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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with Conor from unsigned Manchester band Gathering of Strangers to find out more…

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
The band is formed of Conor, Tom, Andre, Bruce and Pete. We all individually made the decision to move to Manchester to study music and this is where we met. Growing up idolising bands that came from this city, it was a no brainer to pack our bags and go straight to the heart of it. The band name comes from a piece of Art by Nathan Coley. The words instantly grabbed us and felt that it fit perfectly.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Personally I grew up listening to a lot of early U2, by choice of my dad who was a massive fan. I felt this band definitely shaped me as a performer and vocalist. Growing up watching how much Bono was able to hold his own on such big stages, gave me the vision and confidence to follow that path. As I got older I fell in love with the likes of Jim Morrison and Jeff Buckley. As a band we have such an array of influences and we hope this is how our sound will stand out amongst others.

How would you describe your sound?
Our sound leads with a very anthemic feel. It is very vocal fronted, accompanied with a unique identifiable guitar sound. We are yet to experience the full potential of our sound. Stick us in an Arena and I’ll get back to you.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our latest single is called Antidote. Lyrically this song has been with me for a while. It touches on the fact that a lot of people are trapped in bad situations and are just waiting for the pain to end. I myself am guilty of this. But waiting isn’t the answer and you need to stand up to what is holding you down. Since finding myself in a much better place, I wanted to release this track to be the voice for other people in these situations who may need guidance to find their way out of their darkness.

What’s your local music scene like?
Manchester has an amazing scene, not just for our genre but for music in general. It is the reason we all ended up there. It’s such a shame that it took such a big knock this past year but we cannot wait for it to be back up and running because it is going to come back bigger and better than ever, just you watch!

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We are going to continue to be bringing out music and hopefully we can focus on playing as many shows up and down the country as possible. There are a lot of cities we are yet to visit and we’ve just lost a year so we’ve got a lot of making up to do.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
We’d love to collab with Nothing but Thieves. Their whole style and sound is so electric to us. To be able to somehow work alongside them would be incredible and would definitely bring out the very best in us.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
We’re just 5 lads who love making music. Come see us live, come say hello. We pride ourselves on our live shows, so you won’t regret it.

You can find out more about Gathering of Strangers via Deezer, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok, Twitter or YouTube.