Meet Formation, The Bowie-Inspired London Electro-Punks Who Want To Tax The Rich

Over the years, Will and Matt Ritson – the twin brothers at the heart of electronic group Formation – have turned their hands to heaps of musical endeavours, from playing clarinet and saxophone to performing in orchestras. Sitting in a pub in Fitzrovia, Matt explains how this feeds into what they’re doing now: “We’ve listened to so much and played so many different kinds of music, so we might as well explore it all.”

Will and Matt – both in their mid-20s – began Formation two years ago. The first song they wrote for the project was latest single ‘Hangin’, an infectious cut that ticks with a house beat under Will’s lyrics about “sleepless nights” and lying in bed with a “three-piece suit on”, which he improvised. “I was listening to a lot of Stooges and our manager lent me a book about David Bowie and how those guys would freestyle lyrics and spit out a load of stuff,” he says. “We wrote that song in 15 minutes. It’s some sort of subconscious stream. It just made sense at the time.”

Advertisement

With three extra members (Jonny Tams, Sasha Lewis, Kai Akinde-Hummel) on board for the live shows – who the duo say they’re keen to get more involved – Formation’s gigs are just as exciting as their music. Where they could stand behind laptops pressing play, they choose to make something more spectacular, with real instruments (drums, bass, guitar) and on-stage energy. During their set at this year’s NME’s showcase at Great Escape, Will jumped into the crowd to manically play cowbell while wearing a T-shirt that read “Tax the rich”.

“We wanted to keep it like the bands that we really liked [The Stooges and Bowie again], really punky and analogue,” Will explains. About the T-shirt, he says: “I don’t think we’re a political band but we’re not willing to not be ourselves.” A debut album, they say, is written – they just need to sort through the heaps of songs they’ve got stockpiled and cut it down. Of how the record will develop their sound, Will says: “We went into our label the other week and they were like, ‘We really love how your songwriting is improving’. They were talking about the second song we wrote. We’re probably getting worse!”

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories