Interview conducted by Anselm Anderson
HELLO, COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE READERS?
Hey! We’re Harriet Comfort - an East London six-piece indie rock band. We’re made up of 5 Aussies (Amy, Brett, Sue, Rick and Sean) and 1 adopted Brit (Anna).
Our debut single, 'Time is Now' was released earlier this year, after being recorded and produced in our kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms during the global COVID lockdown. Since then we’ve been busy in the studio working on our follow up release, 'The Other Side', which dropped last month.
Amy Church - Vocals Sean Dalton - Drums Rick Gold - Bass Brett MacFarlane - Lead guitar Anna Peiris - Rhythm guitar Sue Summers - Keys
HOW DID HARRIET COMFORT FORM?
We formed back in 2018 out of a mixture of reunions, chance meetings, and a pair of leather pants!
After all, reconnecting in London we initially got together for a laugh over beers jamming on tunes we love by bands we adore.
It wasn’t until we were offered a chance to be part of the MAS program thanks to our neighbourhood studio, Rooz in Shoreditch, that HC became what it is today.
And the rest, as they say, is history...
HC RECENTLY RELEASED THEIR SECOND SINGLE “THE OTHER SIDE “, I UNDERSTAND IT IS INSPIRED BY AN EVENING OUT - COULD YOU ELABORATE FURTHER ON MORE ABOUT THE TRACK?
Yes ‘The Other Side’ was conceived following a holiday abroad by a couple of the band members. A wild night out with an interesting fellow inspired the original lyrics which were penned back in 2018 at HC headquarters in Old St.
After working through the shape of the song (our first original track created in fact!), we realised how well we all worked together - with each person offering exactly what the track needed at that moment, however, something was missing and we decided to shelve it.
It wasn’t until inspiration hit this summer, at one of our first in-person jams post-lockdown, that the pieces fell into place and the song came together!
PETER MAHER PRODUCED THIS TRACK AND YOUR PREVIOUS TRACK” TIME IS NOW “. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH HIM AND WHAT DOES HE BRING TO YOUR MUSIC?
Yes, Pete’s a top guy, it’s been great having him work with us on both tracks this year. He’s worked with some incredible artists - we’re so chuffed that he’s been able to so generously give his time to our music. We hope to continue to work with him for the remainder of the EP.
“THE OTHER SIDE” HAS A MORE BLUES-BASED SOUND IN COMPARISON TO “TIME IS NOW”, WHICH I FELT WAS MORE LIKE A POLITICAL AND HARD ROCK TRACK. WHAT WERE YOUR INTENTIONS GOING FORWARD WITH THESE SONGS AND HOW DOES THIS REFLECT YOUR SOUND OVERALL AS A BAND?
Yes, you're totally right - ‘The Other Side’ is more bluesy compared to the harder rock sound that ‘Time Is Now’ has, which we love, as we really want to show the listener the variety of sounds we have to share.
At the moment we’re still shaping the overall HC sound, it’s evolving and we’re so enjoying just playing around with ideas in the studio. We all have such varied musical backgrounds and tastes which makes for a really exciting and interesting creative process.
At the end of the day, we’ve always said we want to create music for the greater good, create music that makes people want to move their bodies and create sounds that resonate with people - we hope that we can continue to do that no matter what form our music takes next.
THE FIRST TWO TRACKS HAVE INTERESTING STORIES BEHIND THEM. WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE SONGS?
We’re inspired by the world around us. We’re all passionate individuals who care about a multitude of factors including the environment, the live music scene, science, art - and through our music we try to communicate our love for these areas when we can. But sometimes we also write music without any specific agenda that just makes us happy about the people we love, the places we discover and the fun times we have.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WERE YOUR INFLUENCES GETTING INTO THE MUSIC SCENE?
With a band as big as ours we've been inspired by so many great and incredibly varied artists! Individually we all have different personal tastes but together we are definitely influenced by Wolfmother, Led Zeppelin, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Nothing But Thieves, Muse, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, The Cranberries, Fleetwood Mac to name a few!
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE UNIQUE NAME HARRIET COMFORT FOR A BAND NAME?
Naming a band is never easy and with six members we had a lot of suggestions bouncing around. It wasn’t until one London summer afternoon a few years back following some celebratory cocktails that we finally, and democratically, voted on the official name - incidentally inspired by a mysterious pile of mail that kept getting delivered to our East London flat in 2017.
HC ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON AN LP EP, COULD YOU ELABORATE FURTHER ON THIS AND WHAT FANS CAN EXPECT?
You’ll have to wait and see…
HC ARE A SIX-PIECE ACT, COULD YOU DESCRIBE A WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN A BAND OF THAT SIZE AND THE ADVANTAGES OF THAT?
It’s great! We’re so lucky to have such diverse backgrounds, we all work in different fields (ranging from the environment, finance, design and the creative arts), and as mentioned before we all come from different musical backgrounds (some of us from a more metal background, some from more classical sounds and even one who has a love for musical theatre!). We see our differences as strengths which all come together to create rich sounds and banging tracks!
THE PREVIOUS TRACK WAS RECORDED UNDER COVID RULES, WHAT IMPACT HAS THIS PANDEMIC HAD ON YOUR INTENTIONS TO RECORD MUSIC?
2020 has been tough, we won’t lie, but there’s been a lot of learning for us despite the setbacks a pandemic year offers! Not being able to record together in the studio for ‘Time Is Now’ meant we had to become more innovative when recording from home - our lead vocalist never knew IKEA furniture could make for such an ace vocal booth! But it also helped us push ourselves more for ‘The Other Side’, knowing what we could capture at home - we really tried to go above and beyond in the studio to find fresh sounds together.
HC RECORDED “THE OTHER SIDE “LIVE IN THE STUDIO AND WHAT WAS THAT LIKE AS A BAND TO BE PART OF COULD YOU ELABORATE FURTHER ON HOW THIS PLAYED A PART IN THE FINAL CUT OF THE TRACK
It was great being together! Having the ability to riff off each other in the space in real time was a huge advantage this time around, really helping with the creative process and giving us the ability to make changes that would never have been possible over Zoom! The vocal layers, the extra guitar growls, and the added tambourine (originally egg shaker) all happened together in the studio - and without those elements ‘the Other Side’ would not be the same. We can’t wait to do it all again soon!
AND FINALLY, WHAT ARE THE FUTURE ASPIRATIONS FOR HC?
Right now we’re focussing on getting the EP finished and hope to once again get back to live gigs and being in front of the fans in 2021 and beyond! For all upcoming HC news be sure to follow us on socials @harrietcomfortband or visit our official website harrietcomfort.com
