Over the last few years, Live at Leeds (LAL) festival has become renowned for providing a platform for some of the biggest talents in the country to emerge. Last night at a special event at The Wardrobe, LAL announced over 80 acts are joining the current bill, including BRITS Critics Choice winner Sam Fender and Yorkshire’s own The Sherlocks.
Three of Yorkshire’s most promising acts played live a set in honour of the occasion, one of them being Hull indie rockers – The Hubbards. The Humberside quartet have already had a fantastic start to 2019, being named as an ‘artist to watch for 2019’ by BBC Introducing / Radio 1 and recently played a headline set for the opening of the Hull Bonus Arena.
I caught up with Reuben Driver (vocals and bass) and Alex Green (guitar and vocals) before they took to the stage to play to the sell out Wardrobe crowd:
You have played festivals like LAL and Neighbourhood Weekender before and have LAL coming up again, do you feel they’re good to get your name out there?
RD: Yeah, we never reslly did stuff like this, we weren’t really a festival band, we just did our own gigs. But, the more we got onto it, the more we’ve seen other cool bands as well, it introduces kind of like-minded people to us. So, we love doing them.
You opened up Hull Bonus Arena, how was that in your home town?
RD: Playing the Bonus Arena was probably the second biggest privilege after playing in front of all the Hull City fans at the KC Stadium, but yeah the Bonus Arena was absolutely amazing, it definitely affirmed that is what we want to be doing more often.
You have been picked by BBC introducing as ones to watch this year, that must’ve felt great?
AG: It does, BBC Introducing have given us a lot of support over the last couple of years, getting tracks on national radio and giving us a chance to play in front of a lot of people. We owe them a lot and we love the support they’ve gave us.
Do you see 2019 being a big year for you guys?
RD: Hopefully a little bit bigger than all the others, I hope so. We’ve said that maybe the last three years, so I’m not going to get my hopes too high, but better things have happened in January than probably all of 2016, when David Bowie died, RIP.
Finally, what would you say to the LAL crowd as to why they should come see you play?
RD: I mean, they don’t have to! It would be really nice and hopefully they’ll enjoy it.
AG: Hear a couple of average songs!
RD: Absolutely, yeah. We don’t play Leeds a lot either, we’re from Hull originally, so people who want to see us in Leeds… come see us at Live at Leeds! Where else better? Then we’ll be at all the other bands that day, so I’m sure they’ll see us around.
You can listen to the full interview here:
Leeds: Live and Loud 