Who are you and where do you originate from?

We’re Fingertrap and we are an original alternative four-piece band from Pontypridd, Abercynon, and Mountain Ash areas of Rhondda Cynon Taff. Sion Carver is the frontman on lead vocals and piano, Jimmy Parfitt on lead guitar and backing vocals, Nicholas Savage on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Frankie Allart on drums and backing vocals.

Nick and Frankie grew up together, and met Jimmy at comprehensive school. Nick and Frankie went on to meet Sion when studying at college.

The band was formed when the three left colle ge and went on to study at university, and Jimmy was asked to play guitar.

How did you get interested in music?

Music has always been an influence for the four.

Frankie started playing drums, and Nick started learning guitar around the same time at school, when studying GCSE, and A-level music then going on to study music technology at college and university. Jimmy grew up with music, as his mother was a musician playing piano and clarinet.

Jimmy started learning guitar at 11, and was out playing and practically teaching the school’s guitar teacher by the time he was in Year 10. Sion only had a handful of piano lessons at church, where he was taught some chords. But Sion took to it naturally and developed over time.

How would you describe your style of music?

It seems very cliché as a lot of bands say they have a unique sound.

We have trouble trying to determine ours. All our songs collectively are influenced by different genres, so they are not all the same. We all have different influences when it comes to song writing. Frankie is mad for Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Pe ppers, so his playing technique really incorporates that, but Frankie is very diverse too. Nick tries replicating Flea’s style with his own playing skills. Jimmy’s playing style varies. One minute his sound is very similar to Brian May from Queen, then the next you recognise the Eddie Van Halen sound.

Sion’s playing style imitates the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder etc, and is very influenced by The Cat Empire.

All Night is a track written by Nick, and it is pure funk.

Return if Found has a jazz influence in the track, whereas Good Book has great guitar licks and is very rock influenced.

If somebody was to watch us live, the audience wouldn’t be asking “Have they already performed this song?” because each song sounds different.

What’s your best live experience so far?

Our first ever performance we played was a Battle of the Bands gig at O’Neills in Cardiff. The place was packed and it was the first time people were hearing our tracks. After a year of writing and jamming, it was good to see our tracks being well received. The feedback was brilliant and really gave us the encouragement.

What are your plans for the next few months?

So many things have happened to us since we started promoting the band.

We were voted Second Best UK Student Band in a national Battle of the Bands competition with more than 14,000 votes. From that we filmed a live performance on digital TV show The Grad Factor, which gave us some exposure.

This month we’re recording with Gavin Monaghan, who produced Paolo Nutini, Editors, The Twang, Nizlopi etc. We are hoping that this will lead to interest from management, and labels. We are looking to promote our selfs more by performing more gigs, and getting more exposure within the Welsh music scene.