Life Before The 52s.

Music began for Oli and Pete as teenagers living on the outside of bath travelling around in a beaten up ford KA playing gigs in Bath pubs and Bristol venues as the band First Thought. The highlight was supporting Ed Sheeran at the Fleece the night before doing their A levels. A move away from the southwest led to the band splitting up but Oli and Pete continued to write music drawing on their formative teenager years. 

The Early Years

Oli and Vex met when they were both late for the first day of university in Oxford, The 52s started life in a grimy student house in south Oxford where Oli and Vex would jam out originals and funky covers in their bedrooms while taking breaks from their degrees. After playing in a number of college bars the duo teamed up with fellow students to record two original songs as part of the vulture sessions series on youtube showcasing new artist in Oxford. The videos drew some attention and the pair became a regular feature at college balls as well as regular slots at Cellar and Frevd alongside the likes of Dots Funk Odyssey and Holly Redford-Jones.

Kumala Vista

By the time they were leaving Oxford the band had built up a reputation for high energy shows with tight vocal harmonies. Oli and Vex teamed up with future bassist John P and talented artist Tilly Slight to bring together their debut 3 track demo ‘Kumala Vista’ which was launched at an energetic party in the Bullingdon. The band had started picking up shows in London and Bath including being singled out to play at Camden’s Greenote as part of a new artist showcase and Bath International Music Festival

Re-Born at Ronnie Scotts:

A move up to London prompted both the sound and the members of the 52s to expand rapidly. Moving away from the intimacy of the acoustic duo the group became a 7 piece melting pop of R&B, jazz, blues, pop and (most importantly) soul. Sylvan bought his tenor, Benji his drum kit, Miriam her vocal chords, Pete sometimes bought his picks and JBS his horn with occasional terrible one liners. The band became something of a collective where different musicians joined jam sessions to bring out different colours and new ideas. The 52s were re-born with a sell-out show at Ronnie Scott’s upstairs bar to kick off an exciting 2018. After success of the ram-packed show the band were invited back to Ronnies for a Summer residency including 2 more sell out shows as well as an appearance in the Loud in London Festival for a rowdy gig at Cargo.

Shouting at Traffic - Whispering at Sofar:

The year concluded with a final sell-out at Ronnie’s in October before the band retreated in Lab studios in South London to begin working on a 6-track EP which was released in early 2019. Self-recorded and produced, Shouting at traffic was a culmination of the different songs and sounds that had developed up to now in the history of the band. The cover of the record was an epic shot taken by friend of the band Rory Dinwoodie looking over Edinburgh City Centre.

Shouting at Traffic was a culmination of everything up until that point and was launched at London's The Ned.  2020 has seen the band team up with Sofar Sounds for a string of high energy intimate gigs and further headline shows across the South of the UK being tipped for festival slots in the Summer. 

With the Covid-19 lockdown the band prepare to release a single to support victims of domestic violence. ‘Heroin’ is a raw track exploring some of the different sides of an abusive relationship. 100% of the profits from the track fo towards supporting Women’s Aid, Refuge UK and Respect UK for their amazing ongoing work during the lockdown.