Welly
Words by Jana Cservenka, Photographs by Rosie Carne
Brighton-based Welly are the freshest five-piece on the scene, and they’re bouncing their way into the indie synth-pop world at an admirable pace. Comprised of founding frontman and band’s namesake Welly, Hanna Witkamp (synth, vocals, jangly bits), Joe Holden-Brown (guitar, vocals), Jacob Whitear (bass, vocals), and Matthew Gleeson (guitar, vocals), hailing respectively from Southampton (Welly, Joe, Jacob), The Netherlands (Hanna), and Bristol (Matt); they are captivating an audience with their rich storytelling inspired by the quintessential nostalgia of suburban Britain. During their high energy live shows they’re often dressed in PE kit, and there is never a bored face to be seen. Thanks to audience participation gags, like revving an imaginary lawn mower to start the song ‘Deere John’ or impromptu stand- up comedy sets to cover for technical difficulties. They were kind enough to invite us over to their house on a school night for a play date. Photographer Rosie Carne was in tow, to snap some portraits, along with founding editor Willow Shields, just for the fun of it all. All for the gradious event of us to getting to know them, over a lovingly cooked pasta dish, side salad and a number of beers. Not in that order.
After stomping around the local park where Rosie composed some beautiful images of the band frolicking in the dewy grass and trees, we returned to their house for part two of the shoot. The band each took on the numerous roles of clearing Welly's bedroom of his bed and a few other precious belongings, while we sat downstairs and giggled at the concept of putting this scenario into writing. It was akin to a year 6 school photo day but with Madonna’s Like A Virgin soundtracking the activities from a CD player in the corner of the room. The amount of psycho-analysis of Welly’s bedroom has the potential to fill this feature out a few more pages, but I will keep that for just myself. Once the shoot was wrapped up, and Welly's bed returned to his room, they got cracking in the kitchen. I instantly noticed an abundance of Nigel Slater cookbooks and attempted to find out who the Slater fan was but they shied away from a conclusive answer. The environment we had stepped into was more similar to a family home than a ‘student’ house, and therefore completely unexpected. Alongside the cookbook collection, stood a vintage radio and various potted plants lined the walls of the room, again, surprising. We sat around the table that Joe had brought from his family home, where we were told it's arrival to their Brighton house, an ordeal that resulted in the removal and eventual re-installation of their garden gate. After, we consumed the lovingly prepared pasta dish. It was a bit like the experience of Pizza Express, where you can watch the chefs make your food, but if you were in a relative stranger’s home and they were part of a band. “Has any other band invited you round for dinner before?” Following the subsequent questioning and further consumption of slices of vienetta, we retired to their living room. Home to a piano, a hi-vis jacket with an accompanying hard hat, and a substantial record collection (not an exhaustive list of their belongings, they do have furniture as well).
While Jacob, Hanna and Matt quickly did some washing up, I got comfy on a bean bag next to the record player. Concerned about the noise pollution, I told them to use their loud voices for my interview recording. “Apart from Welly, he can speak at his normal volume,” Hanna instructed. When I asked how they were all doing, Joe was “amazing”, Jacob was “good, thank you,” Matt was “pretty okay,” and Welly “had a lovely afternoon.” Reflecting upon the day Joe declared “I started work at 7:56 this morning.” To which Welly mischievously added “he’s a gravedigger,” which got a laugh out of everybody. The reality is when Joe and Welly aren’t Welly-ing they are selling produce at a greengrocers, which fits with the surprisingly wholesome energy in their home. When I asked how long Welly the band has existed for, Welly, the man, answered that he wrote the first song ‘The Germ’ in 2019. “The first gig wasn’t until 2021,” where they descended on their local, The Constant Service. Now that they have moved onto venues far and wide, most of that Brighton neighbourhood could only dream of hearing a muffled ‘Me and Your Mates’ seeping through the windows in the late evening.
Eager to know what brought these characters together, I asked them how they met. This triggered a flurry of “ah great story,” comments from them all at once, so I sat tight and urged them to continue. Welly, Jacob, and Joe knew each other growing up from attending the same secondary school. Joe recounted the details of his and Jacob’s first encounter with Welly, “one morning in year 7, when Jacob and I were walking to school we saw Welly riding his BMX at light speed, and while he was shouting to his mate across the street he rode straight into the back of a parked car.” They were formally introduced two years later when joining a school band and they warmly recalled walking into practice to find him sitting behind the drum kit. Matt flatteringly likened that image to the Cadburys advert of the gorilla playing drums, which sparked a debate about whether or not it was actually Phil Collins in the costume. Welly and Matt’s origin story is far more romantic, according to Welly, “I met Matt in a sexual health seminar on the first day of uni and complimented his Talking Heads t-shirt, but he didn’t compliment me back on my Pet Shop Boys top.” They highlighted how futile it was teaching sexual health to a cohort of music production students. As for how Hanna found her way into Welly’s world; Welly had heard whispers around town of the wooden-frog playing percussionist right at the time that they were looking for the fifth member. So while attending a gig at her workplace, he approached her. His sheepishness made the interaction come across like an awkward chat up, and Hanna remembers thinking ‘I’m literally on my break, stop asking me about what music I like.’ But as the rest of the band subtly watched the interaction over their shoulders, she agreed to jump aboard.
While we were on the subject of their live show, I wanted to know what their dream venue is. After careful consideration, Welly decided on Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Partly due to the iconic groups that have played there such as “The Cardigans and Simply Red,” and the filming of the music TV show “Old Grey Whistle Test” in the ‘80s. But the decision was also in part due to the indie folklore that “apparently if you make the audience jump hard enough you can see the balcony tiers move.” I then asked what their favourite gig has been so far and without hesitation Joe claims that it was “at Supersonic in Paris. Our first time in France,” which received unanimous agreement. Welly fondly recalled the “titanic stairway,” and how it made him feel like they were going up in the world, Matt remembers “the cheese board in the dressing room,” and for Hanna it was “the huge queue outside because of it being free entry,” as if that was the reason for such a great turnout. Being the story-tellers that they are, they humbly went on to recount the tale of their worst gig. “It was at a pub in Hove a few days before Christmas,” Welly admits. “There was a dog barking louder than us, everything was coming out of one amp, then at the end the bartender told me ‘it’s alright everyone makes mistakes’ and we were paid in pints of John Smith.” Matt recollects the moment Welly approached him mid-set and told him “it’s alright we’ll get through it.” At least they can laugh about it now.
After a long evening of chatting, drinking and definitely not smoking cigarettes inside, things started to get a little bit silly. Then, I unknowingly opened a can of worms with my next question. When I asked them how they felt about monkeys, I was met with a giggle, a few concerned looks, and Joe murmuring “fucking hell thats a big question.” Matt promptly disclaimed “I have nothing to say about this,” followed by a sheepish smirk. I sensed that something was looming, we were definitely in the calm before the storm. After taking a moment to compose himself Elliot began “I’ve got a huge fear of the recent trend on ‘tinternet of monkeys being dressed up and made to do human things. Like there was one the other day of a monkey wearing swimming trunks making a coffee and eating a yoghurt. It's bang out of order! “Matt spams our group chat with [monkey] videos!” Hanna chuckles. Approximately six minutes of monkey discourse ensued, which included Elliot jumping out of his seat and pacing around the room, almost, probably and definitely shouting. It continued, developing into a debate over the concept of one moving into their house and how Joe and Elliot would cope. Joe was of the mind that he would befriend it, perhaps lend it some clothes and they would “play fifa together,” whereas Elliot, thoroughly rattled at this point, was let’s say… not so keen on personifying it. Hanna resorted to reminding Elliot, “you know we’re related to monkeys,” eliciting the response, “this is the thing, they’re too close to humans when they’re eating their Petit Filous!” Pointing to Matt’s phone Elliot exclaims and points across the room, “look at his home screen! I thought it was his girlfriend! But it’s a monkey tucked up in bed!” It appears that Matt and Joe’s monkey-mania may have gone a step too far for Elliot. Joe reminded himself, and more so Elliot, “the last time Elliot and I spoke about monkeys we didn’t speak for two weeks.” So reading the room, with some of the band looking quite distressed and others wearing cheeky smirks, I decided to put a stop to ‘The Monkey Conversation.’
Once the room calmed down and friendships were restored, I closed the interview by asking them “what is your favourite motorway?” given that they spend so much time hopping around the UK to play shows. Hanna asks “what’s that one by Cobham?” which was met with a couple of “No, that’s the M25”s. Matt then points out that “the M25 is cool because you can just keep going around it forever.” Which brought me, once again, to some psychoanalysis I’ll be keeping to myself. “The stretch of M1 between Tebay and Gretna is beautiful, going past the Lake District. As for the south, the M23 is pretty good, we normally get petrol in Crawley” Elliot fondly reminisces, as if he’s thought on it for some time. This reminded Matt that he particularly enjoys “that bumpy stretch,” of the M23 that is too familiar to anyone who has driven from London to Brighton. “Our favourite service station is Cobham,” stated Elliot, “but Matt’s car got egged there.” Over the giggles of everyone in the room, Matt began to tell the whole story, “the car parked next to us had a massive tray of eggs in the back and their window was open so I looked in and said ‘eggs.’ Then one of them picked an egg up and threw it at my neck but it bounced off and cracked on the floor. When they drove off they threw more at my car, and it was still smeared on the back when I got it scrapped six months later.” So very rock’n’roll.
I prompted the band to declare any final words, Elliot thanked Groupie for doing “the lord’s work in the current state of English journalism.” In turn I thank Welly not just for their catchy music, but also their hospitality in having us over. A surprisingly intimate endeavour, even if they did make us eat our Vienetta with a fork.