Post-punk band English Teacher are the latest to win the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize, which counts PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys and Primal Scream among its list of previous winners.
Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Lily Fontaine, along with lead guitarist Lewis Whiting, recently discussed developing their sound through Fender guitars and how this experimentation culminated in their critically acclaimed debut album, This Could Be Texas.
“There are loads of ’90s rock bands I’m really inspired by. They got me excited about playing guitar. Lots of Jazzmaster and Jaguar players. Johnny Marr is a big one,” Whiting tells Fender.
“In terms of electric guitars, I’ve never used anything other than Fender in my life. I’ve developed my sound through Fender. We’ve got two sides to our music. We’ve got the more soft, more ballad-type songs, and then you’ve got quite abrasive ones,” continues Fontaine.
“The Jaguar works really well, in terms of having one thing that can do all of that and sound good,” adds Whiting.
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In an interview with Guitar.com, the band talked about being pigeonholed and overcoming the pressure and expectations that come with a debut album. “We never really set out to be a particular thing. We initially had a very love-hate relationship with guitars,” admitted Whiting.
However, their love for ’90s-style guitars à la The Smiths and Blur, the contrast between “really noisy guitar and more delicate riffs” and interweaving melodies between bass and guitar led them to create the album they envisioned.
“We didn’t necessarily try to hit any specific genre,” said Fontaine. “There were external pressures to write certain types of songs to appeal to certain types of people, but we had to balance that with still figuring out who we wanted to be ourselves at the same time.”
English Teacher released This Could Be Texas in April and were pegged as ones to watch by Fender through their Fender Next Class of 2024 program. The band is also set to support IDLES on select dates of their upcoming North American tour.
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