It's Time To Get Obsessed With Peaness

Tell Me About It: Peaness | Chester

“I’m just so happy to be out of my flat to be honest with you,” begins drummer Rach, when I catch up with the indie-pop trio on the Friday of Farm Fest.

We’re sitting in the artist lounge out the back of the main stage, spread across two sofas as the winds pick up outside. “Being here with other people at a festival is a bit surreal,” guitarist Balla remarks, “I said to [Rach] when we got here it was sensory overload, like what the hell is happening?!”

The trio have just come off stage, having performed to a few hundred eager festival-goers all singing and dancing despite the typical, British festival weather. It’s been a long year without gigs, but from their set, it’s clear the group have stepped back into performing quite naturally. “It felt really normal when we were on stage, I was expecting it to be really emotional but I was like no, we’ve done this loads of times before,” Rach laughs. “But at the same time [it was] special,” bassist Jess adds, “it was so weird like we’d never been away. [You] realise how much you appreciate it.”

On their return to the stage, I ask if the group have any pre-show rituals, and Rach is hesitant. “PGPs?” she says, glancing over at her bandmates who smile back. “So we do things called PGPs which is pre-gig poo.”

“From nerves!” laughs Jess.

“We get a bit anxious,” echoes Rach.

Jess is keen to note that the group are very well behaved though, insisting “we’re always early for our stage times, we’re always just there early. We’re never any hassle for anyone”.

“We’re so good,” continues Rach, grinning, “We’re like amazing!”

With two EPs to their name, it’s clear the band are on the warpath for much bigger things as Rach admits that they’ve got their sights set on putting out a full-length album.

“We’ve been trying to do it for quite some time. I guess the album is a bit kind of coming-of-agey, about the struggles of being the age that we’re at, that's the message portrayed.”

“One of [the tracks is] about not wanting to get out of bed in the morning,” chuckles Balla, “mood for lockdown.” When asked to divulge further their learnings of coming of age, it’s clear that the group are keen observers.

“[We’re] still going through it, It never stops you, just learn how to deal with it rather than getting rid of it” Balla starts.

“Picking up on people's behaviour starts to make sense a bit more as you get a bit older, and why people behave in certain ways,” muses Jess. “[We] don’t take it personally. We’re all really close, obviously, and we all talk about these things all the time. Psychology and behavioural patterns and mental health.”

With a new single coming in November, it’s clear the girls are living up to the hype of their early-career accolades and still have so much more to gig.

Listen to Peaness here and find info about Farm Fest 2022 here.