London noise makers Alien Chicks consisting of Joe (guitar, vocals), Stefan Parker-Steele (bass, backing vocals), Martha Daniels(drums, backing vocals). They are signed to Slow Dance Records and their single Cowboy is out now. We checked in with the band to find out a little bit more about them.
Give us a potted history of the band
Joe (guitar and vocals) and Stef (bass) met at a tap dancing class when they were 10 years old and have been best friends ever since. They met Martha by chance in September 2021 when they had just moved to Brixton, London to pursue music (they chose Brixton to be near the Windmill). We played our first gig as a band on 5th October 2021 and have been gigging relentlessly since then (we played our 100th gig on 30th December 2022 at the Windmill, which has become our second home).
Who inspired you to start making music
I (Martha) went to my first Glastonbury at the age of 5 so have grown up watching live music and wanting to make music and perform myself. Joe and Stef spent lots of time in 2020 going to the woods near their houses in High Wickham and writing songs there. This was after the first lockdown when live music hadn’t really come back yet, but it gave them loads of time to write and they wrote hundreds of songs. This writing process inspired them to move to London to pursue music.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
Unlocked 1.5 by Denzel Curry because it slaps! Hell fire by Black Midi because we love that it’s heavy but with jazz influences.
If you’re trying to explain whom you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do you say
A bit of post-punk, a bit of hip hop, a bit of bossa nova, and loads of energy and fun. Each song has a different feel and different influences, and our sound is always changing as we play live more and more.
Tell us about your new track and where can we get hold of it
‘Cowboy’ is out now on Slow Dance Records (check it out here). It’s on their best of 2022 compilation album which will be out on casette soon. We recorded it at Otterhead Studios which is a great residential recording studio in the countryside near Rugby. We actually recorded 4 songs in one day, Candlestick Maker, Cowboy, and then when we finished those we recorded another two at the end of the day (Mr Muscle and 5/4 – we recorded each of those in 45 minutes!). Joe describes Cowboy as being an amalgamation of a few riffs that were loitering in Joe’s (singer and guitarist) mind over a few weeks. He thought that the poem resonated well with the unlikely pairing of the gentle verses and hectic sections. The lyrics explore themes of regret, confusion, self blame and how these evils collude in taunting you through your dreams and subconscious.
Tell us how you write
Joe and Stef live together so they tend to come up with the initial chords and riffs together, and Joe writes most of the lyrics based on weird ideas in his head or based on scenarios that have happened to him. Often our songs are a conglomeration of lots of different ideas and riffs. We then get into a practice room and Martha adds the drum parts and sometimes reworks the rhythms, and we tend to try out the new song at our next gig (and practice it in the soundcheck so we don’t mess up too much!)
Tell us about your live show What would be your dream gig
We love playing live and ideally we would play live every other day. Dream gig would be on the Pyramid Stage or John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, or at Brixton Academy supporting Black Midi or Pixies.
What can we expect from you in the near future
2023 is going to be a big year for us as we have a series of releases, starting with ‘Cowboy’, and we are going on a big UK tour in April which is partly headline dates and partly supporting The Wood Burning Savages. We have had radio play from Steve Lamacq, John Kennedy, and BBC introducing so far, as well as support from various indie music magazines and blogs. We have sold out the Windmill Brixton 7 times and we have a big headline show coming up in April at the Lexington, London
Tell us your favourite records that’s rocking your headphones/tour bus/stereo
English Teacher ‘Polyawkward’, everything by Black Midi, Ocean Wisdom, Opus Kink, Deadletter, ABBA Gold.
Find out more via the band’s Facebook
Check out the band’s track Woodlouse, below:
[…] Meet: London Post Punk Trio Alien Chicks […]