Music / Get To Know
Get to Know: Grove
Grove, the electro-punk experimentalist imbued with a raw and charged defiance, grew up wanting to be a chart-topping popstar and finds their ultimate comfort in community.
The performance style of Grove – shortlisted in the Music category of Bristol Legends – manifests as fire but its flame burns bright with vulnerability, justice and love.
How did you start performing?
“I was a super shy kid. The two things I loved sports and music. I’d play piano at home and had a good basis of lots of different music through my parents.
“The first project I ever joined was a metal band. I wasn’t interested in metal at all but in Cheltenham you’re either in an indie rock band or a metal band and I thought, this one seems fun.
“Then I moved onto doing community based projects through Music Works and was in a hip hop act and an electronic duo.
“Fast forward abit, I moved to Bristol and the music I’m making is a combination of all those flavours: the heavy, rawness of a metal show, lyricism and flow influence from hip hop. I also love pop, and it all goes through electronic textures with bass as a central point.
“Through that whole journey I’ve learned a lot about confidence and where my power lies.”
Is your music a way to get your messages out?
“My music is a vehicle for my most rebellious self and the part of all of us, that I embody, that is so against injustice.
“Growing up I witnessed alot of injustice from the State towards people in my family. That fire that was always burning, from then, now has a home: understanding a wider context of how society is structured, being able to narrate that and speak, from my experience, of what I want to change.”
Do you see yourself as an activist?
“I feel the real activists are the people putting their necks on the line. But there are different forms of activism and I want to make sure I’m acquainted with them all.
“I’m constantly figuring out what I’m willing to sacrifice for the greater good, and it’s an unanswered question as of yet but I’m exploring all the tendrils.”
Grove performed with Scaler at this year’s IDLES weekend spectacular on Queen Square – photo: Des Hoskins
What role does music have to play in the social justice sphere?
“I keep two solid quotes in mind when thinking about this concept.
“One is Nina Simone: “It is the duty of an artist to reflect the times you live in”. Everyone has a different lens of focus, but I feel my calling is to comment on the atrocities happening in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo.
“And Toni Cade Bambara said: “The role of an artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” Being that galvanising force, sharing the inner fire and lighting someone else’s with your words. Really not wanting people to fall into that place of apathy and powerlessness.
“As an artist it’s galvanising to see a fearlessness in how ideas are communicated. I went on tour with Bob Vylan three years ago and it’s been energising for me to witness what they are doing now.
“I find it incredibly powerful: it’s easy, when atrocities are repeated, for us to be fatigued with the constant, unending violence. Keeping the conversation alight is incredibly important.
Is that you’re intention with your new music?
“It’s both a want to keep the conversation alight but also expressing this energy build up. I initially felt quite paralysed from witnessing what’s been going on in Palestine, Sudan, the Congo.
“Then this path got carved up and out through me and I was able to start writing music that spoke to that frustration and wanting to change our country’s approach to these atrocities.”
How has your music evolved since moving to Bristol?
“Since moving to Bristol I’ve got more experimental, more abrasive, more playful, more everything!
“My latest EP Hydra is focused on directing the frustration element towards the right people and the love element towards the right people. It’s three punky, industrial, unrelenting tunes with a slice of vulnerability.
“Me, Toya Delazy and TaliaBle – what I call the most charged up girl band in Britain! – have written a collection of Afrorave and Afropunk songs. I’ve got another EP out with Canadian producer SIM which is warped, weird soundsystem flavours. And an album out by the end of the year.”
What in the local scene do you find inspiring?
“My first link to Bristol was through SNOG, a queer-run, bonkers-in-the-best-way collective. Their roster is full of people – t l k, Biped, Bruce, BABii – making music that is moving, thought-provoking and sonically delicious.
“I love open jams so much. They are non-hierarchical, welcoming and interesting. My favourites are Outer Edges, an experimental electronic jam at the Love Inn, and Family Business at the Gallimaufry.
“And mentoring recontextualised music for me into something that becomes even more potent and powerful when it’s shared. Mentoring is where I get a lot of fulfilment now. It’s humbling, and really fun.
“Music is this gorgeous, community, soul-nourishing thing.”
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What can people expect from your next Bristol show?
“I’m so excited to return to the Croft in February. It’s where I did my first ever headline show. I wanted it intimate with a big soundsystem in order to have the maximum impact on the people in the room.
“It will be intense but I’m also working on the spaces in between, deepening my understanding of love and how that love manifests itself in the world and in community.”
You appear to maintain positive energy while putting resistance and defiance across in your music…
“Musically, I enjoy oscillating between tenderness and frustration.
“The frustration comes from this deep place of loving people and the fruits of the world, and being frustrated that they aren’t accessible to everyone.
“That’s where it all comes from: a deep love of people and life.”
Grove performs at the Croft on February 4: headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/the-croft/wed-4-feb-grove-142327#e142327
Main photo: Giulia Spadafora
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