Welcome to the Pleasure House where all stories are true.

Alex Heffernan (Vocals/Guitar), Jon Moore (Bass), Abbas Shah (Lead Guitar) and James Burgess (Drums)

Apparently, Birmingham is a place to start a band. This town has given us the almighty Peace, the extraordinary Swim Deep and one of my recent obsessions JAWS – if I’m to mention only a few. Now it’s the time for these four lads.

I caught up with the band Pleasure House before their gig on Nov 20 at the Barfly in Camden. Yes, yes I know.. The Barfly again. Well, what can I do? They bring all the great bands in.

Despite forming only last year this four-piece can’t complain about boredom. With a support from BBC Introducing they’ve been dropping song after song presenting self-described “dirty indie dance pop”. But what they say is that they refrain from any labelling. The genre thing is not something you should take really serious. The sound of new emerging bands is evolving all the time. So just go with it and see what happens.

The lead singer of this Brummie quartet mentions that the band plans on taking a break in December and spending some time in the studio. They hope to release the new EP sometime in February which will certainly bring different sound. Influenced mostly by Tame Impala it will feature more electronics but also heavier accents and less poppy vibes comparing to the early stuff. Alex explains:

We’re going from indie-pop to indie-rock

I guess we’re doing it the other way around than most of the bands and we’re going from indie-pop to indie-rock.

As the conversation unravels, it turns out the band and I share very similar music taste. Jon names Peace as one of the favourite bands of his alongside Biffy Clyro (who does not love Biffy Clyro?!), Alex states that he very often goes back to some Bon Iver’s songs, especially in the Christmas period. We also agree on JAWS saying that their early stuff was more distinct (but let’s wait with that opinion when the second album is out) while James emphasizes there’s nothing better than playing at your favourite pub, where all the mentioned above bands have played, and he still visits the place every Wednesday. Cheers to that! Abbas, on the other hand, keeps it more varied and listens to more soul music.

While we chat the guys are having a discussion about the set list for the concert. As they clarify, they basically have got around 14 songs and every night before the gig they decide which ones are going to be played. Alex also remembers their first ever show:

We were rehearsing for just a couple of hours and everyone said it was great.

Well guys, this tactic works really good. Don’t change it.

Pleasure House deliver upbeat guitar riffs and strong drums sequences which all blended with the compelling and lively vocals create the hypnotic melodies. Add a bit of psychedelic rhythms and you get a catchy track at its best. Their music just smiles and it makes you happy and it makes you want to dance. Listen to the latest song Like a Drug below and see for yourself.

But I bet you’ve been wondering this whole time what about that name! I know I had before I met up with the band. I mean come on – Pleasure House – there must be a good story explaining that.

Only there are too many stories. One includes a girl reading a magazine at the bus stop.. or maybe that was an old lady with a book (the 80s erotic called The House of Pleasure, to be more precise). I’m not sure any more. Oh wait I think it was all about some brothel and crying on the floor and saving Jon. But not Jon Snow from the Game of Thrones. Although there is a story about this TV series as well. What could that possibly include? As they say:

We can’t confirm nor deny it.

But was all of that even true? I don’t know.

What do you reckon?

Just don’t ask the band ’cause they won’t tell.