To chat with When Rivers Meet is to bask in the warm, friendly energy of Grace and Aaron Bond. Based on the Essex coastline (but very much ‘have van, will travel’ sorts), the couple’s staunchly independent blues-rock band has been making some serious waves of late.
In less than a decade their mixture of soul-soaked blues and gritty, swaggering rock has taken them from the most humble beginnings as a function duo playing pubs to the upper echelons of the charts. Not that it’s changed them one iota.
The title track from their new album, Addicted To You, is about them, Aaron says. “We’ve been together for over twenty years and we’re still like that.”
“Maybe that’s what makes it work,” Grace adds.
They often finish each other’s sentences.
“We’re intense and we wanted to get that in the songs!”
They say they’ve sat on this album for longer than any of their previous ones, so they’re now more than ready to share the results – “heavier harmonies, more layers, more musicians” – with the world.
They’ve developed a unique bond as a married couple in a band
“I think we’ve gone through higher highs and lower lows,” Grace says. Playing original music as WRM was a totally different proposition to the function work of old. “On our first tour, we felt a lot of pressure and we were both on the edge of being able to deal with that.”
But as with any successful relationship, romantic or otherwise, communication is pivotal. “Because we’re experiencing it together, we can talk about it,” Aaron says. “Whereas if you’re in a relationship with someone doing something else, it must be difficult for that person to understand.”
Their previous album, Aces Are High, made chart history in 2023
Placed between Pink Floyd and pop superstar The Weeknd, Aces Are High peaked at No.9 in the UK (Addicted To You did even better, reaching #4), making When Rivers Meet the first ever independent rock and blues artists to score a UK Top 10 album. Was that beyond their wildest dreams?
“Yeah, but it hasn’t changed our perspective,” Grace says. “We’ve had the conversation about what a successful band is and how you measure it so many times. If we could look forward five years ago and see what we’ve achieved, we would have thought we’re huge. But we still think we’re a little band.”
Aaron enjoys acting and is keen to add to his CV
Grace says she has always been completely “obsessed with music”, collecting instruments along the way (“a piccolo, a clarinet, a saxophone…”), while Aaron’s passions extend to the silver screen.
“I like to act,” he says. “I was doing some bits at Pinewood Studios for a while, little bits and bobs, and that’s something I’d like to get back into at some point”.
The band’s name was inspired by an estuary in Sardinia
Inspiration struck while the pair were away recording on the idyllic Mediterranean island. Before When Rivers Meet, they went by the name of Holmes & Bond, as a duo, and Aaron says that post-wedding, Bond & Bond wasn’t the snappiest of choices.
“It sounded like a building firm or something, so we couldn’t have that,” Aaron remembers. “We were interested in the word ‘rivers’, and in Sardinia we were overlooking an estuary where two rivers met, and it was: ‘Ooh!’ That was it – we’re the rivers, and when we meet the music happens”.
Their covid lockdown livestreams were crucial in building a fan base
With today’s technology, it was inevitable that musicians would put on virtual gigs to stay connected with their fans during lockdown. For When Rivers Meet, it had a profoundly transformative effect. Eventually, Grace and Aaron were on first-name terms with their audience.
“We were all looking for connection, and we decided to stream on Saturdays, have a drink and pretend we were playing a gig”, Grace says. “You feel a bit guilty because it was a shit time for so many people, but it built an amazing community of people. It was a big turning point”.
The final straw to quit their jobs was Grace having a bad day at the office
Grace used to work as a PA. “It was an hour’s drive on a really busy road,” she says. “I remember one day coming home sitting in this massive traffic jam, and realising I’d left my phone under the desk and that I’d have to go all the way back to get it, and sat there and cried. I was like: “What am I doing?’ Life is too short to be miserable! We would rather be doing gigs for fifty quid and sleeping in the back of the van”.
“She was very convincing!” Aaron says with a laugh.
Addicted To You is out now via One Road Records. When Rivers Meet play shows throughout the summer - for dates and tickets, visit the WRM website.
