Isle of White rising stars speak with us about their most recent single ‘Micro Aggression'.

On their acerbic new single, ‘Micro Aggression’, Coach Party’s Jess Eastwood delivers a powerful message to those whose idea of humour involves making hurtful and oppressive comments, only to brush them off as ‘just a joke’. The song stands as a sharp reminder to learn some actual funny jokes that don’t involve belittling and marginalizing others.

Over the last year, Coach Party have been honing their intense live show, performing more than 120 gigs in total. Some of the most memorable of these include supporting Indochine at the Stade de France, which has a capacity of 100,000 people, headlining their own tour that included a night at London’s Oslo, and joining Wet Leg on their sold-out winter tour across the UK and Europe. Set to take over the world, we caught up with them and found out more about their latest single.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and something about the music you make?

We're known by some as a band called Coach Party, but the OG's know this is merely a front for something bigger, more sinister, and arguably quite dangerous. We're from the Isle of Wight (yes, the one with the sweetcorn festival), and we make music which is 100% designed from the ground up to cure any allergy or intolerance if consumed at more than 200 decibels. But it might have some mild side effects.

We love your new single Micro Aggression. Can you tell us more about the lyrics?

Thank you so much. It's about people who are compulsively negative towards and about everyone, as a way to make themselves feel better or whatever reason they have to be so chronically rubbish and boring.

How is your music produced?

We record on the Island at Guy's (hello) studio, who also produces the music. Our writing process differs from song to song; sometimes it all comes together in the rehearsal room, other times someone will bring in an almost complete song, and on rare occasions we just sit down together and force a song out. Often they're the ones which become singles.

You recently supported Wet Leg. What was that experience like?

We are now very experienced at driving an MG an average of 7 hours a day across Europe for a few weeks. The shows were great - a few were in cities which we've played before so it was great to see some familiars along the way, and fast-track the makings of new fanbases in many new places. The Wet Leg crew are awesome and really helped us out a lot. We've known everyone in the band for years as friends / musicians / work colleagues etc, so it was really nice to do a tour which bypasses the awkward first 3 days whilst you try and stay out of everyone's way and struggle to remember anyone's name. Even your own.

How has The Isle of White influenced your music?

It's easy to feel like there's not a lot to do on the Island without being creative or making something happen for yourself, so I'm sure that has a huge impact on what we do. Being physically enclosed by the sea can do a lot to all aspects of life and we wouldn't be the same if we didn't grow up there.

How would you describe your music for someone who hasn’t heard it?

Blunt.

What’s it like working with Chess Club Records?

They're great - they've constantly had so much energy for what we're doing and are always there to chat about plans & ideas with us. There's no-one at the label who we don't know well enough to kiss on the forehead.

What inspires your music?

It seems to be all about people; 50/50 whether the songs are about ourselves or someone else, but it's all personal stuff. We haven't yet got into fiction as we've still got a lot of real stuff to document in song, but yeah it's really just inspired by people, for better or worse.

Name an artist you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why?

The Beatles, cause they're just the best. That music transcends all; there's no type of person of any age, background, belief or whatever who isn't capable of loving The Beatles.

What do you love right now?

Collectively, we love "The Nest" coffee house in Southampton right now.

What do you hate right now?

Congestion charge.

Are there any other releases you’re looking forward to in 2023?

I think Smashing Pumpkins are releasing another album this year, interested to hear that.

Where do you see your band one year from now?

Everything so far has been very gradual and organic for us, so we really just want to keep moving forward making better music, doing bigger gigs, reaching more people, stuff like that. If we can see the step up from the year before then we're doing ourselves proud.

Thanks for speaking with us! Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Readers of Still Listening: you are incredible as individuals and more powerful together than you could possibly imagine. Rock on.

Start Listening To: Coach Party