More about: Coach party

Isle of Wight's Coach Party only need two chords to make magic. Three and they're pushing the envelope. Thing is, you don't need to have more than that to make a really good made-for-gigs EP. That's what the four-piece band of islanders have done on their debut Extended play Party Food.

Out on Chess Club today (10 June), the six tracks on this fully-formed project are an excellent example of twenty-somethings making songs for adolescents. That's not to say they don't hit well in their own demographic - or anyone who likes grungey garage rock - but we can definitely envision armies of teens moshing to the songs on here. Few more joyous sights exist. Until there are gigs again, settle down with the EP on full blast in your home - and read the story behind each one below.

'Oh Lola'

That drum intro was just a count-in for the rest of the band during the recording session. Who could’ve known it would become the most influential drum fill of a generation? The song was written on a snow day when we were meant to be going to Southampton for a thing, but as fellow islanders know, the ferries don’t much like operating in the cold, rain or sun etc, so plans changed and this little jam was birthed. Clocking in at one minute 53, we can confirm it took at least twice as long as that to write. If you listen carefully to the guitar solo you might hear it being doubled with one of those ‘Dog’ settings you find on old keyboards where you have a bark sound at 52 different pitches. Wonder if new keyboards have them too, but at higher sample rates and improved dynamic response? Gonna have to check that out.

‘Bleach’

This one started out as a really simple two chord song, but then somewhere down the line we came into our experimental phase and added a third. The song is basically a daydream about how things might be if you had the confidence to walk away from all of your meaningless and repetitive "real world" ties, which has as much meaning for us now as it did when it was written, albeit in different ways. "I bleached my hair and still looked like shit" is a nod to that thing where you see the absolute pinnacle of humans on social media with their awesome hair and crazy money, so you buy some hair dye or whatever to try and be like them but quickly remember that it doesn't work like that and you're doomed to be average forever. It's one of our more upbeat and optimistic songs.

‘Puke’

Basically just wanted to be able to say, "Hey we're Coach Party this one's called Puke".

‘Breakdown’

In the early days we got asked to do a support slot for a much more popular local band than us, and said yes even though we didn't have enough songs for a 25 minute set, so we panic-wrote ‘Breakdown’ that night. Retrospectively, I guess that explains the stressful feel of the track. Listen closely for the genius moment we rhyme "break" with "break"; an ode to our strong roots with the grime scene.

‘Space’

We spent a good four hours researching the endangered species list to find the perfect and unfortunate animal to feature in verse two. It ended up a toss-up between "black spider monkey" and "eastern gorilla", and much debate followed. Incidentally it was pretty depressing and eye-opening to see just how many species are on the brink of extinction thanks to people. Should probably do something about that. That line references people who push the people close to them to the edge destroying their confidence and vibe, and then when they're at their most vulnerable telling those people how much they care about them and want to look after them, as if they get a thrill from breaking people down and then acting like they care. It's very much like the relationship between people and the natural world.

‘Red Jumper Boy’

We spent a good four hours trying on different coloured jumpers to find the perfect jumper colour to feature in this song title. Happy with the result. The middle 8 in this sees us in full Dark Side Of The Moon" mode. We got Harry barking (Harry is a dog), phone ringing, piano lid dropping, a conversation about whether or not we should get a cat / if you like cats, and other pretty ground-breaking avant-garde musical moments. The song is like a little trip on the underground; it starts slow, you might catch eyes with someone you know, then it speeds up and it makes you a bit angry for some reason, goes a bit shaky for a while, then slows down again and leaves you in a new and strange place where you're too scared to ask for help or directions, so you just play the EP again. Hint.

Party Food is out now via Chess Club Records. 

More about: Coach party