It was a night of triumphant success for Manchester 5-piece Rosellas on Saturday night, as they played their biggest hometown headline to date.
The band have been steadily rising through the ranks, selling out other Manchester venues like Gullivers, Band on the Wall and Academy 3. And Academy 2 was the next step for them.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Drew Selby said: “It’s been a very, very long time coming for us,” as we sat downstairs in Manchester University’s Student’s Union on the afternoon of the gig with bassist Ollie Appleby.
“It feels natural. Without sounding arrogant, it’s not intimidating and it’s not surprising.”
Having toured extensively up and down the country since their inception, Rosellas are eager to see guitar music head the music industry once again.
The band cite artists such as Pink Floyd, The Verve and The War on Drugs as their influences.
“We share a lot of common ground with the likes of The Smiths, Noel Gallagher, Michael Head, Ian Brown as a lyricist, Richard Ashcroft as a lyricist. You know, like Northwest music royalty, if you want to put it that way.
“We want to sit in the middle ground between, like psychedelic rock and shoegazey elements and like indie rock that you can tap your foot to and hear on the radio.
“We don’t want to be a pop rock band, and we don’t want to just write A side hits, and, you know, Radio One hits, because it’s not what we’re like as songwriters and musicians but then again, we don’t want to write 10 versions of Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” said Selby.
Rosellas recently played at the O2 Apollo for Music Feeds who are aiming to tackle food poverty alongside James and Star Sailor.
Selby said: “We walked out on that stage, and we didn’t feel out of place. It felt like comfortable. It felt right.”
“They’ve played every stage that we want to play. It gives us an avenue to follow in their footsteps,” added Appleby.
Selby mentioned how he had recently visited the new Co-op Live arena and reminisced about his time working as a bartender at the AO Arena.
“I think when we headline the [AO Arena] I’m going to say, be nice to the people on the bar. You don’t have to leave a tip because the pints are seven quid.”
Following their headline, Rosellas talk about what’s next on the cards for them.
“More gigs, bigger gigs, better gigs,” said Appleby.
“We’ve written more, we’ve had more meetings with people, we’ve recorded more, we’ve rehearsed more, and I guess next year, the flood gates are going to open on all that,” added Selby.
You can find all of Rosellas music here.