A year since Birmingham band, Peace, released their debut album, In Love, they have played shows across the globe and are set to headline this year’s Dot To Dot Festival. Drummer Dominic Boyce spoke to Ben Jolley about making the second album and nights out in Nottingham.

“WE played Dot To Dot in 2011 and it was so much fun. Nottingham has always been amazing to us. We've had some great shows and we've got lots of friends there so we're really excited,” says Peace drummer Dominic Boyce.

“It'll also be one of the first shows since before Christmas so we can't wait. We're ready to explode. We're ready for a great weekend and I think Dot To Dot will provide.”

It's a significant gig for the Worcester indie quartet, as headliners. They'll be on the main stage at Rock City on Sunday, one of 15 stages hosting dozens of bands and musicians during the all day event.

The last time they played the Talbot Street venue was also a significant occasion.

“That was the first night on that tour and I was pretty nervous but very excited because it was the biggest tour we had ever done. I loved that Rock City show.

“That whole area around there with the venues and clubs is great. We've had many a good night in Rescue Rooms.”

Dominic says that the follow up to last year's debut album, In Love, is near enough finished.

“Sonically there are some similarities to the debut but it certainly drifts around different sounds. I think we're moving on, in a more focused and controlled direction.

“No one could predict exactly how In Love was going to sound, because it was our first album. Whereas, with the second one we're much more educated in the process of recording an album.”

With so much hype surrounding what Peace will do next, it's surprising that they aren't feeling the pressure.

“It was very much us saying we want to do it now,” he says of the quick return to the studio to record the follow-up.

“We're not putting it off, maybe we should be, but it just felt like the right time. It feels like this is what we should be doing.”

A lot of the new songs were recorded in hotel rooms or on the back of tour buses.

“There wasn't really a lot of pre-production to the new album.

“A lot of it was written on the road. Harry would make really rough vocal and acoustic guitar demos then we'd all listen to them and come up with our own ideas of what the songs could potentially sound like.

“The album's probably been written over the last 18 months of touring, although I think we've still got a lot to give from the first album.”

The band's new single, Money, is his favourite from the new record.

He says: “It was the first song we did in the studio and we had a lot of fun recording it. We'd been waiting to get back in the studio for so long.”

Another new track, World Pleasure, hears lead singer Harrison Koisser show off his rap skills.

“I think rap's too strong a word, but it is slightly more rhythmic,” says Dominic, adding “I think it sounds cool.”

In August, Peace will be playing the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festival.

“I think it's my favourite festival,” he says.”When we played there last year, they were probably our favourites of the whole summer. You couldn't ask for a better crowd really. We're very flattered and honoured to be asked to play the main stage this time. If people think we can do it then we'll certainly give it a good go.”

So what about the rest of 2014?

“After festival season, we hope to release the new album, probably at the end of summer. I don't know what will happen in autumn; probably much of the same really. We'll play a few shows, go abroad… we've got a lot of years left in us.”

Peace headline the Dot to Dot Festival on Sunday at Rock City from 10pm.

As seen originally in Friday 23 edition of the Notitngham Post and online at: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Peace/story-21127798-detail/story.html?hga

Rock three-piece Darlia, play Dot to Dot Festival this Sunday. Frontman Nathan Day, spoke to Ben Jolley about festivals and flower parts.

So how did Darlia get together?

"Even as a kid I just wanted to be older so I could start a band and voice my opinion”, says Darlia frontman Nathan Day.

“If I wasn’t in a band, I’d just be starting one," he adds.

“When I first met Jack, we’d play on and off, and I was trying to convince him that we should start this band. We played some of the songs we play today, but it wasn’t a serious band. I didn’t want to be a 15-year-old kid in a novelty band"

"Jack went to uni and moved away, then I got Dave involved with the songs. We had this drummer at the time that was really bad and had a massive attitude, so it wasn’t really working with him. It got to a point where we were getting record deals so we got rid of him and got Jack back.”

“At the time we were all coming up with words and nothing stuck. Aside from the band, I was really interested with flowers and flower parts and Darlia kept coming up”, Nathan says.

“When we played our first gig we didn’t have a name at all. A girl in the audience handed me a plastic flower, which I kept in my back pocket for months. After we’d finalised on the name, I found it in my pocket and it was a Darlia.”

Their biggest challenge came last weekend at the Radio One Live Lounge, covering Lorde’s song, Team.

“When you’re expected to go onstage and just blurt out one of your sets, that can be incredibly easy because people are coming to see what you do best. When you have to learn a completely new song, as well as making it your own, it's like homework. It was massively challenging but extremely fun. It let us prove that we’re not just going to do an inaudible cover and sound pretentious about it. We wanted it to be a good cover and I think it went alright.”

The Blackpool trio have been announced for British Summertime at Hyde Park in July, on the same bill as The Libertines.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Pete Doherty. I’m glad that we’re even going to be near him,” says Nathan.

They’ve also been added to this year’s Glastonbury line up.

"I’ve never been to a festival before so I guess I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he admits.

Nathan says that a crowd can make or break a show.

“Whatever they want to see, they’ve got to make it happen. You can play the most outrageously great show, but if the people there are just stood still… or you could play a flop show, full of mistakes and everyone’s drunk, but as long as the crowd are absolutely having it, it’s great."

And what about an album?

“Now we’ve found the right producer to make the record, we’re about to start recording it. It’ll be released at the end of the year or early next year. We’ve got another E.P, (Dear Diary) coming before that though.”

Darlia play Dot to Dot on Sunday at the Rescue Rooms from 6.15pm-6.45pm.

As seen originally online at: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Darlia/story-21114577-detail/story.html

London four-piece, Wolf Alice, have just released their latest E.P, Creature Songs, and are set to return to Nottingham with one of the top slots at this year’s Dot to Dot Festival. Lead vocalist and guitarist, Ellie Roswell tells Ben Jolley why their last Nottingham visit was a “turning point” for the band.

“LAST year’s Dot To Dot was our favourite show of the year. We played at the Bodega, it was the last show of the night and everyone just went crazy. We’d never really experienced that before so it was quite a turning point in our career.”

Wolf Alice singer and guitarist Ellie Roswell is remembering their last visit to Nottingham as she and the London quartet head for Amsterdam in their tour van.

“There’s nothing particularly rock ‘n’ roll about it,” she admits.

The hotly-blogged about guitar band are currently on their own headline tour, which Ellie says is going really well.

“We’ve been very lucky with getting great crowds each evening, and there haven’t been any major hiccups which is a bonus."

“This is our first headline show in a long time, so the crowds are really different from any other time before. Now we’ve put more music out, people know us a bit better and are more willing to jump around, sing-along and have some fun."

“The shows can be a bit rowdy and it seems like this is the first time we’re really experiencing that, which is nice because I think most of our songs are really loud and energetic. They aren’t songs to just be stood still to.”

So how does she describe the Wolf Alice sound?

“I guess its heavy guitar-ridden pop music, maybe?,” she says, before running through their influences."

"We all grew up listening to different styles but there are some things that tie us all together. Joff likes acoustic guitar music, while Joel’s into his punk and Theo was in a metal/hip-hop band for a while. So it’s quite a mix.”

Wolf Alice released the Blush E.P almost six months ago, so what’s been happening since then?

“We’ve just been trying to figure out what to do next and planning to record an album. We feel like we’ve managed to find our feet after we signed a record deal a couple of months ago. We’re waiting until festival season is over to start on the album,” she adds, suggesting an early 2015 release.

There’s the new EP, Creature Songs, which includes the fan favourite Moaning Lisa Smile.

“Because we hadn’t put any music out for six months, we wanted to come back with something big, loud and heavy. It started off with just a riff that Joff had played, as he was singing Neil Young’s track, Old Man, thinking it would be a great song to cover. But then we thought we could make it in to our own.”

On their current headline tour, Wolf Alice are joined by Superfood and Gengahr, both of who are also playing Dot To Dot.

Says Ellie: “I think Superfood are one of the better bands out there at the moment and Gengahr have got their own quirky pop thing going on.”

Wolf Alice play Dot to Dot Nottingham on Sunday at Rock City, 6.15pm to 6.45pm.

As seen originally online: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Wolf-Alice/story-21111650-detail/story.html