Tomorrow night, the Big British Sound will be hitting the Corner Hotel in Melbourne – and along for the ride are Bertie Blackman, Whitley, Big Scary and this lovely lady – Evelyn Morris. Although you’ll probably know her better as Pikelet. In advance of this performance, we talk to Evelyn about her favourite British artists, performing four shows in one day, her new album Stem, and find out what’s next for the talented Melbourne-based artist!
Good evening Evelyn! How have things been going?
Very well! It’s been a very busy couple of weeks.
Yeah you came up to Sydney to launch your new album Stem last week! What else have you been up to?
Yeah that was the Thursday just gone (at Oxford Art Factory – check out our coverage HERE), and then the week before we were in Perth. And then just after I got back to Melbourne there was a huge party at my house, and then Sunday I performed at an experimental festival called Overground, at Melbourne Town Hall. And I did four different sets! … and this was yesterday.
How did that work!?
Well it was four different collaborations. One of them was my first band, True Radical Miracle performing with another group called Golden Furs. And then I was playing drums with Mick Turner from The Dirty Three. And a Swedish violist, too.
That sounds like the busiest day you could have possibly had!
Yeah it was. And then later in the evening I played a set with the synth player in my band. Shags and I do synth music as a duo, which is kind of like meditation music. And so we did a space themed party. So yeah it was a very good day, but then today I was straight back to work, and now it’s just about time for dinner!
For those who don’t know you, can you give us an introduction of your Pikelet project?
Well, I’ve been a musician since I was about three. I’ve always been really certain that’s what I want to do. So I started playing piano when I was about 3 and a half. I started the drums when I was 13, and played in a few bands throughout the adolescent years. Ended up doing Punk music. And then about 4 maybe 4 and a half years ago I started doing the Pikelet stuff. It’s mostly about music that’s kind of … prettier, I guess, than what I’d been doing in the past. But at the same time trying to experiment with pop music, and push a few boundaries along the way.
And you’ve got a new album out with that project, Stem. Can you tell us about that?
Stem is an album that I’ve put together with my recent new band – we’ve been together for about 2 years. So these are all songs that we’ve been working on for a couple of years – Some of them I wrote and then they added things, some of them we wrote together. Stem is actually our initials – Shags, Tarquin, Evelyn and Matt. It’s our first little foray into a band recording, which I’m really excited about. I think we’re all pretty proud of how it’s come out.
Is it exciting to be playing those new songs live, especially now that the album is out?
Well the only time that (recognition of our songs) has occurred so far was in Sydney when we played “Toby Light”, and some guy started clapping and cheering, and I’m like “oh my gosh! Someone actually knows this song! That’s amazing!” It was very exciting.
And as part of the new album, you have a single in “Red Pleather”, with the trippy video clip directed by Aleks from Aleks and The Ramps. How did that come about?
Yeah it’s pretty amazing. Aleks and I have been friends for a long time, and I always knew he did video stuff, but I’d never really seen any of it, because it’s all for his work – his job I think is animating and editing? Mostly editing though… But he had done a clip for his own band, that I was really impressed by. It’s very, out there, but quite beautiful at the same time. So I suggested to him that he might want to do it, and because he’s into the Pikelet band, he was excited as well.
I really enjoy working on projects like that with people I know, my friends. They tend to know a little about what we’re all about.
The artwork on the album, meanwhile, was done by Celeste Potter of Ouch My Face fame, I understand?
Well I don’t know Celeste as well as I know Aleks, she’s a friend of a friend. And I’d seen her artwork for quite some time and thought it was really good. And she did a few posters for me that blew my mind, so I thought that maybe she’d like to do the album art! And thankfully she said yes. She really nailed it and was really easy to work with. I was a little bit picky, and I kind of changed a bunch of things – like the colours and stuff. But she was pretty amiable to work with me on that! She was pretty chilled out.
Next up, you’re playing the Big British Sound in Melbourne on Thursday, are you looking forward to it? What can we expect from your set?
Yeah it’s going to be pretty good. I think that we’re going to play two songs from two British artists that I really like. One is this guy, Kevin Ayers, who I only recently got into. He used to play in a band called Soft Machine. And he’s got this song called “Girl on a Swing” which is completely amazing. Beautiful. And the other song is by my favourite band, Broadcast. They’re sound a bit 60s, but are one of the main inspirations for the Pikelet sound. It’s pop music, but they’re definitely trying to make it sound a bit bizarre at times.
So in your eyes, do Broadcast encompass the idea of the “Big British Sound”?
Well to me they do. And for Kevin Ayers, that’s a representation of how most of the stuff I love that comes out of Britain, is usually psychedelic or folk. A lot of stuff from the 60s and 70s. But I didn’t really know if it would be entirely appropriate to do too much folk stuff. And Broadcast is a more recent band, and they’re also just one of my favourites. So when I think of British music, they’re what I think of!
Will it be the full band performing?
Yeah definitely. I think it’s going to be really cool! The lineup’s going to be really good. I’ve not seen those bands before, but it will be a nice mixture.
Is the idea that you’ll all be playing covers of the British bands you love?
We’ll be playing mostly originals, and then just those two covers. And I think that’s about the same the other bands. It will be interesting to see what other people choose, who inspires them! Because like I said, there’s so much music that’s come out of Britain from all different areas.
It was a difficult choice for us to decide which ones we wanted to (cover). We were also considering doing a song by The Who. And we all have a bunch of favourite Beatles B-sides that we were thinking of doing. And one thing that I totally attribute to being “British” in music, is quirky lyrics. Like even stuff like Syd Barrett’s music, his lyrics are often very English. And same with things like Belle and Sebastian. You can hear a definite voice in there that’s distinctly British.
There’s definitely a tongue and cheek nature that’s prominent…
Yeah definitely, and with Pikelet, I think we’re pretty tongue and cheek. Like we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I mean of course we take our music seriously, because we love doing it. But the sentiments of the song often aren’t entirely serious.
So you’ve released your 2nd album, played a couple of launch parties – and of course BBS – but what’s next on the Pikelet agenda?
It’s not entirely mapped out yet. We’ve talked about doing another Australian tour in about three or four months, and trying to cover more areas – I’d really love to be playing regional shows if we can manage it. But the main prerogative for me this year is to get more stuff written – and to get a regular rehearsal schedule together with my bandmates. Because I think, one thing that excites me about having a full band is that you can develop a musical relationship with different people. I’m really interested in exploring that this year.
And finally, you love to loop – and I imagine you’ve played with some unique instruments over the years. What’s the most bizarre instrument that you’ve either used or that you know of?
I’m not too sure… I don’t really think of any instruments as bizarre. I’m really interested in playing different stuff to just electric guitar. That’s the main reason behind having lots of different instruments. It gives you lots of different tones to explore – there’s only so much that a pedal can do.
I think the Kalimba (a thumb piano) is a really beautiful instrument, and the steel drum and stuff like that – I’d like to try that one day, but I think it might be a bit difficult to pull off without sounding dorky!
Some of the synthesizers that Shag has though are pretty bizarre instruments – sometimes the sounds he can bring out of those really weird me out! They’re very versatile, those old 70s synthesizers are really amazing.
Oh and have you heard of a Stylophone? It’s this synthesizer where you have a metal pen that you run along these metal pads, and it makes these *insert sound effect here* noises. I don’t even know how they work! something to do with magnetics. But those things are pretty fun.
Don’t miss Pikelet at the Corner Hotel tomorrow night! Limited Tickets Remain!
