New To Hot Press: Pecking Party

Electro four-piece Pecking Party have been around in several guises for a number of years, but it wasn’t until the arrival of vocalist Ciara Ryan that the group really hit their stride. “We’ve existed in a few different ways since 2011,” explains guitarist John Gilbride. “At the time, it was really just fiddling with computers, but things started to click when Ciara came onboard in 2013. I’ve always been one to let my music do the talking, so we’d been doing instrumentals. But when Ciara joined, the power of her voice and lyrics made a lot of sense. It worked.”

Interested primarily in merging electronica with a live band, Pecking Party cite groups such as Enter Shikari and Pendulum as big influences. However, Gilbride acknowledges the trickiness of merging the two distinct sides of the group.

“Trying to create that energy while relying on click tracks and synths will drive you insane,” he chuckles. “But it makes for something exciting. I definitely feel it’s worth it.”

Most recently, Pecking Party released their self-titled debut EP. “It really captures the strength of where we are at now with Ciara,” enthuses John. “She has really shaken us up and given us a varied sound. In terms of live acts, we love Pendulum and stuff like that. But we’re drawing on influences from a number of places, such as trip hop, drum and bass and rock. It’s all in there.” Pecking Party’s new track ‘Calcifier’ is out now.