Perth Rocks Festival is happening Sunday, 15 September 2024. Stephanie Jewell got to speak to some of the bands ahead of the festival to get to know them and what they are all about. For her first interview she spoke with Jordan (Jordy) Paul, vocalist from local pop punk band, Belgravia. Joining Jordy are bandmates and good mates, Brock Jeffries (drums), Brendan Stainsby (bass), Ryan Ebbs (guitar), and Brody Walsh (guitar).
Steph: Jordy, please tell me about Belgravia. How did you guys get started as a band producing this fun dynamic sound?
Jordy: Okay, so, really it was just an old ‘friend of a friend’, situation. They hit me up one day and were putting together what was originally going to be a Ghost cover band. That could have been interesting! A few of his friends – the bassist and the guitarist at the time – were jamming in late 2022 and I was in Darwin. I came home and a week later, we jammed, and we wrote ‘Inhale, In Hell’. They already had the bare skeleton. That was our first single. I just kind of free-styled a little melody and they were like ’yep, this guy is cool and he knows what he is doing, or so it seems!’ I imagine it went like that. And then the guitarist at the time, Maz, recruited a fellow hockey player who is the rhythm guitarist of the band still (Ryan Ebbs). He joined the band about a month or two after me. There were five of us at the time and we just kept writing. My cousin, who is the best friend of Johnny from ColourMind, asked if he could get us a gig, and that was our first gig, in late November. We thought great, we’re officially a band!
Steph: And where does the name Belgravia come from?
Jordy: The drummer came up with the name of Belgravia because he was a big fan of a group in America called Belmont. He drives through Belmont (the suburb) every day for his work commute and there was Belgravia Street. We really liked the name and that was it, Belgravia!
Steph: I also hear that Belgravia has some big news recently, what is that all about?
Jordy: We actually just released our first debut EP on 03 September 2024. Its called ‘Evergreen’ and it is a five track EP. It is available on all of the streaming services. We have been working on that for roughly a year, or maybe slightly less than a year now. It is finally out now and I think it is pretty good! People haven’t said that its terrible, so that’s pretty good!
Steph: Congratulations, that’s exciting! What is Belgravia working on next now that your EP has finally landed?
Jordy: At the moment we are just in the jam room and in the studio, writing, writing, writing. We have got about six or so songs that are in the skeleton process. I think we are just going to focus on writing as much music right now as we can and then just piecing together maybe a full-length album or maybe just another EP or something. At the moment we are just going to ride out the EP, hopefully for a couple of months at least, maybe do some remixes or some acoustic versions of it. And then we will see what the new year brings us!
Steph: For anyone who hasn’t given Belgravia a listen before, what can people expect from your sound?
Jordy: I would say when it comes to the music, it is very upbeat, energetic, fast paced vibes. A variety of motions with the pop-punk adjacent genre of music, lots of emotions. But when we come to play it live I have heard many people say that it is one of the most interactive and energetic shows that they have ever been to. I like to attribute that to myself because I am just singing on the microphone, so I am not focused on playing an instrument like the other guys. So I am jumping all around, I am grabbing people, I am shaking hands and kissing babies. What we really like to do with Belgravia is just include everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, what you believe in, who you love. If you are a fan of the music, then we are friends with you.
Steph: How did you guys come to be involved with Perth Rocks Festival?
Jordy: I have come to know Jacob through Johnny from ColourMind who is also the co-host of my podcast, Big Things Coming. He was always raving about the Perth United album being made and then they did the Perth Rocks Festival with End Of Fashion last year. They said it was really cool! And then Jacob came onto Big Things Coming and he announced that he was putting it together. I thought oh yes, lets jump in! And hit him up. And c’est la vie, we got the lucky spot.
Steph: That’s awesome, and who are you most excited to see on the line-up?
Jordy: That is a good question, I have really been hyped up for Heaven // Alone, they have been killing it and they started around a similar time to us. It is really cool to see a band doing it so well in their avenue of music. I have been really looking forward to listening to Darkyra, I have seen a lot of their stuff and its just really cool. JamArt is also really cool, we did a couple of things with those guys. I am keen to see the main acts, Ragdoll and Warbirds, I actually haven’t seen them live before and having Warbirds come over from over east is really sick!
Steph: Thank you so much Jordy!
You can catch Belgravia and all the other awesome bands playing at the Perth Rocks Festival on 15 September 2024 at Port Beach in Freo. Grab your tickets here. For more information, check out the Perth Rocks Festival on Facebook or Instagram @perthrocksfestival
You can follow Belgravia on Instagram: @BelgraviaPerth | YouTube | Facebook | Spotify | Linktree | Or read about their debut EP on The Rockpit here.
