We caught up with rising post-punk outfit Grandmas House to talk about their self-titled debut EP, Life in Bristol, and much more!
Bristol based post-punk trio Grandmas House recently shared their explosive debut self-titled EP, four tracks of poignent, anarchic music. It’s hard not to be lured in by their frantic sound, especially in a live setting. Since this release we have been eager to find out more about one of Bristol’s, if not the UK’s most exciting post-punk outfits.
Recently, we had the pleasure of asking Poppy Dodgson, vocalist and drummer of the band. We discussed the bands decision to move to Bristol, bands they’ve been enjoying, and much more!
Kieran: Hello Grandmas House, how are you!?
Poppy: Good thank you! We’ve been LOVING touring around the UK over the past few weeks so very happy and very tired!
Kieran: So, you all met at University in London but decided to move down to Bristol, what was it that prompted the move and how have you found it?
Poppy: I’m (Poppy) from Bristol, and knew the other two would love it so dragged them home with me! We absolutely love living here, the music scene is amazing and the people are lovely so we haven’t wanted to go anywhere else since!
Kieran: Has moving cities changed your songwriting or sound at all?
Poppy: There’s a real post punk sound in Bristol at the moment which has definitely inspired our sound!
Kieran: For a band as loud and riotous as yourselves, the band name Grandma’s House feels almost out of place, how did this come to be?
Poppy: Our friend has a tattoo of her grandmas house on her arm, and when we were trying to think of a band name we were saying every possible word we could think of, and one of us just pointed to the tattoo and said GRANDMAS HOUSE! It immediately stuck, and just felt like the perfect juxtaposition with the loud shouty music we make.
Kieran: When you formed the band did you have an idea to as what sort of sound you wanted to create or was it something that formed naturally as you played?
Poppy: It definitely formed naturally as we played. We were very inspired by the riot grrl movement and a lot of 70’s punk music, as well as the kind of music that was starting to come out of the scene (IDLES, shame, slaves, goat girl) and it sort of just developed! We all have very different and broad music tastes so when we’re writing music we find that really helps!
Kieran: How does your recorded music differ from your live performances? I am unfortunately yet to see you live but I imagine your music is next level live!
Poppy: We tried to capture our live performance on record as best we could and we’re really pleased with how it turned out as we’re definitely a live band! We love performing in front of an audience and the energy we get from the crowd is amazing.
Listen/watch ‘Always Happy’ here:
Kieran: Do you have any shows that have stuck out for you and where do you enjoy playing the most?
Poppy: We played the best show at dot to dot recently in Bristol! It felt like live music was finally back and was just a really special show. We love playing all the venues in Bristol, and recently we’ve played Bodega in Nottingham and love the vibe there!
Kieran: Bristol has an amazing live music scene full of great bands and artists, who are some you would recommend to our readers?
Poppy: Yes so many! Slagheap, Muffintops, Try Me are some of our absolute faves at the moment!
Kieran: Your self-titled debut EP was released into the wild on October 15th, how has the reception been and how do you feel now it’s out there?
Poppy: Oh my god it’s been amazing!!! We are so happy with the response! We’re so glad it’s out in the world as it’s been a long time coming.
Kieran: Can you talk us through the recording process of the EP?
Poppy: Yeah we had so much fun! We recorded our instruments all together in Factory studios, all in one day in a mad blur! And then we finished it off with Scott Barnett in Bath!
Kieran: Now the album is out what are your plans?
Poppy: We are currently touring around the UK for the first time! And we have some new songs which we’d love to put out soon so some more recording is definitely on the cards!
Kieran: Lastly, what advice would you give to anyone looking to start a band?
Poppy: Don’t take yourself too seriously! Try to have fun and remember that not everyone is gonna like what you make, so make the music you want to make, keep writing, be patient & gig as much as you can!
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