‘Ride Or Die’. It’s a phrase full of intensity and absoluteness – a commitment of unconditional, unwavering loyalty driven by love. As the title for the debut album from ARXX – the Brighton-based duo who have swiftly become one of the most exhilarating bands in the UK’s music scene – it’s a fierce summary of their whole ethos and unquenchable passion for music. “There’s no option to give up,” singer and guitarist Hanni Pidduck explains. “If we give up, we just lose the most important thing for us.” Since coming together in 2017, the pair have proved that determined dedication through their infectious live show and a series of singles and EPs, including early releases ‘Daughters Of Daughters EP’ (2018) and ‘Wrong Girl, Honey EP’ (2019). Along the way, the duo have gained praise from NME, DIY, The Forty-Five, BBC Radio 1 and more, and risen through the ranks of the touring circuit bolstered by support slots with the likes of The Big Moon, Dream Wife and Pillow Queens. ARXX’s success was never a given, though – not least because both Hanni and drummer Clara Townsend were reckoning with their futures in music before they joined forces. Hanni’s old drummer had moved to Australia, and she was struggling to recruit someone who would take the project seriously. Clara, meanwhile, was also finding it hard to find someone else to be as “all in” on music as she was. Although they weren’t friends before Clara turned up to “audition” (although Hanni later revealed she was the only candidate), they had played shows together in their respective old bands and knew of and respected each other’s musicianship. That first proper meeting saw them click immediately and a great partnership blossom. “Once I’d met Hanni and we’d played a few shows together, I was like, ‘This is the funnest thing ever’,” Clara says. “I don’t think I’d really had that [feeling before] and we just couldn’t stop saying yes to everything for, like, three years.” After finding each other ARXX didn’t sit around and wait for people to ask them or give them permission to do things either. Instead, as you'd expect from a band devoted to their work, they threw themselves headfirst into making things happen. Using the limited experience they’d gained in their old projects, the new bandmates set up their own gigs and tours, and searched for budget-friendly ways to get their music down on record. “I’d spent so long waiting around that I just wanted to go for it,” says Hanni. “So we recorded really, really quickly. The first couple of weeks [together] we were in rehearsal three times a week trying to get a set together.” For touring, they looked to their peers, like Nova Twins, and asked how they could do the same things. “We found out there’s no rulebook of how you tour Europe, for example. It was like, ‘Well, I’ve got a car, there’s two of us, we’ll both fit.’ So that’s how you get there and then you just message people on Facebook and say, ‘We want a gig,’ and it really worked.” As ARXX have grown as a band, so too has their sound. Early tracks were rage-filled blasts that once served a purpose for Hanni, the duo’s principal lyric-writer, who first started writing songs in her youth to fill “a desperate need to find some way of expressing” herself. As she dealt with the issues that were causing her anger, though, she no longer felt the need to “lose my shit and thrash around”. Slowly, the songs have become poppier and more polished, excavating the hooks that have always been at the heart of songs like ‘Y.G.W.Y.W. (You Got What You Want)’ and ‘Tired Of You’. Hanni cites being brought up on country music – aka “slow pop music” – as one reason why their songs have gravitated towards pop, while Clara also grew up on a diet filled with the genre, taking early inspiration from playing along to the likes of Pink, Katy Perry and Mika in her bedroom. The collaborators they’ve surrounded themselves with have also steered them to new gr

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