Indietracks interview #27: Just Handshakes (We're British)

Hailing from Leeds, Just Handshakes (We’re British) formed on a dingy industrial estate and bonded over their shared love of gin and Swedish pop. As well as being chosen as Steve Lamacq’s unsigned feature of the week and receiving radio airplay on BBC 6 Music from Tom Robinson, JHWB have enjoyed support slots with bands such as The XX, Theoretical Girl, Hjaltalin, Blue Roses and The Kabeedies. 

Hi, tell us a little bit about yourselves
We are Clara, Michael, Edward and Jim. We live in Leeds and play indie pop music.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?
This year has been pretty exciting so far, we’ve played with lots of great bands like Pete and the Pirates and Allo Darlin’ and in April our new single came out on Elefant Records as part of the New Adventures In Pop Collection. We’re playing some festivals over the next few months and then after the Summer we are going to start recording our first album, which we are all really excited about.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?
We listen to lots of different stuff when we’re driving to gigs. I guess it depends what we’re in the mood for. Apparently Edward has made a special driving compilation which includes the following tracks:
‘Road to Nowhere’
‘On the Road Again’
‘Thunder Road’
‘Road to Joy’
‘Long and Winding Road’
‘Stanley Road’
‘Roadrage’

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival?
There seems to be lots of Elefant bands playing this year so it will be nice to go and watch some of them, especially Papa Topo. We’ve played with Help Stamp Out Loneliness and The History of Apple Pie before and they are both great bands and lovely people, so we’ll definitely be going to see them too. We’re also looking forward to seeing Jeffrey Lewis and Herman Dune. When all the bands have finished and it’s time to have a dance I think we’ll head over to the DJ tent for our friends Pull Yourself Together & Underachievers Please Try Harder!

Thanks, see you on the dancefloor!