Guernsey musicians reach worldwide listeners

Sunday 11 August 2019

A band, which was formed by a Guernsey musician, has started to get attention from listeners around the world.

George Russell set up 'Russell & the French Boys' while studying at the Institute for Contemporary Music Performance in the UK, where he graduated with a degree in Creative Musicianship.

Pictured: Guernsey musician Dom Wainwright. Image courtesy of Margot McAdams.

It features three French musicians from the ICPM on guitar, drums and bass guitar, with George on vocals and - more recently - another Guernsey musician, Dom Wainwright on keyboard.

Since releasing their first EP last year, Russell & the French Boys have continued to grow in popularity, with more than 7,5000 Spotify streams on their most recent single 'Turn Me On', which came out in June. 

"We're trying to go a bit more out there," George said. "There's so many of my friends from uni that are going down the pop route and I respect them for doing it, but it's so competitive and such hard work. We thought, if we go a little bit more indie, prog, pop-rock then maybe we could find a slightly more niche audience.

"We're more for having a laugh really. We don't take ourselves too seriously. It's just a bit of fun to make music and gig."

Having previously taken a lot of the work on themselves, the band decided to put more money into the production of 'Turn Me On' and even sent the track to be mastered at Abbey Road Studios. Meanwhile, the video for the single was filmed and put together professionally by a team in the south of France.

Pictured: Russell & the French Boys.

George currently writes the lyrics and core progressions for each song, and took particular influence from Prince for their latest single: "He was a massive influence because it's all that sort of funk pop that he's got going.

"Generally, especially for the live stuff and the EP, Pulp was quite a big influence - the more underground Britpop. I like The Beatles a lot and ABBA."

George began his musical career in Guernsey with the popular 'Doomsday Project', which split in 2016. He and Dom are now hopping to return to the island with the 'French Boys' to perform at some local events next summer.

Pictured: The artwork for the band's latest single.

"Guernsey is so good at supporting original local artists," George added. "People like 'The Recks' and 'Buffalo Huddleston' are so supported and it's amazing. It's such a great atmosphere for people trying to do music and I think it would be great if I could get the guys over here for a taste of that.

"We've started this concept performance, so we made it work into a story across all the songs and then I animated it and stuck that up behind us. We're going to try and make that even bigger now.

"A lot of the songs reflect Guernsey - growing up here, coming of age, leaving home and independent. It follows a few characters that share those experiences."

Pictured: George Russell. Image courtesy of Margot McAdams.

As the band grows, George hopes Guernsey people will continue to spread the word and support: "Streaming the music, liking the posts - even if you don't like the posts, like the posts! We really appreciate that.

"Guernsey's got such a good network for exposure, it would be great if more local people could support me and Dom."

Updates on the band's progress will be posted on the Russell & the French Boys Facebook page.

Pictured top: George Russell.