TEAM New Band are singer Maddy Jones, guitarist and vocalist Mark Docherty, guitarist Tariq Khawaja, bassist and backing vocalist Adam Passingham and drummer Luis Bezi.

Here Mark talks about meeting at BIMM, their new Freaks EP and plans to bring their party rock sound to the masses.

How did you guys start out?

We originally formed at BIMM in late 2013. We all knew each other from mutual house parties and nights out, however, forming the band really brought us together as friends.

Luis and Mark are the founding members, Mark then found Maddy in Casablanca’s – which became our local haunt – after performing in front of our peers in class.

We were told that another guitarist would add some girth to the sound and so straight after class we literally bumped into Tariq on the street and that was that.

After a few lost bass players and a near break-up disaster we all eventually decided that this band was too good a thing to waste.

We knew Adam as he’d worked with Tariq before in another group and he seemed like the cool laid-back-bass-master-shaggy-lookalike we were looking for, one conversation and we had our line-up.

How did you decide on Team New Band as your name?

It was the first thing that popped into our head.

When we got together we did a group hands in the middle thing – as if we were a sports team – at which point Luis said: “Go, Team New Band” and the name stuck.

What is your song writing process?

Usually I bring in a rough demo for the band to flesh out and turn into something listenable.

It really depends on the song, for example Boudicca on our new EP started life as a blues jam which we liked and turned into a song.

How is it being a new band in Brighton?

One word – daunting. As there’s so many great bands in Brighton it’s hard to really make a name for yourself right away.

I think what sets us apart is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and like to have fun with our music and our live shows.

Brighton has a fantastic music scene and it’s a pleasure to be a part of it.

How would you describe your sound to people who haven’t heard of you?

‘Party rock’ is a term that is thrown around a lot.

Or energetic rock; music that you can have a sing along to and throw yourself around to. If The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies had a baby with Weezer, that’s us.

How has things changed sine the release of your Finally EP?

Since we released Finally last June things have been crazy.

So much has happened since then; we’ve been on tour, won a battle of the bands in Horsham and made our video for Freaks and recorded our second EP called Freaks which is due to be released later this year.

We’ve had a great time building up a following and trying to break into the London scene.

What’s up next for you all?

We have a run of gigs to finish and then will try to gig across the country with a nationwide tour and also book some gigs abroad.

Then we want to get back in the studio as soon as possible.

This new Freaks EP has really nailed down our sound which is more polished while still maintaining the fun side of our music.

We’re just looking forward to building on that.

Our first EP was like a kid’s birthday party while this new one is teenagers thrashing the house.