Mountfield… from a small gig in Lewes, to BBC Introducing and Abbey Road.
We caught up with ACM student David Burnage, one of the founding members of indie-folk band Mountfield, ahead of today’s single release and release party tonight at Thirty3Hz (Monday 27th November).
Tell us the story of Mountfield… where did it all begin?
Mountfield began as an acoustic duo. My brother Rob on bass and backing vocals, myself (David) on guitar and lead vocals. We performed our first gig playing original music in Lewes, East Sussex in 2015. We realised there was potential in the music and in us. Fueled by the success and enjoyment of the gig we set up the band, taking our name from the venues location, Mountfield Road. We spent most of ours early days working on our material and perfromance, developing in all aspects through recording and gigging.
We always wanted a full band and have worked with numerous musicians, whilst still gigging as a duo, since coming to ACM we have found drummer Luke Flavell and guitarist Joe Fitzgerald who have been performing with us since the summer of 2017.
Who have been your biggest musical influences?
We have always been fans of Coldplay. They influenced my early songwriting, and inspired me to become a songwriter and to pursue music. The music video for ‘Fix You’ was hugely inspiring and motivating, and still is today.
Being a Folk/Rock band we are into loads of bands and artists of that genre including Mumford and Sons and Bears Den. In our music you can also hear influence from traditional Folk music along with Classic Rock.
You’ve been busy touring at the moment, which show has stood out so far?
Yes we have been doing various shows to build up to our upcoming single release of “Table for Two”. There has been something unique about every gig we’ve done recently, our favourite was The Star (Guildford) on the 20th. It’s a great venue with a great sound, the turnout was awesome and we got some great response.
Our favourite gig of the year however has to be our White Lines release gig back in June, this was the first time performing as a full four-piece band. We played to a packed venue and the energy was amazing.
It sounds like you’re getting some great support for your first single White Lines…
The track had some great response from fans and is still a favourite of ours to perform live. The song was aired on local radio as well as BBC Introducing in the South, this was amazing for us as it’s always been an ambition of ours. We look forward to being played on their show in future.
What’s next for Mountfield?
We’ve just released our new single ‘Table For Two’ and will be celebrating the release with a gig at Thitry3Hz in Guildford in the evening. The song is available on the standard online platforms, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music etc. We are very excited to have released the song, we’ve been performing it live for a long time now and it always gets a great response from crowds.
We have worked again with our engineer/producer James Jenkins, the production and arrangement is huge! The track was also mastered at world famous Abbey Road Studios by Christian Wright (Ed Sheeran, Bears Den, Mumford and Sons, Coldplay). This was a surreal experience for us, to be working in a place with such history and success where so many incredible artists have been.
We have a few more gigs before the end of the year, and then we will be back next year with more shows and more releases.
Connect with Mountfield via their Website, on Facebook, Spotify, YouTube or SoundCloud.
If you’d like to be a student at ACM to kickstart your career in the music industry, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
