The Peppermint Hunting Lodge sign to record label

Thursday 22nd October 2009

Popular Lydney band The Peppermint Hunting Lodge has joined the roster of an ambitious new Forest of Dean-based record label.

Attic Room Records, co-run by 21-year-old musician Martin Horne, from Yorkley – who uses the pseudonym Tinny Heretic – aims to bring select sounds of the Forest to a global audience.

Initially the label was formed to release the debut album of Tinny’s own band Heretics And Lovers. The album, Prayers To An Empty Sky, has sold about 500 copies since being released last year and is available in major record stores such as HMV and on iTunes online.

But Dan Dexter, who set up Attic Room and still owns it, has now moved near London and is no longer able to play an active role.

Tinny and his band’s drummer Chris Evans, from Cheltenham, re-launched Attic Room at the Freshers’ Fair at the University of Gloucestershire last month with the owner’s blessing. Chris runs the university’s music society and the label is making waves on the Cheltenham music scene, as well as in the Forest.

Now the Peppermint Hunting Lodge has signed a two-year deal with Attic Room Records, with a six-month trial period, shortly after the label snapped up a Gloucester/Cheltenham-based band Rookie/Error.

“The Lodge has already recorded two singles (titled On Switch and I Like To Gamble), and we will be releasing them through iTunes and via other online distributors,” Tinny said. “We will also be pushing them as a band and promoting them.

“We’ll be discussing the possibility of releasing an album and additional singles by the Lodge in the near future as well and Heretics And Lovers have just recorded a new EP called Lungfish. That and an EP by Rookie/Error will be released in a couple of months.

“We’re particularly interested in bands who play ‘post-hardcore’ music as we do but we’re open to different styles and genres, such as the unique style of the Peppermint Hunting Lodge. There’s a very healthy scene at the moment around here, but we’re only going to sign bands we are into.

“I believe if you want something bad enough you can make it happen, and we’re committed to making the label work,” Tinny added.

Peppermint Hunting Lodge singer Dan Charles said: “We’re all really looking forward to signing with Attic and we see it as the next step forward for us. At the moment we just want to play more shows and get as much exposure as possible and hopefully the boys at Attic can help us with that.

“We have just booked our first London show, and we’re in the process of booking more too and we hope this new deal will see us get out and about even more. We are happiest when playing live so hopefully we can be gigging even more than we are now.

“We are a really ambitious band and we feel the guys at Attic match that ambition, so hopefully they can help us to move forward. As part of the deal our music will be on iTunes and Spotify, which we’re really excited about.”

The Peppermint Hunting Lodge makes its London debut on November 1 at the Camden pub venue Dublin Castle; Heretics And Lovers will play the Angel Hotel in Coleford tonight (October 22), while Heretics and Rookie/Error both take part in Zombiefest on October 31 at Magnums in Coleford.