Five Mins With…Ideal Forgery 

Following their recent single release (and Isle of Man Music Chart top 20 hit Chase The Light – video above), we recently bumped into Peter Mitchell from Indie – Rockers and Isle of Man Music Chart Top 20 hit -makers, Manchester based Ideal Forgery. He was back on island and we managed to get him to get the guys to take part in a quick Q&A interview about their upcoming Isle of Man tour which starts next weekend!

• How many are there of you?

There’s four of us!

• Tell us each band members name and instrument

Zak “James”Heaney (Lead Vocals/ Acoustic+ Electric Guitar)

Polly “Magic”Virr (Lead Cello)

George “The Charm”Wright (Bass)

Peter “Owen”Mitchell (Drums/ Percussion)

• How did you get together?

When the planets last aligned, each member arrived from a different planet and all landed on Manchester at the same time, then we had a jam at a house party in the garden and realised we all had a mutual love of Dixie Chicken!

• Who is the main songwriter or is your song-writing more of a democratic process?

When the band started Zak wrote the songs and we all added our own parts; more recently we’ve been writing more collaboratively…

“I write the concept song and bring it to the band; which then Ideal Forgery “Flesh” out and make it sound awesome” (Zak)

• How would you describe your sound?

We think it is a unique fusion of Alternative, Indie and Rock.  Our USP is that we have a “Lead Cello” which we plug into a Guitar Amp!

• Tell us about Chase The Light, your latest release – what’s it about?

Chase The Light tackles the everyday challenges that many face in their lives. Lyrically Zak wanted to express the struggles he has faced as well as shedding a light on the unspoken troubles that many of us hide away from.

• Who would you describe as your influences and why?

We take influences from Artists like- Ben Howard, Biffy Clyro, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie…‘cause they’re all awesome!

“I think our sound is gonna start getting very acclimatised to massive stadium gigs” (George)

Our USP is that we have a “Lead Cello” which we plug into a Guitar Amp!

• Where would be your favourite venue to play that you haven’t yet and why?

It’d be awesome to one day do an MTV “Unplugged” at the Roundhouse in London!

• Tell us about your IOM tour – what are you most looking forward to with it and what can the public expect?

“I don’t really know how to answer that cause for me it’s just coming home… it’s gonna be really nice to have the band with me” (Pete)

The IOM can expect raw music from real people; we’re going to put our hearts and souls into every gig we play

• Tell us about your gigging in the North West, where do you play? 

We gig regularly in and around Manchester; and have recently been doing festivals all around the UK- including Aldeburgh Festival, Glaston-Bury (lol), Bolton Festival, Carter Fest, Tapp Fest… We also recently released our single at the renown Manchester Music venue- The Ruby Lounge.  

We were also finalists in Indie Week UK!

ideal forgery

• What has been your biggest show so far?

Last year we played at Manchester Academy- it was sick!

We’re really humbled to be able to play in the IOM and have already received loads of positive comments about our trip!

• Any plans for festivals next year?

All of them!

• Where can potential fans hear your music?

You can find our new music video on Youtube and the Single on Spotify!

• What are your thoughts on both the Isle of Man and UK Music scene and can you see both scenes working together more fluidly going forward?

Hopefully we can help bring these two scenes closer together; Pete was involved with the original music scene on the IOM when he was a teenager; and has been to a few local music nights including “Riffs” when visiting recently! We’re really humbled to be able to play in the IOM and have already received loads of positive comments about our trip!  We’d love to put a music night on in Manchester to show off a load of IOM musicians/ Artists too!

You can see Ideal Forgery on the Island HERE:

• QuidsInn Douglas on Thursday 20th (9pm)
• Compton Vaults on Friday 21st (8pm)
• Peter Norris Music on Saturday 22nd-“Acoustic Session”/ Q+A- (2pm)
• Jaks Bar & Steakhouse on Saturday 22nd (11.30pm)
• The British (UNPLUGGED) on Sunday 23rd (4pm)

You can find them on Facebook by clicking HERE

You can hear them on Spotify by clicking HERE