FEATURE: Spotlight: Grandmas House — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Carne

Grandmas House

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PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Carne

I want to get to the bottom of an act through interviews and reviews. Grandmas House consist of Poppy, Yasmin and Zoe. They released the Grandmas House E.P. late last year, and they are being tipped as one of the bands to watch closely this year. The Bristol-based trio have an incredible chemistry and sound that we will all be hearing a lot more of soon enough. I will come to a review of that E.P. towards the end. I also want to bring in a couple of recent interviews. Prior to that, I want to look a bit further back to see how Grandmas House were being talked about. If you are fresh to the trio, I hope that the information below is of use. Get in Her Ears spoke with Grandmas House early last year. They asked about, among other things, their incredible track, Always Happy:

“Hello Grandmas House! For anyone who doesn’t know, can you explain how you met and originally formed as a band?

Yasmin: We all went to uni together in London. Then me and Poppy moved to Bristol afterwards and then we dragged Zoe along with us well.

Poppy: Yeah, we were like “you’ll love it here!”

Yasmin: We did have a different bassist before Zoe actually, who we also met at uni. She lived in London still and she was commuting so much and that didn’t really work out. Then Zoe moved to Bristol and became our new bassist, so that worked out pretty well. We’ve all been living together now for three years.

Does living together make things easier in terms of recording and writing songs?

Yasmin: We usually go into the studio now that we’re getting a bit more serious about music, but when we started the band it was just demos recorded on all of our phones. We didn’t know how to edit music so we just cropped all the recordings together. But now we try to go to a professional and take it into a studio and stuff. Obviously because of Covid-19 and all the studios being shut, we did have to record a few things from home. We did a few vocals on the mic from home, but that’s it.

‘Always Happy’ is a song about the misconceptions we have about people’s confidence in social settings and also online. Talk me through what the track’s about, as I know it’s based on your own experiences of performing on stage as well.

Yasmin: I feel like everyone is a bit taken aback by how we are onstage and how loud our music is, especially because our name is Grandmas House, which is quite calm…

Zoe: The track is a mix of thoughts about social anxiety, performing on stage and how people perceive you online, as well as how you show yourself online too. In between songs when we’re on stage, people have said we’re always so smiley, and then we suddenly just start screaming again. There’s been a few gigs where Poppy has been on the drums, looking really, really into it and angry and then as soon as a song ends she’s doing this cute giggle.

Yasmin: I think we’re definitely confident off stage as well. The song is definitely more about mental health and social anxiety that is generally present, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be talkative or chatty after a show. I think you definitely just see a snippet of us, or any other band, when we’re on stage. You don’t see how nervous we are before as well.

Zoe: That adds to the adrenaline we get whilst we’re playing though. It’s been built up beforehand which is great, so performing is definitely an outlet for that”.

CLUNK MAGAZINE chatted with Grandmas House after they released their E.P. (one that is worth getting on vinyl). As a band who have moved cities and are in a different setting to the one they started in, you can feel that they feel more settled and inspired now. Grandmas House discussed the Bristol music scene:

“Bristol based post-punk trio Grandmas House recently shared their explosive debut self-titled EP, four tracks of poignent, anarchic music. It’s hard not to be lured in by their frantic sound, especially in a live setting. Since this release we have been eager to find out more about one of Bristol’s, if not the UK’s most exciting post-punk outfits.

Recently, we had the pleasure of asking Poppy Dodgson, vocalist and drummer of the band. We discussed the bands decision to move to Bristol, bands they’ve been enjoying, and much more!

Kieran: Hello Grandmas House, how are you!?

Poppy: Good thank you! We’ve been LOVING touring around the UK over the past few weeks so very happy and very tired!

Kieran: So, you all met at University in London but decided to move down to Bristol, what was it that prompted the move and how have you found it?

Poppy: I’m (Poppy) from Bristol, and knew the other two would love it so dragged them home with me! We absolutely love living here, the music scene is amazing and the people are lovely so we haven’t wanted to go anywhere else since!

Kieran: Has moving cities changed your songwriting or sound at all?

Poppy: There’s a real post punk sound in Bristol at the moment which has definitely inspired our sound!

Kieran: For a band as loud and riotous as yourselves, the band name Grandma’s House feels almost out of place, how did this come to be?

Poppy: Our friend has a tattoo of her grandmas house on her arm, and when we were trying to think of a band name we were saying every possible word we could think of, and one of us just pointed to the tattoo and said GRANDMAS HOUSE! It immediately stuck, and just felt like the perfect juxtaposition with the loud shouty music we make.

Kieran: Bristol has an amazing live music scene full of great bands and artists, who are some you would recommend to our readers?

Poppy: Yes so many! Slagheap, Muffintops, Try Me are some of our absolute faves at the moment!

Kieran: Your self-titled debut EP was released into the wild on October 15th, how has the reception been and how do you feel now it’s out there?

Poppy: Oh my god it’s been amazing!!! We are so happy with the response! We’re so glad it’s out in the world as it’s been a long time coming.

Kieran: Can you talk us through the recording process of the EP?

Poppy: Yeah we had so much fun! We recorded our instruments all together in Factory studios, all in one day in a mad blur! And then we finished it off with Scott Barnett in Bath!”.

There are a couple of other interviews that I want to explore. To give you a view as to what critics were saying about Grandmas House, this is a pretty positive and considered review from DORK:

“Coated with sticky sweet danger, Bristol trio Grandmas House’s eponymous debut EP sizzles with all things wild and natural, blazing through the five-track run with elemental power. Lightning fast, three of the songs don’t even touch the two-minute mark; blink, and they’ll just be a ringing in your ears. From the high-street folklore of ‘Pasty’, to the politicised rage of ‘Golden’, the band create songs deeply rooted in the dual mundanity and extravagance of the world we live in, but framed in witchy, earthy sounds. A stand-out moment is the throaty desperation of ‘Feed Me’, which evokes something primordial in its image of the hungover woman laid bare.

The EP feeds the violent frustrations of the past few years through a needlepoint with cutting precision, stitching their songs together with turbulent guitars and incisive lyricism. Jagged and sharp, the band cut through blue skies with their oddly melodic punk explosion, teasing the riotous energy of their live shows and leaving you scouring the internet for their next slot in your nearest boozer. Pumped full of dangerous amounts of adrenaline, Grandmas House have proven themselves as ones to watch”.

It is going to be a very busy year for new music! Grandmas House are one of those groups who are primed and ready for the live circuit. It has been weird the past two years, and they have had to sort of remember how to perform live again! Mia Smith spoke with the trio following an acclaimed and sold-out show at Rough Trade back in September:

“I commend the impressive mosh pits induced by their set - ‘yeah, that was insane!’ Yasmin says, ‘from the beginning onwards as well - it usually takes a while to heat up’. The demographic of the Grandmas House crowd couldn’t be wider - from middle aged bearded rockers to a literal child holding onto the barrier. ‘We’ve got the whole range’, Yasmin laughs. Zoe is in similar disbelief: ‘I didn’t look up for the first three songs because I was trying to get in the zone, and then I looked up and was like oh my God’. It’s inspiring to see the crowd the band attracts, and Yasmin notices too: ‘there was a really good mix of genders in the mosh pit, and that’s what we like to see’. I ask if they plan on moshing to IDLES later. ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna get in the pit yet’, Zoe says. Yasmin agrees: ‘yeah, people have definitely broken bones in there. We don’t have any time to be breaking bones’.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Carne

The band really don’t have time for injuries, always busy after moving in together in Bristol. We joke that Grandmas House is more than a band name - it’s their actual home. Poppy explains that they met at university in London, but only started making music a year later. They find that living together helps their creative process, and have been especially grateful to share a space throughout the pandemic. ‘A lot of bands were struggling, but we were just constantly together, and that was good’, Yasmin says, ‘If we have an idea we can just shout down the hall’. Zoe laughs, ‘yeah, or just message the Whatsapp group like ‘come to my room!’’. During lockdown the band tried their hand at making music videos, resulting in the delightfully homemade accompaniment to track ‘Always Happy’. ‘We had a vision and it actually worked out really well’, Yasmin explains, ‘I didn’t think it was gonna look that good but it did’. In one part of the video the trio smother their faces in clown-like paint as Yasmin sarcastically screams ‘I am always happy’. ‘We got this really cheap face paint, and it was a one take situation’, she explains proudly”.

Go and follow Grandmas House if you have not already done so. I am going to end with this interview from 365Bristol's dedicated music magazine, LOUD Bristol. They spoke with Grandmas House last year for their third edition. The band talked about the relief and joy of getting back on the road:

“Despite releasing a slew of singles since their inception, Grandmas House have carved out a reputation as an explosive live band first and foremost, playing some of Bristol’s best-loved small venues including The Old England, Exchange and The Louisiana during their early days. “We were playing out loads at that point,” Yasmin tells me, “playing Bristol pretty much every week.” But, like so many acts emerging across the city and beyond, their progress came to a grinding halt when Covid-19 started to take hold in early 2020. Suddenly, a band who were making a name for themselves with their head-turning stage shows had no heads to turn and no stages to play on.

As it turned out, though, the trio managed to maintain some productivity and keep the ball rolling through successive lockdowns. Living together for the entirety of the pandemic, Yasmin, Poppy and Zoë spotted an opportunity to come up with ideas and focus their energy on making new music while venue doors were bolted shut.

“Going from nothing to playing all these new cities in the past few months has been amazing”

“I think we figured out a really good way of writing songs,” Poppy recalls, “because we were spending so much time together and we’re so comfortable around each other. It was never like ‘oh let’s get together and write a song’ – usually it’s like we’re one brain that comes together and makes something happen.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Grandmas House on-stage as part of the Music Venue Trust Revive Live tour/PHOTO CREDIT: Vendy Palkovicova

“One merged brain! We are just the same people – it’s actually a bit weird,” Yasmin laughs.

Whatever the dynamic, it was clearly a good fit. From March 2020 to the end of lockdown in July, Grandmas House released four standalone singles and two homemade music videos, showcasing their ability to self-produce and create on their own DIY terms. Yasmin explains they were “gigging so much before [the pandemic] that every time we practiced we’d just play the set for the next gig,” never being able to put time aside to work on a studio-quality release.

In contrast, lockdown presented the band with an opportunity to fine-tune their sound, spend more time writing and put more thought into their production. Now, they’ve released their self-titled debut EP (recorded between Bristol and Bath) and crucially, they’re back on the road. Between supporting IDLES on The Downs in September (playing in front of their biggest crowd to date), taking part in the Music Venue Trust’s Revive Live series and embarking on their first-ever nationwide headline tour, Grandmas House are right back in amongst it, and loving every second.

“I feel like we actually kind of forgot how to play live,” Poppy says. “We’d only played gigs in Bristol and one in Cardiff before lockdown, so we never got to experience the proper touring thing and playing in different places. We were a bit scared - we were like ‘oh my god what if we don’t like touring!’ – but going from nothing to playing all these new cities in the past few months has been amazing”.

This year will be a lot more fruitful and productive for Grandmas House. Having released an E.P. and a string of singles last year, they will want to capitalise on that and get the music out there to the people. Keep abreast of their social media channels to see when you can catch them live. Maybe they will pop out another E.P. before the end of 2022. I have big hopes for the Bristol-based powerhouse. They are a really wonderful band. If you want to follow and back a hot band with a big future, then I can direct you…