Name: Ferg's Imaginary Big Band
Main Member: Fergus Quill
Nationality: British
Occupation: Composer, musician, vocalist, band leader
Current release: Ferg's Imaginary Big Band's new album The New Atomic is out June 26th 2026 via Trash City.
Recommendation for Leeds in the North of England: If you're in Leeds you should go to the Brudendell Social Club, an ex working mens club that now hosts two music venues inside it. Also serves pies. Great Stuff
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I love to go bowling. It’s like mediation to me. Something to do with my friends that's wholly unrelated to music. Everybody needs something like bowling in their lives!

If you enjoyed this interview with Ferg's Imaginary Big Band and would like to know more about the band and their music, visit the group's official Instagram account. They are also on bandcamp, and Facebook. 



When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

When I think of albums that ooze energy I would go straight to ‘Albert Ayler Live at Greenwich Village’ or perhaps ‘James Brown Live at The Apollo’ or ‘BB King Live at Cook Country’ or ‘Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.’



Anything recorded in a prison seems to have a lot of that feeling!

There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

There’s a song by PiL that states that ‘anger is an energy’ and quite often folks seem to forget that.



Music should be an act of defiance in a world that is ever more being set to enrich a class of techno-fascists. Doing something that doesn’t serve the market or the algorithm or the interests of tax dodging conglomerates is the most important thing to me in art as most art is forced through those channels.

I guess that kind of energy can come across as aggressive though I think it’s kind of healing.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

I’m like you!

Sometimes the most relaxing thing to do is to put on Lou Reed’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ or Coltranes ‘Ascension’



When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

When I’m recording I’ve never seen much point in doing more than about 3 takes as it becomes more about reducing errors than capturing a moment.

For composing it depends on what you're writing. Some pieces of music I have written in the time it takes me to play it and then I just have to write it down and then some ideas I’ve been sculpting for years.

Sometimes I think about the kind of piece I want to write for a long time before I sit down to write it. I think about who is going to be playing it and what they would like to do on it.

How much of the energy of your own music, would you say, is already part of the composition, how much of it is the result of the recording process?

I have strong opinions about how I want my records to sound and think a lot of the rawness comes from the way I choose to work in the studio.

I don’t like things to be too polished. I suppose I don’t like my compositions too polished either! I guess the two things work together.

For The New Atomic, what kind of energy were you looking for?

This album is about how the dream of a capitalist utopia of the mid 20th century has fallen apart. So I wanted to express anger but also a sense of hope and defiance

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

All record in the same room. Don’t worry too much about bled and always dress for the occasion.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

Production is very important to me and I see no shame in using the studio like an instrument.

There is no such thing as a natural recording so everything is to play for! Even Blue Note records used what they had, ‘tape splicing etc.’

So do whatever you want and just let your ears guide you rather than what the ‘industry standard’ is. This isn't industry, this is art!

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

I try to keep them as similar as possible! It’s never exactly the same and that's probably why a lot of my favourite records are live records!

Also playing live for me is all about trying new things and making  novel moments as recording is about trying to capture what that thing actually is.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

What I try to do on a live gig is try do something that has never happened before and won't happen again and the audience informs a lot of that.

I’ve been relying on set lists less and less and that's really helped me tune into the audience and try to make something happen

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

People seemed really refreshed and invigorated by the music.

I think when people go and see a big band they, on a level, expect a bad impression of the great big bands of the 20th century. And although we love that music, we are not that - so I think people are excited by that.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

Who knows who has control of the music in a live performance!

It best to just surrender to the moment and see what happens and hopefully the music belongs to all of us.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

By showing there are things that are worth existing that are not a benefit to the markets or can’t be quantified financially.

The biggest threat in my eyes is that we live in a society that values corporations and asset holders above individuals. Music reminds us of our individual humanity inside of everyone of us and that is a lesson we all need to be reminded of.