Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
CRUZ: It stemmed from a night out at university. Tom and Sam met at a pre-drinks where Tom found a guitar in Sam’s bedroom. We both knew we had a love of music from then so started sending bits of tunes we had come up with during lockdown. Then after the pandemic we thought, ‘let’s actually make something out of this’, so added Jamie in 
who was a mutual friend. Ethan was then added later on through one of Jamie’s work colleagues saying he remembered someone at school who played drums once. Turned out he still did so we got him in.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
CRUZ: I think we have a right cocktail of musical influences from different genres. From our sound and local music scene, Arctic monkeys remain a big part in our tunes. Sam (singer) is from Warrington way on so sounds very Viola Beach in his voice. Ethan being a Sheffield native takes influence from older Sheffield bands such as Milburn.
Our songs are mainly about stories and memories of our time at Uni. We all have different experiences of growing up, moving out and going out which we put into our songs.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
CRUZ: I think we all started this with the mindset of we’ll play what we like playing and if other people like it that’s great. We all enjoy playing live and writing new tunes so the reception we’ve had to them is a massive bonus. I think one of our major goals would be to squeeze on a tour with one of the bands we look up to. Think just experiencing playing to different crowds across the UK (and maybe even wider) would be something we’d love to conquer with one of our favourite bands.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
CRUZ: Playing YNOT? Festival has to be up the big one for us. Having only been playing together since September 2022 and getting a slot at a major UK festival was something
we were really proud of.
From a Sheffield perspective as well, playing The Leadmill was a massive moment for us. So many great bands have played there and to get the chance to share the stage was an amazing night.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
CRUZ: I think, like you say, it is very challenging. There are sooo many new bands and artists trying to get out there which social media can facilitate but it’s also so swamped. I think for us we just want to spread our music as far and wide because it’s something we are really proud of so we post regularly on instagram, facebook and twitter for organic growth as well as to keep everyone up-to-date with what we’re up to.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
CRUZ: We book and promote our live shows ourselves. We have our first headliner at the Sidney & Matilda in Sheffield on the 15th December. Going to be playing all our discography and maybe even a Christmas cover. We can’t wait for this one, hopefully it will be our biggest achievement with all our friends.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
CRUZ: For us streaming sites give us the potential platform to gain new fans which at this stage in our music careers is all we can ask for. We welcome all new fans, whatever they find us on, however if they want to support the band financially, come and see a show, or buy some merch/music. We will be very grateful!
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
CRUZ: Everybody want to rule the world – Tears for Fears
Absolute anthem, never a time when you skip this one. 4.11mins of brilliance including 
an instrumental break. Big sing along in our staple, The Washington, Sheffield.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
CRUZ: At the moment we are working our hardest to get as many pairs of ears on our new EP ‘If not now, when?’. Handing out flyers, posters, outreach, all sorts! Got a few new tunes which we are continuing to work on, but we can’t wait for you to hear the ones coming up next!
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
CRUZ: We try to keep everyone up to date on our social media: @band_cruz on twitter, instagram and Tiktok. (CRUZ Band on facebook). The tiktok page definitely gives a good representation of what we get up to. We also have a website which we sell our tickets through. www.cruzband.com !
CRUZ links:
Band/Artist location – Sheffield England
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Twitter – Instagram –
Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – TikTok –
Check our page for CRUZ
