I've known Guy Page for two decades, and he's been a cornerstone of helping artists develop and grow from his Studio, Mustard Studios, on the Isle of Wight. Now, he looks to embark on a headline tour with his band, COACH PARTY, and luckily agreed to have a chat about what lies ahead, as well as reflecting on his past and what's led to his recent success.

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Guy Page, thank you for taking the time to talk! After knowing you for a couple of decades, it's been great to see your recent success with Coach Party. I wanted to ask what has felt different with Coach Party compared to other projects in the past?

Answer:

I think the main difference for me with Coach Party, is that we came together as a bunch of people who had very little common ground in the ways you'd usually expect, as in, the sort of age we were when we got into playing music, favourite bands, levels of experience in terms of making music & playing gigs, or even shared interests outside of music.. we were just 4 people who enjoyed hanging out and somehow ended up in a rehearsal room. And because of all that, there's wasn't (and has never been) any talk of "let's try and sound like this band and this other band" etc, because the extreme ends of our musical tastes are so different that we'd never have agreed on that sort of thing. So, I feel like we just naturally land in a world which overlaps the 4 personalities, and is hopefully kind of unique because of it.

How does your background as a music producer translate to being part of a band? Is there a part of you that sometimes needs to bite your tongue/take a back seat, or is it treated as an asset for song creation?

Answer:

It certainly comes with a sense of "I must use this power only for good", and not abuse my position as the band's producer to serve my own interests as a band member. But also, the guys consistently put a lot of trust in me to do what I do, and I can't really think of a time that it's made anything difficult on a creative level. As per the previous question; we all have very different backgrounds in music, so the fact that I'm the member with technical / production skills just makes it easier to allocate certain roles to me. It's certainly easier than a band made up of 4 producers; I've seen it and it's not pretty.

Besides from still holding the track record for cross country at our high school, what do you consider your greatest achievement to date?

Answer:

I'd like to be fully transparent here and put any rumours to bed; my record is indeed for running the furthest distance at that school, and I DID win a trip to Wimbledon thanks to it, but it was without any real time constraints... I ran round that track something like 1000 times, but, over the course of like a year. If it were an actual race, I'd have been destroyed by pretty much anyone else in my year who was able-bodied enough to put their own trainers on. The whole thing is a perfect metaphor for my life in general.

2nd greatest achievement would be the cafe myself and Steph opened and kept going for 6 years; it was awesome and I'm so proud of what we did. Musically, it'd have to be our most recent Coach Party record 'Caramel'. Along with everyone else, I try to be better as each year goes by, so it makes sense that the most recent huge project I've been involved in would be my most proud. My personal input was definitely a summing-up of pretty much everything I've learnt, but also something which reveals how I could do it better next time.

Photo credit: Grace Equi

If you could give one piece of advice to a musician or band trying to make it in 2026, what would it be?

Answer:

Whilst 'making it' is a very healthy goal and you should be committed to making that happen, do not make it the reason you're in a band. For me, the love, passion and need to create has to be at the forefront if you are to have anything to fall back on and remind you why you're here in the first place, when times are tough (they are always, always tough).

You're curating a music festival without money constraints, what are your 3 headliners? And is there a band you'd have on that people might not know as a 'must discover'?

Answer: Friday: Weezer (for the singalongs), Saturday: Sonic Youth (for the introspective journey), Sunday: Limp Bizkit (because, of course). I'd offer the high-profile discovery slots to a few excellent bands I've worked with recently: Hunnybuzz, Highdrive, KC Blackwater.

Apart from the obvious answer of my [Rob Henry] projects, what is your favourite track/project you've worked on as a producer?

Answer:

Well I'm REALLY gonna have to dig deep with that kind of restriction... I've always had very fond memories of mixing the debut album by an Amercian artist called Jordan Sommerlad; I was in a very creative time and massively clicked with his very beautiful music. By that time in my life I certainly wan't 'new' to any of this world, but when I got stuck into this album it was definitely one of the first times that I remember thinking "fuck, yeah; I'm really doing something".

If you could have top-tier success either behind the drum kit for Coach Party or as a producer, which would you choose and why?

Answer:

Very tough one. I really care about the survival of music through generations, so my hopes for 'top tier' success would really only be to inspire someone else to become obsessed with music. And for most people, that starts with an instrument, so I suppose for that reason alone, it'd be as a drummer in a band.

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Photo credit: Grace Equi

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It's easy to talk about the successes, but as a professional musician spanning two decades, I'd love to hear what your worst gig ever was? Was there anything you learnt from it, or gained from the experience?

Answer:

There was a time, long ago, when I actually made money from playing drums (playing functions and stuff). Weddings were the worst. There was one in particular where the groom was such a **** that by the end of the night I had no choice but to tell him face to face what an absolute **** he was, at quite an elevated level in the sort of room which would have reverberated round the entire building. As it happens, this made it quite difficult to get paid, which was literally the only reason I was there.

But the lesson I learn't wasn't "be nice to people so that you get paid". It was much more of a "stop playing music to get paid. It's not what music is for. And, whilst your time and expertise should be valued financially, you need to put this much further down the list, below anything and everything you value more than money."

So, actually, it was maybe the best gig ever? Sorry.

What is 2026 bringing? Do you have a plan with Coach Party, and any personal goals?

Answer:

The most immediate event is our headline tour for the album, which will be great fun. Beyond that, I want to finally release some of my own music which has been sat around for a few years, get better at fixing and servicing my gear, make as much music as I can, and read more website-based independent music blogs.

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All images in this article were taken by Grace Equi.