Beverage of the Wise, a local rock band, is shaking things up with their debut single 'Empty,' and we’re diving deep into their story. These young musicians didn’t just fall into their roles; they crafted their band from the ground up, starting with a simple school project and a bit of parental encouragement. They share how they went from jamming at school to winning the Basement Doors Battle of the Bands Juniors. In this episode, we chat about their unique songwriting process, which involves everyone pitching in with their ideas and influences, resulting in a sound that’s as diverse as their musical tastes. Plus, we get a peek at their exhilarating journey so far and the support from their families that keeps them rocking forward. So grab your headphones, and let’s get into the beat of Beverage of the Wise!

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• Beverage of the Wise Instagram

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We didn't ask them to give us merch, we didn't ask them to help us with the release of Empty or anything. But they've just done it for us because they want to and they believe in us.

That's Jack, guitarist and one of the founding members of Beverage of the Wise, a five piece rock band from right here in the local area. Welcome to the Sheppertonian. I'm Gareth and this is the podcast bringing you stories, voices and events from in and around Shepperton.

Before we get into it, a thank you to the partners and supporters who make production possible through the Sheppertonian Business Club. Our partners, the Ferry Coffee Shop, purveyors of fine coffee, tea and snacks.

Danielle Davies, Celebrant: Every Story deserves a ceremony as unique as the people at its heart. And the Sound Boutique: Thoughtful audio for Every story... and our business members including Island Motors, Shepperton based family run MOT servicing and repairs.

So a couple of announcements before we get going. First, the Sheppertonian has a brand new website. Go and have a look.

The rebuild is just the start of what's shaping up to be a big year for the Sheppertonian. On the 3rd of June, I'm hosting the Sheppertonian Live, our first ever live event.

So you can find a link for tickets in the show notes and we have a couple of brilliant guests lined up. It's at Bishop Duppas Lawn Bowls Club and there'll be a chance to have a drink, there'll be a bar and, and we're hoping it'll be a great night out.

Tickets are free, so like I said, go to the show notes, grab your ticket and there are other special things coming in the next few weeks and months, so make sure you subscribe to thesheppertonian.uk so you don't miss the announcements. Now today's guests, Beverage of the Wise, are Jack, James, Joaquin, Lachlan and Aadi. They play progressive metal and heavy rock.

They won the Basement Doors Battle of the Bands Juniors. They've played the Half Moon, Putney, Dingwall's Two in Camden, the High Tide Festival.

Their debut single, Empty, is out now on Spotify and they're all still at school. I went to their rehearsal space, handed them a couple of microphones and let them tell the story.

I started with the obvious question, how did five people end up in a band together?

It started because I was, I was looking for, for a band at school and a lot of the bands were full, weren't they? So from some guidance from my mum. I just ended up making my own band out of musicians that I knew from school.

And it was originally going to be a completely different band with different people and it was only me and James that could actually find, like, rehearsal time, which ended up being like, I don't know, Fridays or something. So, yeah, we just decided to rehearse once, just us two, because no one else could rehearse on the same day.

So we just kind of hung out and we just learned a song that only required two parts. James was on drums, I was on bass. Then we needed a singer because neither of us could sing very well.

Enter Lachlan.

My mum wanted me to be in a band as well because she knows that I like that stuff. And then because my brother was also in that band, I think I got put into it and I met these guys, met Jack and James and.

And then that turned into the beginning of Beverage of the Wise.

No auditions, no master plan, just an after school club, a couple of kids who could make Fridays work and a singer whose mum gave him a nudge. So with five people in the room, you'd expect five different music tastes. I wanted to know what holds them together.

Joaquin plays bass and he was honest about where he comes from.

Musically, I don't usually listen to metal. I usually just. I listen to nicer tunes. I listen to rock, but it's not the heaviness of rock that I like, it's more of the music of it.

So this is very different to what I usually play, but what I usually play and listen to, I try to bring that into what I play here.

At the other end of the spectrum, there's Aadi on guitar.

Slaughter to Prevail. Maybe Metallica. Just some Slipknot. Just a sprinkle of that.

And that somewhere between those two is where Beveridge of the Wise lives. And it shows in their set lists. They'll go from Slipknot to Smooth Criminal in the same gig.

We try to be so diverse, like with what Joaquin said about his music taste, bringing it in. And then I've got quite a diverse music taste. I try to bring that in with my drumming and suggestions when writing.

But we don't just do like three songs by one band. We've got. We've only got one song from each band that we cover. We all bounce off each other, trying to incorporate as many genres.

It was that whole week before I had such a bad cold, like such a bad cough. So that evening, and it was like one of the first times we were performing our original song Empty as well, that my voice was not there.

So then it was about 30 minutes before the show and I was vigorously warming up, trying to just make me hit the notes. And I don't know, it was just. It was terrifying because it was firstly that we didn't want to lose.

It was the pressure of just like being good for everyone else. And then on top of that, my voice being absolutely destroyed from a cold. So it was terrifying.

They played and then nothing happened for two weeks.

The heat was quite a weird evening because a lot of people said it as well. They said we were like the best band playing there. They said we sounded so great.

And we were also one of the youngest bands because I was still, what, 13? So we were in the junior cast group. But I definitely didn't know about that. I thought it was just one big thing.

So then when we went on stage at the end so they could announce who's going into the next round and they just didn't call us, I was like, oh, that's a shame. But then how. It was two weeks later or something, it was a real long time later and they emailed one of us saying, oh, yeah, you've won the juniors.

I just. After two weeks we. I just had no idea. I thought that was it. And then we just performing at Wimbledon and it was. It was really cool.

Jack saw it differently. For him, the heat was the nerve wracking part. The final was the fun bit.

I think the heat was actually like more nerve wracking because we had never played in front of like as big of a crowd as this one. And it was like. It's just more of a monumental moment. Like we really wanted to get through.

And then we found out that we were playing in the finals, but that was. It was less of a worry because it was more fun.

Like we could have more fun with it because at that point we knew we had won the Junior Battle of the Bands division because we'd been told so we were just there to showcase our playing. And I think that was definitely more fun.

Winning a competition playing covers is one thing, writing your own songs is something else entirely. I asked how it works with five people in the room.

It mainly starts with either me the guitarist or James the drummer. We both play guitar or both of.

Us at the same time doing something together.

Yeah, just jamming. But normally one of us comes in with a riff and then the other one has a riff that matches that and could be a different section.

And we, like, combine them and edit them down, refine it, and then we bring it to the other guys in the band and together, through everyone's input. Joaquin makes a bass line, Lachlan put some sick vocals on it, and Aadi.

We come up with a separate guitar part for Aadi that's unique and we refine it over, like, many weeks and, like, sometimes it gets to months and then it just becomes a cool song.

What makes this work is that they're all multi instrumentalists. James on the songwriting partnership with Jack.

When it starts with me and Jack, which is usually the original sort of start of the songwriting, when it's me and Jack, it's just so great that we're both able to, like, have ideas for all of the instruments. We don't. We're not limited in any way by not having any of the other band members.

Lachlan writes most of the lyrics and the first attempt wasn't entirely smooth.

For Empty especially, there was some controversial lyrics in the chorus. And then Jack was like, this is our first song. We can't be doing that.

It's just. It's just some swear words.

Yeah, it was. Wasn't really matching the mood of the song, I could agree. But that was the first song we've written altogether and I was still.

I was just turned 13 at this point as well, so I'm completely inexperienced at writing anything. And then Jack just said, oh, try this, try this. Sick lyrics. And it was a bit in the chorus, which goes, death defying story.

And I was like, oh, my God, that sounds so much better. So we all do put an input for everything. Everyone changes up everything. It's really effective when everyone does it too.

We are here to take glory Turn.

The pain on this Death Defying Story,.

Their debut single came out on the 15th of March. I asked Adi what it was like stepping into a studio for the first time.

It was actually mad because I'd never seen anything like it before, so it was really enjoyable. But I also had no clue what half the stuff did. So you just turned up? Yeah, I just turned up, play guitar and helped.

Joaquin's experience was similarly efficient.

I took the train there and I recorded a bass line. Or rather, I came there and watched James record drums and realized I didn't actually need to be here for this one.

And then I took the train the next week and then recorded my bass line and I was like, okay, great, guys, you can take it from here.

Bye.

So what's the song actually about? Lachlan explains.

Because it's our first song, it's our first original, I wanted it to be quite something powerful. So at the first words it goes, we are here to take glory, turn the page in this death defying story.

So I think that can like symbolise, just like, it's our start, how cool it is, how great it is.

A statement of arrival. And the live version has evolved since they recorded it. James admits to always starting it too fast.

And ever since the start, when we started performing it, I would always start it way too fast. So it's like probably about. It's like 20 bpm.

You hyper up so much, it's like.

20 Bpm slower in the recording. And then when we play it live, we're just like blitzing through the song.

I think that's fine though, like, because it gives the live environment something different and more interesting.

With single Empty out and a year of gigging behind them, the sound is already moving on. They've now written three originals and the newest one, Motionless, felt like a turning point when asked about it.

I think our originals really represent our evolution as songwriters.

Since Empty, it was our first song and I think we had a lot of ideas in our head as musicians who have never recorded stuff but have always wanted to. And so we put all our best ideas into one song and made that Empty.

And then over time, when making other songs like Nasty, we tend to lean towards a certain vibe instead of putting all of our best stuff into one song. That makes Nasty and Motionless great.

Like with Motionless, we've definitely now found our vibe, we found our sound. Compared to like Empty, we were completely inexperienced. We just. That was our first song.

We've just jammed together and was like, oh, yeah, that sounds good, let's do that.

But now, because we've listened to more bands, we've performed covers from more bands, we've definitely found our sound and, like, what we want to sound like.

So where did they want to take it? The O2 and Wembley came up, obviously, but it was Lachlan's answer that stuck with me.

To be fair, in a year already we have gone like from just like little fairs, school rock concerts.

Yeah.

To performing at festivals already. So it's already been such an increase.

And now they know it's possible because.

We've recorded and now we've got the taste of it and now we can do more and we're getting better. It's definitely just gonna keep getting better and better from here.

I could have ended it there, but James said something that shifted the whole conversation.

The only way that that would have been possible was the parents. There's like, obviously a WhatsApp group chat and everything, but each and every single one of them are, like, just as passionate as us, really.

Like, none of them are, like, holding us back.

We're all very grateful that we've got such supportive parents. They just do stuff because they want to.

Like, we didn't ask them to give us merch, we didn't ask them to help us with the release of Empty or anything, but they've just done it for us because they want to and they believe in us and that's really cool. Yeah, they want to see us.

And Lachlan brought it back to that Battle of the Bands night.

I remember when we did our finals for the Battle of the Band, we just came off the stage. I mean, there was this little interview bit afterwards.

I remember the first thing I said was about our parents, because I just saw them all right in the front row jumping with everyone else. I just saw everyone getting involved. I was just like, damn, we actually have people who care for us, who really do everything for us.

So, like, I grabbed the mic straight away and I was just like, I just want to say a big thank you to all our parents. They're just the absolute best. Don't know why I did it.

It's a bit cringe, but I think it just really means something that we have this support, especially when we're just such a small band and definitely our age as well. But they've been there since the very start, like, even when we were just doing little Christmas concerts at school.

That was Beveridge of the Wise, Jack, James, Joaquin, Lachlan and Aadi. Their debut single, Empty, is on Spotify, Apple Music and all the usual places. You can find them at beverageofthewise.com and on Instagram. And if you get the chance to see them live, take it.

This is shaping up to be a big year for the Sheppertonian.

The new website is live@thesheppartonian.uk on the 3rd of June, I'm hosting the Sheppertonian Live, our first ever live event. And there's more to come. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it.

Thanks as always to the partners and supporters backing the Sheppertonian through the business Club. Their support keeps this podcast rooted in the community. I'm Gareth, this has been the Sheppertonian, and until next time, I'll see you around.