Gig preview: The Opera Comic at Holy Trinity Church, Leeds

If the launch of Leeds band The Opera Comic was shrouded in a certain amount of mystery '“ and an advertising campaign last autumn involving a spiral symbol and the social media hashtag #whatisthisband that went viral '“ the five-piece seem happy with how their introduction went.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Mar 2017, 06:30 BST
Updated 24th Mar 2017, 11:08 BST
The Opera ComicThe Opera Comic
The Opera Comic

“We did lots of flyering then we put out the visual trailer on Facebook and then when we launched everyone hopefully seemed to get the idea of having that mystery and that ambiguity around the brand,” keyboard player Jack Mattison reflects six months on.

“It went really well and then we did the four shows in December – we did London, Glasgow, Manchester and then the headline show in Leeds at the Brudenell – and that was a bit of an introduction. We had lots of good feedback and everyone’s kind of on board with it now. We just need to build on that. It’s gone great so far.”

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Phase two of their campaign involves four more shows – in Hull, Sheffield, Manchester and a launch gig for their new single, A Time of Hope, at Holy Trinity Church in Leeds. “That’s going to be a pretty special show there,” says Mattison. “We’ve got a single coming out on March 10 and we’re going to release that on a limited CD run, with our debut track [We Are The Freaks] that we put out in October. The Holy Trinity show is going to be a nice platform to showcase all the theatrical elements that we like to demonstrate. That’s going to be the big one, really.”

Also on the bill are The Hubbards and Apollo Junction.

Mattison describes their new sound as like “post-indie/new glam/romantic revival – that’s a quote that somebody mentioned once and that hit the nail on the head, really, because we don’t really see ourselves as an indie band any more, I think now we’ve got a lot more musical. Each of our songs has got more than just guitar and keyboards now, we’re trying to transcend that. If I had to compare there’s elements of 80s guitar pop but a bit more melodic then there’s driving rhythms on the bass and drums and it’s all married together with synths and samples and vocals and harmonies. It’s like a particular combination of 80s genres with a modern day production. We really pride ourselves on high quality production.”

As regards further releases, Mattison says the band are purposefully being cautious. “We’ve got a lot of material but we don’t want to release it all at once. We want people to desire it themselves.”

March 24, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds. www.theoperacomic.com

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