Rachel and Matthew from Puzzle Tree had a chat with Pete before Crazy Cowboy Festival 11
Rachel Thomas – Vocals, Matt John – Guitars, Keys Vocals, Jamie Roberts – Bass Vocals, Tony Jones – Drums Percussion, Matthew Alexander Powell – Vocals Guitars
PD: Well hello, great to catch up with you again, for those that may not know you yet, how would you describe Puzzle Tree in terms of Genre?
MP- We draw from quite a lot of genres, Alt Rock, New Progressive, a dash of Metal riffing, loads of other stuff. Our go to tag would be “Female Fronted Alternative Rock” but there’s quite a bit going on in our music.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc. What is the band’s lineup?
RT- The band’s line up consists of Rachel Thomas (Vocals), Matthew Powell (Vocals and Guitar), Matt John (Guitar and Vocals), Jamie Roberts (Bass) and Tony Jones (Drums)
RT- I’ve been singing since I was very small and I started writing songs at the age of 8. I did my first gig at the age of 14 with an original band I was in up until the age of 20. I then did the cover band thing for several years before joining Puzzle Tree back in 2018!
Matt P – I fell in love with music at around 13 and started teaching myself how to play various instruments. I’ve had a passion for songwriting and music production since then too, so one thing feeds the other for me.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences?
RT- I’ve always just had this compulsion to be up there on the stage, connecting to people. It’s just an itch I have to scratch. When I have low moments of self-doubt and a lack of motivation, I watch concerts of artists/bands that inspire me such as Halestorm, Dio, Maiden and Lady Gaga and I’m fired up and ready to go!
MP – There’s no other feeling like it for me, I love it all, being on stage is a buzz and I get such a high from writing something good. Also, I find the recording process so gratifying when you get the end results.
PD: What do you like to write about in your songs?
RT- We use a lot of metaphors in our writing which means that the songs can be wide open to interpretation. We usually write about our personal experiences but want the audience to be able to hang their own meaning to the words and have the song mean whatever they want it to mean to them.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
RT- At the moment, we’re focused on building our following by playing further afield and trying to reach as many people as we can. We have a few great festivals booked in this year which should help us do that. If this can get us to a point where we’re playing bigger festivals and reaching even more people then all the better. We’re having a lot of fun along the way which is the most important thing we feel!
PD: What song (by any artist) do you consider to be the ‘perfect song’?
MP – ‘Sorry But It’s Over’ by Dredg, that song has everything, really heavy intro, beautiful delicate passages of music, fantastic vocal performance, a great hooky chorus and a strange structure.
RT- So many to choose from but today I’ll go with ‘Catch The Rainbow’- by Rainbow as it evokes a lot of emotions for me and I think that’s what good songwriting is all about, moving people.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
RT- I’d probably say our album launch for ‘Kingdom’ back in September last year. We packed out a venue local to us, Park Hall and seeing all those people there to support the launch was incredible.
MP – Yeah, the album launch was an amazing experience, we couldn’t believe how many people turned up that night, we’re so grateful to have such an amazing fan base.
PD: You’ve recently released the stunning ‘Kingdom’ album, how was that received, what was the
reaction to it.
RT- The reaction has been amazing. People have really embraced the slighter heavier and darker feel and the longer-form tracks such as title track ‘Kingdom’, and ‘Lost Another Day’.
PD: What Puzzle Tree track is the hardest to play live and which one is the most fun to play and why?
RT- For me, vocally, the hardest is Colossus as we usually play it near the end when I’m starting to tire, the double chorus at the end is quite relentless and it ascends even further which I have to dig deep for!
MP – The new material we currently have in the set is probably the most challenging for me currently, until I get completely used to playing them they can feel like a bit of a juggling act, getting the transitions right, catching all the music properly whilst singing. Some of it is tricky.
PD: How do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
RT- We’re completely self-managed and we book everything ourselves. We’ve been lucky enough this past year or so that word seems to be out there about us, so event organisers have reached out to us and asked us to play which is amazing.
MP- We also have an incredible group of supporters who call themselves “Fear Of The Duck” and these guys have been instrumental in spreading the word and supporting us and booking us gigs (Toni and Judith Howells in particular). We’re extremely grateful to them. We still regularly fill out application forms for festivals and hope for the best that we get a response.
RT- Coming up, we’re playing Love Rocks Festival in Bournemouth on June 19th ,
CC60 at Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend on July 4th. We’re also playing at The Mwni in Pontypridd on July 
11th. Further down the line, you can catch us on October 10th at The Patriot, Crumlin where we’ll be “special guests” at Sharkfest.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online, have you any Social Media links that you can share?
Facebook- facebook.com/PuzzleTreeBand
Instagram- @puzzletreeband
Online store- https://puzzle-tree.sumupstore.com/
PD: We last talked before Crazy Cowboy 10 last year, how did that go for you and what are your thoughts on appearing at Crazy Cowboy Festival 11, what can we expect from you?
RT- Last year went brilliantly! We met lots of lovely people and gained some new fans. This time, we’re higher up on the bill and Alec (the Crazy Cowboy himself) has been really championing us this past year, which has really given us some wind in our sails and we can’t wait to come back and bring that energy to the Red Room! We’re completely switching up the set so hopefully there’ll be some pleasant surprises along the way.
PD: Any final words for the readers?
Come have a chat with us after the show, we’d love to meet you!
Puzzle Tree links:
Band/Artist location – Pentre UK
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp – X(Twitter) – Instagram –
Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – Merch –
Check our page for Puzzle Tree
