Stereoboard Speaks To The Pigeon Detectives Ahead Of Their Glasgow Show (Interview)
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Written by Heather McDaid
Having taken time out in America to focus on their new album 'Up, Guards and At ‘Em', Pigeon Detectives have returned to the live circuit prior to the album’s release to use their personal favourite promotional tool – their live shows.
Backstage at the ABC, you’ll find the band sitting in a room surrounded by noise and filled with distraction (something which will become apparent throughout...) More importantly, you’ll find a fun, down to earth band who are so realistic with their aims, it’s almost startling to see how much they’ve accomplished already.
So, today is your second day of tour. How has it been?
Matt Bowman (vocals): It’s been amazing. I think there was an anticipation between us and the crowd because it’s been such a while since we’ve played a gig, you could kind of smell it in the audience before we went on and certainly backstage. There was a lot of nervous energy and we could tell something was going to kick-off and when we walked on to the intro music and the crowd were bouncing from the front of the room to the back, we kind of figured that this was going to be a good gig and good tour. So it was really good. It felt really nice to be back on stage.
Was it a good breaking in to playing shows again?
Matt: Yeah, definitely. It was sold out, it was a good venue, nice sound. One thing I would say is that it was a really young audience, which surprised me because I think the front five rows were definitely too young to go to a gig the last time we toured, so it felt like we’d almost got a new fanbase. It was really weird, but it’s given me a lot of confidence for this tour anyway.
When you planned this tour, did you intend to tour over the album release instead of after or did that just kind of happen?
Matt: Yeah, it was a conscious decision. You know, over the course of these two weeks we’re playing in front of fifteen thousand people and if you give fifteen thousand people the best show they’ve ever been to then that’s fifteen thousand album sales, technically. So, we just thought it was a good promotional tool. We’re at our best when we’re live on stage, so you can hear a song on the radio or you can see an advert in the music press, but the best way to promote the album is to show people what we do best, which is the live show.
Are you planning on doing anything special on the day of the album release?
Matt: We’re going to be in Norwich. There’s nothing extra special about Norwich to us, so I think we’re going to save it for London and have a big party in London. Our producer is flying over from America and we’ll have all our press agents there, our radio plugger, our booking agent, so we’ll just have a big celebration with everybody in London I reckon.
How did you find recording the album this time around? You went about it differently this time, going to America for one.
Dave Best (bass): It was very different. We chose to go to America for that reason because it would be a different experience to anything that we had done before and it certainly was. We had a great time and because we didn’t have any opportunity to go home at all we could completely immerse ourselves in that kind of New York lifestyle and get into it. I think that helped us loads. Also, we worked with a producer Justin Gerrish, who is our age pretty much. So it didn’t seem at all like a teacher – pupil relationship, it was more on our level and we were all throwing ideas around so it was really good.
Did you have any expectations of what you wanted to achieve from this album?
Oliver Main (guitar): We entered it with almost the expectation of having no expectations. You know, we’ve been away for a while and we had made three albums in five years, so that’s still quite a good effort. So we went into it not expecting to sell records, like with all our albums. I think we’re quite realistic in that way, not that we don’t want to – we just don’t expect to.
It’s around now that the sound made by crew raises once more and Matt leaves the sofa for a moment, declaring, “I knew there was a reason I locked this door before.” After locking the door and returning, they continue...
Matt: I think one of the main things is that we didn’t really change our song writing approach, but we had a definite idea of how we wanted to record the album. Before, I think we plugged in and played our instruments as loud as possible and got good live takes. Whereas this time around, we built the songs up from scratch, so there’s lots of different layering and levels, experimenting with instruments and sounds, pedals...
Do you have any personal favourites on the album? Or any you’re looking forward to playing live?
Matt: We’ve all got different favourites, which I think is a good thing. I mean, I personally like the opening track 'She Wants Me' because it sounds a lot different to a lot of things we’ve done. Also, I like the single 'Done in Secret'. I think that really reflects my CD collection, trying out punky guitars and stuff like that. Everyone else’s is different.
Dave: I really like 'What Can I Say', which is a departure from the last two albums. It’s more of an epic, gradually building song, which is different to anything we’ve ever done. I think it’s a good showcase of the third album.
Ryan Wilson (guitar): I think my favourite, to play live anyway, on the record is a song called 'Lost'. It’s got a really cool groove to it. It’s not particularly in-your-face and punky or it’s not a ballad or something, but it’s got a really cool groove to it.
Again, outside sound rears its head, causing Dave to look around and question “What the hell was that?” before simply saying, “The song called 'Lost' is definitely my favourite.”
Oliver: I can’t remember the name of my favourite song...
Matt: 'Turn Out The Lights'?
Oliver: 'Turn Out The Lights'! It’s quite a slow tempo song and we don’t often do them. It’s got a lot of dynamics and a mix to it. It starts off really laid back, then kicks in with a bit of venom, which I like.
How would you compare 'Up, Guards and At ‘Em' to previous albums?
Oliver: It’s definitely... Matt, you’re quite good at answering this.
Matt: I think that the more songs you write, the better you become as song-writers. It’s our third album in and we’ve definitely learnt a lot over the last four or five years...
Distraction once again steps in as Dave and Oliver start trying to catch paper balls in their mouths, ignoring Ryan’s attempt to get them to behave. Matt tries to concentrate on the answer although, admittedly, everyone’s watching the paper-ball mini-challenge.
Matt: I think it’s a more crafted record. The first album was just a live set put onto record, whereas this time around we were really conscious that we were actually writing for the pre-recording process. So, where we’d normally do 20 fast songs that were quite in your face and brash, we understood that this time around there was an importance in building highs and lows, peaks and troughs in the record. So there’s more slow moments, faster moments... What was the question again?
Just comparing it to your previous albums. It’s now that everyone laughs as the distraction has won...
Matt: Yeah! So I think we deliberately set out to write an album this time instead of a collection of live songs that went onto a record... Come on guys! How fucking old are you? I’m trying to answer a question and all I see is this. (You can insert your own arm flails and paper throwing technique here).
Ryan: And you’re getting filmed here. That’s what I was trying to tell you. They can see you. If this gets posted they’ll see you acting like children.
Matt: Yeah, I hope that answered your question... eventually. I have no idea what’s going on now. I’ve lost my trail of thought...
That’s fine! Apart from this tour, are you looking forward to anything else coming up? You were announced for Reading and Leeds in the last week or so.
Matt: Yeah, Leeds and Reading is definitely going to be a highlight. We’ve gone there as punters, so to actually get onto that main stage is a very big box ticked for us. I always look forward to getting back out to the States. We’ve got tours in Europe planned and we’re heading over to Japan; just taking the record on tour in general really. I’m really proud of it so the more people we can play it in front of, the better really.
When you first started out did you ever expect to see the band get to this point?
Matt: I think everybody’s got a different answer to this. I mean, personally, I definitely never even expected to play a gig. I just remember jamming in Oli’s bedroom and playing Stone Roses covers, so then to get our first album done was a great thing and now to be on our third one... I feel pretty lucky. But we’ve earned everything we’ve got. There’s a lot of bands – you’ll hear them groaning and grumbling – that say guitar music’s dead, blah blah blah. We bought our own van and we were touring up and down the country while holding down 9 to 5 jobs, so I feel lucky to have what we’ve got but I feel like we’ve definitely worked for it.
Is there anything you’d consider your greatest achievement to date?
Matt: The first time I had the finished product in my hand ('Wait For Me'), our debut album. That’s when I sat down and felt like “Job done”. That was definitely my proudest moment.
Oliver: I think that just getting onto three albums and getting them released. Getting this far into 2011 – that’s about five years we’ve been making albums – and being able to sell gigs out, that’s an achievement in itself these days. A lot of bands don’t get to that point. So that definitely makes me proud.
Ryan: There’s loads for me, actually. I suppose the big one is walking out to 50,000 people at Glastonbury in 2008.
Matt: So having your ego rubbed basically?
Ryan: Yeah. I agree with the thing that you said too though, Matt. Jamming songs in Oli’s bedroom in 2005 and moving to playing to 50,000 people at one of the biggest festivals in the world is a massive achievement. Well, I think all the ones that have been said are too but all of them together.
Dave: Pretty much all of them too. The first time we played Leeds Festival was a good moment because we’d been going to that since we were 18, so it was a really weird thing to be up on the stage that you’ve been watching for years and wishing you could be on. Finally getting there with your mates – the ones you went there with originally – was amazing.
Having said you have no expectations, do you maybe have any hopes for the future?
Matt: For me, once we’ve walked onto that Leeds and Reading Stage, every box has been ticked. Debut album, platinum discs, Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading, T in the Park, going to Japan, making an album in America... I feel like all the potential boxes have been ticked. I suppose to get to album four, album five, album six and to stay as excited as we are. I think if ever it became a job, I’d pack it in but the gig we played last night just felt as exciting and made me feel as up for it as I was the first time we ever played. I suppose, for me, just to keep the excitement and passion for the music and the band otherwise we’d be cheating fans and that would be the last thing we wanted to do... South America too. We’ve never been there. People say that’s nice!
Finally, if someone was coming to their first Pigeon Detectives show, what would you tell them to expect?
Matt: Wear a crash helmet. There were kids getting knocked left, right and centre last night from crowd surfers. For some reason we seem to attract the crowdsurfing-esque following.
Pigeon Detectives’ 'Up, Guards And At ‘Em' is released on April 4th. You can also see the band at Reading and Leeds Festivals this summer.
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Did you have any expectations of what you wanted to achieve from this album? 
