Having released a lo-fi DIY EP early in 2015, back when it was just George Godwin and Peter Martin, Grapefruit Moon are now a four-piece band, also enlisting the help of sound engineer Jay Pocknell. We have recently been gifted with the release of their debut singles ‘Cotton Blue’ and ‘For A Lemon’, both utterly ambitious in sound but also full of spine tingling beauty that will immediately make them a band you want to hear much more of. Still at the very beginning of their musical lives, we met George and Peter for a winter warmer and found out more about Grapefruit Moon.
Where did you grow up?
George: I grew up in Bristol but moved to Brighton at the start of the year after we had all spent some time in Guildford at Surrey University. It is only a recent thing where we have decided to become more rounded down in Brighton.
Peter: I grew up all over the place as my dad moved every few years because of his job. We moved back here when I was 16 and have been around this area ever since.
What kind of music were you brought up on?
Peter: I played classical piano as a kid so that would have been the first thing. Then when I was 11 or 12 years old, my brother chose my music for me. It was when I was about 14 when I started to get into bands like Radiohead which opened the doors to other music.
George: My family was quite musical, my sister played piano and my brother played the cornet. I got a lot of my music through them as well as my dad showing me his music.
How did Grapefruit Moon form?
Peter: We were on the same music course at uni, but it took about two years before we realised we liked the same kind of music. We got on alright but we just never knew until we had to bring in some songs for a course. It was only then when we decided we should make some songs together.
George: We recorded some songs and have played a handful of songs live, but had a situation where the majority of them had alternate tunings, which made playing them all in a set a bit of a nightmare.
Peter: We both have the phobia of tuning a guitar which doesn’t help.
George: That kind of restricted us playing but it did mean we wrote quite a lot of songs instead. After we graduated we kept the band going, although, I moved back to Bristol, Peter moved back to Brighton and our friend and sound engineer Jay Pocknell lived in London which didn’t make things easy. We then met our drummer Adrian through Jay. Elliot, who plays bass, is an old friend of Peter's.
Is there a story behind the name?
Peter: It’s a Tom Waits song. We were in the library trying to work out what to call ourselves. A friend of mines band called themselves Black Market Baby after one of his songs so thought it was a good place to start. We were going to call ourselves after his song ‘Reeperbahn’, but I Googled it and saw it was a sex street in Berlin.
Tell us a bit about the singles ‘Cotton Blue’ and ‘For A Lemon’?
Peter: They are both fairly recent songs that George sent me acoustic demos of initially. We did the tracks pretty backward really – after working on those demos and showing Jay, Adrian then put some drums on the recordings and as Elliot wasn’t involved then, Frank from Blaenavon did the bass parts.
George: We were up in London yesterday recording, and tracked a whole song live in the room after spending a few hours playing all together. It was nice, seeing other people whilst recording.
Have you been thinking about the next release?
Peter: Yesterday was our last day of recording for our album – we believe or hope. We are really looking forward to start mixing it. George is a bit of an artist and has done some artwork, but he also hates his own work, so I’m trying to get him to agree to let us use it for the album.
What has been a musical eye-opener?
Peter: For me it was when I got into Bob Dylan. Just before we started the band, I met a load of new friends where we would always meet up and jam all the time. They were always listening to him and it got me back into writing music again.
George: I love playing around and programming synths or playing with any type of instrument really. When I started to get more into the computer with music, I realised that you could pretty much make anything with anything by programming things. Being at university, it gave me a great opportunity to experiment musically and sonically.
What would be your perfect line-up of any three acts for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
George: I would have Portishead on the bill.
Peter: Nick Drake would be amazing in the right environment. Grizzly Bear would be good to see.
George: To have Bjork on the bill too would be cool, I’ve heard great things about her live show.
If you could give a musical award of the year, what would it be for and for whom?
George: An award to Ed Rodriguez (Deerhoof) for great colour coordination by always matching his outfit and guitar.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
George: I’ve been listening to Warpaint’s new album a lot, Heads Up.
Peter: The main thing I’ve been listening to recently is Dawn Of Midi, a band George showed me. I’ve been wanting to get into polyrhythmic music and these guys are bang on what I’m looking for.
George: Marika Hackman is really great; she’s got such an amazing voice.
Peter: I’m really liking Here We Go Magic’s latest album too, Be Small.
Do you get to go to many gigs?
Peter: We go to a fair amount of gigs around Brighton.
George: I saw Junun recently – the project of Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express ensemble. I really like the film and album so it was great.
Peter: I always enjoy seeing Wax Machine play live. I also saw this incredible local act the other day called Lebeaux who I thought had flown in from America – him and his band were phenomenal.
What are your future plans till the end of the year and after?
Peter: Have lots and lots of jams now we have a full band, and play lots of shows.
George: Finish the album. We play Bleach and the Green Door Store this December. There is also a London date coming up soon to.
Website: grapefruitnoom.com
Facebook: facebook.com/GrapefruitMoonUK
Twitter: twitter.com/GrapefruitnooM