14 months ago, Oh Pep! would have been hard-pressed to anticipate the shape of the year to come.
The Melbourne quartet had been slowly but surely gaining momentum since the 2012 release of their eponymous debut EP, but with their Folk Alliance Australia win for 2014 Young Folk Performer of the Year, they found themselves propelled from festival to festival, continent to continent, all the while shouldering the secret burden that one of their members is actually (probably) a werewolf. Fresh from the Port Fairy Folk Festival, songwriters Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs put on a brave face as they discuss the upcoming release of their first album, and why they feel the popularity of folk music isn’t going to fade anytime soon.
“I feel like people think of folk in terms of the instrumentation now,” Emmerichs says. “That’s what we grew up playing, and so we’re just drawn to those traditional folk instruments anyway. I think the Australian folk scene is getting broader and broader, which you see at places like Woodford, but even the smaller festivals. You’re seeing more up-and-coming folk singers, and I feel like there are a lot of bands and songwriters in that scene now because of the instrumentation. We just got back from the States, where the folk scene is huge and there are no limits. You can see that in bands like Punch Brothers, who are now playing with drums and using a bunch of effects. They’re using folk instruments but essentially playing pop music. So I feel like, on the back of the US scene where all that stuff seems to be evolving, it’s just going to get bigger here.”
While Oh Pep!’s music has its feet firmly planted in the world of folk, they remain a band actively trying to explore new ground and stretch songs into unfamiliar territory. The indie folk circuits are certainly seeing more and more diversity in their performers, but remaining conscious of your audience’s expectations remains at the bedrock of a successful set.
“We’ve come up against this before, especially when we’re playing more trad folk festivals,” Hally explains. (As she talks, an ominous growling begins to stir in the background.) “Port Fairy has more pop acts, you know, so I feel like we go there and it’s fine to do our usual thing. But we’re mindful when we’re playing those trad festivals of playing a more traditional kind of music – throw in more of our bluegrass stuff, or our older country songs, to cater to that crowd. But in saying that, we really try to just do what we do and not second-guess ourselves or the crowds. I mean, they’ve booked us, so they know what we’re about! But a lot of folk festivals now have so much pop in them that it doesn’t really matter.”
“And at festivals you can kind of play different sets, a longer show,” adds Emmerichs. The growling is conspicuously absent when she speaks. “You can make sure you get all your songs in over the weekend. You get to put more surprises in there. More experiments, songs that aren’t quite there yet. Whereas with pub gigs, you have to play to keep people’s attention.”
Oh Pep!’s experimental side has evolved quite naturally. Between their impressive performance schedule and the wide musical influences they are exposed to, you suspect this is not an act to settle on one particular sound for any great length of time. There is always room for chance. Speaking of, the growling has now progressed into the occasional bark, though when fears of lycanthropy are raised, Hally artfully dodges the concern with a laugh.
“We’re still writing a few more tunes for our first album,” she says. “But because we’ve been playing our songs for so long, sometimes we have to find new ways to make them work for us, you know? We might throw in something extra, and I’m a sucker for changing the phrasing from gig to gig. They’re definitely evolving. Some people like it when you stick to the tempo of the CDs, others like it when you move things about. It keeps it interesting for everyone.”
“Change is very natural,” Emmerichs adds, her voice oddly distant. She pauses, and when she speaks again she sounds her normal self. “I think that happens to everyone to a degree, which is interesting. The album release, though, is still a little up in the air. We’ve done a bunch of demos, which is super exciting, and now we’re bringing out people to work on it. We’re still a few months off, but it’s starting to feel like a tangible thing. We’ve only ever had those two EPs, so I’m excited to see where it goes from here. Well, I think they’re exciting, but I guess I have to say that,” she laughs.
“We’re more aware now of exactly what we want with our sound, and for that matter exploring sounds that we haven’t used before,” Hally explains, clearly unperturbed that her bandmate is seemingly a shapeshifter. “There’s more of a pop influence this time, some rock. I shouldn’t say too much. Except that it’s going to be totally heavy metal as well. Hmm. Maybe that’s one of the things that I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
They laugh, excited by the strange road ahead. Ever unrolling. Ever changing.
Oh Pep! will be playing at National Folk Festival 2015 alongside David Francey, Heartstring Quartet, Baka Beyond, All Our Exes Live In Texas and many more Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6
