Today, we're featuring FUTURE BABY, a band with a unique origin and an even more intriguing name. The members hail from diverse locations like Brighton, London, Leicester, Northern Ireland, and the USA, each bringing their own musical influences. The name FUTURE BABY comes from the film 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' a favorite of founding members Tom and Ian, symbolizing the band's unique and evolving musical journey.
Join us as we uncover the story of FUTURE BABY, their challenges, creative process, and their goal to rejuvenate the rock genre while connecting meaningfully with their fans. Don't miss their performance with us on the 29th of May at Two Palms.
Picture of FUTURE BABY at The Ivy House from one of our events, taken by our in-house photographer, March 14th 2024
Can you please share your origin story as a band? What is the meaning behind your band name 'FUTURE BABY'?
[TOM]: We’re from all over the place to be honest; Brighton, London, Leicester, Northern Ireland and the USA. Myself and Ian met on a uni course and had similar musical ambitions, met Connor through a friend of a friend of a friend, Aaron through work and Teddie by pure chance online. The band name comes from mine and Ian’s collective favourite film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. We bonded at university over our shared interest in the film as I started a Benjamin Button fan club with the hopes of making some custom merchandise with some likeminded people, however Ian was the only person to show up.
[IAN]: We believe it’s David Fincher and Brad Pitt’s finest work and has a heart-wrenching plot that’s equally as fun and lighthearted. It’s beautifully comical watching a man slowly descend into a ‘baby in the future’ and after some tweaking we had our name. We ran it by some friends and they thought it was equally stupid as we did and so it stuck.
What's the best piece of advice you heard or that you can give based on your experience, that could help other musicians looking to start and grow?
[TOM] Best advice we’ve received so far is from a big community of bands, one fella said that we should always know our worth. You should always put yourselves first as it’s far more sustainable in the long run. As for advice for new bands, I think it’s best to accept the fact you will be losing money on your musical journey for a long time and you have to be committed if you want to get anywhere. We can’t all be products of nepotism, if you’re not prepared to work hard then don’t bother in the first place, remember that nobody owes you anything, it’s up to you to earn your audience. Also try enjoy the process, making and playing music is fun and it doesn’t always have to end in flashing lights so make the most of the success you have, however grand or minimal.
[TEDDIE]: To new bands: Find a band with a hot bassist and learn bass because you think it would impress him only to then realise he was popular in the 1970s and is now like 70 something.
Pictures of FUTURE BABY at The Ivy House from one of our events, taken by our in-house photographer, March 14th 2024
Can you expand on what you mean by “revitalising modern rock music"?
[TOM]: It’s no secret that since the birth of TikTok the rise in overnight stars has been exponential. Because of this, songwriting in a lot of ways is becoming lazy and the industry is drenched in copy cats. Unfortunately for us, some of this has bled into the rock side of the industry, with some of our favourites succumbing to this new wave of quick and easy pop styles. We can sense that there are more rock fans like us out there listening to music like old Muse and Queens of the Stone Age, and we want to provide them with some of the genres of rock that have been lacking recently. We’d never be as egotistical to claim we can fill the gap that some of the industry giants are leaving, but everything starts from the ground up and if we can re-ignite a little fire from the grassroots scene then who knows where it’ll end up.
[CONNOR]: I just absolutely love Oasis.
What was your songwriting process like when writing your single 'Acting Strange'? Any memorable stories?
[TOM]: Acting Strange was sort of an anomaly, both myself and Ian had a serious case of writers block for a few weeks after the finishing of ‘Bones’. It wasn’t until one random day after work where I sat at my desk and wrote and recorded the track in around about an hour with a basic idea for the vocal melody, which is a rare feet as it usually takes us a lot longer to get a track to a decent spot. I then left the country for two weeks and dumped the job of fixing my terrible production attempt on Ian and harassed him over and over with tons of vocal re-takes until he produced this beautiful performance that was exactly what the track needed, writing a hella catchy bridge that I can’t get out of my head despite it being our own song.
Picture of FUTURE BABY at The Ivy House from one of our events, taken by our in-house photographer, March 14th 2024
If you could gain a new skill or ability instantly what would you choose and why?
[IAN]: I can’t play guitar and sing at the same time so that would be a nice skill for me to gain.
[CONNOR]: I feel we all collectively wanna get singing lessons so we can really layer up the vocals live and enhance all the tracks.
In what situation/ Where would you never agree to your music being played and why?
[TOM]: I’m very anti Coachella myself which I know is bold to say as we’re currently nowhere near the level any of the acts that play there. Most of the crowd know the acts mainly just for their name or one big song and not the music as a whole, they barely know the words and just film themselves for social media, its all some capitalist influencer cesspit where people care more about what they’re wearing than who they’re watching. On a serious note, with such huge social and political issues in the world at the moment, we can’t be associated with those that don’t aline with what we believe in as a band. The music industry has always been inclusive and accepting, and who we work with should reflect that.
[TEDDIE]: To be honest, anywhere glorifying the mistreatment or dehumanisation of others. It’s a scary world today, and if our music can’t stand for something good why stand at all. I would never be okay seeing our music be used anywhere for the wrong political reasons, especially not with the messages found in our songs. I would strongly be against playing for anything that supports, financially or otherwise, the mistreatment of others.
Which Netflix show would you best see your music being featured on and why?
[AARON]: I feel we would suit shows like ‘Lucifer’ as most of our music has sinister undertones and styles. (I have never seen ‘Lucifer’)
[TOM]: Our music spans so many genres its hard to pick one specific show but I feel our songs ‘Eat Your Heart Out, Girl’ and ‘Bones’ would pop off in ‘American Horror Story’.
[TEDDIE]: Arcane would be a great show for our track ‘Cartoon Man’ although I don’t understand any of the lyrics.
[CONNOR]: The only show I’ve seen is Gossip Girl, so I’m not sure!
Picture of Future Baby at The Ivy House from one of our events, taken by our in-house photographer, March 14th 2024
Have you dealt with a creative block as a band? If so, how did you overcome it?
[IAN]: I wish there was a clearer answer for this one, but it really depends on the project in my opinion. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is sit down in the studio and just force yourself to get it done, sort of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. Then again, that’s not a guarantee, and you might end up just fatiguing yourself and getting sick of the project, which has definitely happened before. Personally, I like to move on to another project that is very sonically different to the one that may be causing problems, as I find that can help get the creative juices flowing again before revisiting the old project. As a band, I think we’re quite lucky to have a group of people with similar visions but varied inspirations, as we’re able to just send progress to each other and gain insight. Yeah, kind of a rambling convoluted answer to that one. There’s no right or wrong, just whatever works for you.
Side note: Sometimes booze helps.
What are your short-term goals and how do you see FUTURE BABY evolving in the coming years?
[TOM]: Short term goals for me would be to comfortably sell out a 100+ Capacity venue within the next year or two. As for the future, only time will tell, all I can say it that we have a huge backlog of fun and interesting music that challenges genre boundaries and who knows, there may even end up being some huge hits hidden away for now.
[TEDDIE]: We want to break into the Brighton scene a bit more and play more home shows!!! MEOW!
Picture of FUTURE BABY at The Ivy House from one of our events, taken by our in-house photographer, March 14th 2024
By the REAL Editorial Team | May 28, 2024