The Pains of Being Pure At Heart : Q & A

Beautifully named The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are a New York quartet, who make stirringly infectious music à la pop with a direct nod toward the C86 movement in both values and sound.

Embracing wholeheartedly melodic nugazing, their heady blend of jangling guitars, cute vocals and the distortion of noise pop recalls early My Bloody Valentine but with an evolved twist and an honesty more akin to our very own Camera Obscura.  

Delicate, yet definitely not twee, The Pains… offer far more than fey lyricising and the childlike qualities that befit other bands channeling similar sounds.  Moreover their ability so far to break out of the notorious Brooklyn scene and into mainstream conciousness has been a feat welcomed by many.  Noone more so than Pitchfork founder Ryan Shcreiber whose willingness to tip The Pains... for big things in 2009 has made them newsworthy at home and abroad, the UK being one of the countries to welcome them with open arms.

Earlier this year their eponymous debut full-length record was released here through Fortuna Pop, to rave reviews from those embracing the re-emergence of well thought out indie-pop.  Further reinforcing that not everything coming out of NYC right now is over-styled MGMT-esque electronic psychadelia, and defiantly thrusting light upon the ever-growing contemporary list of great pop instigators.  

New single ‘Come Saturday’ was released this week as the final cut taken from the album before an ep of all new material hits us in October.   And in amongst all this activity, front-man and guitarist Kip took some time out to answer a choice selection of our questions and give us a better insight into what its like to be involved with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the New York music scene and the influences from the C86 era. 

4or The Record: How did The Pains of Being Pure At Heart originate?

Kip: We were all friends in New York and spent a lot of time hanging, nerding out about music and going to shows. Playing music was just a natural extension of us spending a lot of time together.

I had written a few demos, and Peggy and Alex were really excited to try to play them. We agreed to do our first show at Peggy's birthday party, where we had lured our friends The Manhattan Love Suicides and Titus Andronicus to perform as well. And in the beginning we used a drum machine, but later Kurt joined up when we realized not every song of ours could have one of the two drum beats I knew how to program.

4TR: Why did you call yourselves TPOBPAH…?

Kip: The band name is taken from a short children's story written by a friend of mine.  There is something about the struggle and failures of striving for your ideals that is beautiful to me-- always standing by the things you believe in, no matter how impossible or ridiculous they may seem to others. Plus, "Nirvana" was already taken. Twice.

4TR: What influences you as a group musically?

Kip: Pop. The Suburbs. Boredom. Sweaters.

4TR: You were notoriously tipped for huge things by Pitchfork at the beginning of 2009, which generated a significant buzz throughout the press and blogosphere – has that helped to get your music out to a wider audience, or has it put undue pressure upon the band?

Kip: We're not under any pressure. Playing music is fun and we are having a blast. I don't know why other bands worry so much. 

4TR: Your hometown of Brooklyn, New York has been a hotbed of activity for exciting new music again in the last 12 months – especially within the context of pop music.  Is it a great scene to be involved in?

Kip: Yes, definitely. We are huge fans of so many other bands from our postal code, like Crystal Stilts, Zaza, Knight School, Vivian Girls, Depreciation Guild, caUSE co-MOTION, The Beets, My Teenage Stride, and German Measles. Simply from the perspective of being music fans (which we are), it's a great place to live because you get to see so many other amazing bands all the time.

4TR: Does new and emerging music get the same kind of support at home that it does here in the UK?

Kip: Yeah, definitely. New York/Brooklyn is really supportive of new bands. I'm not sure how things are in the UK, but there seems to be no shortage of people eager to see new stuff here in the US. 

4TR: How does the music and songwriting processes work within the band and is it a collaborative effort?

Kip: The basics of the songs structure and lyrics are mine, but everyone contributes their own parts and ideas for the songs. I think the songs get a lot better once the rest of the band adds their own talents.  

4TR: So many comparisons have been thrown at you, for example to bands like early My Bloody Valentine, The Pastels, The Field Mice and Black Tambourine – are there any in particular you agree with and are any of those bands influential to TPOBPAH?

Kip: We're incredibly flattered to be compared to such iconic and remarkable bands. Getting mentioned in the same sentence with any of those bands is really something special, and I hope in time we prove ourselves worthy of those likenesses. 

4TR: Is the C86 movement a particular reference point for certain elements of music you like?

Kip: The genuine enthusiasm for creating music, regardless of commercial or even critical interests, is appealing to us. But that's not limited to a cassette compilation of 80s British indie and post punk bands-- It can be found in anything from Punk or Hardcore to the aforementioned 80s British indie, College Rock or 90s American Emo. Kids picking up instruments and starting their favorite band is the sort of myth that has proven itself timeless and true. It'll never end, and the fact that fascinating new bands and new kinds of music are always emerging is proof of that.

The idea that anyone can start a band and write songs and play shows-- those are the kind of ideals we hope to pass on to future generations. I hope kids start bands and sing about their feelings and kind of suck at first and work hard to kind of suck less. We're happy to be part of that legacy, and we'd never claim to have invented anything. We've imitated a lot, but copied nothing. 

4TR: You are working with Fortuna Pop here in the UK, how did that relationship come about?

Kip: Fortuna Pop put out records by some of our favorite bands, like Comet Gain, The Aislers Set and The Lucksmiths. We were very flattered when they wanted to put out our record too. They've been incredibly supportive of us, helping us tour in the UK and Europe and generally just being one of the good guys in the world of indie music. We are their band, but more importantly, Sean (label president and sole/soul employee) is our friend.

4TR: How did you feel your debut album was received and has the experience of recording and releasing an album lived up to your expectations?

Kip: We didn't really have any expectations other than making a record and having fun-- everything that's happened since then has totally exceeded any conception of what we even thought was possible. 

 Not to be falsely modest or anything, but we thought that we, like the countless other bands we admired growing up (Rocketship, The Pastels, The Vaselines, My Favorite, Dear Nora), would put out a record and only a handful of people would care. And while that would have been 100 percent fine with us, we're genuinely grateful for the opportunities we've had. What's happened to us is pretty rare, and we're appreciative and thankful as much as is possible.

4TR: You are about to release the new ep – ‘Higher Than The Stars’ – what can we expect from that and any particular stand-out tracks that you love to play?

Kip: The EP is a collection of songs that we've been playing live for some time now. Each song sounds a bit different from the next, and none of them really had a place on the debut album-- but they are songs we love, regardless if they sound like people's conception of us. It's fun to see what is possible, and tracks like "Higher Than the Stars" and "Falling Over" are far more idealistically pop than anything we've tried before. They are more fragile. Or maybe we're finally becoming the emo band that our name portends.

4TR: You are back in the UK later this year playing a series of dates – how do audiences in Europe differ to back home and where has been your favourite place to play over here?

Kip: It's hard to say what our favorite place to play in the UK has been. I think London has certainly offered some of the biggest shows we've played to date, while Manchester has provided some of the most boisterous and impassioned audience participation. Still, getting to go to Glasgow, a city that provided so much of the music that influences us (Orange Juice, Teenage Fanclub, The Pastels, Belle and Sebastian, The Vaselines) has a sort of "spiritual" significance. If there was some sort of "Church of Indiepop," its pope (indiepope, anyone?) would reside in Glasgow and probably work at Monorail Records. 

4TR: And finally, what’s the best thing about being in The Pains of Being Pure At Heart?

Kip: Everything. Imagine all your dreams coming true-- that's what being in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is like for me.  

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