Interview: Garrow Hill (Written)

Brit heavy rock crew, Garrow Hill, are making new friends and picking up fresh fans with their hugely pleasing beefy rock merged with captivating hooks and pounding riffery. Igniting glowing comparisons to Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses, and Metallica, Garrow Hill are ready to rise, loaded with their engrossing new single and video, Camouflage, which is out now. In this interview, we get to know them a little better.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

Hey guys, thank you for inviting us to talk with you today. Garrow Hill is a creative collaboration featuring Stew King, who takes the reins on vocals and guitar and myself (PG Branton) on drums and backing vocals. We’ve been together for many years, in fact over 30 years, writing, recording and performing in alt/rock/metal projects since our teens! We’ve been a collab even before we knew it! Lol.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

I think we’ve been summed up as a band that fuses alternative rock’s dark romance with post-punk’s sharp edges, and I think that kind of works on a very elementary level. There is a fair number of influences from 90’s and 2000’s music (especially from the Grunge/Alt rock/Classic rock and Nu metal bands at that time). Some may know that we have a big NWOBHM streak with the 80’s being particularly relevant to us. But our flavour of the past also meets today with a wide range of tastes from both of us in modern metal – not genre pushing necessarily but definitely experimenting!

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

Yes, to all of those!! We have plans for the immediate future, we are recording another single imminently which will be a summer release. We are also in the studio writing and preparing for an EP which we are hoping to get finished and released at the back end of this year. Then, into 2026, slightly longer term, approximately this time next year we will be bringing a live show on the road in support of the new EP. That’s the plan for the next 12/14 months anyway!

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

We are really excited in getting Camouflage, our latest single (released on the 7th of March) out there. Stew and I have been working really hard to get it prepared and ready. It’s been a long time, we wrote this track a few years ago – we’ve actually played it live, but to have it out there at long last feels good. It’s been a labour of love, and so far, we have had a great response from it in our promotional push to date. After the single we are just excited in making some new connections, seeing what’s out there and enjoying the process.

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

Stew and I made the decision a while back to go into this (and the previous releases into last year) as a fully DIY project. I know Stew would agree, it’s been a big undertaking, and a huge learning curve in understanding both the production, the writing and the structure of creating a song. We both feel that the process has been more than rewarding. It’s both inspiring and beneficial to work that close to a production in all areas. It helps you understand and appreciate the effort it takes to get something out there. We’ve done it, with some help along the way, mostly ourselves, and we’re massively proud of that.

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

Well, I don’t think myself and Stew would be able to function without music! It a part of our lives. It’s not just something we do; it’s a lifestyle really. Yes, we have grown up from those teenager wanderlust days, we have families now, but the addiction to music is a crutch in life. Not just as musicians either, the benefits from being a fan, as we are, is underrated. I need Spotify, more than I need alcohol or a cigarette! Creating music is very special, I admit, it carries a responsibility. But from a place where we have been from time to time, and darkness has been there, it has been a constant source of light and comfort.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

Probably, the change in consumption of music and perhaps our older heads now. We have found the way in which we connect with bands has become really personal, especially with social media, but that’s not always a good thing. We don’t brand ourselves in a conventional way. We are not just a book cover; we need to be judged from what’s on the pages if you like. Beneath the image, the art and the mystery are two people trying to find their voice. In an ever-crowded scene, that has become a major challenge.

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

Wow, all the things we think of all the time, weirdly. Being online as a band has some great benefits, namely having no geographic restrictions. Finding like-minded people is much easier, and even more so in specific genres, and you can be exactly how you want to be, which is cool. But the changing landscape means keeping up to date. There is pressure to keep content relevant, cool, entertaining, interesting, impactful and measured, but that balance is a major juggling act. You can get caught up in the metrics stuff, slightly obsessed with the numbers, craving likes and being disappointed when something you post doesn’t land. I don’t know the answers, but maintaining it is nearly a full-time job. Planning ahead is key.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

That’s the easy part! You just must be creative with it, and that must be first. Enjoy creating content. I think we have our own style and ways to do things, and we produce the kind of content that we would enjoy as fans. If you lose your way or perhaps chase things too hard, you may find that the content becomes watered down or even false. We think it’s better to stick with being true to yourself and hope the results will follow.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?

We think it’s important to develop relationships so it’s great when we connect with new people. Speaking to listeners directly, we would love people to interact with us, on social media, or join our mailing list and get all the sign-up benefits. If there’s space in their busy lives, take a listen or watch the video, if they can!

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

We’d probably put films as a big part of our lives outside of music. For Stew, he’s more into games than me and there’s space for doing some travelling and seeing the world. Reading, especially stuff in the Horror/Sci Fi/Fiction genres of course and then there’s always sport, but we won’t mention any teams we support and divide opinions!

12. Where can people find you?

A Google search of “Garrow hill band” will bring up a lot of content automatically. Specifically, https://garrowhill.com is our website and on X and Instagram we are garrowhillband.

We have signposts everywhere on our bio’s that link across.

Thanks again for having us.