The UMA, comprised of vocalist Phil Marsh, guitarist Daniel Jones, and bassist Benjamin Degg, are a pop-rock band from Shropshire, England. Earlier this month, the band had released their new song “D.O.A.” which they say represents everything they do as a band. Daniel had this to say about the track:
āThe single romanticises the idea of reflecting on the blossoming points in a relationship. Itās about realising how, and why, all relationships appear go through a stage of plateau. D.O.A. is the point of reflection in this time and, to a degree, an open reminder to yourself that something can always be done to break the mold.ā
Learn more about the writing process behind “D.O.A.” and what the future has in store for The UMA below.
Hello! For those who might not know about The UMA, how would you describe your sound? And, whatās a song of yours that you would recommend to a first time listener?
Hello! Iād probably describe it as the moment youāre on a beach with a beer and the sun starts to dip a little. You kind of get all of those nice vibrant pink, purple and yellow colours around you and you just feel greatā¦ unless youāre living in England and itās constantly raining (but I guess thatās where the rockier side comes in haha).
I think our sound falls pretty comfortably somewhere in the middle of pop and rock music. We tend to ramp it up or down depending on what mood weāre in at the time or what weāve been listening to recently but, overall, somewhere in the middle of the two.
Sat here now Iād probably say D.O.A. I think thatās the song that most represents everything we do throughout our band. Itās got all of the pop, rock and chilled house elements we try and put in all of our music and also has this random nostalgic 80ās/90ās moment thrown in for good measure too. I love it! D.O.A. feels the love child of āWake Upā and āFireā and I guess for us it feels like the band we are at the minute.
The one year anniversary of the bandās creation was just a couple weeks ago, congrats on reaching that achievement! How do you feel as a group now compared to when you started?
Haha thanks! Time flies, eh? Despite everything thatās happened this year, it still feels like weāve grown as a band. I think weāve managed to get a really nice, dedicated fan base behind us and the people that do follow us are really engaged in what we do. That feels really good. We also a really strong team behind us too and thatās definitely help us feel like weāve changed as a band.Ā
I think more specifically, weāve probably changed most as people. I think weāve all grown individually and are probably all at the most settled points in our lives, which has really helped us make sense of things and write the songs we do. Weāve also grown as a unit as wellā¦ I mean, we were so tight anyway but I just feel like the struggles of the year combined with the work weāve had to put in to sustain the band has made us closer.Ā
Everything feels a lot different compared to where we were standing last year and weāre just gonna use all that experience to keep writing music.
What are you most excited about for the year to come?
I think Iām most excited to just be back in a venue knowing that weāre about to play a show. 2021 looked a hell of a lot different for us at the back end of 2020 and a lot of that has now changed because of the pandemic. It would be so easy for us to dwell on all of that but we just have to keep moving forward and take each opportunity as it comes. I think I speak for us all when I say I literally just want to play a show haha! Iām actually looking forward to packing my stuff away as well and being like ahhhh that was good. Although ask me 5 minutes after weāve played the show and itāll be a completely different story haha. I donāt like packing stuff awayā¦ Typical really.
Iād love to learn more about your latest single āD.O.A.ā. How long did it take to create? What was your favorite part of the production process?
The skeleton of D.O.A came together in a day if Iām remembering it right. We went into the studio and were listening to a lot of recent pop bands, as well as some of the likes of Justin Timberlake. We were just really in the mood to write something that screamed pop but also wanted to bring our rougher side into things as well. The verses came together really easily! It originally sounded like the intro to Monkey Wrench by The Foo Fighters because we used this synth to replicate the vocal melody. It was weird but was also really cool haha.
From there onwards, everything just really fell into place and it was probably one of the easier songs that weāve written. I was always against having a guitar solo in anything as well, like I would always shut down the idea. But I was listening to The Band Camino a lot at the time and I was like well those guys make it sound sick so why canāt we. So we just whipped us this little solo and it sounded sick. Itās not gonna make your eyebrows melt off your face or anything but itās just a perfect little 8 bar dreamy lick. At least I think it is haha, you might think it sucks!
My favourite part of the process was playing around vocally. We started experimenting with a load of different harmonies and pulled some vocoders in there too. Thatās when I really started to fell the lift and warmth in the song.
As the song is about relationships āgoing through a stage of plateauā as Dan puts it, have you personally gone through this experience in your relationships? How were you able to move forward?
Yeah, absolutely! It doesnāt just reference relationships in the romantic sense, I guess itās just about relationships as a wholeā¦ so weāve all been through that to some degree. Iāve definitely been through it romantically and I ended up single haha. I took a lot away from those experiences though and learned that you just need to water the grass that you have rather than chasing a new idea that doesnāt even exist. I guess without all of those failures, you never learn and you just continue to stumble through life with the same approach you always had.
I donāt feel like Iāve ever been in a stage of plateau in my current relationship. If things ever feel fragmented itās normally because Iām just being a miserable so and so haha. So I guess I moved forward by realising to hit the pause button, appreciate the things that I have around me and put the energy in to make things work.
Do you have any advice for someone whoās in a similar situation?
I would just say that the grass isnāt always greener on the other side. Whether thatās romantically and youāre picturing yourself in a completely different life or whether itās in a friendship and youāre picturing yourself without that person. 9 times out of 10 we just envisage the good parts of a new life and just completely sideline everything else that comes with it. Iāve been so much happier since Iāve recognised how good I have it and if people can learn how to put time and energy into making something work, rather than running away from their problems, they will be too. But donāt hold me accountable for it if youāre not.
All of your previously released songs are so catchy and upbeat. Iāve had āWake Upā on repeat since discovering this group. Your about section on Soundcloud says that you make āillustrative, feel-good musicā, but Iām curious if youād ever release a more somber track in the future?
Yeah, absolutely! We love a cryer. Itās funny you asked that because weāre actually working on a couple at the minute. It kind of feels like thatās the missing part of the puzzle in terms of our set at the moment. We kind of just want a moment where everything just stops and chills out a little bit. I canāt really say when weāre planning on releasing anything but Iād like to hope that we get something of this caliber out early next year.
The UMA
