INTERVIEW & APPEAL | GRACES

The brainchild of singer-songwriter Steve Harrison, up-and-coming group GRACES suffered a setback after a recent robbery at their shared house, which you can read more about here. To try and cover at least some of the cost of stolen equipment, the band have put their stunningly good 'EP1' on Bandcamp on a "pay what you want" basis - if you have a spare couple of pounds, it's well worth buying, both for the quality of the music and in order to help the band at a difficult time.

On a brighter note, there's no denying GRACES are one of the most exciting new bands in the country at the minute. Deep lyrics, addictive riffs and enormous choruses combine to make them a fascinating, genre-blending prospect. NRMB caught up with Steve to discuss the band's inspirations, music and journey so far...

Dominic Penna: Firstly, how did the band start out and what got you into pursuing a career in music?

Steve Harrison: Graces came about when I'd essentially had the worst year of my life, I was in a band called Over and Out which had slowed quite a lot since all of our members had gone to university around various parts of the country. I really needed to start again and wanted to turn all the rubbish stuff that had happened earlier in the year into something good, so I just hid away in my garage for a little while and made ‘EP 1’. For as long as I can remember I've been musically inclined, my parents bought me a little kids drum when I was really small and I couldn't put it down, it's just all grown from there really, and gone from a hobby to more of an obsession now.

DP: Who are the bands that you admire and have been influenced by most?

SH: My influences are pretty eclectic, growing up I loved a lot of guitar music but I think the bands that stick with me most now are bands like Brand New, Reuben and Every Time I Die. Saying that I'd really say that Graces is massively influenced by a lot of pop music, like Whitney Houston and that 80s pop sound and even a little 90s RnB. From Bowie to Jeff Buckley I think I'm influenced by a little bit of everything.

DP: 'EP1' is a great mix of atmospheric, well crafted and at times hard-hitting tracks - where do you see your musical direction heading?

SH: Thanks! Well most of EP 2 is already written and I can tell you it's basically just built upon the same variation of tracks that you can hear in ‘EP 1’, there's a couple of straight up pop songs, but also more electronic and dark moments as well as some quite heavy guitar based tracks. I really hope to keep the diversity in the music so there's a little bit of everything within the EP, keeping it cohesive but also dynamic and interesting.

DP: Do you have a favourite song out of the ones you've written, or one you particularly enjoy playing live?

SH: It would be really hard to choose a favourite, part of the way I work involves extreme self-criticism and self-depreciation, to the point that whenever I hear my own songs I tend to always be thinking of what I could have done better. For me, the song ‘Worry’ definitely marked an improvement in my writing, it's probably one of the most honest songs I've ever written so I definitely appreciate it for that, although it's a little hard to listen to for me sometimes! Playing live is a different matter though, it's always so much fun to play everything but the end of the set finishes with a song called ‘Slow’ which builds and builds until the final kick at the end which is always a great moment for me.

DP: You're already building up a good live reputation, what's been the best gig that you've done so far?

SH: We played a show a little while ago with a great band called Colt 45 who are good friends of ours and have really supported us, that show was great because there were a lot of people who were encountering us for the first time, and you could see them being really receptive and excited by what we were doing. Also the venue was my local venue from home called The Brickyard which is my favourite venue in the country, the room sounds incredible!

DP: Are there any other new or up-and-coming bands you'd like to recommend to our readers?

SH: Definitely check out Colt 45 who I previously mentioned, they just released a great EP called Snakes and Ladders, so if you like honest catchy and simple song writing they're definitely worth a listen. Also our friend Shane who filled in on bass for us for a show recently is just releasing a new EP with his band Youth Salute, I was lucky enough to hear some of the tracks on it and they're really exciting, so check them out!

DP: Finally, where would you like GRACES to be in a year or two?

SH: Well the plan now is to just play as many shows as we can for a while and get the music out to people. Hopefully next year or the year after we will be hitting a lot more festivals which would be incredible. To be honest I'll be a happy man if in a couple of years I can work on Graces full time and also afford to clothe and feed myself! I'm confident we'll be able to get way more people involved and will be playing bigger and bigger shows by then!

GRACES play at The Rocking Chair as part of a stellar three-band line up in Sheffield on Saturday 24 September.