Emergency Break
...are a six-piece indie rock band from London, UK, that combine raw intensity, catchy riffs and delusional lyrics to create a unique sound. The band consists of Leo Gerchen on lead vocals, Ewan Hawkins on bass and keys, Joe Adams on lead guitar, James Brooks on drums and rhythm guitar, Finlay Mclachland on drums, producer, rhythm guitar and keys, and Oran on rhythm guitar.
The band met in school five years ago and bonded over their shared influences, such as SHAME, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, FOALS, Fontaines D.C., The HIVES, Oasis, BLUR and The Charlatans. EB have played some notable gigs, such as headlining and selling out The Camden Assembly and Spice of Life SOHO. They have also been played on Amazing Radio and they are one of the most promising bands at the moment!
“PYRO” [DE]
Trennung, Wut, Chaos – oder das neueste Release von Emergency Break namens “PYRO”, welches das Feuer im Äther lodern lässt. Emergency Break demonstrieren erneut ihre Fähigkeit, den Topf zum Kochen zu bringen. Musikalisch offerieren sie eine rohe Intensität, die ihre Einflüsse reflektiert, diese jedoch bereits mit der Marke Emergency Break fusioniert hat. “PYRO” steigert sich kontinuierlich und bewahrt nach dem Intro seine treibende Energie bis zum Ende, ohne auch nur einmal kurz zu pausieren oder gar zurückzublicken.
Textlich handelt der Track von einer Person, die heimlich in jemanden verliebt ist, aber ihre Gefühle nicht zeigen kann. Sie nennt diesen Zustand “Pyro”, der ihr Herz erwärmt, aber auch alles zerstören kann. Sie lügt ihren Freunden vor, dass sie nichts empfindet, aber sie hofft immer noch auf eine Chance. Ihre Situation ändert sich je nachdem, ob die andere Person bei ihr ist oder nicht. Am Ende verliert sie die Kontrolle über ihre Gefühle und ihr Leben gerät aus den Fugen.
Emergency Break und “PYRO” haben sich gefunden, um sich wie ein Atom zu spalten, wobei die Energie über ihre Musik freigesetzt wird. Fantastische Riffs, großartige Vocals und eine treibende Rhythmussektion ergeben exquisiten Indie Rock mit starken Post Punk Einflüssen par excellence! Emergency Break sind mit Sicherheit ein vielversprechender Act für die Zukunft.
“PYRO” [EN]
What do you get when you mix separation, anger, and chaos? You get “PYRO”, the latest release from Emergency Break that ignites the fire in the air. Emergency Break show us once more how they can heat things up with their music. They deliver a raw intensity that blends their influences with their own unique style. “PYRO” keeps building up and never loses its momentum after the intro. It keeps you hooked until the end, without any breaks or regrets.
The lyrics tell the story of a person who has a secret crush on someone, but can’t express their feelings. They call it “Pyro”, who makes their heart warm, but can also burn everything down. They pretend to their friends that they don’t care, but they still dream of a chance. Their mood changes depending on whether their crush is around or not. In the end, they can’t handle their emotions and their life goes up in flames.
Emergency Break and “PYRO” are a perfect match, exploding like an atom and releasing their energy through their music. Amazing riffs, awesome vocals and a rocking rhythm section create a superb indie rock with a strong post punk vibe. Emergency Break are definitely an act to watch out for in the future.
Q&A
Thank you for this awesome release and for your time. Who are the people and musicians behindEmergency Break and what shapes your musical style and identity?
Emergency Break is really a group of friends who have come together to form a band based on our mutual love of gigs and music. Within the band there are so many influences that shape the identity of Emergency Break and they are all so different from person to person. When looking at frontmen, Leo our singer sees artists like Liam Gallagher or recently Matty Healy of the 1975 as huge influences but also draws inspiration from artists like Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC or Charlie Steen from SHAME who are closer to his natural performance style.
The kind of artists that we listen to on a week by week basis varies and pans across all different genres. We all have mutual love in bands such as Arctic Monkeys, The Hives, Sports Team and Biffy Clyro but also have varying interests with members of the band liking artists such as Brian Eno, Black Country, New Road and Serge Gainsbourg. We think this is what makes Emergency Break so great as all our influences blend together to create a sound unique to us.
How did you come up with the idea for your new single, "PYRO" and what is the meaning behind it?
PYRO came Leo writing about a “favourite mistake” of his. When writing about the chaos of Sunday night at a UK festival matched with a post denial breakup and all the anger of it, we were so inspired by it we had no choice but to develop it further. After creating some early demos and making some guitar riffs PYRO was born and we couldn’t wait to play it live.
I'm always curious about how a band works creatively. Do you have assigned tasks, like one person writes all the lyrics, or do you switch it up, depending on the situation?
What we all love about the band is that we are all quite fluid in how we write. We might come into the studio one day and Ewan, our bass player, has written some lyrics or James, our drummer, has an idea for a song on acoustic guitar. It makes the writing process so exciting as it means we are never static and always moving in new directions that can completely change our setlist. It’s great not having one person as a default role when writing and we are constantly helping each other out towards a song. PYRO came around in this way with Leo’s lyrics merging with a few riffs Joe, our lead guitarist, had in mind together with a light bass idea from Ewan and some crazy drums from James.
I heard you sold out The Camden Assembly, so I guess you are more into live performances or do you also have fun in the studio?
Playing The Camden Assembly was such a special experience and to have played to a sold out audience was just crazy. Although we do love being in the studio, it's hard to beat the adrenaline rush you get from playing to a live audience.
You feel there’s a certain level of risk and reward to playing live as you can never be sure what will happen but that’s great. Lots of us also have backgrounds in acting as well so we are used to the stage and are very comfortable and confident with it so that’s just motivates us to take our live performances further with fun things like inflatables and segments between songs to create a story to our set.
When can we expect to see you on stage again?
We are going on a little UK tour in December 2023 leading into January 2024 with headline dates in Bristol and Brighton. However, our biggest show is our London date at The Old Blue Last on January 13th in aid of WARCHILD UK.
We noticed that it was coming up to a year since we started the band and decided to do a one year anniversary show to celebrate whilst raising money for an amazing cause. In London we will be joined by Brighton band ‘SCUM’ and London based Paper Hats. We can't wait to break out the party hats and have a great time with everyone all for a good cause!
If you could choose any place for a gig, where would you love to play?
There’s a couple of West Ham fans in the band so the London Stadium is up there, although some of the band may not agree! I think as a band though, our main dream would be to play at some legendary UK festivals such as Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury and TRNSMT. Festivals such as Reading are so close to all of our hearts because of the fond memories we have from attending it in the past so being able to play there one day would just be immense.
What are some of the difficulties that you encounter as a band in the current music scene?
As a band so far we have managed to overcome a lot of difficulties rather quickly that new bands face, especially the challenge of getting out of the “awkward” phase where you are still trying to find yourself. It’s always hard starting out and trying to find the right places to go to and to reach out to in order to help the band grow and reach a larger audience.
We still have a lot of learning and growing to do as a band. We want to keep growing, establishing ourselves and feeling even more comfortable in what we are doing. We would just love to be out there as much as possible and love everyone whos joining us on this journey
I noticed you are very active on all social media platforms, do you like that part of your job or do you think it's more of a necessary evil?
We love that side of it. We genuinely love making all the little posts we do and creating stories. Sometimes it can make your day depending on what you're doing. It’s a part of being a band in this generation you have to embrace and take in your stride.
What are your goals for the near future?
Festivals are a main goal for us for the next year or so as well as to keep releasing singles and maybe even an EP. We have some amazing stuff brewing at Emergency Break HQ right now and can't wait to share them with you. One thing we can confirm is that we will be returning for an even bigger headline show next summer but you'll have to keep an eye on the socials for anything more than that.
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