We recently caught up with Worcester alt-rockers Peace, a band who have steadily been gathering a lot of buzz since releasing their debut album 'In Love' in 2013.

The young quartet, who have been compared to everyone from The Maccabees to Wu Lyf to The Stone Roses, have just released their second album 'Happy People' - so we had a chat with drummer Dom Boyce to hear about their background, the new album and their many celebrity fans.

Peace play Whelan's on March 20th - tickets are on sale now.

Hi Dom - can you explain a little about how Peace initially formed? 

Douglas and I met in high school, and played in a dreadful funk/rock band. Say no more. I then met Harry in the little time I spent at college. We all became friends through a mutual love of music, and eventually started playing together.

What is/was Worcester's music scene like – supportive of young musicians?

The Worcester music scene was sometimes the opposite of positive. It seemed to attract old bitter musicians that didnt seem to approve of new music. Having said that, we did meet the great people that were more than happy to help out new bands. We sort of packed up and moved to Birmingham when Peace began, so it feels more like Birmingham is our hometown, in a way.

There's been a lot of talk about how the UK's indie scene is becoming very homogenous, with every band copying the same specific sound; were you aware of avoiding that trap when you first starting writing songs?

We have always just been really honest in every respect, but particularly when making music. None of us have any experience in this industry prior to Peace, so we carry on in a state of blissful ignorance.

When did you realise that something big was starting to happen with the band – was there a particular gig that stands out in your memory?

I think playing the main stage at Reading and Leeds were noticeable moments for us. But generally speaking, things seem to happen and don’t really sink in until afterwards, if at all.

Jonny Greenwood and Usher are noted fans of yours – have you spotted any other famous people at your gigs?

Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch come to our shows and say nice things. I know that Dynamo and Noel Fielding are fans too!

'In Love' was great - but were you expecting it to go Top 20 in the UK?

We had no expectations for In Love. We had no idea how any of it worked. We were really hoping for a top 20 with Happy People. It’s a really nice thumbs up to bands, etc.

Did any notorious 'difficulties' crop up when making the second album?

Not difficulties, as such. I think we put more pressure on ourselves in some ways, though - just in terms of being more aware and conscious of the way things work in a studio. We really wanted to bring everything we had learnt from the first album into the second.

You're a band renowned for your live sound - how tricky was it to capture that feeling in the studio? 

This time 'round, we stepped away slightly from trying to capture our live sound in a studio environment. We took advantage more of the tricks and manipulations you can create. The difficulty then came when trying to play it live!

How did the writing process for 'Happy People' work? Was it essentially the same as your debut, or had playing to bigger crowds changed your mindset?

I think the only difference was that the first record was pretty much everything we had done in our life leading up to it - whereas this album was written since the first. Harry started writing almost as soon as we released the first. I'm sure Harry was affected by our change in “lifestyle”, but he is still the same person writing songs a year later.

What's the one feeling you want people to take from 'Happy People'?

Joy.

You've played some big gigs to date, but Whelan's in Dublin is a pretty intimate venue. What can we expect from your Dublin show?

We haven't played too much in Ireland so far, so I feel like we have some lost time to make up for. We’ll give 110%!

What's the best case scenario for 2015 – do you have anything specific that you want to achieve, any goals that you want to hit?

Make some new mates? Or just some mates. We kind of lost them all, being so busy….