1. For readers discovering The Mandrills for the first time, how would you describe your sound and identity as a band?
We are the Mandrills – Gabe, Nat, Noel, Theo and Will from Blackpool. We are all about our music. We are trying to be as creative with our music as we can be, pushing ourselves to write more and better. As a guitar band we use our instruments expressively, to show our personalities and reflect the emotion of the song on stage. We worked hard last year playing a lot of gigs to perfect our live performances. We are a great band to watch and listen to.
2. What originally brought the band together, and how did The Mandrills come to take shape?
We have been together 3 or 4 years. Nat and Theo met at an online youth group during COVID and asked Nat’s twin brother Gabe to join as a bass player. Will came from Upbeat Rock Academy where the band had lessons and rehearsed until recently. Noel is a friend from school.
3. Who or what are your biggest musical influences, and how do they show up in your songwriting?
Our biggest musical influences are probably the Strokes and the Voidz, they show up in the songwriting in the chords as well as the harmony.
4. Can you walk us through your creative process — does the music start with riffs, lyrics, or something else entirely?
The process usually starts with riffs. After the riff the music comes quickly and if it doesn’t then we worry it won’t be a banger. We all add our parts. The lyrics come later. Sometimes they come naturally but they can be a long process we have to work at.
5. What themes or messages do you find yourselves returning to most in your music?
Love and the conflict that can come with it. These have been the major themes all of our songs so far.
6. How do you approach translating your recorded sound into a live performance?
We develop our songs, they mature, even past the studio stage. We have a sound in the studio but songs develop their own personality and develop with our own learning too. For example, Where to Begin was written 3 years ago and recorded 2 and a half years ago. When we play it live now it is quite different to how it was recorded but we still love it. We also have three guitars now on stage so we can recreate more of the layered sound that we get in the recording studio.
7. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a band so far, and how did you overcome it?
We are totally independent and do everything ourselves so one challenge has been trying to reach new audiences outside Blackpool. Once the last one of us finished GCSEs last year, we started to push for gigs further out of Blackpool and have played in Manchester, Lancaster, Preston, Warrington and Salford. That was a big achievement for 2025 along with publishing our EP on vinyl.
8. What’s it like working with Big Condo Records, and how has that partnership supported your growth as a band?
We first worked with Big Condo Records at a gig in Warrington last year and as an independent band, really appreciated working with a professional company and learning from that. The way the gig was organised, the photographs, the write up. It also helped us get our name out there for a different audience. We are grateful to have been given an opportunity to play with Big Condo records in Liverpool this year too. It is our first time playing in the city and we can’t wait.
9. Is there a particular track or release that feels like a turning point for The Mandrills so far?
Our next track is called Dependency. We have already started playing it live and will be recording in January. It feels like with Dependency our sound is maturing. Silver Lining our last single was the start of that sound but with Dependency and our new songs we all seem to understand how to play to bring the best out of each song.
10. Looking ahead, what can Limitless Magazine readers expect next from The Mandrills?
We have four more songs to record early in 2026. We are really experimenting with how we use our instruments to create our sound. We plan to do a lot more gigs in different cities. We published an EP last year, including on vinyl, and are slowly working our way towards another.
@BigCondoRecords
