DIY band Little Comets head south for a date at Brighton Patterns

Describing themselves as the three disciples of DIY music, the band is Rob Coles guitar/piano/vocals, brother Michael Coles guitar/backing vocals and Matt Hall bass/backing vocals, supported on stage by Nathan Greene on drums and multi-instrumentalist Matt Saxon. The brothers live in Sutton Coldfield.

Rob said: “Me and my brother have always written songs together from being teenagers. Going to university we did degrees that were pretty functional but we've always loved song-writing and so we decided to give it a go. In 2006 or 2007 we got a publishing deal and that was really the start of the band and then we got signed in 2009 to Sony but since then we have been on a gradual emancipation from the music industry. We've got more and more DIY over the years.

“Me and my brother are quite logical and we thought about the things that we needed at the start, like getting a team around you, a manager, a record label and so on. That was the logical way. But we were quite naive really. We always recorded our own songs and did our own artwork and we expected to be able to do that while we were on a major label. But the bottom line was that they needed to make a profit on their investment so they they took those elements away. But we realised that those were the kinds of things that we've always really enjoyed, those were the aspects that we really wanted to be doing ourselves. So we had a gradual awareness that we needed to move away from that model and that system. But also we found that what we needed changed. At the start it was all about being successful and being a huge band but then really over the years you realise that it's just much more about the opportunity to write songs. We realised that we didn't need those institutions in the music industry that are all designed around the business model. For us it was much more a question of being a cottage industry. But we are in quite a privileged position. Without that initial stuff, we wouldn't have been able to build up the following that we've got but really we are now removed from our starting position. I do a little bit of lecturing on a music business course and it's quite interesting to take this journey to the students who are at the outset of their career and to explain to them where we've gone.

“When we started out I would say that we were very much chasing the zeitgeist of whatever was on the radio. It was the constant carousel of going down to London and playing gigs and I don't think we had that connection to our story and to our lives. But then when we started writing songs about whatever we were thinking and whatever we were feeling, then the music started to become more successful. I wouldn't say there's a particular songwriting style. We're trying to channel whatever it is. But it's definitely quite upbeat jangly guitars but with a darker lyrical element.”