Peace Interview
by Ashley Brooklyn

Peace is a rock band from Birmingham, UK. The group consists of brothers Harrison (vocals, guitar) and Sam Koisser (bass), Douglas Castle(guitar) and Dominic Boyce (drums).

The band started getting attention in early 2012 from publications such as The Guardian and NME. Peace has been compared to The Maccabees,Wu Lyf and Vampire Weekend. They released their debut EP "EP Delicious" through Columbia Records early September 2012.

What else can we tell you about Peace? The Guardian tells us they have already supported the Vaccines, Manic Street Preachers, Tame Impala and Magic Kids. At one of their first London gigs, at the Old Blue Last, they painted a 10ft Peace symbol all over the venue, clearly unconcerned that someone on the minimum wage had to scrub it off the next morning. Still, what do they care – they're rock'rollers who like to grind, roll and smoke and, allegedly, fuck you in the heart with their music. We know this because they have a manifesto that reads: "MUSIC TO GRIND, ROLL & SMOKE/ MUSIC TO FUCK YOU IN THE HEART." We also have it on pretty good authority (ie one of the band told us) that at least one member of Peace is distantly related to Michael J Fox, that Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood swapped a pair of his cargo trousers for one of their demos, and that they recently got into a fight with Finley Quaye when he became jealous at an aftershow party the band were getting more female attention than him. The fracas culminated with Quaye throwing a drink over guitarist Doug Castle.

When they played Cambridge Portland Arms, Ash went a long to give them a gentle grilling.

What influenced you musically?
Everything really, there's quite a strong link from the 60s to the 90s in there, that's what our parents were listening to. The stuff you hear when you're a kid, gets absorbed. Or stuff that girls are into. That's why I first got into Nirvana, because a girl had a Nirvana t-shirt on.

What's the worst gig you've played?
There's been shows where the venues been moved or the promoters fucked it, but they're usually not the worst shows. It's always shit when equipment breaks. We had a show in Nottingham where all our equipment broke but that was a really good show. We've never been bottled so we'll take that as a good thing.

Strange backstage moments?
We usually find a game that usually involves a small piece of fruit or a piece of ham or something. In Manchester we played bagel curling. There's always a backstage sport, like yesterday we were throwing a lime through the hole in the bass drum.

What was it like touring and playing shows with Mystery Jets, MSP and The Vaccines?
Vaccines was very early on for us and them, that was cool because it was really early. The Mystery Jets tour was really fun because we learnt a lot from an experienced band that have been doing it for years. The Manics was good because they were our first big shows, really professional with a band who have been doing it since we've been born, they're masters of their game, legends of the game you could say.

Opinions on X-Factor?
It's dominating the charts, but I don't get why people get so worked up about it. No one watches it to find talent, it's just cheap entertainment. We don't have a problem with it.

Any bands you would love to tour with?
Mystery Jets again. Foo Fighters probably, that would be pretty cool. I'd like to tour maybe America with a big American band. I'd love to tour with MGMT. The Rolling Stones now, it would be really funny because they're so old. I bet they're still crazy.

Dream gig?
NME tent at Reading Festival would be awesome; I always thought that would be incredible to play. I think that's the most realistic dream gig. Hopefully we could do that in the next few years. Headlining Brixton Academy would be pretty sweet. A wedding! Would be cool, we could play our tour managers wedding, wearing wedding dresses and looking better than his wife.

Any artists you would love to meet, alive or dead?
John Bonham. Mozart would be pretty interesting. Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, James Brown. I'd like to meet matey from Keane, I used to say this quite a lot, if I could be in any band ever, I would be the drummer from Keane. Seriously, just for a day. The drummer from Keane is one of the best positions to be in. Because "somewhere only we know ba boom ba boom ba boom" just fucking hammering it. Mid-day at Glastonbury or whatever! Don't mock it would be a really good place to be.

Any advice to young musicians?
Keep on playing. All we've ever done since we started is just played, we've still got a lot to do, we're not in a position to be all like follow your heart. I think we still need some advice from people.

Thanks to the band for their time and Ashley M at Chuff Media for sorting things out.

http://peaceforeverever.co.uk/