The duo met at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in 2009, and began writing songs together. In mid-2011, their musical duo, known as Oh Pep!, expanded into a five-piece lineup with Stuart West, Paddy Montgomery and Justin Olsson. The band's line-up has changed several times since, with Hally and Emmerichs the constant factor in all line-up configurations. Pepita Emmerichs was also a child actress, who had appeared in Spike Jonze's 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are as Claire, the protagonist's older sister. The band's self-titled debut EP, which was entirely self-produced and funded, was released on 6 September 2012. Their second EP, II, was released on 10 October 2013. In January 2013, Oh Pep! covered Paul Simon's Graceland in its entirety as part of the event "RocKwiz presents Pure Pop's Summer of Classic Albums". In November 2014, the band performed as a showcase act at the Australasian Worldwide Music Expo.
Success and debut album
Oh Pep! released their third EP, Living, on 21 August 2015, through Star House Collective. Oh Pep! performed at the 2015 Americana Music Festival & Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where Pop Matters' listed them as one of the event's "unquestionable standouts", writing that "seeing Oh Pep! is one of those times when the crowd realizes they're seeing future stars for the first time." Oh Pep! also performed at the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon, where they received praise from NPR Music'sBob Boilen, The New York Times' Jon Pareles, and the KCRW Music Blog. In October 2015, Hally and Emmerichs performed as Oh Pep! for NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts series. The band's debut album, Stadium Cake, was released on 24 June 2016. Oh Pep! wrapped up over 15 months of touring at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival, there by personal invite from Billy Bragg. He had initially heard Oh Pep! during the 2017 Folk Alliance International. The band's music featured in the 2017 short film Martha The Monster, directed by Christopher Weekes. "Doctor Doctor" also appeared in season one of the television series The Bold Type.
Recognition and awards
In April 2014, Oh Pep! were named "Young Folk Performer of the Year" at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. Their EP II was nominated for Best Folk Roots Album at The Age Music Victoria Awards in 2014, as was their EP Living in 2015. Their songs "Doctor, Doctor" and "The Race" were shortlisted for the 2016 Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.
Musical style
Emmerichs characterised her band's musical style as "folk/pop/country with bluegrass instrumentation". She has cited among the band's influences Paul Kelly, Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch, Andrew Bird, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Glen Hansard, Elbow, Bright Eyes and Arcade Fire. Christine Campbell of Lip Magazine called their music "an original mix of different kinds of folk, pop, indie and more." NPR Music's Bob Boilen, after seeing Oh Pep! perform at the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon, praised their songs as "charming... with lyrical and structural twists and turns." For Stadium Cake, the band's debut album released in June 2016, Oh Pep! sought to explore different musical styles. According to Hally, "We’re more aware now of exactly what we want with our sound, and for that matter exploring sounds that we haven’t used before. There’s more of a pop influence this time, some rock." In their review of the band's debut album, The Village Voice described the Oh Pep! sound as "starting off slow and spare — all delicate strumming and hushed vocals — it soon grows into something fast, boisterous, and baroque From the get-go it’s clear that Stadium Cake is a pop album."
