Peggy Chats with: Home Counties
Your weekly go-to new music guide brought to you by our London music journo, Peggy as she uncovers the latest ‘bands and artists to watch’ in the post-punk, new wave, jazz and indie communities. This week she discusses gigging in your dressing gown,touring with Hotel Lux and lockdown releases, with reborn, Bristolian post-punks, Home Counties.
@peggyfromearth
WH: Will Harrison (vocals/guitar)
DH: Dan Hearn (drums) SW: Sam Woodroffe (bass) CK: Conor Kearney (guitar) BPP: Barn Peiser Pepin (synth/percussion/vocals)
You announced the formation of Home Counties in mid-January but have been playing and releasing music over the past few years in various other outfits. How did the full band come to be together?
WH: Well me, Conor and Dan had been in Haze since we were 14. Childhood friend and Jerry frontman, Barn joined the band towards the end of last year and then Sam came in on bass duties shortly after that. The band was heading in a noticeably different direction anyway but Barn and Sam really solidified the new sound. We went away for a month or two, recorded the debut Home Counties EP and then launched the project late January.
Formerly known as Haze with a highly praised discography, how as Home Counties have you reformed your sound and style?
DH: We’re proud of what Haze achieved but by festival season last summer we were all feeling a little tired of the old material and when we started writing new stuff we soon realised that it was time to start a-fresh with a new name, lineup and musical direction. Once the new guys joined everything fell into place really.
Your debut single, ‘Redevelopment’ manages to uplift a seemingly downbeat topic to the dizzy heights of playful nostalgia. How did you go about creating the track and do the same qualities and/or processes translate in your other work?
WH: It was the first song that came out of us living together in Bristol, and the first of a more collective approach to writing. Me and Conor came up with the guitar parts and spent ages weaving