Described as an electro-rock duo, The Big Pink are tipped as the next big thing. Their edgy, eclectic sound is definitely worth checking out.
You’re about to commence on a lengthy tour of Europe and the US – how are you feeling?
Homesick!
What are the best and worst moments in your tour history so far?
The worst is probably Reading – Akiko, our drummer, developed some weird disease in the tour bus on the way down. The best was Pukkelpop in Belgium – to be on the same line-up as Faith No More and My Bloody Valentine… say no more!
How about the places you’ve been? What is the worst place you’ve visited?
Norway, purely because it costs £8 a beer.
You’re about to go on tour with Muse, who have a pretty visually epic stage show. Is this something you go in for, or do you like to keep it more minimalist?
We go for a post-minimalism vibe… we do what we can.
Muse is a pretty big deal, but who else have you enjoyed touring with? Who’ve been your favourite touring partners so far?
A Grave With No Name [a London band with a pretty original sound, combining sweet guitar riffs with weird sounds to create something atmospheric and often dark] – pretty much, as they’re fucking dudes.
How did the festival season go for you? Any personal highlights?
Festival season was awesome. My personal highlight was watching someone try and stage dive the main stage and eat serious amounts of barrier.
Your name seems to cause a lot of confusion – what it has to do with The Band (if anything), or otherwise what it’s about. Can you explain?
We basically nicked it. We like it cos it’s got a (false) sense of grandeur and it’s kind of phallic.
The title of your new album ‘A brief history of love’ is quite a claim. Is it fair to say you’ve boiled it down to the bare essentials?
It’s really a brief history of our love. You can’t condense love, and there is nothing brief about it. I like that it doesn’t really make sense.
The songs on your album are impressively different from each other. Is that something you aimed for,?
I think so… We didn’t aim to do anything. We just wrote songs. We didn’t plan anything.
Who or what are the biggest influences on your music? Any surprising ones?
Probably not. Everything that has come into my consciousness has influenced this record. Music from Otis Redding , the books of John Fante, Andy Warhol. Walls of sound. Feedback.
Who are your favourite bands at the moment?
Salem and A Grave With No Name.
Did you always plan to become musicians? If you weren’t playing music, what would you be doing?
Me personally – I’d be doing what I was before, which is my label [Merok Records, responsible for bringing Crystal Castles to Europe, and putting out Klaxons’ second single]. Robbie would be playing guitar in a band.
In music terms, which do you think was the better decade to grow up in; the nineties or the noughties?
90s. Check Your Head. Nevermind. Definitely Maybe.
Finally, what’s the best thing about life in a rock band?
Not having time to wash my clothes.
The Big Pink play the 02 Academy on Saturday October 10th at 21:00.
