Springhouse is a local band comprised of Edinburgh University students, their music style self described as ‘shoegaze singer-songwriter’. The group consists of Daisy Casemore on piano and vocals, Roan Clawson on guitar, Jack Forshew on drums, Ronan Lenane on guitar, Oisin Rice on bass, and recent addition James Smith on trumpet and flugelhorn. The group has been rehearsing together since last fall and recently performed live for the first time opening for Dear Heather at the VooDoo Rooms; they’re performing at King Tuts on 24th July with Ample House, Bird Cage Theatre, and Sphinx. I spoke to them ahead of their gig on a somewhat chaotic but thoroughly enjoyable video call about the conflicting accounts regarding their formation; their songwriting process; and where they think their band, and music in general, is headed.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about the origin story of Springhouse? How did the band come to be and what drew you to each other as musicians?
DAISY: It all fell into place quite easily. Roan, Ronan and I talked about starting a band at a university radio social. We didn’t know each other well at the time but we did seem to click pretty instantly. Ronan mentioned Jack was a great drummer because they had gone to school together. Then the next day we went for a pint.
I’d say we clicked pretty quickly. The four of us ended up sitting on my bed and we wrote a song, which will never see the light of day, but it was a start. Everyone was keen to start playing as soon as possible which was really exciting. Ronan brought in Oisin to play bass not long after, which was a real blessing. Then after playing a gig with James in Geese Male Choir, we knew we needed him to complete Springhouse.
RONAN: The real story is a bit more unfortunate but we were in a six way car crash. You actually wouldn’t believe the angles. It was on a roundabout and somehow we all came headfirst at each other. Obviously Oisin was the first to try to drive away but we cornered him with the rest of our cars. And while we were getting each other’s details we realised we all played instruments and we were like ‘Wow’. Obviously I wasn’t at fault and other people made the mistake of saying sorry, so after we got some money from them we started a band.
Q: How has the experience of being in Springhouse been for you guys so far?
JAMES: It’s very intense at times. The rehearsal schedule is honestly just like non-stop. It’s a lot, I would say. You’ve got to turn up on time, things like that. Ronan is just very strict.
Q: Would you say Ronan is the band leader?
JACK: When Ronan shows up, yeah, but if we have a four hour practice, he’ll show up about halfway through. He kind of like usurps, I would say. Oisin’s probably the leader. The bass player is always the leader.
At this point Roan got kicked out of the video call
JACK: We started talking about the car accident and he had to leave because legally he can’t speak about it. That’s actually why James needs glasses. This is how Roan finds out he’s been kicked from the band.
Q: What are your primary musical influences? In what ways do those influences differ between band members and how do you compromise and/or collaborate with those differences?
RONAN: I don’t believe in compromise. I think a song needs a singular vision. I think you can still collaborate but it needs to be understood that ‘this song is like this’. I think you need to be an inordinately talented band to be able to ‘compromise’ in the idealistic way I often see talked about. I think you can probably do it but it would be so draining; it’s just easier to run it like a dictatorship. I think a good band setup is comprised of similar musical interests, or at least similar musical ideas, even if the actual artists differ. You can be into different genres if you agree on a base level that certain music isn’t worth listening to, I reckon.
I’ve been listening to Famous a lot lately. Their music moves me, but only some of the songs. I’m not quite sold on them yet but ‘The Beatles’ (the song) is an all timer. I steal a huge amount of musical ideas from Ethan P Flynn and Skydaddy, particularly in Springhouse.
DAISY: I agree with Ronan on his point about the importance of similar music tastes, but I think ‘dictatorship’ is harsh. I’m replacing it with ‘creative lead’. I think everyone in Springhouse brings something different and useful. Each member decides their own parts, and everyone is responsive to feedback. I don’t think we compromise too much – I think we argue until the other party is convinced. Don’t compromise – just present a convincing argument why it should be ‘it’s the morning and I don’t feel better’ rather than ‘it’s the morning and I don’t feel bad’. I’d rather talk about why they don’t like it and figure out a different option than find a middle ground where no one is passionate about the solution. That being said, Ronan and I are both pretty stubborn about lyrics.
In terms of musical influence, I love Big Thief. I think Adrienne Lenker’s songwriting style is surreal to the perfect extent – I really admire it. I’m heavily influenced by The Sundays, Franz Kafka, Joni Mitchell, Black Country, New Road, the essays of T.S Elliot, Tapir!, Joni Mitchell, the literary theory ‘the death of the author’, perfume and Slow Pulp. I’ve been getting into Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a wonderful album), English Teacher and reading tarot cards.
Q: You’ve written a surprising amount of singles for a relatively new band. Can you tell me about your creative process?
RONAN: We wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night, songs fully formed. I don’t know how Daisy does it but I have an app that if you sing a melody, it will turn it into words.
DAISY: I use ChatGPT quite a lot.
RONAN: On a real one, we will come up with ideas and then we’ll sit down and tell each other ‘I don’t really like the sound of that one, that’s not very good’ and then from there work out better lyrics and better guitar parts. Then we’ll bring it to the band and the band says ‘Is this a new song or one we’ve already done before?’ Sometimes they work it out, sometimes they still think it’s a song we’ve already done.
DAISY: Just to piggyback off of that point, it’s good to have people telling you ‘This doesn’t sound very good’.
JACK: I do that all the time.
JAMES: We also have that ghostwriter.
DAISY: Lyrically, I wouldn’t say that I have a process, which is annoying really because it means I struggle to write a song methodically. What normally ends up happening is that I notice random phrases, images, or thoughts and I write them down. There’s so much rubbish in my notes app but sometimes something will stick, and we’ll explore the idea.
I like surrealism. I want to make people ask themselves what this lyric is about for them. I try not to make my words too autobiographical. I think Radiohead does this really well. It’s nice to see a random idea become fully fleshed out, but that’s not something I could have done alone. It’s been useful writing with Ronan and having someone ask ‘What do you actually mean by that?’ It forces me to work to get to the grit of a lyric.
The same goes for writing instrumentation. Roan’s guitar riffs are magic. Oisin has the best ear (musically) in Edinburgh. Jack is a real backbone of our songs and can immediately understand what he needs to add. James adds Wakefield Brass Band charm, making everything he touches turn to gold.
JAMES: I couldn’t name two Springhouse songs to be honest. I’m writing my own parts on the day of the gig.
RONAN: We give him sheet music and he ignores it.
JAMES: Anything with sheet music is popular music.
DAISY: I think what James provides the most is accommodation. It’s why he’s in the band because we’re all having a band sleepover at his when we play King Tuts.
Q: If at all, from where do you seek creative inspiration for your music?
RONAN: I don’t really believe in inspiration. I think you just live your life and then periodically you have something to say about your life, or you learn a lot about the form and you have something to say about the form. And these are two different approaches and sometimes you can mix them together and I’m very pleased when that happens.
I think I’m sceptical of ‘inspiration’ because it seems to me that a lot of the time it just leads to pastiche. But truly I don’t know, I just know I’ve got hate in my heart for people who think they’re poets.
Q: How do you balance being university students and musicians? In what ways do you prioritise music over school, if at all, and vice versa?
RONAN: For me it’s really more about trying to balance music and Instagram reels. I have to devote a good amount of time to Instagram reels most days because it’s pretty important to me.
Q: I was in attendance for your first live performance, opening for Dear Heather at the VooDoo Rooms. From your perspective, how was that experience? What went right and what went wrong? What can fans expect of your Kings Tut performance that may be similar or different?
DAISY: The gig was great in giving us a goal to work towards. We had the best time. Playing our music live for the first time and hearing the crowd respond positively was super exciting. We’re really grateful to Dear Heather for hearing a chaotic early demo and taking a chance on us.
RONAN: For the Voodoo Rooms gig I wore quite a pedestrian shirt and my normal jacket. It was raining a lot that day and there was a lot to organise, so I didn’t really consider the outfit much, but I think for Tuts I’ll wear a suit with a red tie and try to look a bit more like Nixon.
This quickly delved into which American president or Blood Meridian character will be each of the band members’ style inspiration for their upcoming performance.
Q: You did a lot of live sound mixing and utilising feedback in your gig, and many of your lyrics are not always overtly obvious. In which areas do you think music can be more innovative? Are there any classical musical styles/inventions that you believe there should be a renaissance of?
RONAN: We’re not sure but we think Post-Punk is kind of washed. Do we move into electronic stuff?
I know certainly on a musical level, putting genre aside, I seem to just gravitate further and further away from stuff that a chord progression would represent and more towards drone and feedback-y stuff. But I also think that deconstructionist thing is quite an immature impulse. It’ll only be after the drone phase is over that I can really start thinking about music. I know for sure that rock is boring though.
I think a band has to have a reason to exist beyond ‘we like playing music’; I think by making music you need to be saying ‘this is the direction I think music should go in’. I don’t think I’m anywhere near there yet but I think that’s what you need to be thinking, and that’s the direction you need to head in to make interesting and thoughtful music.
One thing I will say though is that I’m trying to move away from abstract lyrics, I think they’re almost always just a cop out. Say what you want to say, don’t say ‘dirty shoes… Plastic bag… broken watch…’ That’s not a song, that’s just a list of things that only mean something to you. And you can say ‘well I only care about it meaning something to me’ and that’s fine but it’s not something I’m interested in.
Q: Are there any particular innovative things you guys want to include in your music that are new and exciting for you as performers?
JAMES: I’ve been thinking about the glockenspiel recently.
DAISY: We have two new songs to perform so we’ll hopefully be incorporating some glockenspiel into that.
Q: Can you tell the fans a little about what’s in the works for Springhouse?
DAISY: After forming in January I’m proud of what we’ve done already. As you know, we’ve been in the studio, so look out for some exciting announcements on our Instagram.
Q: Where do you see Springhouse going in the future, and where do you see yourselves as individual musicians?
JAMES: World domination.
JACK: Basically LCD Soundsystem playing ‘All My Friends’ at Glastonbury.
ROAN: Do you know Coldplay? I’m thinking Chris Martin for Ronan.
JAMES: I’d like to do a Greenland tour.
RONAN: I will be putting music aside for a while in order to spend more time on Instagram reels. There will probably be five more one show bands next year but I’m not thinking about that right now.
DAISY: We’ve got some time ahead where we’ll all be dispersed around the world. Springhouse will remain in our hearts. We hope to regroup next year, once we’ve finished finding ourselves.