Meet The Concierge, the London-based trio made up of Duncan, Phil and Robert, who are stepping into the spotlight with their genre-blending debut EP, Check In. Though each member has spent years navigating the music scene individually, it wasn’t until the three joined forces that everything clicked. With a shared passion for crafting immersive, emotionally resonant songs, the band has ignited a unique chemistry through their polished DIY sound and thoughtful songwriting. Rooted in a wide array of musical influences from Steely Dan to Garbage to Honne to Radiohead and more, The Concierge’s music weaves soulful melodies, expressive guitar work and textured synths into something entirely their own. Their name, a nod to the art of service and a cheeky reference to Tim Curry’s character in Home Alone 2, reflects their mission to deliver music that connects deeply with listeners across different backgrounds. Their new EP is an unmissable showcase of this band’s best bits, and so for On The Record we chatted with the trio about their authentic storytelling, collaborative creativity, and the desire to make people feel seen and heard. With more releases, videos, and live shows on the horizon, this is a project well worth putting on your radar.
For those who aren’t already familiar with The Concierge, can you introduce yourself?
Hey everyone we’re Duncan, Phil and Robert – The Concierge. We’re a trio of 30 something’s who’ve been trying this band thing for many years in our own different ways, but until now, we’ve never quite been in this ideal group. We feel so lucky to be as part of a project like this one and we’re so grateful to have our music covered here, so thank you for having us.
Let’s start with talking about how the three of you came together, and what clicked when Robert joined the project?
When Robert arrived on the scene, he brought such a good set of ears to the parts we already had, refining what layers should stay in the mix and helping us understand where to go with the tracks. Things grew immediately though when he started jamming along to the tracks on his electric guitar though. Duncan and Phil were suddenly exchanging glances of “Holy crap this guy is good”. Robert somehow knew exactly the right expressive guitar parts to give movement and purpose to the music and his immense talent is evident in each of the tracks and something that we believe really carries our sound to the next level.
Robert also brought a drive to perform that we needed and helped us find within ourselves. His virtuosic playing helped us find our own dormant abilities to play again and has allowed us to feel comfortable on stage again.
Is there a story behind the name?
The Concierge came from the idea that we would try to serve up the best music we could to the public. Like a concierge serves up the best level hotelier care. Also, who doesn’t love Tim Currys concierge in Home alone.
You all live in different areas of London, so how does the expansive cityscape influence your approach to music and the influences that you find?
It makes us think how best to cater our music to people from all walks of life. We want to be mixing old influences with fresh takes on things so we can bring more people on this journey. London can be beautiful in many ways but to some it’s harsh and can leave people behind. We hope the subject matter of our songs help people realise they’re not alone and that we all need music to help boost our mood or feel our feelings more clearly.
You’ve cited influences like Steely Dan, Honne, Garbage and Radiohead, so can you break down how such a variety of music helped shape specific tracks on the EP?
Movie is the track that made us think of the band Garbage when we were piecing it together. We were drawn in by their industrial textures and other heavier alternative rock sensibilities. Listening to how they layer up their tracks has helped us feel comfortable pursuing this genre and finding our own feet in it.
Bands like Honne have helped give Others Do more chilled, soul-like feel while in this particular track we’ve grounded this feeling outside of their typical synth elements, with guitar-driven passages more akin to the likes of artists like Tom Misch.
Synth tones are ever present in Mad About You, a more typical drive into the 80s dream-like textures that Tears For Fears are masters of. Continuing the 80s appreciation, we’d imagine that Phil Collins would endorse our own Phil’s choice to gate the drums in this track. We’re all into our own niches of music and yet we are all so keen to share them with each other to help each track on this EP become more focused and true to it’s initial demo.
There’s a noticeable polish to the production, even though it was recorded in home studios. How did you balance that DIY spirit with your desire for a refined sound?
Well that’s a very appreciated complement, thank you! In many ways, modern bedroom production can actually be quite limitless in terms of what you can achieve, with countless plugins available for download. This is only half the story though. We have worked really hard to find the right sounds for each instrument, honing our ears with reference tracks that gave us something to aim for. We’ve tried to strip layers back and let each part ‘sing’ as much as we can. Now that we’re the other side of the release though, we feel there are definitely places where this could be achieved even more but this is all part of the fun of being in a band. We want to remain as DIY as possible as we enjoy iterating on previous work and bouncing ideas off each other at all times of day.
We want future tracks to be even more refined musically and in terms of production, with more live instruments to give life to the recordings, as the ones we used this EP have really brought something greater to the fold.
What was the most unexpected or experimental technique that made it onto the record?
We didn’t use any particularly unusual production techniques on the EP, but Phil did ask his partner to record some viola for one of the tracks called Others Do, which really helped give it a more natural, organic feel. Her contribution added a lovely texture to the song and brought something special to the overall sound.
How would you define the mission or ethos of the project as you move forward from Check In?
Check In is our introduction to the world as a three piece. We wanted it to be a statement EP to share everything about songwriting we love.
What’s next on the horizon for The Concierge?
We are working on a live music video performance and a music video for others do. After this we will be doing more gigs and working on another record
We’ve selected our favourite track ‘Movie’ for our Shades of Pop and Outsiders Club playlist.
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