“Who’s the best famous person you’ve met?” With their Reading Festival performance behind them and their debut album just about to drop, Beach Baby are full of an excited energy. “I actually borrowed a cigarette lighter off Laura Marling yesterday,” Ollie Pash brags. “I served Paul Weller a latte,” Josh Hodgson one ups. “I’ve had a pee next to Noel Gallagher, and a pee next to Chris Martin,” Lawrence Pumfrey shrugs. There’s a moment of silence. “Who had the bigger cock?”
Laughing, joking, and stating that size is “nothing to be ashamed about,” the group are completely content in the moment. It’s the calm before the storm, with their long-awaited first album finally released. “It’s going to be on a billboard in London, which we just found out,” Lawrence exclaims. “I’ve got the posters in my hand here,” Josh gestures, cardboard tube in hand. “That’s for us, so we can put them up in our own rooms,” Lawrence corrects. “I’m going to put a signed Beach Baby poster above my bed,” he beams.
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Three and a half years in the build-up, it’s no surprise that the band are proud of their efforts. “I would describe it as a good two months of hard work,” Ollie conveys. “I think we came out of it with a good sense of who we are.” Establishing their identity, the group depict their debut release as “a good start, but not the complete Beach Baby statement.” “If you think of it as a university dissertation, it’s the introduction and the first point,” Ollie continues, “but it’s not the second point or the third point or the conclusion. I hope.” “I’d say that’s spot on,” Josh congratulates, before offering his own illustration of “sometimes it sounds like spreading melted butter on a flapjack.”
Whatever the description is, Beach Baby are progressing on to bigger and better things. “We’re going to places that I never thought I’d ever go to in my whole life!” Ollie shouts. Reeling off a list of cities, the band couldn’t be more stoked to get out there and continue making their mark on the world. “We go to these places, and we get to play to these really nice people who give a shit…” “Hopefully,” Lawrence interjects. “Then we get to come home and tell all our family about it. Everyone’s really proud.”
The album is still days away, but the band are already onto the next thing. “We’ve got a lot of other songs,” Ollie teases. “Some of them are good. Some of them are a bit shit. 50p here, 50p there.” “I’m not sure if that’s a saying?” James queries. Whatever the meaning behind their in-jokes, one thing’s for certain: Beach Baby are making every moment count.