Standard Fare

Standard Fare may be named after a sign spotted on a bus, but the effect is anything but pedestrian – these Sheffield indie poppers are the kind of band whose name you’d happily scrawl on the cover of your school exercise book. A power trio comprising Emma Kupa, Danny How and Andy Beswick, who love to sing about their personal experiences in the hardships of love.

Standard Fare met when Danny (from Buxton) and Emma (from York) were playing in other groups as teenagers. When those projects fell apart, the pair resolved to work together, and poached Andy from Danny’s brother’s band. Early practices were held in Andy’s loft in Buxton, “and then in his Nan’s living room when they got too loud.” Music is a family business for Emma too – her mother was in ‘80s anarcho-punks Poison Girls and now plays Jewish folk music and organises jams in pubs and on trains. Dan’s family band plays old Motown and Rock n Roll. Outside of the band, the three-some have far ranging interests: Emma is studying for a PhD, and has an allotment and a penchant for cycling; Andy is a graphic designer, loves riding motorbikes and has dived 20metres in the Indian Ocean; and Dan is a black belt in karate.

Since forming, Standard Fare have played in venues as varied as an old air-raid shelter and a 19th century manor house, released a single, “Dancing”, on Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation and picked up plays on BBC 6Music.