A Quick Chat with Pepperhead

Your songwriting often starts with what you’ve called ‘nonsense’ vocals that evolve into full stories. What’s the weirdest or most unexpected lyric that’s come out of that process?

“Look harder at the light in his eyes. It’s getting dark, getting darker. You can’t keep him in those zip-lock ties. It’s too much now” from Try Me. Zip-lock ties was the ‘nonsense’ vocal and the lyrics came from there….

‘The Best (& WORST) of Times’ has that “let’s just get fucked up and take it all in” energy. Do you think that mindset reflects where you’re all at in life right now?

Absolutely. These are literally the craziest times right now. I think we’re all grateful to have some perspective, humour, catharsis. But we’ve also got to have some belief and a backbone. Apathy is unacceptable.

‘Northern Bitches’ is sharp, funny and brutally honest. Have you had any reactions from people who felt a little too seen by it?

Ha ha — I literally had people who’d somewhat inspired it asking me who had inspired it! I also found people being extra nice to me. To my face anyways…

Recording at The Grove Studios with Scott Horscroft must have been a big moment. What was one studio moment that really stuck with you or changed the direction of a track?

The whole experience was the single most rock and roll thing we’ve ever done whilst also feeling strangely normal. Just walking into the place and seeing all the gold discs on the walls was a pinch yourself moment. Jackson Wiebe, who produced most of the album, is a low key crazy genius. He changed our whole view on what our songs could become and brought so much depth to our tracks, especially Road Trip and Opportunistic Tendencies.

The album moves from grief and love to anger and satire pretty quickly. Do you see Pepperhead as more of a cathartic outlet or a storytelling vehicle?

Great observation. Both! There’s a lot of fact and fiction in there. I’m not quite at Taylor Swift levels for revenge songs but I do love a back story….

If Light Shade Love Rage was a night out, where does it start and where does it end?

Ohhh this is an epic question. It starts with getting ready for a night out and ends in a dark alley at 4am. In between there’ll be a fight, some dancing, some drunken crying and reminiscing while telling your mates how much you love them and some life goals setting. That’s actually my standard night out come to think of it.