Adam Kennedy speaks with Liv and Max from North East based Brat Pop outfit Zela about their year so far, performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the band’s upcoming headline date in Middlesbrough.

This year, Brat fever swept across the UK. The aesthetic was catalysed by chart-topping artists like Charlie XCX. But closer to home, North East outfit Zela have been flying the Brat Pop flag high from the off.

Having a name like Charlie XCX pushing the brat aesthetic into the mainstream was perhaps beneficial to Zela. “There were quite a few things going on for me when the Brat Summer thing came out,” said Liv. "The initial thing is, oh, my God, yes, people have caught on. This is amazing, even though it's not via us. It was like, OK, we can capitalise on this. We do this well. This is trendy now. This is great. But there was also that part where it was like, we've been doing Brat for two years. Let's make Brat Summer happen our way.” Liv adds: “I love that everyone's got on board with it.”

Zela have fully embraced the Brat aesthetic since their formation. “It's so our aesthetic and our vibe,” said Liv. “I'm really excited to get new music out because we're already heading in a slightly different direction that we've been experimenting with. And I'm really excited about the next era of Zela.”

But how that new era looks, the band remain tight-lipped. "I can't say too much about it yet because we're in the studio as we speak. And we kind of double down on the studio time over the autumn and the winter. So, we've got a lot to look forward to for next year. So, I'll say that. But yeah, we're definitely capitalising on Brat hard.”

Zela recently returned from one of the world’s most prestigious music events, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. “It was my favourite gig yet, hands down. First of all, the place was so beautiful, and we were lucky enough to have the full day. And once we got sound checked, we got to see the place. We went swimming in Lake Geneva before our soundcheck. It was perfect and so beautiful,” explains Liv. “And then the actual gig itself, I'm still a little bit in shock at how good it was because we've not got many fans out there yet that we know of. And we were on quite late. We were headlining the Super Bock stage. And so, we were a little bit like, how is this going to go? It could go two ways. And honestly, the crowd was packed, and everyone's energy was unmatched. It was so good. And we were just on a high for about two weeks. I'm still on a bit of a high from it.”

But how did the opportunity to play in Montreux come about? “That was just me applying for it,” explains Max. “Towards the back end of each year, I have a list of hundreds and hundreds of festivals. And there are new ones every year that I find contact details for and pop up. At the back end of last year, while I was applying to the festivals, I found an application for Montreux. And just like I had done with Toronto the year before, that was just me applying for it as well. And a couple of months later, we got an email back just saying that they really liked what we were doing. Could we give them some more information? And then, yeah, they sent us an offer and confirmed it.”

Zela was made to feel very welcome in Montreux. “The festival was incredible. They provided us with accommodation in Montreux as well,” said Max. “We stayed in the Freddie Mercury Hotel. That was sick,” adds Liv. “We were really looked after. We were treated like celebrities for the day,” confirmed Max.

Aside from the band’s Swiss adventure, Zela played several events closer to home. “To be fair, we've had some sick festivals since then as well. We played Lindisfarne, and we played Monument in Sunderland as well. And obviously, we've had the headline gig at the Independent as well. So, we've had a really good summer. Lots of solid gigs,” said Liv. “I love the autumn because we get into a writing cycle. We get back in the studio, and we're working on our new music and all the new exciting stuff for next year. But honestly, I have festival blues for about a month when it ends.”

Returning to Lindisfarne Festival was a full-circle moment for the band. "Lindisfarne was the first festival we ever played as Zela three years ago… after the pandemic when Zela was born. And so, it's kind of always got a special place in our hearts,” said Liv. “So, to come back to it and play on the main stage …that was sick. The crew were great, the audience was great, and we had good weather. It was just another really good day, a good one to round out the festival season for us.”

Liv adds: “We got to enjoy the other bands afterwards as well because I think that's always one of the plus sides to being on early in the day, you get to enjoy afterwards, you get to have a bev, and you get to go see the other bands and meet up with everyone and not have to stress too much about anything. So yeah, the whole day was wicked.”

Zela will wrap up their 2024 live schedule with a show at Middlesbrough Empire this weekend. “That's going to be our last gig of the year. And that's at Middlesbrough Empire. So, it's us, We Tibetans, Dossers and Gone Tomorrow. And it's on Friday, 18th of October,” said Liv.

However, the band are already looking at what comes next. “We're always working 12 months ahead, at least,” explains Liv. "Gigs can kind of come in last minute, but as much as we can get done, especially music-wise, we tend to have quite a long-term plan in place all the time.”

Liv concludes: “We know when campaigns are starting for single releases, and what needs to be ready for what, and obviously, the artwork shoots and everything that comes with releasing singles. So, we are working on something exciting for the back end of next year, which I can't say too much about yet. But, between now and then, we've got loads of new music coming.”

Zela will perform at Middlesbrough Empire on Friday, 18th October. For ticket information and further details, please visit https://fatso.ma/0nfy.