we’re back with our next Knead To Know interview, this time with the incredible Gramms! ⚡️
formed by our good friend Sam Jenkins and Paul Bowe, they’ve just put out their debut single “Shut Up A Second“, a riotous, infectious tune filled to the brim with attitude and gorgeous guitar riffs. an absolutely explosive debut release – we’re huge fans of this tune and knew we had to get them on for an interview. check it out in full below! ⬇️
Hey guys, thanks for sorting out this interview! Give us a bit more information about yourselves.
GRAMMS is Sam Jenkins and Paul Bowe and we’re based in Stockport. Started throwing demos across to each other during lockdown and released our first single earlier this year.
We love the new tune “Shut Up A Second” – tell us some more about the tune!
It was the first thing we worked on after the last lockdown and I don’t know if it was because of all that pent-up creativity, but we put it together in a matter of hours.
It’s essentially about our need to express an opinion no matter how baseless or unhelpful that may be.
What started you guys off as a band?
We’ve both been on the scene for a good while in separate projects and have been wanting to sort out some kind of collaboration for years. End of last year we finally both found ourselves with a bit of time on our hands.
Whose the main songwriter in the band, or do you do it all together?
Yea, it’s completely collaborative and the process depends on the song.
What are the processes involved in creating your music? Do you home record, or use a studio?
All the songs have been written and arranged at Paul’s rehearsal studios (Stockport Studios). We then demo them on logic and use that as a guide in the recording studio.
Both ‘Shut Up a Second’ and our upcoming single were recorded in Levenshulme by the musical wizard that is John Simm; formally of Cleft and currently working with Blossoms on their tour.
Where do you get the inspiration for your tracks?
It really varies. The lyrics for Shut Up were inspired by Paul’s riff. Made me think of a circus lion strutting around his cage thinking of ways to escape and the rest fell into place from there.
Over the time you’ve been together as a band, how have you been spending your time musically? (recording, writing etc)
It’s all been about writing and recording at the moment, but we’re planning to put on some shows in the new year.
What kinds of responses have you had from your releases?
Overwhelmingly positive! We’ve had record of the day, week and month from various publications. That leaves, year, decade, century, millennium and all time, so plenty to aim for.
Have you been performing live?
Not yet. Stay tuned!
When you’re performing live, what do you enjoy the most about it?
In previous projects it’s been seeing the impact your music can have on a room of people. Stunning a crowd into silence or inciting them to riot is a very cool power to wield!
We’re really looking forward to the next release, can you tell us any more about that?
It’s called ‘All’s Fair’ and it’s big! That’s kind of the through line for all GRAMMS tracks; it sounds massive. It’s got a slightly more mature sound than the last one but it still has the signature GRAMMS monstrousness to it.
What else is in the works?
We’re looking to release the next single before the end of the year along with another equally bonkers video and we’ll be back in the studio recording the third single in the next couple of months.
we love putting these interviews together, it’s so good to be able to interact with bands and artists on a more personal level – fantastic to see that Gramms have some more stuff in the works and find out the inspirations and backstory to them! we hope that you enjoyed this as much as we have, big love to Gramms for doing this for us! 🍞
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