I’ve lived in Southampton for four years since university, having been born in London and grown up in Bromley. Southampton has lots going on, it’s a different vibe since I was at uni and I’m enjoying it.

I’ve loved music ever since I was a kid. My parents used to play records of all kinds of genres, dating from the sixties to the present day. I got hooked on The Stranglers, learning parts from their songs on an old Yamaha keyboard when I was about seven, and that was pretty much the start of my journey as a musician.

I started my band, Fred Lane, in October 2023. I’d been in a pop band for about six years before that, so brought a lot of gigging, songwriting and publishing experience to this new project. It’s amazing how, in just a year, we’ve achieved so much.

In our first few months we released a debut single, played our first gig, released more music and created an award-winning music video. It’s definitely a challenge at the start, but as we’ve developed things have really snowballed. We all bring our different music tastes to the band and these seem to complement each other well. As for personalities, I’d say the common ground we have is humour.

Our music is retro and alternative, with a blend of synthesisers and electronic guitars. It’s not too overproduced. We take a lot of inspiration from artists like David Bowie, Talking Heads, LCD Soundsystem and others. Fans seem to enjoy our music for its energy, relatable lyrics and retro vibes. When performing, we love to give the crowd a chance to boogie and move people emotionally too.

Our lyrics are about the stresses of living in our time: war, love and creativity. We’re focused on confronting big issues but in a way that’s not ‘in your face’, so you have a chance to enjoy our music on many levels.

We’ve hit the ground running in our first year as a band, performing around Hampshire and beyond. This includes venues like Papillon, The Joiners and The Heartbreakers in Southampton, The Railway in Winchester, the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth and the Strongroom bar in Shoreditch.

We released our single, ‘The One’, in 2024, prior to which I’d been cooking up a video with our manager Helen. It was exciting because of its light-heartedness, and the contrast between the video concept and the song’s lyrics. We were lucky enough to be joined by a great team of volunteers too.

After a lot of prep, filming and editing, we were finally able to submit the video to Southampton Film Week. It was an incredible feeling to have won Best Music Video and, by the looks of it, ours was the lowest-budget production with the fewest team members. It feels humbling to know that people like the things we’re pouring our creativity into.

In Southampton, we’re blessed with lovely crowds at some great independent venues that host all sorts, from budding artists to bigger, touring musicians. There’s a chance to get established and, as a fan on a budget, there’s often affordable live music to see.

I think the cost of living crisis coming straight after some tough years has hit these venues hard. Musicians, too. Everyone starts somewhere, and without these venues we would lose some of the key spaces where we can share and develop our creativity.

We’re actually playing Independent Venue Week at The Heartbreakers. If you want to see us there, we’re supporting SPILL on 29^th January. After that, we’re straight into Icebreaker Festival in Portsmouth on 1^st February, then on to a very exciting gig on March 22^nd, where we’ll be back at The Heartbreakers for a single release show.

This year, we’re hoping to build on the success of 2024, and we’ve had some amazing feedback from fans. We were lucky enough to be featured on some great playlists, radio shows and podcasts last year, including Paul Gallagher’s Mixcloud and Graham Duff’s MIXTAPE.

Our single release show at The Heartbreakers is part of our debut EP release, so stay tuned! Over the next few months we’ll be releasing more new music. We’ve also been booking gigs and applying for festivals, so do follow us on Instagram for updates: @fredlaneofficial, and visit fred-lane.sumupstore.com for merch. We’d love the chance to collaborate with other artists this year too.