LONDON based The History Of Apple Pie (THOAP) are using a new fantastic wave of synth-pop to please ears all around the world.The dynamic five-piece create music that reminisces your own school days and those cheesy disco scenes we see in those chick-flick, all American films from the 90's. Don't be put off, each track is brilliantly shining and great to kick back and reflect upon times gone by.
Everything is infected by Summer, you feel the warmth of the sun on your skin just listening. Tell me when you ever had felt that good with a piece of music because I sure haven't in a long, long time. I gave a listen to their debut album, Out Of View, and was blown away by it's own bizarre personality. One track named 'Glitch' grabbed my attention. I felt it just left me feeling numb, as if i'd experienced something so abnormal and out of this world. The beat is slow, lulling yet the awesome quiet guitar solo still produces that umpf it needs to make you rock and flow with the track. Dreamy and soft are the vocals that combine with this piece, adding to a curious psychedelic state full of the typical rainbow twists and vast, never-ending daisy fields.
Full to the brim with fun antics and that well desired lively vibe, Mallory, was another that grabbed my undoubted attention. The quick introductory drum beat closely followed by the musical tempo that uplifts the listener to a delirious state, forcing them to rise and do a manic dance, twirling and bouncing into contentment. The vocals are again so soft yet breeze flowing, stringing the words into one connected daisy-chain of animated happiness.
You cannot help but full in love with the creativity THOAP gives you. They're all incredibly talented musicians and work succinctly together producing idyllic feel-good vibe throughout everything they place their hands on.This year you'll be hearing a lot from this superb group, they have just finished their latest UK tour and whether it is playing Best Kept Secret or Y not festival their coverage is only going to continue to grow massively. I had to grab an interview with them to find out more... You heard it here first folks!
Firstly, thank you for agreeing to this interview, i'll start of asking about how you all got together to become The History Of Apple Pie?
It was just Jerome and I to begin with. We started to write music out of boredom in our bedroom. We'd been going out for quite some time and both been pursuing different things (me, events production - him, music) and one night he just asked me "Hey, do you wanna write a song?" So it just kind of happened. Out of that, our first track Out Of View was born. I'd not written anything before like he had - but it was a really fun experience and I discovered I had a knack for coming up with decent pop melodies. Jerome drove the instrumental side and steered the initial songs in the right direction by coming up with really interesting guitar parts. We put our first few tracks up on the internet to show our friends and soon found that some industry folk were interested. At the time, we'd not even considered forming a band but we wanted to give it a go despite me never having been in one before. We started to advertise for musicians which is how we came across our drummer, James, and then we were introduced to Kelly by our friends in The Depreciation Guild (TPOBPAH side project) and James hooked us up with Aslam. Ever since then, we became a tight-knit family.
Who influences your music, do you all share the same influences in music?
It varies. The band members all like different music. Most of our influences are passive when it comes to song-writing. We don't sit down and think "Lets write a song like this or that". It's more natural than that between Jerome and I. He comes from a noisy guitar angle, whereas I come from a vivid pop angle so when the two come together you get songs like "Mallory" and "Tug". There are certain songs on the album that especially show the direction Jerome and I take individually when we go away and write on our own before bringing something to the table to work together on. "I Want More" was very much a visible expression of Jerome's interest in the layering of instruments and the kind of music he wanted to make, whereas "Do It Wrong" was initially written by me in an effort to channel some attitude into our songs.
Do you have any before gig rituals?
We love spiced rum so we usually drink that before a show. Then usually muck about and wrestle each other, or something... I don't know. I sometimes think we do nothing but eat all the time! Before we go on stage though we usually have a group huddle/hug. More often than not, Kelly and I do some 80's dance moves and power lunges to warm up...
Has there been anything that you have come across in the music industry which has surprised you?
Not really. We've always sort of known the industry is quite cut throat. The only thing that is sad to see is bands getting disposed of or forgotten as soon as a trend has passed or they've failed to deliver an album. We've tried to be as strategic as possible with our approach as a band. We've always focused on our song writing and since we departed from our previous managers last year - the longevity of the band has become more important to us. We came out fighting last year from a bit of a low point, and it's the best feeling in the world to know that we accomplished our goals - primarily releasing an album we're proud of - by ourselves, and managed to pull together a really strong team of people who believed in what we did and stuck by us.
How did the name 'The History of Apple Pie' come about?
In short - we stumbled across it on the internet when Jerome and I were trying to find a weird, random name for our 'musical project'. If I can remember rightly, it was the name of a children's ABC book. This was before we formed the band, and before we decided to take our songs further. We get asked about the name all the time and we honestly don't really care - not in a pretentious way... just it hasn't really impacted our career or ability to pursue music in the way that people might think. In fact, just the pure fact that people talk about it shows that the band has obviously been heard of and that's a good thing. There's no interesting story behind the name... I wouldn't say the name is insignificant to us - but it certainly doesn't hold any 'meaning' other than it marks the start of a great journey for all the band members. We're all really chuffed with how far we've managed to take the band off our own backs. If the name was important, we wouldn't have achieved everything we have so far and been given some really great opportunities.
How much of an impact has having coverage in NME had on you as a group?
The NME have always given us good coverage so we can't complain. Sometimes the press is really good, sometimes it's negative - but that's the same with every publication or website. When you throw yourselves into a spotlight for people to judge your music, you have to expect that not everyone is going to have the same taste so it's really important to take all press with a pinch of salt. If we weren't proud of what we have accomplished thus far and the album we have written, we wouldn't be continuing to do what we do but I think over the last year the pros have outweighed the cons so much that we know there's still lots more exciting things to come for us. I'm glad it hasn't been rushed and we've got something to look forward to as our career progresses.
What is the 'dream' for you?
The dream is to push the band as far as it'll go. I mean, album one is done. We're keen to release album two, which we've been writing and recording the demos for. It's exciting because it feels like a fresh start for us and because we've really honed our sound, we know what direction we want to go in next. Whatever we do, it'll always stay incredibly poppy because that's what we're about. But we're going to introduce other elements to our songs... I'd also love to hear one of our songs in a video game or movie. I think that's the real dream. I've always imagined 'Mallory' or 'See You' in some kind of teen movie. They were written with that in mind...
How long have you all wanted to perform music?
I think James, Aslam and Jerome have always wanted to perform it. Kelly has dabbled in it a bit in the past, but it wasn't until we formed the band that Kelly and I really felt it was something we could pursue properly. The stage is a really amazing place to be, with a group of people who all feel strongly about the music we're playing and writing.
Where would you all be without music?
Working full time jobs and working in offices... same as we do now.
If you could do anything differently what would you change and why?
I don't think we could have done anything differently. Everything sort of fell into our laps without us having a say in it at first - which had its ups and downs - but I think it eventually put us in a good position and lead us to where we are now. Had we not felt a mutual enthusiasm for making our album happen and showing people that we had what it takes - we may not have managed to get it out. For us, it's always about moving forward and not dwelling on the past.
Is there anything for us to look out for this year?
We've got a bunch of festivals lined up this Summer including Truck Festival, Y Not with The Horrors, Stockton Weekender with Primal Scream headlining - that will be great. We've got our 2nd London show of the year at White Heat (Madame Jojo's), which should be really fun. Our last show at Old Blue Last was rammed and a lot of people couldn't get in - so it'll be good to give people another chance to see us. We'll be touring quite a bit to promote our recently released debut album, Out Of View, which we're really looking forward to! Our aim is to visit Europe and hopefully the U.S. at some point. We've been asked to go there so many times, but as you can imagine it costs a fair amount. When the time is right - we'll go! One thing we're really looking forward to is our release for Record Store Day this year. It's a split 7" with our friends and great band Younghusband - and the artwork has been done by this artist called Logan Fitzpatrick from NYC whose drawings are just awesome.
What has been the 'highlight' for you so far?
Definitely the release of our album and seeing it get to #2 in the Official UK Record Store Chart. We just thought that was incredible for us - an unsigned band - to achieve with our album in its first week of sales. That's definitely a milestone for us and we hope it gives other bands the motivation to make things happen. Good things come to those that work hard.
I'd like to thank The History Of Apple Pie for this fantastic interview, keep your eyes pealed and get listening!
LONDON based The History Of Apple Pie (THOAP) are using a new fantastic wave of synth-pop to please ears all around the world.The dynamic five-piece create music that reminisces your own school days and those cheesy disco scenes we see in those chick-flick, all American films from the 90's. Don't be put off, each track is brilliantly shining and great to kick back and reflect upon times gone by.
Firstly, thank you for agreeing to this interview, i'll start of asking about how you all got together to become The History Of Apple Pie?
Do you have any before gig rituals?
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