Speaking to Jake Bishop (drums) and Indie Armstrong (bass) over Zoom on a gloomy February morning, Indie confesses that ‘Elsewhere, Always’ was inspired by “that feeling of escapism and chasing something better, which I think in our early 20s, a lot of people can kind of relate to – coming out of a very ordered system of school and education, and then suddenly being left to your own devices and wondering what your future will look like. And that could be in a physical sense of where you're going to be, or it can be in a mental sense of who you are as a person – it's that feeling of chasing the next thing”.
Having come together through a love of indie-rock and carved it into a promising music career, overpass is a prime example of the best-case scenario of starting a band as a teenager. Dwelling on their origins, Indie states that: “Wanting to start a band was more [about] wanting to play music with people who were into the same genre as us. None of us went to the same school, but we somehow managed to find each other through that kind of mutual love of rock music. It started with playing covers of our favourite songs from favourite bands – Arctic Monkeys, Blossoms, Catfish and the Bottlemen – and developed from there into thinking, “Oh, I guess we could actually try and write some songs together and see where that goes”.
Overpass have steadily grown their fanbase and bagged support slots for many well-loved indie bands, including Inhaler, Two Door Cinema Club, and more. Year after year, they can be found on the lineup of most major UK festivals, including Isle of Wight, Reading & Leeds, and Jake’s confessed favourite, Truck – “It's the one that [my friends and I] usually go to. It's not as chaotic as the other ones, and everyone seems to be on the same wavelength there. I love how it's obviously a big festival, but you can walk everywhere within 15 minutes. We played on the main stage last summer, and that was such a surreal moment.”
Despite countless amazing opportunities over the past five years, Jake and Indie agree that supporting Wunderhorse on their European tour last summer was a milestone in their careers – “It was the first proper run we've had [in Europe], and we treated it like a holiday as well, so we got to see all the sights. I think that was a moment where it was like, “Oh, this is what it's like to be in a band properly””. On this tour, overpass played shows in a range of iconic cities and amazing venues over the space of a couple of weeks, but Milan was Indie’s favourite – “Milan was the best because we went to Lake Como. On the way there, we were driving through all the mountains, and it was just amazing. [Touring] is usually busy. You can try to cram things in. At Lake Como, our tour manager was like, “Okay, you've got half an hour”, so we ran down to go and jump in the lake and ran back up [for the show].”
Having spent the past five years firmly placing themselves as rising stars in the indie music scene, overpass’ debut album has been more than highly anticipated. Set for release on June 5th, ‘Elsewhere, Always’ consists of ten anthemic indie-rock tracks, infused with an unwavering confidence and self-assurance. When asked to describe their sound, Jake and Indie instantaneously agreed on “exciting, uplifting and energetic”, these three words were chosen with “performing the songs live” in mind, and having that moment of everyone coming together and singing along”.
Reflecting on the recording process, Jake notes that – “It’s different [from recording our EPs] in the sense [that] we had more time, and we all lived together. When we went to record, we went up to Liverpool. It was around seven weeks in total in the end, and we never had that before. When we recorded the EPs, it was only a week, and then a little break, and then another week. I really preferred [recording the album] because you could immerse yourself in the whole process, and living together was great as well. I think that probably made it more of a collaborative piece of work as well, because you're constantly in that album mode, and we all came together quite well and realised what sound we wanted quite quickly. It went a lot smoother than some of the stories that I've heard.”
‘Elsewhere, Always’ was recorded in Campston Street Studios with Rich Turvey, who produced their previous EPs and notably worked with one of overpass’ favourite bands, Blossoms; “we knew we had that relationship there and a sense of trust going into a debut album. It was nice to have someone so good, but also familiar to us, to trust with that process.”
The uplifting, infectious sound you can hear on their album echoes the artists and songs that overpass are inspired by: “I think we're all quite similar in our inspirations, music-wise,” Jake admits, “we like Interpol, we love Djo, we love that kind of melodic music, with all the big choruses and stuff. So I think trying to make that our sound in the album was definitely influenced by those kinds of bands.”
The recording process of ‘Elsewhere, Always’ was described as very “smooth sailing” by the band – fortunately, they couldn’t think of a single song that they found difficult to finish. Despite “being sceptical going into it because we didn’t know where the song was going”, Jake confesses that ‘Spinning’ is his favourite track on the album, adding that “it turned out to be something that I would listen to anyway. I think that song just reminds me of making the album.” Indie reminisces on the making of her favourite track, ‘Fall in Love’, recalling that “it was one of those songs that we were all very hands-on with. It started from Max's voice note, and to see the way it develop[ed] and change[d] into something with a lot of emotion behind it. And it's something that I would actively listen to, which is great.”
Glancing ahead to the release of ‘Elsewhere, Always’ this summer, Indie hopes “that the album connects with everyone who's already been with us on this journey from the very first EP. We hope that this music speaks to them, but also that we can reach a whole new group of people with it as well. And for us, that always translates into the live show. We’ve announced our debut album tour for this autumn, and I think that’s so exciting, the idea of playing this album to people in amazing venues. So, I think being able to hear people sing things back would be really special.” When asked if there’s a particular show they are looking forward to the most, Jake, without hesitation, responded, “It has to be O2 Academy Birmingham. It’s our hometown show. It’s always great to play when all your mums and nans come as well.”
From covering Blossoms’ songs as teenagers for fun, to recording their very first album with the man who produced them, overpass is undoubtedly on an upwards trajectory – and ‘Elsewhere, Always’ is just the beginning.
Emma Constance
Image: Press