Interview: The Weeks

 Southern rockers with a dose of soul; The Weeks are mid way through a European tour. When they aren't supporting Kings of Lean on their arena tour, they're playing the coolest intimate venues around. They dropped in to our Shoreditch store last week and we caught up with Samuel Williams from the band. Read on to find out the best place to shake your ass in Mississippi and the secret to their dishevelled do...

Southern Rockers with an East London wardrobe

Did you always want to be in a band? And if you weren’t The Weeks, what would you be doing?

I'm not sure any of us ever thought this is what we want to do forever. It just happened that way. We were all between 14 and 15 when we started the band so it wasn't really a "career move", per se. Because we started so young, none of us have any sort of back up plan. This is what we've done our entire adult lives, it's all we know. I suppose I'd be in school, with a lot of debt, working a regular job? Sounds boring. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you to be touring the UK? And which venue are you most looking forward to?

Our excitement level is always really high when we come to the UK. The crowds treat us really well, are as enticed by our accents as we are theirs, and seem to have less reservations about admitting that they love a band before they know if it's cool or not. The UK has always had great taste in rock music and will always be a barometer for what's on the brink of becoming successful. I reckon we're most excited about Sebright Arms. We're playing two shows there on this run and we did one back in October of last year on our first trip. We usually stay at friends house in Brixton when we're here so the Windmill is always our favorite joint to tear up. Tim and everybody that works there are great friends and always show us a good time. 

You’ve got an impressive set of locks between you. What’s your trick to a perfect barnet?

If a barnet is the English equivalent of a "do", our secret is never cut it. The twins and I had really thick kind of curly hair, so the more we forget about it and let it grow out, the better it seems to look. We've had it so long now we've forgotten what our heads are shaped like though, so for now it's not going anywhere. 

Who/What is your biggest musical influence?

Lately our two biggest influences have been The Band and Thin Lizzy. The Band had an unbelievable ability to craft songs will all kinds of instrumentation, structures, time signatures all without outsourcing any musicians. As virtuosic as they all were, they never stepped out too much if the song didn't need. Their musical abilities were servants to the song. Thin Lizzy just oozes attitude. Phil Lynott is a rock icon, and he never gets enough credit. At first they're outwardly just attitude, but after one listen to any album, you quickly realize how incredibly talented they were as musicians and songwriters. 

What’s Mississippi’s best kept secret?

Po Monkey'sLounge in Merigold, MS, about 30 miles south of Clarksdale in the Delta. It's the last real juke joint that the Mississippi Delta blues music made so famous. It's been around for over 50 years and is just a great place to have a good time, drink some beers and dance your ass off to classic soul and R&B. We spotted Tom Waits there once and tried to keep it to ourselves, play it cool and just admire his presence from afar, but eventually the crowd caught on and he was out of there in a huge Cadillac before you could blink.

We love your look. How do you pick what to wear in the morning?

We've always had really picky styles. We've been too skinny to wear anything but skinny jeans since we were like 12 years old, and none of us have changed styles in years. This is just what we've always worn. A lot of tank tops and thin button ups, because anything thicker will have you drowning sweat in Mississippi. In the morning we usually just pick up whatever's laying around and isn't too dirty. 

Click here to find out about the The Weeks tour

Religion Ibiza Launch Invitation

The Official Launch of Religion Ibiza is happening on 5-7-13 at the Atzaro Hotel. If you're heading to Ibiza this summer then be sure to add this party & fashion show to your calendar. RSVP to religionshopibiza@gmail.com

Not to be missed!

Religion Sample Sale

There's a Religion Sample Sale in Religion HQ on Friday 7th, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June. You can get your hands on pieces from S/S and A/W '12 to give your wardrobe a pre-summer boost. See below for all the details and a map:

Religion

17-18 Clere Street

London

EC2A 4LJ

Religion Behind the Scenes: Number Crunching with our Merchandiser

It's all going on at Religion HQ; as well as design we've got sales, marketing, merchandising, visuals and graphics happening too. Read on to hear about a day in the life of our Merchandise Manager and spreadsheet Queen, Stephanie. Not to mention her style favourites and guilty pleasures....

Steph wears the Myth Jumper and Glamrock Trousers

For those who don't know what a merchandiser does – sum up your job:

Numbers… lots of numbers! 

Merchandising is the management of the stock from the buying stage right through to the clearance stages.  As the ‘purse strings’ of the brand, it is my job to manage the spend; which is often a struggle between product and budget.  I work closely with the design teams and analyze the historical sales data, to form a strong buy for each of our diverse retail locations.  This takes place 6-8 months ahead of the season, while I trade the current collections.  The key of my role is to maximize profit and minimize waste, therefore driving good sellthroughs and keeping markdown costs low.

What is a typical day at Religion for you?

Mondays are always pretty manic in buying and merchandising; pulling off analysis from the previous week's sales, reporting and attending trade meetings, but the rest of the week varies week on week.  Once I have checked through emails, I look at the daily sales figures to see how the stores are trading for the week so far taking any actions needed at that point.  Then I start working through priorities which would include new store openings - for example the new store we have just launched in Ibiza, working on store sales targets and monitoring product and store.   The busiest times for me are when we are doing each buy 4 times a year and going into sale.  The preparation for this takes weeks from the initial analysis stage, to showcasing the collection to our retail managers, to actually doing the buy.  The buy is good fun but hard work, racking up all the product and creating cohesive packages is both exciting and nerve-racking as once it’s placed it’s placed and you have to trust the next season will be as good if not better than the last.    

What’s the best part of your job?

Going out to stores and seeing the finished product in it's natural habitat.  I love getting into the stores and seeing how it all fits together, and see how the staff and customers respond to the product- it’s completely different from seeing it here in the showroom. 

Which pieces are you loving from the SS13 Trans collection?

I absolutely love the Divination Maxi dress.  With the casual,easy print and cool summer shape this dress is a great throw on piece for casual day wear.  I’m also loving the Satan Jumper, which is great for the chilly summer evenings.  Both look great under a leather jacket.

The Divination Maxi is perfect for summer

Bag the Satan Jumper here

What’s your style staple?

It would have to be a good leather jacket! A great investment that can be worn all year round.  I wore my Hopper leather jacket under the knitted cape in Autumn and brighten it up with a printed summer scarf for Spring/Summer.

Hopper Jacket - a real all rounder

Where is your favourite spot in London?

Does Essex count??

What is your guilty pleasure?

Table tennis and white wine Red Bull spritzers - not necessarily at the same time. 

If you've got what it takes to work at Religion, we are currently looking for a Showroom Sales Intern - see the details here.

Take yourself 20% off the collection in House of Fraser this weekend, both online and in store. Find our womenswear in London Oxford Street, Manchester Deansgate, Birmingham, Huddersfield, Bristol and Glasgow branches.

Religion Around the World

If there's one thing that brightens up a grey Tuesday in Shoreditch for us, it's seeing Religion coverage from all over the world. Here is a selection of our latest coverage from around the globe, including Spanish Vogue, Dutch Elle, South African FHM and our very own Independent. While you're at it, check out American blog HighSnobette's favourite pieces for the season too.

Black Magic Shorts as seen in Vogue Spain

Jagger Sweat as seen in FHM South Africa

Charm Dress as seen in Elle Holland

Magic Maxi as seen in The Independent

Bank Holiday Wardrobe

Another Bank Holiday, another chance to get kitted out in our finest Summer garms. If it's bright or printed, we're wearing it. Take a look at the pieces we'll be rocking come rain or shine this weekend:

The Tabernacle Knit is spot on for are they/aren't they Summer days.

The Live Shorts: these badboys will see you through Summer, Ibiza, and back again for 2014.

The Offering Dress also comes in black and white, but we're rocking it in Smart Yellow for a day-to-night look.

Menswear: The Prints for Summer

  We've got prints down for Summer. Here's a pick of our favourite designs from the new collection, hitting stores now.

Front: Ace Tee

 

Back: Ace Tee

Front: Easy Come, Easy Go Vest

Gansevoort Tee

Praying Skeleton Camo Tee

Ruin Vest

Skull Half Tee