Oh Pep!

History

Olivia "Liv" Hally (vocals, guitar) and Pepita "Pepi" Emmerichs (violin, mandolin) met at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in 2009, and began writing songs together. In mid-2011 their musical duo, known as Oh Pep!, expanded into a five-piece lineup with Stuart West (double bass), Paddy Montgomery (mandolin, bouzouki) and Justin Olsson (drums, percussion). According to Emmerichs in 2012:

As soon as we got Stu, Jus and Pad in the room together, it clicked right away with us. Their playing seems to compliment our songs and arrangements to a tee, which is very exciting! Jus is solid as a rock/awesome and Stu brings in the perfect amount of catchy bass lines and groove, Paddy always plays great, imaginative lines that add another layer of tastiness.

The band's line-up has changed several times since, with Hally and Emmerichs the constant factor in all line-up configurations. Their self-titled debut EP, which was entirely self-produced and funded, was released on September 6, 2012. Their second EP, II, was released on 10 October 2013.

In January 2013, Oh Pep! covered Paul Simon's Graceland in its entirety as part of the event RocKwiz presents Pure Pop's Summer of Classic Albums. In November 2014, the band performed as a showcase act at the Australasian Worldwide Music Expo.

Oh Pep! released their third EP, Living, on 21 August 2015, through Star House Collective. Their single "The Race" spent four weeks on the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 chart in Canada, peaking at #11. Oh Pep! performed at the 2015 Americana Music Festival & Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where Pop Matters' Annie Galvin listed them as one of the event's "unquestionable standouts".

Oh Pep! also performed at the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon, where they received praise from NPR Music's Bob Boilen, The New York Times' Jon Pareles, and the KCRW Music Blog. In October 2015, Hally and Emmerichs performed as Oh Pep! for NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts series. The band's debut album, Stadium Cake, was released on 24 June, 2016 on Dualtone Records.

Awards

In April 2014, Oh Pep! were named Young Folk Performer of the Year at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. Their EP II was nominated for Best Folk Roots Album at The Age Music Victoria Awards in 2014, as was their EP Living in 2015.

Musical style

Emmerichs characterises her band's musical style as "folk/pop/country with bluegrass instrumentation". She has cited among the band's influences Paul Kelly, Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch, Andrew Bird, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Glen Hansard, Elbow, Bright Eyes and Arcade Fire.

Adam Norris, writing for The Brag, declared that while Oh Pep! "has its feet firmly planted in the world of folk, they remain a band actively trying to explore new ground and stretch songs into unfamiliar territory". Christine Campbell of Lip Magazine called their music "an original mix of different kinds of folk, pop, indie and more." NPR Music's Bob Boilen, after seeing Oh Pep! perform at the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon, praised their songs as "charming ... with lyrical and structural twists and turns."

For Stadium Cake, the band's debut album released in June 2016, Oh Pep! sought to explore different musical styles. According to Hally, “We’re more aware now of exactly what we want with our sound, and for that matter exploring sounds that we haven’t used before. [...] There’s more of a pop influence this time, some rock."

Albums

EPs