“We really couldn’t have done less as a band, yet our music, through word of mouth, has found an audience… a modest audience, but one that has a genuine fondness and appreciation for the songs. Pretty awesome really.”
— Henry Tremain
pennines (always lowercase) formed in Norwich in 2006, during a difficult period for songwriter/guitarist Henry Tremain. Earlier that year he had lost his close friend and former bandmate Dave Thrope (saleontomorrow) in a motorcycle accident, leaving Henry unable to even pick up a guitar. pennines began when friends Mike Wightman, Tristan “The Count” Holden, and Jem Eaves gently pushed him back into making music. What started as a casual project became, in Henry’s words, “the perfect therapy.”
The band emerged from Norwich’s once-vibrant DIY emo/indie/hardcore scene centered around The Ferryboat Inn and Mike’s Fair Do’s shows, which had brought acts like The Dismemberment Plan, Koufax, and Million Dead through the city. Even as the scene quieted, pennines carried forward its spirit: clean, melody-led guitar music built on intricate rhythms, bright tones, and no effects — just the sound of four players locking into harmony. People love it too.
They recorded everything themselves and gave it away freely. A two-track demo featuring “Whisky Tango Foxtrot” landed unexpectedly on BBC Radio 1 via Huw Stephens, leading pennines to share stages with bands like This Town Needs Guns (now TTNG), Colour, Tubelord, and to tour France and the UK with their close friends Fago.Sepia. Their shows became cult favourites: precise, warm, slightly chaotic, and filled with the band’s self-deprecating humour.
In 2009, life logistics and Henry’s move to London pushed pennines into an unspoken hiatus. Henry soon joined TTNG, while the band’s recordings quietly existed on old hard drives — until someone uploaded them online without permission. Those tracks slowly went viral in the DIY/math-rock/emo underground, drawing a devoted global audience who treated the songs like lost treasures.
More than a decade later, that unexpected resurgence has brought pennines back. The band have announced their return to the studio and to the stage, reconnecting to the same honest, quietly joyful spirit that started everything: four friends making music they love, surprised and grateful that people love it too.