FEATURE: Spotlight: Master Peace — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Master Peace

_________

ONE of the finest debut albums…

of this year came from Master Peace. The south London star has recently won an Ivor Novello. I am going to come to that news next. If you have not bought his debut, How to Make a Master Peace, I would urge you to pick up a copy. Before getting to know Master Peace more, The Line of Best Fit reported on an important recognition of one of our finest young songwriters:

“Master Peace was shortlisted for the award alongside fellow rising stars; Blair Davie, Chrissi, Elmiene, and Nino SLG The accolade follows the release of his debut album, Making A Master Peace, earlier this year. He now joins artists such as Victoria Canal, Willow Kayne, and Naomi Kimpenu.

Celebrating the win, in a post on his socials, Master Peace shared his gratitude for his supporters: "I can’t put into words how emotional I am right now, you guys kept me going through the highs and lows, the good and bad, and everything in between, I put out my album in March and it’s been received so well, I never expected this when I wrote this record and I thank you guys for believing in me I couldn’t do it without you”.

I am going to get to some recent interviews in a little bit. I am also going to bring in a review for How to Make a Master Peace. First, this question and answer from Fred Perry gives us some background and insight into a remarkable artist. Someone that should be on everyone’s radar. I think that we are going to hear music from Master Peace for many years to come:

“Name, where are you from?

My name is Master Peace, I’m from South West London (Morden).

Describe your style in three words?

Left, different, experimental.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

The best gig I ever went to was Easy Life in London. It was absolutely amazing and inspiring in the sense that if you work hard, that could be me in a couple of years or months. And just the lighting, to the sound, to the crowd's reaction, it just really made me feel good.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?

The two artists I would wanna be on a line up with are The 1975 & The Smiths. The reason why I would pick these two acts is that The Smiths inspired me to make music in the first place, and The 1975 are just my favourite band overall - like I’d do anything for them to hear my tunes!

Which subcultures have influenced you?

Rock. 'Cause there are different types of it like indie, goth, and heavy metal. They all still come under rock and how the whole genre has expanded throughout the years is very influencing.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

The musician I would spend an hour with if I could would definitely have to be Liam from Oasis. That guy is a genius, a free spirit with so much talent and I would really want to get advice from him music-wise and hear his story with him and his band.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?

My favourite venue would definitely have to be the Ace Hotel and Camden Assembly. Every time I perform at these venues the sound system is always slapping! And I enjoy the different amount of people who are local and just come down to watch the gig etc.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

My favourite unsung hero would definitely be Chris Martin from Coldplay. His writing skills are amazing, like the lyrics really speak to you. Growing up when I first heard 'Viva La Vida' it really changed my childhood, the chords and the instruments used in the song to make it what it is - an ultimate classic.

The first track you played on repeat?

'Don't Speak' by No Doubt.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Pompeii' by Bastille.

One record you would keep forever?

'Wonderwall' by Oasis.

A song lyric that has inspired you?

“Nobody said it was easy.”

From 'The Scientist' by Coldplay.

The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?

'Million Miles' by Bakar”.

Prior to coming to some 2024 interviews, I quickly want to bring in a chat from Rolling Stone UK. Looking at the release of a vital and astonishing debut album, they asked whether there was any concerns that sounds influenced by Indie of the 2000s was going to fit into the modern scene. Perhaps not as widespread as previous years, it is both refreshing and nostalgic hearing an artist looking back and bringing this sound to the present day. Through his prism and vision. It is an incredible blend that stands in the memory:

“Across How to Make a Master Peace, you can hear the dark and energetic indie of Bloc Party on ‘Panic101’ and the electro rock of LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture on ‘LOO SONG’. The loose, rowdy ‘Shangaladang’ splits the difference between Pete Doherty and M.I.A, while Georgia collaboration ‘I Might be Fake’ sounds like The Smiths’ ‘Barbarism Begins at Home’ put through a nu-rave filter. It’s an indie album in spirit and energy, but its sound bounces around restlessly, and Peace is endlessly inquisitive in his sonic choices.

Working with producer Matt Schwartz (Yungblud, Dylan), Peace left the comfort zone of his more traditional, boxed-in indie sound on last year’s Peace of Mind EP to explore genre more widely and recklessly. “You don’t risk enough,” the producer told him, Peace recalls in our Rolling Stone UK interview. “You don’t really throw yourself out there.” The album is the sound of this risk paying off. Divorced from current trends and chasing only personal satisfaction, it dives headfirst into Peace’s past and his inspirations. It’s the sort of record that could completely change a teenager’s life.

What was it that you wanted to change about your sound and style after the Peace of Mind EP, and how has this influenced the album?

I played it safe on that EP. I knew where I came from and what I like and the reason people fell in love with me in the first place. It was very obvious — guitars and drums. You knew what you were gonna get. On the album, I realised that I needed to push the boat out. There’s no way I can just sit on the sidelines and do the same thing again. I know a record like this will stand the test of time, and I want people to reference it when they’re making their own records in the future. I didn’t want to make what people want to hear in the current day and age. I wanted to make what I like and to stand behind it.

Did it feel like a risk to make a 2000s-influenced indie record when it’s not a sound that’s in the zeitgeist right now?

It is definitely a risk, but all the people whose music I love — M.I.A., Blood Orange — their music has stood the test of time. I know all this shit because I’ve studied it like it’s an exam. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I know that no tune here sounds like anything else. This album is fucking clear. It needs a Mercury because I know it’s pushing a boundary.

It seems like you’ve had trouble being taken seriously as a Black indie artist. Do you think that’s something people are now finally understanding about you?

I can make as many indie songs as I want, I can fucking fly this flag, and people still call me a rapper. Then you have people like [Murray Matravers] the singer of [the band formerly known as] Easy Life, who raps on every song, but people aren’t gonna call him a rapper. They’ll call him a pop star! I talked to Rachel Chinouriri about this, and I was just like, “Bro, when are they gonna take us in? When are they actually going to accept us into that realm?” All I’ve wanted for so long is for people to just take me in, just a little bit. Take away the race and just actually listen to the music. It feels good to [be] finally, slowly getting there”.

Back in March, CLASH talked with Master Peace about the making of his album. This unique and incredibly promising artist who takes inspiration from a variety of sources – Including The Streets (Mike Skinner) – but very much makes the music his own. I don’t think there is anyone on the music scene quite like him. How to Make a Master Peace could well be in line for a Mercury Prize later in the year. I think it is a shoo-in to be on the shortlist alongside other wonderful British and Irish albums:

“I genuinely believe this album is the most honest and authentic piece of work from anyone in my pay grade at the moment, in terms of sonics, songwriting and hooks. I don’t think anything else comes close. But the way the game works, people get praise for minimal stuff but then you get people like me who are the underdog. If you guys actually paid attention, you’d realise I’m on to something here. You can’t reference me an album that sounds like it.”

So says Peace Okezie (better known as Master Peace), the brains behind ‘How To Make A Master Peace’. Stacked with anthems-in-waiting, his debut album sees the young man putting the best elements of indie sleaze, electro-pop, and rock music into a blender, garnishing it with his own force of personality to create an eclectic body of work that stands apart from the crowd.

It’s been a long time coming, as Peace tells Clash in our exclusive chat, with debut single ‘Night Time’ now half a decade old: “We’ve definitely seen a lot! There’s been a lot of moments; highs, lows, super-highs, and super-lows! It’s definitely a relief because a lot of artists don’t get the chance to drop their debut album. I’ve managed to make music consistently since ‘Night Time’, so I’m very grateful, for sure.”

The time has been used effectively, allowing Peace the time to diversify both his sound and the lyrical content. “I feel like the early stuff was definitely based on one scenario and on one relationship and one vibe,” he explains. “It was the only thing I knew, because when you’re at that age (18/19) that’s all you ever know, really. You can only write about what’s currently going on in your life.”

“Whereas with this album, there’s a whole lot of things that are spoken about that I’ve never really touched on before. It definitely is very important to me to get these things out for people to eventually see me in a certain light. I feel the early stuff was very one-way, whereas this album is as far away from one-way and predictable than anything I’ve ever put out. I expand on stuff I’ve never really expanded on before, and it’s good that people are going to see that side of me.”

Peace puts a lot of the credit for his development down to producer Matty Schwartz (YUNGBLUD, KSI) saving the musician from ditching everything and subsequently pushing him to do better. “Matty was an angel from God,” he says, effervescently. “That man was sent from the higher-ups. I nearly stopped the Master Peace project. Not music in general, but I was a bit over it and I was going to start a new alias. I was thinking about it a lot and then I met Matty. At first, we didn’t like each other. I couldn’t stand him because we both had differences of opinions.”

“But he was like, ‘You are talented and there’s a certain element of music you haven’t channelled yet. It could serve you really well as an artist and who you are as a person.’ He made my debut EP (for the new era of Master Peace), and he changed my whole mentality. If that man had never come into my life…there would be a new artist, and it wouldn’t be Master Peace. I got chewed up and spat out and I didn’t really want to do it anymore. I was selling out shows and doing a lot more tickets than a lot of artists who have come and gone – and I’m still here, standing – and they were getting more love and praise than me. Essentially, I was feeling sorry for myself.”

Displaying a laudable dedication to his craft, Peace spent 2022 listening to seminal debut albums in a bid to identify what made them classics. When asked which albums in particularly he’s referring to, the Londoner answers before the question is finished: “I owe my debut album to Calvin Harris’ ‘I Created Disco.’ That man took a risk. Not many people get that calling from God, but he got it and absolutely delivered. At the time, everybody was so slow and didn’t understand that he was on to something. That’s what I’m saying, this whole scene is so whitewashed, you feel underrated all the time. And for me, double the whammy because I’m a Black artist making a type of music, this indie sleaze stuff. You always feel like you’re getting the crumbs when you should be getting the full meal like everyone else. My music’s just as good, if not better.”

“When I was listening to ‘I Created Disco,’ people were dissing it and putting it down but 20 years on, it’s one of the most experimental, forward-thinking albums of our generation, in my opinion. Calvin probably didn’t even realise he was on to something at the time, but for me that album, M.I.A., ‘Arular,’ Bloc Party’s ‘Silent Alarm’… I reference all those albums because they stood the test of time. The Streets’ ‘Original Pirate Material’… all of them stood the test of time for a reason. They talk about what is happening in their life now, and the sonics and the tools to make it what it is. That’s how I see my album; it’s in that pocket. That’s why I spent so long listening to debut albums because I knew within myself that it was how I wanted my album to sound: as authentic and real as possible.”

“‘Heaven’ [a track on the album] sounds like a record from early Example,” he claims, correctly. “I used to be into that music. I used to be scared of the dark when I was a kid and I used to put on the radio when I’d go to bed. There was a thing called ‘Friday Night Kiss’ and they’d play a lot of dancey songs for Friday night. I feel that’s where my brain went to, making songs like ‘Heaven’. It’s a song from that trancey, early 2000 pocket.”

Yet it’s not all bangers: ‘Panic101’ is the sort of arms aloft, heart-on-the-sleeve indie anthem which would make The Lathums head back to the drawing board. “My favourite track,” confirms Peace. “I feel it’s the most honest – again – feeling loss, regret, and shame. Having a failed relationship and feel you can’t make it right no matter what you do. That anxiety and panic of not knowing what’s to come; whether you and this person will be together or not. That was something I was going through at the time and it was weighing heavy on me. I couldn’t understand why it was weighing so heavily, but it was. There’s just something that I really needed to get out and say, and that person will know it’s about them when they hear this record. I struggled with over-thinking and anxiety, and that record’s about feeling like I could lose it all. I made this person my everything and now I’m leaving with nothing, but I wanted to make it right. How we gonna make it right if you won’t pick up all my calls or talk, y’know?”

Although Master Peace may have spent the last few years naval gazing, he’s also keenly aware of the issues facing musicians in 2024. He was fortunate to be the recipient of some funding from the BPI’s Music Export Growth Scheme so his immediate future as a recording artist is secure, but the artist is aware he’s one of the lucky ones: “It’s sad because it shouldn’t be like that. I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work, but anyone who is a musician, I commend them. Big respect because it’s not easy. There’s so much financial stuff you have to take a loss on. There’s so many things that come with it, you have to be thick skinned and strong. You’ve got to be smart as well. Not intellectually but realising what’s for you and what’s not.”

“The government awarding me those funds was insane. I didn’t expect it. I know in the past they’ve given it to Dave and Little Simz and a few other people (and) the fact they give it to artists they think are going to pop off this year, and they’ve given it to me, is crazy. It’s going to help me tour this year and next. I’m very grateful and I wish there was something that could help artists more. After COVID, everything was fucked up for artists to tour, and Brexit and whatnot. There needs to be some sort of thing that’s installed to help everybody else out. Even if it’s not a large quantity of money, just something! People need to eat and pay rent, bills and all that shit. It’s a bit unfair that the government doesn’t really recognise that at times”.

Prior to coming to a review for How to Make a Master Peace, NME featured this wonderful young talent. Someone who wanted to create this cultural reset for Generation Z. An Indie smash that harks to the early-2000s, yet is very much geared to the 2020s. I think he has managed to achieve that. The acclaim the album received shows what faith and respect there is out there for Master Peace:

“Peace recently toured with The Streets, and has ambitions of becoming the same type of unhinged, chaos-creating live performer as Mike Skinner, who has also become somewhat of a mentor. “I played him a bit of my album and asked what he thought,” he says. “[Skinner] was like, ‘Don’t worry about what I think, and don’t worry about what everyone else thinks’ Worry about what you think. I asked him how [‘Original Pirate Material’] managed to stand the test of time,” Peace adds. “He’s like, ‘Because I didn’t care what people thought when I first made it, I just made it because I like that type of music. I wasn’t trying to get a hit, I was just trying to make good music that people will resonate with that will then change my life, which it did’.

“You’re just making music that you like, and that you’re into,” Skinner told Okezie. “People will gravitate to it if you believe that they will.”

In making the album and undergoing this sonic shift, Okezie felt he was deliberately going against the zeitgeist, making music he was told by others was outdated and unfashionable. Since then though, indie sleaze has become a buzzword again and the chaotic, sex-fuelled songs of The Dare are making headlines and filling rooms. After the album was finished, more sets of ears gravitated towards the classics of ‘00s indie, with the soundtrack to Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn turning younger listeners onto Bloc Party and MGMT, as well as Sophie Ellis Bextor. “It’s one of those happy accidents,” Okezie grins.

Growing up in rural Surrey after moving from South East London as a child, Okezie was torn between the indie staples he was hungrily consuming and his childhood interest in the UK rap scene. ‘Shangaladang’, a loose and languid highlight from the album, quotes Skepta and reflects on his early days in London, which stood in stark contrast to the suburbia where he ended up spending most of his childhood.

“I’ve never really spoken about my childhood,” he says, “but I grew up around people that were involved in crime. That song is about people that I used to be friends with that were about that life. There’s people that rap about it, and there’s people that live it. Those people live it, they live that life through and through. People would say that I’m a sweet boy from Surrey who ain’t going through nothing. But I’ve seen some shit that makes you question whether I’m doing the right thing, if I’m even supposed to be a musician.”

‘How To Make A Master Peace’ is an escape, then, from things past and present that have held Okezie back. It’s also an early contender for the best British debut album of 2024, an album of rare energy and charisma that wants to change the world, and could conceivably do so for a small corner of it.

“I feel like I’m a dark horse,” he concludes of his place in the industry. “Everybody knows the bands that the industry is putting to the forefront, and I don’t need to name names. Then I’m here like, come and join this train!’” Falling – with his infectious and ever-present enthusiasm – into a football analogy, he adds: “Sometimes I feel like I’m sitting on a bench waiting to get put on in the 90th minute. I’m like, ‘Nah, man, I want to play the full game’. I’m gonna get that first team play, man, I can feel it”.

There are other interviews such as this that I would advise people to check out. I am finishing with a review from NME. They lauded the bag of colours and sounds that combine to make a distinct and instantly recognisable debut album. I think Master Peace will build from this and create a string of classics. It is clear that he is going to go very far:

“I’m what a rockstar looks like” were the words of a young and exuberant Master Peace, speaking to NME four years ago. It’s a statement that the London artist, born Peace Okezie, has since followed through on, bridging the worlds between rap, punk and indie through singles like 2019’s ‘Night Time’ and The Streets collaboration ‘Wrong Answers Only’. He now finds himself armed with a range of styles, which continue to seamlessly interchange in his music.

Whilst the heartfelt moments imbued in his earlier material may have struck a chord with Bakar fans, Okezie’s debut LP ‘How To Make A Master Peace’ transports you straight to the dancefloor. These 11 tracks would certainly find a home at a modern indie club night alongside Wet Leg or The Snuts. Coupled with his infectious personality, this album establishes Okezie as the party-starter the genre never knew it needed.

Mashing explosive beats with groovy guitar lines, ‘How To Make A Master Peace’ vibrates with energy from the get-go. Opener ‘Los Narcos’ channels the riffs and textures from The Hives’ heyday; later on, ‘Get Naughty!’ pairs bombastic production with call-and-response vocals.

The arrangements here are also defined by their basslines, which vary in pace and intensity, from low-key (‘Happiness Is Love’) to rhythmic and wickedly addictive (Georgia team-up ‘I Might Be Fake’). On the latter, layers of synths build a foundation for the track’s curveball of a chorus, making it the catchiest sing-along on the album. It’s a masterclass in organised chaos.

Okezie even ventures into pure pop territory on ‘Heaven’: ““Let me see paradise,” he sings, teasing a wave of euphoria before the track shifts towards an electro-house break. It makes for a real standout moment, while also cementing Okezie’s status as a burgeoning creative force”.

Tipped by the Ivors as a rising star, there are few higher honours than that! After the release of an acclaimed debut album, it is full steam ahead for Master Peace. On 15th June, he plays as part of Chaka Khan’s Meltdown in London. There is going to be some serious attention from festival organisers and venues. Some of the first big steps towards future superstardom. Do all you can to ensure that you…