It's great to be able to put up a piece on a fab new band from Suffolk and Essex and Ecto Peach are already creating a bit of a stir with their spiky, post-punk sound. With debut single 'Toothpaste' released last month, the band playing their debut show on New Year's Eve and more gigs and recording planned, 2022 could be an exciting year for the quartet of experienced musicians. The guys took some time out from rehearsing for shows and recordings, to answer a few questions for BBMATB on how 'Toothpaste' is faring, the fab Suffolk and Essex music scene, playing shows and discarded band names.
Ecto Peach are Lou Brett (Vocals), Matthew Burrows (Guitars), Sam J Hornsey (Bass) and Simon 'Chip' Hunt (Drums)
'Toothpaste' is available on all the major digital sites with a Youtube video to go with it. You can catch them live at New River Studios (near Finsbury Park, London) on January 28th (and if you'd like to catch a flavour of them live, there's a Youtube vid up of their performance at TWM on New Years Eve) and new single 'Alphabetti Sweatti' should be with us in a few weeks time.
Hi Guys, thank you for taking some time to answer a few questions. First off, for those readers who might not be familiar with Ecto Peach, could you give a short history of the band?
We had to wait till we were in our 40s to find each other. In our prime, but no longer fuelled by the hope of fame & fortune, Ecto Peach is a band here to play the music because we have to. This isn't a band trying to find themselves. We know who we are and we know who you are. We've got stuff to say and with our own vision of middle aged angst we're gonna tell you about it directly. We're not gonna simply fade into the background quietly with our M&S slippers on (however much we like the quality and reasonable prices of M&S... and the fact that their perfume is not tested on animals).
NYE 2021 saw us play our first gig at the 'Hootenanny' in the 'Three Wise Monkeys' in Colchester. With the first gig under our belts and our debut single/video out, we are ready to attack 2022.
The story of how we got together is; Matthew (guitar) asked Lou (vocals) if she wanted to do something around March time in 2021. Lou said yes and she knew Sam (bass), who also said yes. But then we had to wait for lock down to lift. We then had a couple of practices in June with a drum machine until Simon (who Sam knew) agreed to to give the band a chance... and the magic started to happen.
Who is in the band and what other previous bands had you all been in before?
Lou Brett: Vocals (Violent Playground, Dystopian Sound Collective, Strike the Sun)
Matthew Burrows: Guitars (Matthew's Climbing Frame)
Sam J Hornsey: Bass (Violent Playground, Rampton Disco)
Simon "Chip" Hunt: Drums (Crab Meat Moon)
Is the name Ecto Peach sourced from the vape flavour or does it come from elsewhere? And were there any other names considered for the band?
Is it a vape flavour?? Oh No!!! None of us vape.. is it too late to change our name??
The name came from deep inside Sam's brain. We have found it best not to ask too much about Sam's thought processes and we suggest you do the same. Previous candidates were Fear of Teeth and then Annie Carter's Revenge almost stuck (named after Captain Anne who lead the Maldon food riots in 1629, obvs), but didn't. Seriously, is there anything harder than thinking of a band name?
Who would you say were the main influences on Ecto Peach?
Being 90s kids we are influenced by the likes of Jacob's Mouse, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Daisy Chainsaw/Queen Adreena, Mudhoney, Prodigy, Babes In Toyland, Steps (obvs), Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Chemical Brothers.
But there are also so many exciting bands around at the moment such as Idles, LIFE, Yard Act, Wet Leg, Coach party, etc. Has there ever been a better time to be alive (if you spend all day listening to music and are not aware of the world around you).
You released your debut single 'Toothpaste' last month; do you have a sense of how the single is doing out there in the 'big wide world'?
People have been really nice to us about the single. We chose this track as a good marker of where we wanna be, but it's not our exact location. More of an approximation. A beacon to the emergency services to know where were heading. We just hope others are coming with us. BBC Introducing Suffolk played us the same week that we submitted the track and Jake of @rebelzartz did some amazing artwork and made the perfect video for our first release, which really helped. I think Jake and the band will both grow together and that's also exciting.
And where did you record the single? Did you have somebody help you with recording the single?
We recorded with AJ at Black Cactus Studio who knows how to pull out the music for the record from our over excitement. We love it at Black Cactus, we rehearse there every week and it's like a home from home for us.
What's next on the release front for Ecto Peach - more singles, a longer form release - EP, album perhaps?
Stickers! We've just ordered some stickers and that makes us happy. But everything about this band makes us happy. Middle aged life can suck if you're not careful, but we have come together with an express purpose of making each other happy and if we can pull some other people along into a fraction of our happiness, then that is really cool.
We are writing more tracks and we've booked some more studio time at the end of January and will be working with Jake to produce another video to go with it.
Then it will be t-shirts, gigging, more studio time and somewhere down the line there will be some vinyl, because that's what all the cool kids are doing and we wanna be cool... and kids!
In terms of live shows, do you have any in the pipeline that people can come and catch you at?
We are playing New River Studios near Finsbury Park (London) on the 28th January with Tropical Nightmare, which we are really looking forward to. But that is the only confirmed gig we have lined up currently. We are open to offers of gigs... Don't be shy people.
And what's the favourite part of playing a show for you?
Listening to music is fun. Listening to music on a train full of commuters can bring Happiness. Playing music is amazing. Rehearsals are joyous. But playing music to other people is an absolute pleasure. And if they enjoy it, it is the most brilliant thing this side of a skinny dipping pool party in an American teen drama (which is probably the most fun known to mankind... probably). Having said that, Matthew's previous gig was 24 years ago, so he's looking forward to them being less terrifying than the NYE gig was!
Do you think there's a good music scene currently in Suffolk and Essex? Any bands from the area you'd recommend to readers?
Has there ever been a stronger scene? The bands are all incredible at the moment. Ghosts of Men, The Meffs, Rad Pitt and of course the Pet Needs boys (who are really taking off), just to name a few of the incredible bands. It's both a really daunting prospect to be mixing with them, whilst also giving us a great big leg up to propel ourselves on the back of so many great artists.
However, there are also incredible venues which are actually driving the scene too. Venues such as Coda (Colchester) Three Wise Monkeys (Colchester), The Smoke House (Ipswich), the Steam Boat (Ipswich) and the new venue, The Baths (Ipswich), are providing a platform for us to stand on (physically and metaphorically). Plus there's the brilliant Cosmic Puffin festival, whilst Ipswich Sound City was absolutely incredible this year.
And finally, what plans do you have for Ecto Peach in 2022?
Stickers, pizza, T-shirts, more gigs and vinyl in that order!
Up the Peach!!!