By Jenny Dean
We caught up with The Fry Ups to chat about what they’ve been up to recently, what’s ahead, and what they like to eat for breakfast.
“What has the band been up to and how is your 2026 going so far?”
Sam: probably the most amount of gigs we’ve had in a short span of time but most importantly we sold out our biggest headline show yet at Pop Recs which was pretty cool.
Zac: We’ve been doing class gigs all over the north east and our 2026 has got off to a great start.
Jamie: Loved the gigs we’ve done so far round Newcastle and Sunderland. We’re always practising in my man cave and have new tunes coming out soon. Excited for upcoming gigs.
Oliver: We’ve just recently released our single Taxi and have had some of our biggest gigs to date at the start of the year including our packed gig at Pop Recs which has been my favourite with the band so far.
“What have you got coming up in the near future?”
Sam: Washington Emerging and then a gig at downcast in March but apart from that not much coming up, we’d love to get back in the studio and work on more tracks.
Zac: We have got a gig at downcast on the 20th March and hopefully more to be booked in the future.
Jamie: We’re gaining popularity through bands we’ve been supporting so should be playing in pubs and more venues soon like downcast studios. Been buzzing with the amount of people reaching out to us.
Oliver: We’ve just done Washington emerging and a gig supporting bogus at Independent and it was rammed, absolutely amazing. Currently we have a gig on the 20th March at Downcast as the other lads said and we’re currently in talks about arranging 2 or 3 other gigs yet to be announced so keep an eye out on our socials.
“How has the Washington Emerging programme helped you as a band?”
Sam: We’ve never played it before and also it has brought us attention to a new audience and we’ve gained some new followers.
Zac: The Washington Emerging program was brilliant and it helped us gain exposure and traction on the socials.
Jamie: The Washington gig went down well the crowd interacted a lot of our mates were there getting the crowd going as well. Would play there again.
Oliver: My thoughts after Washington emerging are that it benefitted us a lot. It got us some new audience and allowed us to get connected with some other bands and expand our friendships across the local scene.
“What is your dream festival and/or venue to play?”
Sam: My dream headline gig would have to be the Stadium of Light.
Zac: My dream venue to play would be the cavern club in Liverpool because of all of the history and how iconic it is.
Jamie: My dream festival is obviously Glastonbury if we ever get there ha, but right now we’re aiming to play at places in our local town like the Sheepfolds and the Fire Station in Sunderland.
Oliver: I completely agree with Sam, playing the Stadium of Light to a sold out crowd would be surreal, but I’d also quite like to play any major festival like Glastonbury or reading/Leeds I’m not picky.
“If you built your ideal fry up for breakfast, what would it look like? Be specific.”
Sam: I’d have nearly a full fry up except for tomatoes and black pudding can’t be having either of those.
Zac: My ideal fry up would be 2 sausages, 2 hash browns, beans, scrambled egg and toast.
Jamie: My breakfast would be a large normal full English breakfast but I despise black pudding and tomatoes. I’d have crispy smoked bacon, sausages have to be seasoned well with a bit of crisp as well. I actually work in a breakfast cafe called yolo in Sunderland so it’s a bit ironic.
Oliver: For my ideal fry up it would be, 3 Cumberland sausages, beans, one slice of toast (cut in triangles), 3 hash browns, 2 slices of bacon with as little fat as possible and just right and crispy and lots of red sauce on the side. Definitely no eggs, black pudding or tomato. Disgusting.
Follow what they’re up to here
