Pastel Waves
The Influencers Ep
The Pastel Waves started with a full line-up in 2017, although it was 2015 that Rob Percy and Chris Parsons (previous members of Medway band Speedwell) began writing new material together. Soon after, they knew they was onto something with this new project, and thus invited Joe Liste Romero and Mike Grigson (previous members of Medway band The Ambience) to join to add drums and vocals to the songs' bare bones. With varied music tastes spanning the '60s to today, as a group they produce songs with influences from their own record collections, citing scenes such as '70s new wave, '80s indie and '90s Manchester/Britpop. With 2020 putting a hold on gigging, rehearsals continued and the songs kept coming. The writing never stops and further releases are already planned to follow this release up soon. Side A's 'Starts Right Here' is an upbeat song suggesting the power of music, and that celebrity culture has no good influence in the world over picking up an instrument. Followed up by 'I Wasn't Convinced', a little anger, telling us about promises and disappointments. Side B's 'Freak Show' is messy and chaotic and holds up a mirror to all your bad flaws, whilst 'Late September' is a short optimistic song about grief in various forms and the epiphany it can bring. Medway based.