Ahead of the release of their new album Church With No Magic on July 19th through Warp Records, Larry Heath chats to Laurence Pike, the man you’ll often find behind the drums of Sydney’s PVT (formerly Pivot). We chat about the upcoming album, the name change, Bill Murray, playing at SXSW and more!
Hi Laurence, thanks for taking the time to speak with us!
My pleasure.
Where abouts are you at the moment?
I’m in my living room in Sydney. My house is freezing. It’s colder inside than it is outside in winter. I’ve got the heater and the World Cup on the TV, half watching a match I have no vested interest in.
You’ll be releasing your new album, Church With No Magic, in July – are you looking forward to getting it out there?
Absolutely. I just want it to move out of home so my wife and i can get on with our lives.
I understand you recorded it a good year ago, around the time of the Luminous Festival?
We started work on the album 2 years ago in some form, as soon as we handed over the masters of the previous album to the label in fact, and followed it up with extra sessions in Sydney as it progressed. We wanted to have a bunch of recorded material to start developing before we relocated to London in March 2008 and started months of touring the previous record. It’s hard to break out of that cycle where you constantly feel like creatively you should be moving forward with new music but instead you’re promoting a record you finished 2 years earlier, especially now more than ever with such an emphasis on touring for a band to make any money. We managed to get on top a little with this one, we’re about to start touring and the songs feel very new to play live and like there is much to discover about them, which is nice.
How did the recording process compare to your earlier works?
Every album has been very different for us.
The new record was much more focused on group playing; the three of us in the same room trying to fashion the sound, rather than the slightly more disparate method of being in different cities and doing things more remotely like we did with ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’. We wanted it to be a much more live and organic thing, so we didn’t really discuss that much if anything before we started work. The underlying desire was for us to really let go on this album, as a band, as people, be less controlling and make something that genuinely represented the three of us.
Our process is always changing. I guess our music is too as a result. We’re always looking to develop and better what we do.
When you look at some of your earlier works, what do you think has changed most about PVT in the decade since then?
Well the music has obviously undergone some big transformations, but that’s understandable over a long period of time.
The band started years ago as a vehicle for us to experiment with the sounds we were hearing. It hasn’t changed in that regard, the nature of the band has though with Dave joining in early 2006. More importantly our tastes and ambitions have changed.
I think we’re much better at what we do now basically… and a much more attractive band than when we started.
For bands who are just getting started in Australia, is there any advice you can pass along?
I think the most important thing is to focus on what you want to say and your sound.
Make something genuine that reflects you and your experience.
Are there any mistakes they should avoid, that you perhaps weren’t so lucky to have had future Laurence mention to you?
I don’t think people should be afraid to make mistakes, they are healthy for you in moderation. Bands play it far too safe in Australia generally.
I caught you guys in Austin at SXSW – you seemed to get an outstanding reception (before Born Ruffians), and it was an all around fantastic performance. Can you talk a little bit about performing at the festival? I don’t imagine it was your first time…
Thanks. It was actually our first trip to SXSW.
I don’t think any of us had any idea what to expect from doing it.
The main reason we went was to do our label’s official showcase night, which compared to most band’s SXSW experience was total luxury – A proper venue with a good PA, lighting, soundcheck, 45 min set, receptive audience.
The other shows we did were pretty chaotic, 5 min set ups, 20 min sets, bad sound, that’s largely how it works overall it seems.
The festival itself is a bit of a head fuck. It’s really quite overwhelming to be constantly bombarded by sound from every direction. I stood next to Bill Murray at one show. Apparently he got behind the bar at another venue later that night and started serving drinks.
Was it one of the first times you played material off the new album, Church With No Magic?
Yeah, we were playing most of the album material for the first time on that trip.
Have you played around with live reincarnations since then?
We did two preview shows in Sydney and Melbourne in April before Rich headed back to London, and had a chance to rehearse a couple of times for that and iron out some bugs we discovered on that US tour. We generally don’t really rehearse that much though, it’s mainly mapping out sounds and technical issues, we tend to like to figure it out on stage and surprise ourselves as much as possible, let the songs and parts develop over time in front of people.
Speaking of which, do you consider the live version of the song when you’re recording your albums?
I think we enjoy the studio and the possibilities it presents, so we’ve always just made the album and then usually there is this process of figuring out how we are possibly going to play it live.
Having said that, the nature of this recording was very much about capturing live takes, including live sampling, mistakes and all. I think we were more aware this time around of how we might potentially perform them live in the future.
I think we wanted to make it more fun to play a billion times… although the old material can still surprise me sometimes even now.
You’ll be touring the new album in August, what can audiences expect from the tour?
Obviously tracks from the new album. There’s couple we still need to work on beforehand that we haven’t performed publicly yet. A few from ‘O Soundtrack’ too undoubtedly, but I’d really appreciate it if people stopped requesting songs from ‘Make Me Love You’, It feels a bit like your parents at Christmas time asking you in front of your family and in laws to do that cute thing you used to do when you were 5 where you pulled down your pants around your ankles and sang.
I think we’re going to bring more lights with us too, plenty of strobes. I want people leaving with their retinas in the back of their throat.
We always try and put on a good show, we enjoy playing live. I think we’ll have a bunch of great supports too, Seekae from Sydney are hitting the road with us which should be a treat, and hopefully means we won’t need to lug our own gear so much…
What do you think has influenced the PVT sound the most over the years – for both yourself and the whole band?
Our interest in using technology in music has played a big part I suppose. We like sounds, and fucking with sounds, and seem to have this inherent desire to try and combine them in unheard ways.
It’s been the topic of conversation for a while now – and that’s the changing of your name. We all know why you had to do it, but I’m curious: were there ever other serious contenders for a name change, or was it always going to be PVT?
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a band name these days that isn’t already taken? Everyone on the internet under 30 apparently has a band now.
Personally I wanted to call the band Pivot II, but the others didn’t share or understand my vision on this one.
We had to make this decision reasonably quickly, it was really frustrating and we weren’t prepared to let the situation stop our momentum leading into the album release.
It seemed to make sense to change it to something that had some continuity about it.
What’s your favourite instrument and/or sound effect?
I love the piano. I don’t have one, but I want one badly.
I am hoping one of my elderly neighbours may fall down some stairs and pass away soon so I can steal theirs.
And finally, and most importantly, what’s the ratio of people who call you Larry to people who call you Laurence? I’m a Lawrence myself.
There are only 2 or 3 people in my life that can get away with calling me Larry. I don’t think we’ve known each other long enough for you to be one of them.
Fair enough indeed! Thanks again for your time Laurence!
A pleasure Larry.
PVT’s new album
Church With No Magic
is out on July 19th through Warp Records.
