Meet The Haldane Effect: Southampton’s Indie Sensation Bringing Back the Glory of Real Music

In a music scene saturated with overproduced tracks and fleeting trends, The Haldane Effect is here to remind us of the power of real music. This Southampton-based indie band, inspired by the iconic sounds of Arctic Monkeys, The Smiths, and The Stone Roses, is carving out their own space with a sound that’s fresh, authentic, and packed with character. With their debut album on the horizon and a growing local following, The Haldane Effect is poised to become the next big thing in indie rock. Led by the enigmatic frontman Oliver Kedziora, whose live performances are nothing short of electrifying, this band is here to make their mark. We caught up with them to talk about their journey, influences, and what’s next on their path to stardom.

1. Your music is influenced by iconic bands like Arctic Monkeys, The Smiths, and The Stone Roses. How have these influences shaped your sound, and how do you balance paying homage to them while creating something uniquely your own?

‘The Smiths have been my favourite band for years, and I think their cynical and often times downbeat writing has influenced me very strongly, as they follow me in all walks of life. I think it’s more the writing side of things that I’m influenced by those artists rather than musically or sound-wise. Our sound certainly blends between lots these influences, jangly and arpeggiated, loud and crunchy, you name it and it’s probably on our new album.’ - Ollie

‘Most of us we grew up listening to this music in the car or on our parents old stereos, so it really influences how we’ve grown as musicians, write our songs and play our instruments. it also gives us something to aspire to that level of stardom and how we want one day our own music to be played in the cars of fans alike.’ - Evelyn

2. Your recent performance at the Old Chemist received high praise, especially for your engaging stage presence and charismatic frontman. Can you share some memorable moments from that gig and how you connect with your audience during live shows?

‘Ollie always has buckets loads of energy, and the thing with youth gigs is often times the fans are a lot more engaged and dancy and jumpy. we always make sure we have a fantastic band dynamic because all of us in the band are such great friends - we have such tight personal connections with eachother’ - Evelyn

‘Ahhhh, The Old Chemist, my favourite moments have probably both been from playing Christmas is a Conspiracy, the first time I didn’t play rhythm guitar on it for the sole purpose of taking the mic off the stand and mingling within the audience, aiming each line at a new person and then ending up jumping on a mates back. The second time, I did have my guitar! but I forgot the lyrics of the third verse… so an epic guitar solo was just meant to be’ - Ollie

‘My favourite moment from the old chemist performance is for me of course the turkey hat, I absolutely love the turkey hat and I feel like simply talking to the audience and getting them involved in performances is I think a great way to connect with audiences’ - Daniel

3. You’ve expressed a desire to bring back ‘real music’ with physical releases and dedicated followings. Why do you think this is important in today’s digital age, and how do you plan to cultivate that kind of fanbase?

‘we’ve certainly seen streaming services, and digital mediums sort of quick consumerists for example youtube shorts and tiktok take over music and the music industry and try to downplay the important of long tracks and really personal storytelling and songwriting so we’re trying to bring back that raw emotion, that connection that we have with fans and try to give them something authentic, ourselves and reflects the music we grew up on aswell.’ - Evelyn

’I feel as though with physical releases you do a favour to your audience, they may be paying for it but you pay them right back with a token of their fanship, and a promise to serve them, and you give them something they can hold and know that there’s music and someone’s hard work in there, rather than streaming it anytime you like, it’s exclusivity. it’s like you’re saying “here, you’re really part of our little group now,no turning back!”. ‘ - Ollie

‘I think it is important to bring back physical releases because there's no sound like a cd or a vinyl which I think bring that special touch that old bands used to have but I still believe it's important to have a digital following’ - Daniel

4. Your single 'Christmas is a Conspiracy' showcases a humorously cynical side to your music. How do you incorporate humor and character into your songwriting, and what role does it play in your overall artistic vision?

‘we always sort of add in lots of little insider band jokes so to speak and we like to incorporate that sort of stuff upper lip british humour into our songs which we hope our audience will also appreciate’ - Evelyn

‘Humour is always how you win people over for me, if you can make someone laugh you can make them a friend, they let their guard down and become comfortable with you, so if you can do that to a couple hundred people with the same three minute christmas/anti-christmas pop song then you can make a lot of fans that can also be your friends, which is important to me’ - Ollie, Guitar 

‘We keep it real as Ali G once said. We try to have humour in our songs as we want our songs to be a good experience and I think humour is a big part of our artistic process’ - Daniel

5. With your debut album in the works, what can fans expect in terms of themes, musical style, and any surprises? How has the process of creating this album been for the band so far?

‘I think the album hasn’t been too hard on us, slight stresses on days but that happens to everyone, because we care about it and we care about making a good product. It’s been the absolute ride of a lifetime as I’ve written this album over the best part of the last year. I think I’m allowing myself to be more honest and vulnerable with the writing on this album, write about personal experiences, good and bad. I think it’s a step on for The Haldane Effect in terms of maturation in our music. Expect the first single the first week of September and heaps of gigs around October!!’ - Ollie

‘We're throwing everything at our first album, we're trying to incorporate everything into our songs like a new generation Queen. We're bringing back the humour, the fun and the reality into music’ - Daniel

Ollie - Lead vocals, Rhythm guitar

Daniel - Bass

Evelyn - Lead guitar

Kacper - Drums