Despite being based on the Northern Beaches coastal region of Sydney, three-quarters of the catchy, emotive punk rock band Pepperhead are actually Brits. Together, the quarter have crafted an engaging and emotive sound that they describe as “loud, unapologetic and earwormy.”
The band began with vocalist Lou meeting guitarist Kieron at work, they started playing music together and then got married. Kieron brought in his long-time mate Dan on bass, before finding drummer and the sole Aussie, Mark, while looking for a surfboard on Gumtree. We don’t know if he ever found that surfboard.
On the sound they’ve honed since, Lou told us: “The Pepperhead sound – think: raw, hook-heavy, stadium-sized choruses and vocals that slay. Songwriting is a 100% organic band effort – we get in the studio every week, Dan usually comes up with some insane bass line, Kieron locks in, then Mark on drums and I’ll riff nonsense and a melody, and if it works quick, it works. I love storytelling, and I can’t deny that I’m drawn to the dark side, but the lyrics that come are pretty eclectic. We’ve got songs about your psycho ex, serial killers, aliens, but also about love, London, gratitude.”
Our latest taste of this is Northern Bitches, which was released at the end of last month. It opens up with a cool bassline with little guitar flurries joining in, before being joined by Lou’s engaging vocals. That flows into a catchy chorus, “I go home and my cry my eyes out, It’s just so hard being so try-hard, So I go home and cry my eyes out, All the time.” The vocals pick up pace and intensity in a shouty, feisty verse, flowing into an extended chorus, which ends with drawn-out guitars that build up in pace and drop into more feisty vocals, which feed into a big final blast of the chorus that turns the screw on the focus of the track.
On the track, Lou said: “Northern Bitches is a bit of stereotype satire masked in vitriol. It’s a privileged and occasionally isolating thing to live on the beautiful Northern Beaches – a bit of a poison paradise paradox. It doesn’t always feel inclusive or accepting of new / different. And I wonder about the veneer of contentment and ‘success’ v deep unhappiness and comparison issues underneath. I was once told I didn’t look like I belonged on the beaches, that I was more ‘Newtown.’ I took it as a compliment. Not sure how popular I am around here after this, but people are being pretty nice to my face! I say if you get offended and think this song is about you, it probably is…”
That’s the latest in a series of singles, including last year’s superb Hazy and the feisty FU (& Your Friends), building up to Pepperhead’s debut album next month. And our excitement was enhanced by Lou revealing it was mastered by Howie Weinberg, who mastered Nirvana’s Nevermind, and saying “So of course it sounds fucking epic!” The band also has a couple of EPs that are well worth checking out, including Wise Man, the excellent opener from their 2020 record Words to the Wise.
The band have some pretty diverse influences between them, with Kieron being big into grunge and punk like Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Queens of the Stone Age and Mark being big into Aussie punk rock bands like Celibate Rifles, Radio Birdman and The Saints. Lou is more into The Pixies, Amyl & The Sniffers and Wet Leg, and Dan has a very eclectic mix of interests that can’t be pinned down further than him liking Skrillex.
Pepperhead will release their debut album, which was recorded at the legendary Grove Studios with Scott Horscroft and Jackson Wiebe, on 27 March. They’ll also have gig announcements coming soon, with Lou promising, “Our live sets go off.”
You can follow Pepperhead on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud and YouTube.
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