Liam Fender considered releasing his music under a pseudonym to avoid comparisons with his brother Sam Fender.
The North Shields singer/songwriter released his debut EP ‘Love Will…’ on Friday (28.07.23) which contains the singles ‘Love Will Conquer’, ‘Time Comes Around’ and ‘Don’t Follow Me Down’.
Liam is aware that his music is going to be compared to younger brother, indie superstar Sam – who he joined on stage for the first of his two sell-out concerts at Newcastle United’s stadium St James Park in June – and he did contemplate using the name “Emerald Fin” on his records to forge his own path on his musical journey.
When asked how he feels but the unavoidable comparisons to Sam, he said: “It’s a funny one. It’s like anything, it has advantages and it’s disadvantages as well. I’m in a unique position where I feel there’s a certain level expectation that other artists putting something out at this early stage might not face. I think we’re quite different artists anyway. But it is what it is.
“Even as late as the middle of last year I was toying with going under a pseudonym. But I’d already built a following by gigging for that long, and doing my thing under my name, so I just felt it is what it is and I’ll put it out under that name.
“The closest I got was Emerald Fin, which is an anagram of Liam Fender, that’s the height of my imagination right there. I sort of toyed with it and then I was like these are songs that I have written for me, they come from a real place, sod it.”
Liam is excited to finally get his six-track EP out and he hopes it will serve as a great introduction to what is coming next on his first album.
He explained: “I’m sure some people will listen to it and be absolutely horrified, and I’m sure there are other people that are pleasantly surprised. I’m just enjoying getting it out there.
“The songs do have roots over the last decade so they are snapshots of points in my life. Hopefully, it will leave the listener wondering what’s next. I really feel as if this EP is a set-up for the next thing, which will be the album, which I’m hoping to get out next year.
“It’s a snapshot of what I’m about. The kind of stuff I want to put across. I’m intrigued to see what the reaction to it is going to be. It’s nice to be putting something out, at last.”
The EP contains a cover version of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, a song that Liam has played live for years.
Noel Gallagher recently performed a version of the iconic 1980 single in his live shows, and was criticised online for attempting to rework Ian Curtis’ masterpiece. Liam, however, isn’t worried about the reaction to his take on the track but was disappointed when he discovered the former Oasis guitarist had stolen his thunder.
Of the cover, he said: “I never really thought it was that brave a thing to do. I’ve done this version of it for quite a lot of years and I’ve gigged it for quite a lot of years. I always felt as though I always tried to do something different with it.
“A couple of months ago Nigel Gallagher [sic] did his version of it and I was like, ‘You b******!’
“It might be a good thing, it might be a bad thing. But I’d like to think that at least this version of it is different to other versions of it I’ve heard. I just love that song, and I have always loved that song, I think it’s just so brutally heartbreaking. It’s certainly on that list of songs I wish I’d written.”
Liam is now getting ready for a string of live shows, including appearances at Bingley Weekender Festival and Hardwick Festival, and continuing work on his upcoming debut album.
Discussing how work on the LP is going, he revealed: “We’re at the really early stages at the minute, we’re sort of just in pre-production with it. Just getting the basics of the songs down and then sort of into that elimination process of which songs are gonna work well as a body of work, you know. Very early stages at the minute.”
Liam Fender’s ‘Love Will…’ is out now.