London trio headboy release their debut EP Was It What You Thought on 9 June via Blitzcat Records. The first two singles from the four track EP, ‘Cement’ and ‘Reservoir‘ demonstrate a range of influences.
Welcome headboy! To start could you introduce yourselves and share your roles in the band?
Mars: My name is Mars and I do vocals, play guitar and bass.
Oli: Oli (they/them) and I’m on drums!
Jess: Jess (she/they) I play bass/guitar and do some singing/talking.
How did you get together to form headboy?
M: We met playing football!
Can you describe the main themes that informed Was It What You Thought?
M: This EP is largely about trying to navigate relationships in your early 20s and sometimes failing catastrophically.
J: Agree with Mars, when writing and recording the songs felt very specific to the times of lockdown and pandemic, returning to society, but listening back it probably is what many people experience in their 20s. I think in a way the EP often comes back to the theme of agency, and how much we have in certain situations, and then what to do when we have it and how to cope when we don’t.
Are there favourite moments on the EP?
M: My favourite moment of recording was doing the guitars on ‘Sheep’s Skin‘ and ‘Cement‘ – because I got to be quite experimental with it.
O: The trippy ending of ‘Cement‘ was very fun to record; lots of cymbals and dreamy guitars, going for that immersive dreamy feel.
J: Finally figuring out the bass line for ‘Reservoir‘ and then recording it for the first time with the drums, it just all clicked into place in a wonderfully cathartic way.
Perhaps even a section on a track?
M: My favourite moments are the instrumentals on ‘Cement’ and ‘Sheep’s Skin’. ‘The best feeling in the world is when you are playing music with your friends and you completely lock in and forget about everything else happening – those instrumental sections always make me think about that feeling.
O: It’s the final chorus and ending of ‘Jackal Lake‘ for me. We captured a lot of emotion here similar to our live performance of the song and it’s such a deeply emotional song! I hope people connect with this too when its released.
J: Same as Oli, the ending of ‘Jackal Lake‘ always gets me; feels like a long breath out after a 14 minute rollercoaster of emotion.
Your music covers a number of different genres which is intriguing in itself, to see such a wide range. Do you have any main influences?
M: RHCP, Radiohead, Animal Collective are the big ones for me.
O: Was listening to a lot of Squid at the time, also influences from Shame, Sports Team & Porridge Radio
J: For the EP I was diving back in time to early Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse, Fugazi, Raincoats, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth. I was obsessed with trying to work out how bands become bands.
You have had a number of impressive support slots including Porridge Radio, deadletter, Goat Girl and Thus Love. Do you have any headline dates planned for headboy?
M: Yes! 30th June at Paper Dress Vintage!
J: With Lobby, who are great, also heard there’s a free 80s club night afterwards.
If I looked in your fridge right now what would I find?
O: Haha great question. Lots of sauce, I’m a saucy dude. My obsession at the minute is Laoganma Crispy Chilli in Oil which I put on absolutely everything.
M: An attempt at a pasta sauce that wasn’t quite bad enough to throw away but not good enough to reheat again. Oli is a much better sauce maker than me.
J: There’s quite a lot of leftover alcohol from a Eurovision party I hosted, and like a litre of yogurt for the mornings.
The debut EP Was It What You Thought by headboy is out on 9 June via Blitzcat records.
For more information on the band check out their facebook and instagram.