angel Records. Wise investment.
