While the Hertfordshire 5 piece 'dreamo' group haven't been around for that long, they've already been building up quite a cult following for themselves since the release of 'Blood Moon' last year. Advance tickets for their release show sold out not long after it's announcement, and more recently the band played a secret bunker venue in Southampton with Drawstring that filled over capacity.

Before Redwood, Alex Birchall, Charlie Parrott and Jamie Richards were in the post-hardcore band Eyes of Elisa. Alex says that the band From Indian Lakes inspired him to start venturing into more atmospheric territory when it came to songwriting. Soon afterwards, they met Conor Bond and Toby Fassioms who left their previous band, joining forces to collaborate with everyone’s musical interests into one.

With post rock, it’s expected of bands in the genre to build up sonic atmospheres that bring a heavy emotional pull with listeners. While a lot of bands who fit into that genre are purely instrumental, Alex feels like he has a real connection with nature that plays into his lyrics.

“I have always been obsessed with the Redwood forest for as long as I can remember” he says. ” I felt like this atmospheric music we were writing or thinking up at the time really encompassed this nature vibe, so it just felt right. ”

“For Blood Moon, the themes we explore are mostly to do with self doubt, and little pockets of niceness you sometimes get in your brain but only sometimes.”

Redwood’s approach to post rock in a sense is more than just your typical quiet-loud-quiet-crescendo type of formula. There’s gang vocals, dazzling production and haunting melodies at play with a lot of what they do and they generally tend to write overriding melodies over repetitive sections to bring out variation.

“We don’t necessarily pertain to that genre/style/movement, either” says Jamie. “Obviously there are some parts of our songs that do sound like they have post-rock origins but really, we write what sounds good within the context of the song at the time.”

“Generally, Alex or myself will come up with the bare bones of a song” Conor explains. ” So, a chord sequence and a vocal melody basically. One of us will then send it over to Jamie who will add atmosphere and the beginnings of lead guitar parts.

“Between us we’ll make a basic demo, which we’ll then send around to everyone else to see what we’re feeling. If everyone can behind the song, whether it be its overall style or message, we’ll get together (when we can) and start learning it. From this point though, Toby and Charlie will rework the structure so the song flows better, and help build more vocal melodies (even though Toby doesn’t sing).”

While the bands they’ve played with in the similar musical and social circles may veer towards that of more emo revival territory, Toby explains that So Punk 2 back in 2015 was a personal accomplishment for him.

“We played amazingly well despite circumstances (having to go on first having never played Southampton before and not knowing anyone) and then got a good write up for it which felt great and was a big milestone for us. The worst show for us was probably Portsmouth on our last tour, due to the headline band dropping out and Penthouse nearly getting kicked out by over-zealous bar staff.”

With Redwood’s future looking brighter than ever, they plan to tour mainland Europe this year and write up their first full length LP, the details of which are yet to be discovered.

You can check out all three of Redwood’s releases on their Bandcamp page.