A product of the ever-fertile creative lands of Yorkshire and previously gigging under the delightfully kitsch name of Japanese Racoon Dog, Patience are simply one of those bands that harbour a rare sense of talent that’s at odds with their young age. Yes, it’s true that such a hyperbolic statement has been applied to countless emerging acts over the years. But given how Patience are quickly raising eyebrows to new heights across the math rock and post hardcore scene with their recently released debut EP Third Time Lucky, such a sentiment would be hard to argue against.
Released independently back in April, this EP sounds like a lot of things. Firstly, it sounds like a wonderful mix of all the best bits to be offered up by the math rock, emo and post hardcore genres. The technicality of the likes of Pool Kids and Love Rarely is evident, a sense of grandiosity reminiscent of that of Holding Absence is apparent, but a grounded nature synonymous of the band’s native emo scene counteracts such a loftiness. Secondly, it sounds like a release from a band already years to their career. There’s none of the avoid kinks or sound searching one would expect from a debut EP – just the sound of a collaborative project that know what they want to sound like, and how to present it. Such an absolutely brilliant combination has allowed Patience to recently perform alongside the likes of Totorro, Slung and Delilah Bon, appear at events like Strangeforms and swiftly become one of the most promising bands in the UK math rock scene.
With that in mind, and with Third Time Lucky out now, we got in touch with the band to get acquainted.
For those new to Patience, how would you briefly describe the band?
To those new to Patience we’d describe the band as a math rock infused emo band with catchy vocal melodies, twinkly guitars and huge drums.
Musically and topically, what are your primary inspirations?
Musically we draw inspirations from a wide variety of artists including – Holding Absence, Paramore, Pool Kids, Sweet Pill to name a few, and are inspired massively by production elements of bands such as Dayseeker and Biffy Clyro. There are a lot more artists to be named as we all have such different individual music tastes but these are just some of the main few when it comes to the initial phases of the writing process. Lyrically our inspirations are mainly related to and are based on previous or on-going life experiences and addressing past situations for our vocalist, for example our song ‘I’ll Be Fine’ is a song written around living with anxiety, stage fright and using music as an outlet.
You just recently released your new EP Third Time Lucky, how was the release?
It’s been a long time in the works and we’re super glad to finally have our EP out in the world! We’ve been sitting on some of these songs for a very long time and despite there being a few set backs along the way the end product has turned out way better than we could’ve ever imagined. After releasing our first two singles ‘Whatever It Takes’ and ‘Trust’ under Patience back at the front end of 2024 we felt we needed to keep up momentum and so quickly began recording the rest of the EP in March of 2024 to prepare for release in 2025. We feel the release of Third Time Lucky has gone super well and has helped us gain attention from BBC introducing, Kerrang Radio as well as helped us secure some dream festival slots at our favourite venues and super exciting gigs earlier in the year.
I know such questions are a faux pas, but I have to ask this; you we’re previously known as Japanese Racoon Dog, what spurred the name change?
We decided to change the name of the band as we felt we had outgrown it and the type of music we had began to write was moving away from what Japanese Raccoon Dog was. Japanese Raccoon Dog had also gone through numerous band member changes before the name change and we felt that it was only right to re-brand and give ourselves a fresh start under a new name. Despite the change in sound there’s definitely still some key components of what Japanese Raccoon Dog used to be in our new EP so if you enjoyed JRD you can be sure to enjoy Third Time Lucky. Also, we may or may not have something in the works for any of the OG Japanese Raccoon Dog fans so make sure to keep an eye out for that at some point in the near (or not so near) future.
You’re sound melds motifs of emo, math rock and UK post-hardcore in a way that feels seamlessly fluid. What’s your approach to songwriting as a collective?
We definitely draw influences from a lot of the current UK post-hardcore, emo and math rock scene. Our approach to songwriting steers away from the traditional ‘jam in a room’ approach and instead is led by our guitarist Tom who will draft up demos at home on his laptop, these will usually outline the basis of a song and from there we take those song ideas into a practice space to try and make them work. Some songs will stay pretty close to the original demo and work straight away in the room whereas others will go through endless drafts and reworks before we’re all finally happy with it. Our drummer Ewen tends to write parts using MIDI drums at home which he will then learn and perfect in time for performing / recording and our vocalist Flowers also writes lyrics and melodies from home before bringing them into the practice space. So in terms of writing as a collective it’s a bit more disjointed however we feel that this way of writing works best for us currently.
Leeds and the greater Yorkshire area seems to be a hotbed for emo and math rock right now, what’s the scene like from your perspective and how has it moulded the band?
We feel so honoured to be part of such a great scene – there’s so many new alternative / emo bands popping up all the time in the Yorkshire area that are constantly inspiring us, for example – Love Rarely, Jumper Boy, Pale Sailor, Blight Town, Beauty School and many more. Being around such amazing bands and talent has certainly moulded the band into what it is today and has helped us to find our sound through finding and playing with so many unreal local artists.
Speaking of the Yorkshire scene, you recently played Strangeforms. How was the experience?
Strangeforms was no word of a lie, the best gig that we’ve played to date. We were first on the bill and because of this we were slightly hesitant of what the turnout would be, especially with it still being fairly early in the day; to add to this whilst sound-checking there was only a few people trickling in and out the room which we assumed was everyone attending the gig. However, just before our set started the doors actually opened and the room quickly filled to capacity which we couldn’t quite believe. We had such a great set and the crowd was super receptive to us. Both days were filled with such amazing established acts as well as newer upcoming bands who all smashed it. Stew and Kerry from Badowl who run Strangeforms always make sure to look after their bands and artists and are just genuinely the nicest people to work with so it’s always a pleasure playing a gig for them.
Following that set, what’s next for the band? Is there anything in particular that you’re currently striving towards?
We’ve got some more new music in the works which we’re very excited about so at the moment we’re striving towards getting that finished and working out how we want to release and promote this next lot of music. We can’t say too much about it at the moment but if you’re into heavier music you might like what we’ve got in store for you. Our preparation includes; refining our set and live sound, working on some new music to debut at the show and working on our performance. We’re constantly on the lookout for new bands to tour with, different cities / venues to come to and promoters to work with so if you’re any of those please reach out!
Finally, what do you want people to take away from Patience?
Our songs are extremely personal and important to us all in our own individual and unique way and we want people to be able to take away a sense of community, relatability, familiarity and connection when listening to Patience or attending a show. We feel our music has something for everyone and hope listeners can find a sense of belonging in our music – through hopefully interpreting our music and lyrics however they would like. Our end goal as a band has and always will be to have a community of like-minded people who are able to come together at shows to express themselves, enjoy music and be vulnerable without fear of being judged.