happydaze

The story of happydaze began in an abandoned barn, at a battle of the bands contest outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was there a 15yr old Luke Bovill (vocals) met Pete Bunting (drums) for the first time. Despite being competitors on the day the two kept in touch, always expressing a desire to one day collaborate and play together. Following the break up of bands and numerous creative relationships dissolving, early 2020 found the pair able to start something new. At this point Luke brought in college friend Rory Gault-Gordon (guitar) and at a later date Pete asked Adam Campbell (guitar) from the Edinburgh scene to join. It was here happydaze was formed.

Shortly after the band came together, the upheaval and uncertainty of the global pandemic placed the world on pause. Despite the clear restrictions the band threw themselves into happydaze with a focus and enthusiasm that immediately was different from any of their previous projects. Luke remembers “Like everyone we were unsure of how long we would be stuck in the house for, quickly realised we had the time to work on what we REALLY wanted happydaze to be. This ended up being months and months of zoom calls to write songs – me in my flat, Pete in the studio, which is fortunately round the corner from his place – going over every detail. 16 hour days in rooms with no windows, building something up from scratch. The band really gave us purpose in such uncertain times, and now that we have opportunities to share it with the world and hear how the songs resonate with people.”

Following the release of a series of singles in ‘21, the band’s debut EP ‘Underground Summer Sound’ was released early ‘22. With the world opening up the band jumped straight into touring, playing their first headline shows in the UK to the fanbase they’d built during the past year. This was swiftly followed by a run opening for Neck Deep that also took them into mainland Europe for the first time as well as further UK shows in the year with Between You & Me and dates with ROAM. Alongside the band continued to build their audience and pick up media coverage at Rock Sound, Kerrang, Radio 1 Rock Show as well as Spotify editorial support at New Music Friday, All New Rock, Pop-Punk’s Not Dead and Misfits 2.0.

Shortly after the release of the debut EP, their thoughts returned home, restless with plans for the next phase for the band. “Our studio space in Edinburgh is a renovated old house” – picks up Luke – “We have a sick community of bands around us in separate rooms, you can hear them through the walls and when you’re outside in the car park. We write & rehearse there, we’ve recorded there, shot music videos there. It really is a second home, for all of us.” In addition to their community further international influences helped enhance the happydaze sound: “We had the privilege and time to have songwriting sessions with so many amazing producers and musicians – Matt Squire (Panic at the Disco, Good Charlotte), Mike Green (Sum 41, All Time Low), Sky Acord (Issues, Twenty One Pilots) – all of which has helped shaped our songwriting. Alongside we all appreciate and love electronic, emo-trap, soundcloud-pop-punk music. This has evolved to adopting elements of drum and bass, garage, lofi beats, anything we enjoy listening to we try to incorporate those vibes into our songs.”

Luke reflects “happydaze has always been about taking into account the things you do in life, really thinking about if they make you happy, or if you’re going through the motions of each day, not really doing what you should be. This record was written after I had made choices in my life that would make it go on a completely different path, realising that life is only so long and you really do have to do what makes you happy, not live in the daze.”