Worry Party Release Deluxe EP 'Souvenirs'
We catch up with Steven Chell of Worry Party, a week on from the release of the band's deluxe edition EP SOUVENIRS.
What are the origins of the band and where did the name Worry Party come from?
The name comes from an EP my friend released in 2010. It really resonated with me and I kind of pinched it. He’s cool with it.
How would you describe your sound and who are your influences?
I like to describe us ambient indie. It’s a simple singer / songwriter set up, with embellishments that I just find fun to make. I grew up on a lot of Saddle Creek, listening to bands like Cursive and Bright Eyes, but also bands like The Faint. The lyric and the story was always the most important thing to me. I started getting into more electronic music, The Postal Service and M83 for example, and then Digital Ash came out in 2005 and blew my mind. The Blood Brothers, MGMT, Bayonne, Jon Hopkins, Fourtet, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Shura, Majical Cloudz and Purity Ring all have similarly important stories attached to them, and I feel I’m starting to find my place in the world where they all come together in a way that makes sense, and that makes me happy.
What does Worry Party have planned for the rest of 2020? Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
We have a few small releases, as well as something bigger we’re planning later in the year. We’re going to focus on gigs until then. In terms of a collaboration, we have a lot on our plate in 2020, but I’d love to work with a visual artist or illustrator to produce a themed or concept piece. I think that would be a lot of fun, and a good mechanism to get some wild ideas out there. We’re still open to collaborating with other musicians though. There’s a lot of music we’d love to use that might not otherwise see the light of day until the right person comes along.
You collaborated with local photographer Callum Robinson, who took some beautiful
landscape shots you use as the artwork for the EP. Would you say that ‘Souvenirs’ is
inspired by the North-East, UK where you’re based?
We met Callum at Surf Cafe and really liked his work. We asked him to come take photos of us at Cobalt Studios last April, and also to help us design an EP cover. Instead, we ended up using a series of photographs for covers, and you’ll have seen his work for our cover of Nancy Boy, and it will also appear on upcoming single The Reef, and an instrumental EP being released in June called Magenta Carta. I love the North East, it holds almost all of my fondest memories. The EP is about relationships with people, and with honesty. It isn’t directly inspired by the North East in terms of its geography or industry, more so by the circumstances it affords us.
Stream SOUVENIRS on all platforms here:
https://songwhip.com/album/worry-party/souvenirs
Follow & support Worry Party: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, Bandcamp
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