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PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING One of the most hyped bands in Britain right now is Peace, but frontman Harrison Koisser admits to Benny Doyle that they were “a mess” until producer Jim Abbiss got stern with them.
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t’s a bit strange to find out that Dublin is anything other than a wet, miserable mess, but according to Harry ‘Harrison’ Koisser the Irish capital is boiling hot. Calling in while on tour, the Peace frontman is tired but kind natured, speaking with a laboured flow that offers plenty of pregnant pauses but remains endearing nonetheless. Forming in 2009 as November And The Criminal before changing their front to Peace roughly a year later, the four-piece from Worcester in England’s West Midlands were pretty much an unknown quantity until early-2012, when a chance encounter on their first full tour of their homeland changed everything. “We toured around the UK and more and more people came to the shows, and then at the end of it we ended up signing a record deal,” Koisser recalls nonchalantly. “At that point it kinda felt real; that was in the beginning of 2012. There was one [show] where we played in a pub in south London that we almost didn’t do, and I think the editor of NME lived across the road and had just got back from holiday and kinda went to the pub and we were playing, and she went and told her husband who was the guy that ended up signing us.” Airplay and press behind their debut EP, Delicious, led to a nomination in BBC’s Sound of 2013 poll, and following that the upwards trajectory the band’s taken has been nothing short of vertical. Somewhat unsurprising when you consider the story recalled in the previous paragraph, NME proclaimed their debut record In Love as the album of the year. It was released 25 March, 2013. With such bold statements following the band’s movements, you’d imagine Peace would be feeling the pinch when it comes to matching the hyperbole on stage. Right? “Um, well,” Koisser ponders, letting out a big yawn in the process, “I don’t think so. Praise is good, we like a bit of praise, but it doesn’t really add any pressure, though. I think we’ve got this weird ability to see the positives out of anything.” So did Peace see the positives that were going to develop when they first listened to In Love cover to cover? “I don’t know, we all felt a bit confused, we were like, ‘What have we done?’” admits the guitarist/vocalist.
“We’d never recorded anything properly before – we’d done an EP – but then an album... It was weird. It sounded really like a debut record, I guess. We’d never really thought that we’d do it.” Helping them put their dreams to wax was Jim Abbiss, a formidable name in the world of music production, and a man that has assisted in the creation of such iconic debuts as Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Sneaker Pimps’ Becoming X and Kasabian’s eponymous first record. Koisser credits Abbiss with helping Peace discover their real selves in the studio, his casually stern nature allowing the band to see who they needed to be – themselves. “We were like a mess at the beginning because we were so confused and didn’t know what to do, like what should we sound like,” Koisser says somewhat sheepishly. “I was just putting phaser on everything and trying to make Brian May’s guitar sound in the studio, and Jim was just like, ‘Go in the room and play’, and then played it
back to us and was like, ‘Look, that’s what you sound like. Let’s record you’. And then we did that and we were like, ‘Ohhhhh. Okay, that’s what we’re going to do’. So that’s what we did for the rest of the recording process. “The first few days in the studio we had no idea what we were doing,” he continues. “We had all these songs, but suddenly as you’re recording it you’re like, ‘Wait, if I wanted to make this sound a certain way then this is my last chance’, so we were experimenting too much, and Jim was just like, ‘Right, lads, go in the room and play the song’. And then we did, and that’s what we did for every song. We did a few overdubs and stuff but the majority of it is just us playing.” Right now, Peace are showcasing the fruits of this successful partnership on stages right across Europe, enjoying a string of summer festival appearances which included a memorable stop at the Glastonbury festival.
“I THINK WE’VE GOT THIS WEIRD ABILITY TO SEE THE POSITIVES OUT OF ANYTHING” “It was magical, it was a great show,” he beams. “I didn’t really think about the show when I was playing it, but seeing photos afterwards it was like, ‘Whoa!’” And he credits the reception their set received to constantly improving performance chops and a commitment to staying grounded. “We’re always getting better live, I think. Just little things change; we’ve just continued to do what we do. It’s really straightforward, I guess, really simple. I’m not trying to be cool or anything, I don’t really care about trendy shit, it’s straightforward and honest; people seem to dig that, people like songs that aren’t dressed up.” Soon it’ll be Australia’s turn to let Peace into our lives, with the young four-piece eager to arrive removed of any preconceptions and let the positive energy flow. “I never really research anywhere I’m going to go, I kind of like to learn by being there,” Koisser remarks. “I haven’t really been told what to expect – I’ll be the judge. I’m sure it will be really good.” WHAT: In Love (Sony) WHEN & WHERE: 13 Sep, The Eagle Bar, La Trobe University; 14 and 15 Sep, Northcote Social Club