two musicians sitting on either side of VOX amplifier
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Harrison and Doug

Peace

PEACE AND VOX LOVE

PEACE are at the forefront of the new wave of British indie rock bands.
It’s a busy time for the four Birmingham lads, but guitarists Doug and Harrison took time out ahead of an East London gig to catch up with Vox.

Read on to find out where they draw their inspiration from, what’s next for the band and where Vox fits into the PEACE sound, which they describe as ‘A confusing, beautiful mess of absolutely everything’.

When did you first get into guitar and why?

H – I was 9 and wanted to be like Pete Townsend. He jumped around and broke things and generally didn’t give an F. I’d never seen anything like it before in my life.

D – I used to play my Dads battered classical guitar and after he taught me a few chords, I then made a band and that was it.

Who were your early inspirations?

H – I was almost exclusively obsessed with The Who up until a few years later when I discovered Zeppelin properly. I’d always had the music of Zeppelin around but when I was 13 I remember watching The Song Remains The Same and nothing has been the same since.

D – Hendrix has always been one of my biggest inspirations as it is hard to find someone who has had greater impact on the way people play guitar. Listening to my Dad’s Motown and Funk records as a kid was a big inspiration because I always loved the grooves in those records.

How did the band get together?

H – Very Naturally. It felt like good timing that we all met. We had a lot of time to lark around & then just YOLO’d the rest.

What would you say was your big break?

H – We didn’t especially have a big break. We did everything D.I.Y and played as many shows as we could. I guess we were just lucky that people noticed. A&R from Columbia came to see us play in our drummer’s house at the end of 2011. That was surreal. I can remember Justin Young of the Vaccines wearing our T-shirt. That was how Columbia found out about us maybe.

D – I guess getting signed as that gave us the opportunity to do all the things we wanted to do but didn’t have the means.

Do you think there is a resurgence of British guitar music and why do you think that is?

H – I guess maybe as a mainstream thing. I don’t think it ever went away. Just people on a big scale get interested in different things. Maybe now it’s time for something that isn’t as boring.

D – I’m not convinced that it ever went away. The guitar is like an integral part of our culture. Every major cultural event in the last 60 years has been documented on a guitar from hippy movements, Punk and Brit Pop. I don’t think that will ever change.

How would you describe the PEACE sound?

H – A confusing, beautiful mess of absolutely everything.

What do you like about the Vox AC30C2X?

D – The history of the amp, I think it integral. It is a beautiful story of how the AC30 was created and how it has influenced so much music. It is nice to see that still to this day the amp is being made true to what an AC30 is, with it’s gorgeous tone.
You’ve been using the Vox Delaylab.  Has that been useful live or in the studio and what do you like about it?

H – It’s been SO useful live. In the Studio I use a lot of Space Echo and Analogue tape delays on guitar. As well as using many different digital & Analogue delays. Basically the Delaylab has let me have all of these sounds saved as presets and sound as good live as the old boxes did in the studio.

What are the band most looking forward to?

H – Festies! I’m so into festies it’s unreal.

What’s next for PEACE?

H – Get the album out, Tour USA, Tour UK, Tour world, Festies and have a right one!