INTERVIEW
BALLPEEN
FIERY HARDCORE TRIO BALLPEEN DISCUSS THEIR LATEST TAPE, PACHINKO, WITH MARK CORCORAN-LETTICE Having established themselves as a deafening, bulldozing presence on the live circuit since their formation in 2017, hardcore trio Ballpeen return with their latest tape Pachinko this month: an eight track collection filled with warped noise rock moves and tense, grungy resolutions. Consisting of Adam Gowland, Rory Rickford and Graham Thompson, Ballpeen boast a prodigious pedigree. “Graham and I were in a band [Grace] which did a split 7” in 2012 with Rory’s band, Tide of Iron”, explains Gowland. “We had played several gigs together, and we attend plenty of the same local gigs. Grace and Tide of Iron fizzled out, any bands we tried since were a struggle to get going. It was more a case of right place, right time really. Our personal circumstances are similar which makes practice and gigging easier to deal with – probably the main reason we’ve lasted
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this long.” Rickford for his part is even more direct about the band’s genesis, saying: “I’m not sure if there was an inspiration to come together other than doing something we were all into. I remember getting a call off Graham one evening saying that he and Adam were looking to start another band, and would I be interested. I’ve been seeing them both playing in different bands for years so it didn’t take much convincing.” Between them, there’s a wealth of underground knowledge and experience that keeps their music visceral but also intriguingly hard to pin down, with influences from classic Amphetamine Reptile acts like Today Is The Day and even bands like Melvins filtering into their sound. Thompson notes, “I personally think Rory has a fairly unique way of playing in the way he incorporates quite a bit of melody and we knew it wouldn’t just be chugging hardcore or
