THE Daily Echo's Rory McKeown chats to Jacob Scott from Southampton's rising indie starlets Pale Seas ahead of their hometown show next week.

THEY'VE received national radio airplay, supported some of the world's most popular indie artists and even helped out a Southampton charity.

The past year has seen burgeoning Hampshire four-piece Pale Seas sail the ocean of success as they plot their ascent to stardom.

The band, which is formed of Jacob Scott, Graham Poole, Matthew Bishop, and Will Hilliard, are on the cusp of becoming household names as their ethereal and moving brand of guitar pop quickly impresses the music world.

They formed after Jacob met Graham, from Durley, at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, and bonded over an interest of Lou Reed, Nick Drake, and Love.

The band added bassist Matthew, from Hedge End, and Will, who was raised in Hackney, and Pale Seas were formed.

Since then they've toured the UK supporting the likes of Stornoway, The Lemonheads, and The War on Drugs, and received national airplay on BBC Radio One and 6Music.

They released their EP Places to Haunt earlier this year and will tour the record across the country in October, culminating in a headline show at The Cellar on October 31.

Jacob told the Daily Echo: “Initially there was no great ambition for my music to be heard - I was content with writing songs and sending them to my friends.

“It wasn't until one of my friends, unbeknownst to me, sent my music over to a London-based manager and label owner who saw the potential in it. That's when I started beliving in what I was doing.

“I live in Netley so I've spent my whole life facing the water. Pale Seas seemed very apt and I think the music reflects that fact too - a lot of musicians like to cover up their south coast roots, but I'm very proud of our city, we all are.

“If everybody pretends they're from another place the scene never progresses, if I can inspire another group of musicians to pick up their instruments then I'll have done my job.”

The band notes bands such as The Cure, Dinosaur Jr, Galaxie 500 and Mazzy Star as influences, and single out Hampshire artists like Wild Smiles, Dolomite Minor, Sean McGowan, Fever, and CHAMPS, for praise.

Jacob and Matthew also volunteer at Southampton's Oxfam Music store, which suffered a huge blow last year when thieves fled with thousands of pounds and a huge haul of records.

Jacob added: “I've been going down for a couple of years now and Matt has been doing about the same.

“It's a bit of creative hub; you have all sorts of people going down to help out - artists, DJs, musicians, and photographers as well as people who just want to do something positive with their spare time.

“It's managed by Rob Milner who has this seemingly endless passion for what he does; the whole place is fuelled by his enthusiasm. He runs events at local venues like Catastrophe Radio at The Shooting Star in Beavois Valley and puts on all sorts of gigs in order to raise money for Oxfam.”

The Places to Haunt EP is out now and tickets for the band's show at The Cellar on October 31 are available from alt-tickets.co.uk