House Arrest: London’s Most Polarizing Band on their recent split and new releases

House Arrest at LA MÉcanique Ondulatoire by Sixtine Cail

House Arrest is one of the most controversial bands in London. Consisting of some of the city’s most infamous musicians, the band makes playful yet intense post-punk music. Their sound is certainly an accurate representation of the group's chaotic energy. With a revolving door of changing members, the project is ultimately run by Jasper Eade. One member that will never change is, of course, Ben Preston. At least that was what everyone had thought until the end of their most recent European tour, where tensions became so high that House Arrest nearly disbanded. 

I saw House Arrest for the first time at La Mécanique Ondulatoire in Paris on May 10, 2025 and I, like most of the crowd, was instantly mesmerized by their intensity. Most members being  intoxicated on god knows what, the show had insane energy. While Ben was constantly kicking out their guitarist/ backing vocalist Eli’s power supply, Jasper was running around the crowd, putting his hand on the top of their heads shouting “I BLESS YOU”. 

Something that becomes evident about House Arrest when watching them perform is that they are a band with two front men. Though Jasper is technically the lead singer, Ben has an energy on stage that sticks out. A distinctive looking man with an extremely expressive face, Ben is a natural at developing a stage persona that stays true to who he is.  

Jasper Eade is a complex character. I’ve only spoken with him a few times, but I’ve learned more about him outside of my conversations with him. You don’t have to dig very deep to get a Londoner to tell you what they know about House Arrest. Let me just get straight to it; the guy is an enigma. Everyone will tell you different things about him. Promoters will tell you he’s a diva, ex band members will tell you he’s an asshole, (some) musicians will say he’s a great guy, and the crowd will tell you he’s a madman. 

The main thing that drives Jasper into this madness is being protective over House Arrest, as it’s his project. He’s so protective in fact that he didn’t want me interviewing Ben. I almost forgot about the interview altogether, not wanting to cause any problems, however, when I ran into him at the George Tavern in London, he insisted on doing the interview on the spot. Quite drunk, Jasper had to wrangle up the band’s drummer, Josh Eastoe, to keep the interview on track and– I assume– to make sure Jasper didn’t say anything too out of pocket. I started asking my questions in the back of the smoking area. Though I still had to interview Ben separately, as anyone that’s ever seen or listened to House Arrest knows that Ben is a huge part of what brings the project to life. 

Controversies aside, it is hard being House Arrest. Each of the members commit so much to the band despite multiple outside projects and/or jobs.This pressure caused tension between the members of the band, mainly Jasper and Ben.  While it’s unclear exactly what happened on their tour, they were broken up by the end of it..“ We were going out so much and we were all so kind of tired and getting on each other's nerves and… I don't know there were moments on tour, for example, where we just kind of clashed a bit. There were little arguments, then it developed and it ended up with us falling out. I think I wasn't doing too great and (Jasper) wasn’t doing too great either. Even my relationship as well at the time was being affected by the band because basically I was just working full time and I live like an hour and forty minutes away from work and I was so tired traveling to work, being at work and then I'll be playing gigs two, three days a week,” Ben revealed 

Jasper agreed, saying

“We have all worked extremely hard. Everyone involved has worked extremely hard and put that fucking effort in. It's impossible to not appreciate everyone’s effort. Especially when you don't have management or a label, being able to do any of this shit is completely reliant on maintaining the fact that we’re friends at the end of the day we’re still a band and together. And that is sometimes an incredibly hard thing to maintain. Incredibly difficult.” 

On what happened to the band when they broke up, Jasper said “I think none of us managed [the tour] very well and because of that when we were trying to figure out where to stay and where to go next and how we travelled there. It was very difficult for all of us. I think after that it made it very difficult to know where to go next. Whereas now I think we’re in a position where we can at least understand a bit better– even if it takes a bit of work– how to make sure everyone involved is okay. I think we have eventually come to a point where we understand how to actually approach these things now. It's taken a lot of time and patience from everybody involved. EVERYBODY involved. Especially this motherfucker here.” He said, pointing to Josh who replied “quit glazing, it's fine”. 

Ben reflected on what happened;

“I think that we needed that break. Now that I look back at it I’m happy that he messaged me and was just like “oh i think you should leave the band”. But at that point I kind of wanted to leave anyway because I was in a bit of a bad way myself. I just needed more time to myself  for self care basically. We went our separate ways for a bit. I think we both missed each other but were both kind of like ah fuck you.” 

However, the separation didn’t last too long. “A month or so later, (Jasper) just sent me a message that was like; Hey big boy, I've been thinking a lot and I really want you back in the band, like it's not the same without you. I think it’s just because of the dynamic we have on stage in terms of the energy, I think we bounce off each other. He writes all the songs. It's his baby. but then i think it reached a point where, because we’re both front men, that when we weren't getting on very well it kind of clashed a bit. I wasn’t trying to make it about me at all, but I think it came across that way to him a bit.” Ben revealed. 

Despite all this drama, the band is ready to move on and focus on developing their sound. “We’ve recorded Echo Zoo with Dan from Gillaband. We’ve got stuff in the bank. We’re figuring it out. We want to do it properly. We want to make it as good as possible….

“I think our last single was the last chunk of that era,”

Josh revealed. 

Part of what makes the band able to move forward, according to Jasper, is “the lineup changes, but nothing against the old members who were there before. I think they were fantastic…I think [the new album] was just produced better. Because i mixed all the stuff that was released previously but also i think its the fact that we had an actual producer mixing it. Also we had Josh playing guitar and piano. A lot of piano actually. Quite a ridiculous amount. Also we had Ben, we had Eli, we had me, we had Josh, we had Gary. We had the actual members of the band whereas before It was a lot more forced and difficult and not as refined whereas now it's a far more refined product. It came out far stronger.” 

The new album will be called No Shame At All, and in the meantime they came out with a single on December 6 titled Crabsticks. On how the new music sounds, Josh says “ there’s lots of different influences. I think the thing with a lot of bands that are starting out is that the main focus is to just pump out music, so they don't have much time to think about how it sounds. You’re just not afforded the liberty to actually go; I want to try this, I want to try that. It's about pushing something out, getting it ready, rehearsed, and on stage. Whereas we’ve already done that for like two years.”

It seems a heavy theme for the band is evolution and learning how to better work together. Although they've been going for a few years now, they’re still learning a lot and trying to channel their experience into their new music. I think this sudden need to get organized will translate into their upcoming EP.

Jasper and Ben by Sixtine Cail