The 52s

Who are The 52s? Where you’re from, how you met, how long have you been playing together etc

The 52s started life in a student house on the outskirts of Oxford in 2015 where Oli and Vex met and wrote songs in their bedrooms to avoid studying. The group has gradually
expanded in sound and members and rather than a band The 52s is a collective of musicians and friends who jam, write and perform in interchangeable combinations held
together in one magical Whatsapp group. Many of the band work as frontline health and social care workers and creating music together became a lifeline while coping with the adversities of the pandemic.

Who came up with the band name and does it have a story or any meaning behind it?

The 52s were born at house number 52 on Abingdon Road near Oxford and it stuck!

If you had to describe the band using just five words, what would they be?

Soulful fun loving groove meisters

Who are your biggest influences musically?

As a band we draw on an eclectic range of musical influences. We try to capture some of the fire of the great soul singers from Nina Simone to Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse to Lianne La Havas. As musicians we draw a lot from the rhythmic energy of jazz, funk and groove music and we can often be found sharing new Anderson Pak, Vulfpek and Ezra Collective beats. We also collaborate with a lot of musicians from a South Asian heritage bringing an extra dimension to our sound.

What’s the band’s biggest claim to fame so far?

As teenagers Oli and Pete from the band support Ed Sheeran in Bristol as part of a show supporting local organization One25 who do ongoing amazing work in the community.

As The 52s we’ve been lucky enough to play and sell out some iconic venues across London like Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. But a real peak came when we released our track ‘Heroine’ during the lockdown to raise money and awareness for victims of
domestic violence: the song was picked up by The Guilty Feminist Podcast and was shared widely helping to raise over £1500 for charity.

What’s your songwriting process?

As a band we renovated a garage in North London that has become the heart and soul of the 52s and our jam space. Most of our writing happens there in true 90s garage band style.
We once got so into a hook when writing a song that we set an oven pizza on fire ….. I’m not sure there’s much of a process. More just a lot of feeling our way through until we look round the room and everyone seems to be smiling.

If you could go on tour with any current band or artist, who would it be and why?

We would love to go play with Silk Sonic and also get access to their dressing room. If you could put your dream team band together consisting of any musicians from the past or present
who would the band members be? Bernard Purdie would be at the drums playing non-stop shuffle grooves. Lianne La
Havas and Anoushka Shankar would definitely be there and maybe Joe Dart on the ‘Joe Dart’. Jacob Collier could be in charge of arranging the vocal harmonies and Little
Simz would spit bars. It would be mental but glorious.

How would you describe your live show to someone who has never seen you perform before?

A mixture of funky riffs, tight vocal harmonies, high energy and a few re-imagined covers by a band having a ridiculous amount of fun.

Do any of you have any pre-gig or post gig rituals? If so, what and why?

Vivekka listens to early Justin Bieber records and eats KFC before gigs – the rest of the band are trying to stage an intervention around this. Often after soundchecks the band go and grab a pizza locally and sing/beatbox through
the key bits in the set which has made us very late for shows in the past. What would your ultimate rider be if you could have anything without being accused of being a diva? We’ve never been diva enough for a rider. Although one time we played at the Ned in London and Pete took a shower in one of the rooms and went home with some of their delicious soap.

This question is for all band members. If we were to browse your music library what is the most embarrassing song we might find? Or who is your guilty pleasure artist?

There’s a suspicious amount of metal when you go digging through our bands’ music libraries. And unsurprisingly a lot of indie landfill from our teenage years we can’t quite let go of (long live the Kooks) Tell us one thing your fans would be really shocked or surprised to hear or learn about the band
We’ve played shows with 5 doctors on stage before so our audiences are in very safe hands.

If people want to check you out online where is the best place to go?

You can find us on Instagram @the52s.band or check out our website www.the52s.com

Finally, What does the future hold for the band?

As a band we are continuing to play shows and are planning on recording and releasing some exiting new projects this year. We are often collaborating with causes and organisations who do good work for communities and this will continue to be part of the ethos of our band going into the future.