Band name: Jeffery's Carnival

Members: Austin Couperthwaite, Charlie Butterworth, Callum Burke and Sam Butler

When and where did you form?
Well it was about two years ago, the lead guitarist Burke was all for making a band as a laugh. So him, the original singer and the drummer started the band at D.O.A Rehearsal Studios and we just did a few covers for a bit of fun. Then someone asked us if we were in a band not too long after and from that we ended up doing a gig about four weeks after forming. We used to be called The Rizlas before we changed to Jeffery's Carnival (yes, it was an awful name and we realise that now haha)

What is your sound and who are your influences?
We have a hard rock sound mixed in with a good amount of blues and psychedelic riffs to keep things interesting, but our main influences come from big bands and artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arctic Monkeys, Led Zeppelin and the all-time legend himself, Jimi Hendrix. I mean, if we're gunna be in a rock band, we've got to take a few leaves out their books don't we?

What is the biggest gig you have played to date?
I think it has to be the one we played at The Alma Inn on March 29 of this year. It was our second gig of the year we'd been advertising like crazy to get people down, little did we know that about 90 to 100 people turned up when we were just expecting about 40 to 50. Turns out a lot more people enjoy listening to us than we thought, haha.

If you are not already, is it your ambition to become professional?
There is nothing more in the entire world that we would want than to become a professional band, at first it was just for laugh...nothing serious, just something else to do apart from college/work etc. But when people started giving us really positive feedback for our own music and saying they want some of our tracks on their iPods and phones we thought...hey, you what, screw it let’s go for it and see where we can end up!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Making and playing music for our career as best mates and doing it to make other people enjoy themselves and feel better whether we're doing it professionally or not. I mean, why else would we be playing music for the rest of our lives? if we were only in it for ourselves that would completely defy the point of being in a band!

Is there anything unusual or interesting about the band?
Where do I start? The drummer is the most laid back happy chappy guy you'll ever meet and the bassist can funk it out better than any dude. The lead guitarist is just an absolute legend, even the way he stands while playing just screams cool (well it does to us) and then I (Charlie) am just your average Joe of a guitarist/singer who can crack a few jokes and throw in a few dance moves to keep things entertaining haha. Oh and we don't do covers of any sort, just our own material.

Upcoming gigs?
Redfest at Moses Gate, Farnworth, on May 25