THE FORTUNATE

The Fortunate are Natalie Woodward on vocals, Rich Willatts on bass, Sam Page on guitar and Simon Nash on drums. They have had a busy 2012 so far including numerous gigs and two of their songs ‘Silhouette’ and ‘I Won’t Forget You’ are now available on iTunes. We took some time to catch up and ask them some questions:

How did you come up with the name The Fortunate?

Natalie: After going through an array of names, we couldn't seem to settle on one that suited us.  Simon and Sam used to catch the bus to and from Queen Mary's College. On one bus journey home Simon had typed something onto his phone and showed Sam. It read 'The Fortunate'. They instantly thought it had a ring to it, so 'The Fortunate' stayed.

Rich: Unfortunately (no pun intended) they already had settled on the name when I joined, although I felt that it had a certain optimistic notion to it! They tell me that the idea came from nowhere, and I am led to believe that the best ones always do.

Sam: The name came out of the blue whilst sat on a public bus, it just popped into my head!

Simon:  It literally came from nowhere!

How has 2012 been for you so far?

Natalie:  So far, it's been great!  We set out to play a lot of shows this year, and we're keeping to it!  We've played some fantastic festivals already including Guilfest, the Silverstone Grand Prix and Penn Festival with more to come.  We have also recently been in the studio recording brand new material, which we are very excited about!

Rich: We ended 2011 on such a high, with the EMI publishing deal, that we literally had no idea what to expect this year. However we have kept our heads down writing new songs, finishing off our debut EP and playing as many shows as possible. It is so hard to pick one highlight, I love every minute from sitting in our practise shed writing a new track to performing our set to 3,000 people!

Sam: 2012 has been full of preparation for shows and writing for our new EP coming out later in the summer.  The highlight this year was definitely Let’s Rock The Moor Festival with Billy Ocean.

What’s your favourite song of 2012 so far?

Natalie: Gotye – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ or Fun – ‘We Are Young’

Rich: I'm loving the new Temper Trap album, and Regina Spektor’s latest release. Of course Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' deserves a mention, although technically it was released last year. I can’t wait for The Killers new album too!

Sam: Gotye – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, that song made the charts worth listening to!

Simon: The Temper Trap's newest album, record of the year so far for me!

The Voice, X Factor or neither?

Natalie: Even though these shows can give unknown talent a chance to shine, we still feel that artists who are thrown into the music industry via these avenues are given very limited space to actually do what they want do. They are controlled to the extent that they become what the shows want them to become, rather than being able to have the freedom to express themselves fully. So, we'd say neither.

Rich: Neither, I think as an entertainment television program you can't fault either of them.  However when the contestants start winning BRIT Awards then there is something seriously wrong.

Sam: Neither. Imagine a top 40 chart without a single X-Factor track! The majority of the time the charts are filled with artists that have either come from or performed on the X-Factor. We need more classic tracks, bring back Top of the Pops!

Simon: Neither, both of those TV shows are destroying the industry in a number of ways and denying creativity.

You are performing at a number of festivals this year, who would you like to perform with?

Natalie: Ooh that’s a question and a half!  We'd love to play with so many artists!  I think our top bands to play with live would be Arcade Fire, Coldplay and Jimmy Eat World.

Rich: The Killers are the first current band to come to mind, along with Coldplay, although I don't think I'd be keen to 'follow' them at this stage, maybe we'd be better off letting them go after us!

Sam: Muse, Fleetwood Mac and Queen - dream line up!

Simon: A festival with Queen/Freddie Mercury in particular and The Killers.

For more news and tour dates visit www.thefortunate.co.uk

A very condensed version of this interview appears in the Summer 2012 edition of Revue.