Every so often, a new musical outfit arrives on the scene with a novel take on how music can sound. These kind of artists tend to flirt with genres that aren’t typically known to be part of the same recipe, committing to risky experiments that can birth unique and memorable sonic outputs.

Naturally, brave ventures like these can fall short of the mark if the ingredients don’t complement each other enough to create something fresh; but when they get it right, it’s impossible not to notice.

Good Health Good Wealth, the London-based duo of Bruce Breakey and Simon Kuzmickas, fall into the successful echelon of this realm of musical risk-takers, as their debut offering RICH EP makes a defiant statement on London life, a needle-sharp investigation into the minutiae of love and a powerful sonic marriage of punk and poetry.

The group’s talents spread far – Breakey’s position as lead vocalist, writer, producer and swooning front-man aligns with Kuzmickas’ charismatic guitar iterations to bring forth a formidably energetic sound that London has been waiting to hear.

GHGW touch on the musical skeletons of pop-punk, rock, indie, hip-hop, grime and RnB, whilst layering poetic vocal lines and vicious verses that would give John Cooper-Clarke and Baxter Dury a run for their money. To boot, they are two of the nicest people we’ve met in the industry, and this won’t be the last you’ll hear from them.

We sat down with front-man Bruce to dive deeper into the creative process behind RICH EP and the band’s journey so far:

So good to finally have a chat with you guys. How are you doing?
 
Great cheers! Feels so good to finally have this record out

Your debut EP, Rich, is a project full of colour — sonically, each track has its own uniqueness that shines in its own right. Tell us about the creative process behind the release – what motivated it and what went into it?

We actually wrote these tunes a long time ago during quite a hectic period in our lives where everyday chucked some sort of different drama at us. I can look back at all of the tracks and remember the specific days they were born out of. They were all written at my old flat in Manor House so they have a certain DIY feel, but then we started working with Rich Archer at Cherry Lips studios. This was a total game changer for us production wise as he could really take the ideas from that decent demo stage onto something ready for radio.

Your sound spans across genres – we can hear elements of London wordsmithery akin to The Streets, Baxter Dury & Ghostpoet, but you merge it with punk & rock elements that make for a really fresh product. How do you want your listeners to feel?

Good Health Good Wealth make Pop Music, just packaged in a slightly different way. Fun, exciting, unpredictable music that’s relatable as that’s what really resonates with people and makes it stand the test of time. We want our listeners to feel like they’ve gone through it all with us, they were there on the night and they’re still kicking around for the hangover. 

The lyricism on the EP really stands out to us – it’s delicate and powerful all at once. You cover aspects of love, hedonism & general London life – is this EP an accurate representation of your own experiences?

Absolutely, there’s no point writing someone else’s story. I knew lyrically these tunes needed to be strong as you only get one first impression! You can sniff out a fake from a mile off, a tune could slap but if it doesn’t come from an honest authentic place then it just doesn’t work. You mentioned The Streets earlier and Skinner is a perfect example, he’s talking about what he knows in the same way as someone like Snoop Dogg is, the stories are polar opposites but they are both real and that’s what draws you in.

You worked with Hard-Fi’s Richard Archer on this release – tell us about your experiences with him and how he influenced your sound.

Rich is the goat when it comes to a big chorus. I remember when I brought him the demo of All I Want Is Everyone To Love Me originally it had a totally different hook and he was just like, yeah its good but that bit is the chorus actually mate, 100%. He has a really hands on approach with the songs and he’s a bit of a mad scientist, he’ll sit and tinker with the same bit for hours because he actually cares about the songs and wants them to be the best they can be. This is class as there’s a lot of yes men about and it’s very easy to get lazy and think that will do, especially when you’ve been banging your head against the same wall for so long! 

Your video for ‘Love Hangover’ is really intriguing – what was the production process like for this? 

It was quite mad as we did it during Covid so it was a bit touch and go for a while but we managed to pull it off! It all came together over the course of a weekend, we had a rough idea of what we wanted to do, (basically buy some quality suits) but we never thought it would come out looking as good as it did. Dylan Hayes and his mob came through with the vision, we pulled in a few favours, got some of our nearest and dearest in the background and everything came up Millhouse. They did the video for Guinness as well and that’s like a movie, gets me emotional mate! Shows you how much talent there is out there, we definitely feel lucky to have them on the GHGW team.

When you finally get to play these songs live, what can the crowd expect? 

The night of their lives! We can’t wait to get back on stage it’s gonna proper fun. Keep your November free people, wink wink nudge nudge.

If you could pick 5 tunes to soundtrack your hangover, what would they be and why? (Yours is already included, obviously)

Haha of course GHGW – Love Hangover 

To be fair when I’m hungover I essentially curl up in a ball and listen to Bon Iver and the sound of rain but that’s not what we’re here for so here’s 5 quality drinking songs

Tom Waits – The Piano Has Been Drinking 
Tom Waits is one of the most important artists to ever live in my opinion, this is not my favourite Tom Waits tune by any stretch of the imagination but still an unbelievably clever and funny tune, Live On Fernwood Tonight is a masterclass. 

One Beer – MF DOOM
This song literally sounds like that last rogue can of Carling you find in the back of the fridge, rough and ready but so bloody good.

Thin Lizzy – Got To Give It Up
Could essentially be any Thin Lizzy song but just to lower the tone a bit lets have a sad one. Hits hard because of how Phil went so young, he obviously knew he had a problem with it but couldn’t shake it off.

J Kwon – Tipsy
If you say you didn’t love this tune when it came our you are a liar, play this at a party today it still slaps. I love that whispered bit in the chorus, that was such a thing around that point like the ying yang twins whisper song.

Bob Geldof – The Great Song Of Indifference
Bob gets a hard time but he’s actually a legend, this is one of my faves. Great lyrics, great chants, great fiddle and the best ending ever where they finish the recording and he says “let’s listen”.

*Special mention goes to Come On Eileen for being the soundtrack to every single Breakey function since my birth*

You can listen to and buy RICH EP here.