As a band you seemed to be touring pretty much non-stop last year, playing all over the world, but is this the first time you’ve played Kendal?
Harry: Yeah, this is the first time we’ve ever been to Kendal. It’s good to be here.
What stands out to you as a memorable place you’ve been to on your tour?
Harry: I always remember Dundee, we’ve done that same venue twice. It’s similar to Stoke in that there’s not really that many venues to play, so you go back and play at the same place. You always remember it because the first time no one’s there and the second time round you’ve filled the place.
Dominic: The Scottish crowds are always pretty crazy as well.
Have you ever had any disastrous gigs over that time, ones that you have just wanted to be over and done with?
Dominic: There was a show we did in Leeds once where the power went, but it was kind of just a laugh. But there’s never really been a unanimous disaster before, nothing that we’ve needed to stop the show for.
Harry: That happened in Nottingham as well, a bit earlier on, it was a really crazy show and the power went out because there was beer all over the stage.
What’s the news on the new album? Is there a release date set in stone?
Harry: I don’t think we’ve set the date properly yet. It’ll probably be out at the very end of summer.
How did you find recording it? In Love was met with critical acclaim, that must have been quite something to live up to?
Harry: Yeah it was different, we did it a totally different way. Rather than just having played it all live and recording it in a short amount of time, we kind of worked it out as we were going. And we did it all in London as well which was weird. It was really just the opposite of what we had done before, but that’s kind of how we always do it, trying to do things in new ways.
You have been described as one of the bands leading the revival of guitar-led music. That must be quite a weight on your shoulders?
Harry: Yeah I suppose, but I think we’re quite good at it, so it’s all right. It feels refreshing that there’s no one else really doing what we’re doing.
How exactly did the name for the band come about?
Harry: I remember it was between Peace and Clubbing, but then Peace was just like the most fitting thing at the time. The only reason we weren’t going to be called Peace was because people were like ‘you can’t be called Peace’ and we were ‘like yeah we can, so fuck you’.
What were you all doing before you formed the band?
Dominic: I was working in a pub at the time.
Harry: I think the only sort of work I was doing was holding a sign on a Saturday in Birmingham.
Dominic: Sam worked in Blockbusters and HMV, I think it was probably him that put them out of business. And Doug had a government office job, essentially working for ‘the man’.
Did any of you go to uni?
Sam: Yeah I did, I got a first in music production from Northampton.
Harry: Dom barely even got through college; in fact he didn’t even get through college. He’s your classic college drop out story. Me and Doug just about saw it through.
Your sound is described as a blend of psychedelia, indie and pop. Which artists influenced you?
Harry: Led Zeppelin is a massive influence, but they don’t really sound anything like us. Its just the way they work as a band, the way they were fantasising, I’m really into that. They were more than just a band, they were just whatever they wanted to be.
Which bands have you been listening to recently?
Dominic: Actually just loads of Zeppelin.
Harry: Having just done the record, we’ve been quite focused on that and not really listening to too much new music. Saying that, I always like to check out the people that we know: Wolf Alice’s new song is good, Superfood’s new album should be good when that gets done. There’s only really one mainstream guitar-led band and that’s the Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala were on a few adverts and got a bit of airplay but that’s about it. You don’t really get much of that on the radio, but I do like to listen to the radio just because it’s sometimes nice not having to choose what you listen to.
As a band you seem to be big fans of vinyl; you’ve brought out a lot of your releases in that format. What are your opinions on music streaming services like Spotify?
Harry: I don’t really think it’s our place to tell people how they should listen to music, I personally think it’s nice to own something pyhsically. You’re kind of just renting it if you stream it – digital music is a weird concept, both in how it actually works and also in how there is so much money in it. Spotify have supported us before, they’ve helped promote our new single because they liked it. Although it’s seen as a big evil thing, Spotify are trying to help out and trying to get people to listen to music that they wouldn’t normally listen to. As big and gross as the whole thing is, they have got a heart want people to listen to good music.
You recently played on Made in Chelsea – how did that come about?
Harry: I don’t really know, the person that does the music for the show really liked us and when they had a chance to get a band on, asked us to be in it. It just seemed like such a stupid thing to turn down, we just thought it’s going to be hilarious like as an experience. Plus it’s the biggest TV promotion you can get at the moment, there’s no other places except for Jools Holland, which has a sixth of the viewership of Made in Chelsea. It just seemed like such a silly thing to turn down. Maybe ten years ago you could afford to be like ‘ah that’s lame, we’re cooler than them’. But nowadays its like ‘god are people really still thinking like that, like we’re too cool to go on a TV show’? Selling out doesn’t exist anymore; you don’t get paid to be on Made in Chelsea, cast included.
Dominic: They do now.
Harry: Do they get paid now? Well we didn’t. When a new band comes around who’s endorsed by a brand its different, look at Odd Future. From day one they were basically endorsed by Supreme, but they were never a sell-out and they were never uncool. It’s changed, marketing companies look at like brand awareness and brand association as much as they do advertising.
So I take it you’re not fans of the show?
Harry: I wasn’t particularly beforehand, but after going on the show I’ve started watching it – it’s so fucking good.
Finally, if you could describe the new album in 3 words what would they be?
Sam: Happy. Sad. Sexy.
Peace will be performing at a number of festivals throughout the summer.
