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May 2008 and the members of Vanilla Kick are doing their best to juggle their studies with a fledgling music career.

For drummer Harry Hall and lead guitarist and singer Calum Duncan this means A Levels, while newest member Nick Yager is finishing his GCSEs.

"It's a hassle and we don't want to be doing it," says Harry. "But we've decided that music is something we want to have a go at when we're finished.

"School has got in the way but hopefully it will pay off."

Vanilla Kick shouldn't be too down on Hartismere School in Eye, though, after all it was the venue for their first meeting.

"I met Cal through school. I was playing drums in one of the practice rooms, he walked by and heard me and we decided to form a band.

"Me and Calum have been writing music together since we were 11 or 12 and playing around in different bands. Nick joined us a year ago and we became the Vanilla Kick we are now."

Everything in its right place

Drawing influence from Radiohead and Coldplay, Vanilla Kick call on all the tools available to them in the studio to create atmospheric and emotionally charged music fit for stadiums.

"We have a slightly altered sound drawing influences from Radiohead and Coldplay," says Harry. "It's the melodic, soft/heavy rock way they play and the lyrics - the structure of the songs too.

Callum, Harry and Nick

"We're not at all poppy. I guess with a lot our songs at the moment the interest lies within the arrangement and the textures created.

"We're currently experimenting with a laptop and in ear monitoring to create tracks. Calum uses a lot of pedals and looping to get the big sound which I hope we create.

"It's hard work but I think it's a lot more impressive that we can say we're a three member band creating this sound as opposed to having nine members with violins on stage.

"We really like the technological side of it all - it's good to play around and use what's there to be used."

Future plans

Harry hopes the band will be able to attract a management company who can "look out for all the good gigs" but in the meantime their short term goal is to build a fanbase within Suffolk.

"Our gigging tends to be around Norwich at the moment. We're trying to expand more by hitting Cambridge and Ipswich as there are great venues in both places.

"We played Ipswich Music Day a couple of years ago but we're still pretty unknown in the region.

"We've had some good experiences at the Waterfront in Norwich but in general we just love being in the band, playing together and entertaining audiences. It's all great."