Happy Accidents
Hailing from London, where if you’re a resident there’s a good chance you have a floppy haired indie pop quartet living in your trouser pocket, Happy Accidents are indeed quite a cheery little outfit.
With nothing offensive about them other than the odd profanity in a song like ‘Leaving Parties Early’, they’re a nice change from the many over serious bands around these days.
That’s not to say they don’t take their music seriously, their debut album entitled ‘You Might Be Right’ is out now via Alcopop! Records and they of course want people to enjoy it.
It seems like the perfect summer record. One to bounce round your neighbourhood with, breathing in the sunshine in a youthful and over exuberant fashion.
‘Facts And figures’ for example, is joyous and catchy. Embodying these summer months in a quick 3 and a half-minute pop punk song, the vocals give a strong whiff of Peace lead man Harrison Koisser; which was nice. There’s nothing outrageous about the song, but there’s nothing really outrageous about bands that declare they’re outrageous! If that makes sense… In short, it’s honest. Not overly mental and crude or manipulated, we have too many of them; HA’s personalities really come through.
I mean of course I love abrasive, “horrible” music, but the kind of acts I’m talking about are those who seem to overhype themselves to the point of loud, outward laughter. We don’t need another band revolving around the words “BEACH”, “BABY” “BLOOD”, “HONEY” or “KIDS”, fuck off.
Anyway, with a slew of live dates coming up, I asked the band, made up of Phoebe Cross (drums, vocals), Neil Mandell (bass, vocals) and Rich Mandell (guitar, vocals), what its like to be a noise pop trio in today’s over-saturated music industry.
Rich: “I think we try not to pay much attention to the music industry at large. When you’re only concerned with playing for the fun of it, over-saturation – and by association, competition – doesn’t really enter the picture. At this point we’ve accepted that we’ll probably never be able to take it from a hobby to a job, but that was never really the goal to be begin with. We’re just going to take everything one step at a time and see where we end up.”
With their tour already underway, the band scheduled to play Manchester’s Star And Garter on 27th July, I asked how excited they are for this tour and playing for new crowds.
Rich: “This is the first time we’ve done a run of shows longer than 5 days. We’ve been doing weekenders and shorter runs pretty regularly for the last two years. As for our experiences, it’s just a really great way to see new places and meet new people.”
Happy Accidents have already played the Cheltenham 2000 Trees Festival, their hometown and ventured to the Midlands, Oxfordshire, Leeds and Scotland. Not bad going for a relatively inexperienced touring group, fair play.
Rich continued: “New audiences are always daunting, but comes with a weird sense of accomplishment when it goes well!”
They’re not shy then to get stuck into some fresh meat with their indie noise, boss. Other than making you feel a little less shit about your own life, music is pointless. However, if that’s what makes it beautiful then Happy Accidents are the biggest waste of time around! And I mean that in a good way, honest.
If you’re interested in buying the album (‘You Might Be Right’) you can do so HERE.
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Liverpool born music writer with passion for punk and Everton FC
