Today we talk to a band that has been earning critical acclaim from BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and Earmilk. Welcome to Coral Palms, a four piece indie pop band from Ollie, Will, Callum and Adriano. I caught up with the group to find out all about their debut single Echoes, tour and much more.

Hello Coral Palms tell us about each member of your band!

Hello! We’re a four piece Indie-Pop Rock band, starting with Ollie (Drums/ Vocals); Ollie is a musician with a penchant for high energy live performances. His biggest influences are Foals and Two Door Cinema club which can definitely be heard in our music.

Will ( Guitar/Vocals) is a songwriter influenced by poetic artists such as Alex Turner. He is a versatile guitar player and loves to write riffs that stick. 

Adriano ( Guitar/ BV’s) is a producer based in London who has worked with a variety of artists and has produced ‘Echoes’ and a number of our future tracks. 

Callum (Bass) is the self professed ‘ Grandad’ of the band. A huge fan of live music, particularly artists like Ben Howard, Callum is the most down to earth member of the band and is always calm and laid back. 

Tell us three unknown facts about yourself?

We all studied at University together.

We rehearsed in the early days in a downstairs bedroom in North West London. 

We’re all huge fans of the artist SG Lewis!

How did you get into music?

We were all great pals at university in one way or another, and we had to put on a final end of year performance at Camden Assembly. Not expecting much, but seeing the reaction of a packed crowd loving our music is what made us all realise this was more than just a few ticked audits on an assessment paper.

Who do you find your inspirations? 

We have all grown up listening to Indie bands such as Foals and Two Door as well as The 1975 and Arctic Monkeys. Aside from indie, we actually take a lot of influence from Pop and Dance music; anything from Dua Lipa to Disclosure. 

Tell us all about your latest single Echoes?

‘Echoes’ in Ollie’s words is ‘a song about coming out stronger after leaving an unfaithful partner’.  It was the first song Will and Ollie ever jammed together a few days after meeting. 

How long did it take to write the song? 

Roughly a few days; the music was written in one rehearsal session and then the lyrics were written the day after whilst Ollie was on his way to work. 

Where does the inspiration for the song come from?

It’s largely inspired by collective live experiences from when we were a little younger, largely by our spiritual home of Torquay, Devon, and then generally just the desire to make a high energy track to bop to at a house party of a festival.

Tell us about how you have been making music in lockdown?

We’ve got very lucky with the intermissions of Lockdown last year; each time we could we would get into the studio in East London for a week at a time. We’ve constantly been writing, often on Zoom sessions and recording ideas remotely on our laptops. 

 What is the most challenging thing when it comes to producing a record?

I think we are our own worst critics, we hold ourselves to a high standard so when it comes to the nuances that can either make or break a track, we really spend hours debating or changing between ideas. It’s all part of the process!

What is your favourite song you have ever written and why?

I think we love everything we write but we have a song coming out later in the year called ‘ Drink Too Much’ which was the first thing we finished and thought. Wow, that’s alright! Without saying too much, I think we are all excited for that record to be out to the world!

How do you go about writing lyrics? What inspires you?

We like to write mostly about our own life experiences, a lot of the themes lyrically our youthful angst and the darker side of debauchery which collectively we have all felt one way or another. 

How do you warm up for a show?

Practice. We take the live set very seriously, everything will be smoothly rehearsed before sound check, we’ll get the levels right and then have some Vocal sweets and go over the set in the Green Room.

Also let’s talk tour – will there be live shows coming?

Of course, we are planning a hometown tour across 3 towns/cities that are close to us as a band but I’m sure they’ll be so many more. As soon as we can play live, we will.

What is one of your favourite songs  to perform live? 

‘Echoes’ has always got the crowd singing along so far and the middle 8 is the perfect chance to get a few mosh pits and crowd surfs going!

What are the toughest songs to perform live and why?

We used to play a cover of ‘ New Rules’ which was very hit and miss. Covers are always a risk and there’s a lot of thought behind them to get them sounding somewhat unique. 

How have you been keeping creative during lockdown? 

Being kind to ourselves, we often can be strict with how we work but as it’s been such a challenging time, we’ve been fairly casual and open with our ideas and not forced creativity during a time when it’s been hard to keep motivation. 

Has it led to lots more songs?

It’s definitely led to more development of songs, we had quite a few tunes in the pipeline before any kind of Covid, so it has given us a chance to reflect and refine what we already had.

 Our site also is about improv – in a music sense, what have been some of your favorite improvised melodies that you have created and been able to use in songs and why?

Our next single ‘ Open Roads’ has a breakdown outro which was only added to the song after we jammed it during a rehearsal. It was a fairly impromptu moment and then afterwards we were all like, ‘yeah, this has to be in the song!’

What are your plans for 2021?

We have some upcoming releases coming over the next few months and hopefully by the summer we can get back to playing some live shows and festivals! 

And finally why should people check out your music?

We’re four honest guys who just want to make the best music that we feel people will want to jump up and down to at a party of a festival!