News Peace: ‘We’re Confident In Our Music’

Sometimes entire cities gain attention, rather than a single band. Acts get pieced together, pose for photoshoots with each other, hanging out in local landmarks. Most of the time, we’re being told about how Manchester is experiencing a resurgence or that all the hipster bands met together in East London bedsits. This time, however, the music press are documenting stirrings in Birmingham; 2012’s chosen hub for exciting new talent. Leather-jacket sporting Peace lead the pack; their hybrid of tropical pop and traditional rock ‘n roll so thrilling, so refreshing, that it’s perceived to have begun an entire movement.

As tales of the Grim Reaper knocking on the battered door of guitar music’s flooded home continue to pour in, the flipside of the coin are bands like Peace, bands who sound oh-so familiar but entirely newly woven all at once. DIY speaks to frontman Harry as he scours his hotel room in Berlin and begins to pack for another city, while touring with the Manic Street Preachers. “Nicky Wire’s been asking about my jacket… James has bought us beers every night”, Harry even tells us about how his band got mistaken for Foster The People by a stage announcer on a previous night of the tour. Things might already feel like a whirlwind, but you get the sense that it’s only beginning to kick off for Peace.

Following on from the release of ‘Follow Baby’, things began to take a turn for the surreal. “It’s ridiculous… Who are these people?” Harry asks when we talk about the 85,000 plays the band’s new single has managed to rack up on Soundcloud. “It’s pretty weird - no, it’s totally weird.” DIY asks for a specific turning point for the group - was it the release of ‘Bblood’ last year? “No, ‘Bblood’ was a real slow burner. It took around 9 months after the online release for people to start listening to it.” How about the fluorescent pink fields and cocksure footage put together for ‘Follow Baby”s video? It was the first time many saw Peace in performance mode and it makes for a fascinating watch: “At first I was really turned off by the idea of doing a performance video, but the Director [Jack Harmer] was really encouraging. It was natural for the location we were in to just do something straight up, and it’s a good demonstration of how we’re feeling.”

Peace at least appear to be a confident bunch. But not obnoxiously so; they don’t declare themselves to be the saviours of rock ‘n roll, not even with the praise being thrown towards their home city. “We’re not putting on any overconfidence, masquerade thing. We just know where we’re at. We’re confident in our music.” As our conversation concludes, off Harry sets with his band for another European date with one of Britain’s biggest bands.

Peace’s new single ‘Follow Baby’ is out now via Deadly People.

Taken from the June 2012 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.