Exclusive Interview with Child of the Parish

Child of the Parish unite the experimental psychedelia and electronica of brothers Tom and Ben Vella with intense visuals courtesy of ‘Stranger Things’ graphic artist Pius Bak.

The project was introduced with the independently released debut EP ‘Make It Better’, which has exceeded 5 million streams. It attracted radio support including Jack Saunders’ Tune of the Week at Radio 1 and Lauren Laverne’s While You Were Sleeping feature on 6Music, and they diversified their following with the help of an inclusion on an official FIFA soundtrack.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Tom & Ben, thanks for chatting with us today guys. Artist names are always very interesting to us, super keen to know what ‘Child of The Parish’ means to you and how you guys came up with this name?

Child of the Parish was originally an idea for a song title, at the time we didn’t have a name, we were just sending beats and song ideas to each other. The more I thought about it the more I liked it, and the more it sounded like a weird rural horror film! I’d moved to a small village from London shortly before so it all tied in. The whole concept of the comic and the evil character really came from the name.

What was the first track that put you on the map in the electronic music scene and what has your journey been like since then?

Our first single Before the Moments Gone was used in the game FIFA20, this obviously has a massive following, and EA have their own Spotify playlists that have a big following so it was a massive help on our debut release.

Tell us about your previous success on the ‘Make It Better’ EP and how it feels to have had one of your tracks included as a FIFA soundtrack? Support from Lauren Leverne and Jack Saunders with almost 5 million overall streams, that’s huge!

Like I said the FIFA20 sync was amazing for us – I never have the time to play now but I’ve got loads of friends who do and they said it always seemed to be looping in the background! The support from Lauren and Jack was amazing, we’re really proud of the EP – it was hard as Make it Better got released the week before the first corona virus lockdown, like all musicians (and everyone else) its been a tough time but I feel we’re getting through it now and can’t wait to finally release some new tunes.

Your current release ‘Midas Touch’ drops today! The first release of your upcoming EP, what was the creative process like and where did you guys draw inspiration for this track specifically? When can fans expect the full EP?

Midas Touch is showing off our love for 70’s rock! There’s still some synths and processed beats in there, but we love a bit of trippy prog so it was fun to experiment with those kind of sounds. Across the EP there are quite a lot of influences; house, rock, RnB, electronica, I think we went a bit mad during lockdown and just tried everything! The other three tracks should all be out later this year.

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A favorite question here at UFO! What single night out has been most memorable for you as producers and do you spend much time together behind the curtain when you are not producing or performing?

We’re brothers so we spend a lot of time together! Single night out is a tough one – I love festivals and am lucky to have played quite a few. I grew up loving Orbital but for some reason had never seen them live, I finally caught them at Standon Calling a couple of years ago, finally hearing tunes from Snivilisation I’d listened to for years actually in the flesh was very special.

Give us the name of one song  that never gets old for you no matter how many times you hear it?

I will never ever tire of listening to Voodoo Ray by a Guy Called Gerald. For me it’s the definitive acid house tune.

Give us one interesting fact about you guys that your fans don’t know of yet?

We’re brothers, and actually music’s really in the family. Our granddad was in the BBC orchestra with his two brothers as well, so it’s a line that’s continued. Although they were actually all thrown out of it for fighting during a performance, so they were more rock n roll than we’ve ever been.

If you guys had the opportunity and could perform at any festival or gig today or in the future, what would it be and why?

Easy, Glastonbury, on the Friday night! The greatest festival in the world by a mile, but you want to get your own performance done nice and early so you can party for the rest of the weekend without worrying about the state you’ll be in!

How do you get a track started? tell us about your production and creative process that’s involved?

Sometimes I’ll write a basic song, send it to Tom and he’ll work on the production, sometimes he’ll send me a beat and chords and I’ll write to it. We’ve got very used to working in this way during lockdown and it makes sense to us. Thankfully we know a lot of singers and other musicians who’ve learned to work remotely as well so it hasn’t been too hard to finish tracks off in this way.

As established artists in the scene, what advice would you pass on to all aspiring DJ’s, Producers and Artists looking to break out into the mainstream scene? Is there any advice you wish you received from somebody more experienced when you started your career in music?

Always think of the audience, especially when you’re working on your own at home you can get detached from that, but its about giving the people what they want, live and on record.

The relationship between artist and the audience is crucial when on stage, and yet is seems to be a fragile one – how do you see the balance between giving a crowd or audience what they want and treating them to something new?

It is a balance, I think you can’t really know until you put the hours in on stage, you learn what works and what doesn’t, how far you can push things. And everyone within the audience is different. You can learn the hard way! In an old act we played a show and decided we weren’t going to do encores, and even though they’d heard everything the audience got really angry when they realized we weren’t coming back on! Sometimes things that seem a bit clichéd actually hold a group of people together – always give them what they want on stage!

Child of The Parish next look ahead to their upcoming second EP by sharing its first track ‘Midas Touch’. The song finds the duo expanding the audacious scope of their sound, laying up their electro-psych core with rapturous reverb-heavy harmonies, baroque-tinged flourishes, and more than a hint of ‘80s extravagance with its dramatic drum fills and searing, climatic solo. It’s a track in the lineage of leftfield artists with wider pop appeal, from Tame Impala to Bowie via Beck, M83 and MGMT.

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Listen to Midas Touch on YouTube