Coach Party erupted onto the scene in 2019 with their alternative pop single ‘Oh Lola’ and since then the quartet have released a steady stream of singles and EPs. Their latest release ‘Nothing Is Real’ EP has found them delve deeper into a crunchy socially candid indie rock sound.

Ahead of their Irish headline debut at Eastbound festival we caught up with the Isle of Wight natives to chat about all things influences, upcoming singles and the need to take a stand with your art.

For those who are unfamiliar with Coach Party, can you tell us a little about yourselves and how you came to form Coach Party.

You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Sincerely yours, The Coach Party.

The band started with Jess & Steph getting together in a spell of unemployment and writing their first songs, just for something to do, and having all been friends for years it wasn't long before myself and Joe joined and eventually became what you see before you today.

Individually, what album inspired you to start making music?

Guy - "Rage Against The Machine"

Jess - "Alvvays"

Steph - The Cribs "The New Fellas"

Joe - Queens Of The Stone Age "Songs For The Deaf"

Upon the release of your sophomore EP ‘Nothing is real’ (2022), how has your sound developed from the ‘After Party’ EP (2021)?

To us "Nothing Is Real" kind of has has more depth sonically and lyrically. I think as time goes on we have more to say, which is better than the reverse, and where we come from such different places musically we're still in the infancy of developing our sound. So each record very much has it's own vibe without us forcing a change.

What inspired your new single ‘Micro-Aggression’?

It's about long term aggressive negativity; people who make it part of their personality to constantly put others down and discourage from doing what's right for them etc, and don't take any responsibility for the damage they do.

FLAG (Feel Like A Girl) tackles brutal misogyny in its subject matter, as a band, do you feel a responsibility to call out misogyny and other forms of marginalization in your tracks?

Like any band, I think the responsibility is with ourselves to say what we mean and mean what we say. If as a collective we were strongly against oregano, then we'd owe it to ourselves to write an anti-oregano anthem and just hope that an audience resonates with the message.

What do you want listeners to take away from your music?

The biggest and most satisfying compliment a band can get is when someone says that your music has in some way helped them through a tough time or situation, so if listeners can take some sort of peace, inspiration, confidence or whatever they need to move forward in their own life then that's perfect for us.

How do you think the pandemic affected your creative process as a band? Was there an itch to get back on the road gigging?

Our first proper gig as Coach Party was in January 2020, so we didn't really have an opportunity to get fully stuck into touring before everything went weird. Instead we were still very much in the flow of writing & recording, having only just released our first single "Oh, Lola", so we managed to do a lot of work on new material during that time.

If everything had gone to plan over those couple of years regarding touring etc, we might not have been able to release as much music as we have to date. So I like to think we made the most of it, but it felt great to finally be able to tour, which we've done pretty extensively since about September 2021.

You’re set to headline The Grand Social on the 23rd of February, are you excited to make your headline debut in Ireland?

Yes, we're looking forward to it massively. We've missed out on a good few opportunities to get over to Ireland in the last couple of years, until October '22 as part of a support tour we were on. We loved our time over there and can't wait to be back, especially for our own shows.

How has your experience been working with Singular Artists for Eastbound 2023?

It's so nice to work with promoters who believe in what we're doing, and clearly love live music. We're feeling very welcome, which is great as we're very much Ireland novices, but plan on spending a lot more time over there in the future.

Coach party has been releasing a steady stream of singles and EPs since 2019, can we expect an album in the near future?

There are two possible reasons as to why we can't tell you there's an album coming. Either we aren't going to do one, so it would be a lie, or we are going to do one, and announcing it to the world now would upset some sort of hypothetical campaign plans.

Make sure to catch Coach Party with special guests Of All Living Things at The Grand Social on Thursday the 23rd of February. Tickets here