Recently I have became acquainted with the music of Bristol based post punk band Grandma’s House, and caught them live in Brixton. As an exciting up and coming band I was keen to learn more, especially as they are about to release their third ep ‘Anything For You’. I caught up with the band to find out a little more about them.
What inspires you to make music?
We mostly take inspiration from everyday life, and the emotions that come with it. Our new EP was written during a dark time for us. Grief poured out, in all its forms; The death of a very special person, difficult breakups, and grieving life before illness. Poppy also became ill with something called Topical Steroid Withdrawal for over two years, and was bed bound for 8 months. This experience meant we were unable to make music in our normal capacity, and we didn’t know how long it would last. Experiencing something like that as a band has made our already unbreakable bond even stronger, and we think that is reflected in the music, and our live shows.
What is the best description of your music that you’ve read/heard in a review?
“Your music is like everything I love, but nothing I’ve ever heard before.” Someone said this to us when we’d just come off stage at Croc the Rock festival in Switzerland, and it’s really stayed with us.
What do you enjoy most and least about playing live?
The live shows are one of our favourite parts of being a musician, it’s always so fun and it’s a chance for us to really connect with people in person! Whilst Poppy was ill we all found it difficult to enjoy touring in the same way, and even had to cancel shows – we really love and appreciate each live show even more now! A down-side to touring is not being able to really explore the cities we play in, as we only have a day or less in each place and our time is usually filled with travel and soundcheck. We really need more time to try fun snacks and service stations don’t have the best variety.
Is there a venue or city that you’d especially love to play, and why?
We’d love to tour in the US at some point, we were lucky enough to go to SXSW a few years ago and we absolutely loved it. We’ve been dreaming of the tacos ever since. Probably everyone’s dream venue but we would absolutely give our left tit to play at red rocks!
What is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you at a gig?
Ooh, it would be a toss up between blowing the sound desk during a day festival in Bristol and having an hour interval while the sound guy ran to another venue to find a new sound desk before finishing our set OR seeing a ghost pop up from behind an armchair in our dressing room (very scary times, but we like to think he was just wishing us luck before our show).
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be and why?
MORE REPRESENTATION that doesn’t just feel like box ticking. There are so many talented musicians who are part of under-represented communities who are not getting the opportunity to reach wider audiences. There needs to be equal opportunities in all genres and whilst this is getting better, there is still such a long way to go.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and what would you work on together?
Chappell Roan – love her music and we reckon we could make an ABSOLUTE BANGER together. Chappell if you read this, give us a call yeah x
Who is your favourite new band/artist that we should be checking out and what do you like about them?
We’re loving Jasmine.4.t. at the moment. She’s just released her debut album which is incredible and we’re lucky enough to be supporting her in London at The Lexington on 27th May which we are SO excited about. Her music is really raw, beautiful and important. ‘Skin On Skin’ is our current obsession song.
If you could give any aspiring musicians one piece of advice, what would it be?
Resilience is so important!! Learn as much as you can about the music industry, because people (sadly) might try to take the piss, and the more knowledge you have the better. Remember that no one cares about your music as much as you, and KEEP GOING. You got this!!
How has your approach to making music changed since you started out?
We have grown a lot as musicians since we started Grandmas House. We had only been learning our instruments for a short time and that contributed to our signature sound, as we were writing music without having any preconceived ideas of how to do it ‘right’. Now that we have developed a lot more as musicians we are really enjoying being able to build on that sound and push ourselves musically to make the grungy, dark, music of our DREAMS whilst still living by the ‘anything goes’ mindset we adopted early on. We made the decision to add one of our best friends Polly on guitar and we are loving writing as a QUARTET. VERY FUN!!
Grandma’s House new EP ‘Anything For You’ drops tomorrow and you can buy it here
Grandma’s House Socials- Instagram/Facebook
Introduction by Hayley Foster da Silva
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