Get To Know Get To Know… Drug Store Romeos

Describe your music to us in the form of a Tinder bio
Charlie: I’m melancholic yet playful. I enjoy nights out but also a night in with a book. Win me over with long walks on the beach.

What’s your earliest musical memory?
Sarah: I’m trying to find something earlier because I’m sure there is but I can’t. When I was younger, till about 7, music made me cry all the time. It didn’t even need to be that sad. I just remember so many times my mum having to check on me in the car when the radio was playing, having to ask the staff at restaurants to change the music because it was making her daughter cry and at my year 2 school disco asking the DJ if they could turn the music down. It sounds so corny but it become a real problem.

Who were some artists that inspired you when you were just starting out (and why)
Charlie: We were into bands like Beach Fossils, DIIV, Mac Demarco, Sunflower Bean, Wolf Alice and (Sandy) Alex G.
At 16 I decided that I wanted to feel the way that this type of music made me feel all the time. Especially when dealing with negative emotions I found it had strong healing powers that soothed the feelings vs amplifying them like punk did. The members of these bands were also pretty much all soft 22 year olds that we related to. Most of them came from a DIY bedroom perspective whilst being popular enough to tour the world playing to people our age. To us this was so enticing - to think maybe one day we could be at a similar level
Also clean guitars through Roland JC 120 amps sound…um… cool!

You’re originally from Hampshire! What do you think of the music scene there at the moment?
Charlie: There’s a good ‘psychedelic’ scene in Portsmouth & Southampton and some decent bands play the Boileroom in Guildford.

Are there any other artists breaking through at the same time that you take inspiration from?
Charlie: I think bands like Vanity Fairy, Katy J Pearson and Jay Gee Harper must influence us in some way as we listen to them quite a lot.
Sarah: Yes they are all doing beautiful things right now. It could be said that they have already broken through but I think vanishing twin are always incredible and Grand Veymont tend to open me up in such a funny way when I sit down to listen.

Who would be your dream collaborator?
Charlie: There are so many musical minds that I would love to meld with for even a little while. To narrow it down I’m going to stick to someone living. I studied production and one of my heroes is Jonathan Rado of Foxygen. Their album “…and star power” is one of my favourite dreamy indie soft rock albums ever. The songs sound so ethereal and smooth yet rough around the edges and personal. Everytime you listen on headphones you hear something new - there are so many fun tiny details… a complete opposite ridiculous direction would be to collaborate sonically and visually with 100 gecs. I loved how their collab with Charli XCX ‘claws’ came out.

Musically or otherwise, what are you most looking forward to this year?
Charlie: We’re recording our album this year and I really can’t wait.

If people could take away one thing from your music, what would it be?
Sarah: That’s really tricky. I’ve thought about this a lot and it really does range from song to song though overall, I’d have to say escapism.

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