Stereoboard Chat To Pure Love About New Album 'Anthems' And Their 2013 UK Headline Tour (Interview)
Tuesday, 05 February 2013
Written by Heather McDaid
It was quite a shock back in 2011 when Frank Carter announced his departure from Gallows, citing that he and the band were looking to go in different directions musically. "I'm so sick of singing about hate," he claims on single 'Bury My Bones', a personal favourite offering from Frank and ex-Hope Conspiracy's own Jim Carroll. Pure Love sees the pair mesh their styles into brilliant new album, and February sees that album - 'Anthems' - finally being released.
"2012 was great," explains Jim. It is, by all accounts, the year Pure Love kick-started everything they'd been working on. "I mean, obviously it was a big year for us. We started playing shows and recorded the record - everything's been great so far. Yeah, overall it was a great year and I hope 2013 is even better! Just playing that first show after a year of getting everything together and writing songs - playing that first show was definitely a big one. Obviously, recording the record and touring was a highlight. All of it. All of the build up to now has been amazing, so every moment has been a highlight."
Having seen the band live last year, it's clear that they not only possess the chaos we'd expect, but had a great on-stage chemistry. "We definitely had fun," he notes, referring specifically to their first show together. "We had to rehearse to get to that point but we have a lot of great musicians playing with us so that made it easier. Frank and I had been playing together for a while by that point, so we had a good vibe of what we wanted to do. We brought in some friends and they're professionals and they're great at what they do, and it became that much easier when we brought them in. Once we got going it was easy to get the ball rolling."
And getting the Pure Love ball rolling not only included hitting the stage, but recording their record. "We did three weeks of pre-production at a studio in England and kind of just worked on the songs over those few weeks and got them up to speed for recording. Some of the early demos that Frank and I had weren't complete; they were complete songs, but some didn't have drums on them, some didn't have bass on them, some of them didn't have keys on them. In that three weeks of pre-production we kind of just worked on everything and fixed all the parts and the production that was going to go into it.
"From there, we went into a studio in Brooklyn for a month and recorded the record. It was a great process. It was long but it was as easy as it could have possibly been for trying to get all of that stuff done in that period of time. I mean, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get it done, but it worked out and it ended up being great!"
But did they know what sound they were looking to create as they entered the studio? "As far as when we first started writing songs, we sat down and spoke about what bands we really loved and all of that," Jim explains, "but a lot of these songs are things that I had written over the years and a lot of the melodies that Frank had were things he had from over the years. It was just bringing that together and sorting through all the older stuff to come to the new ground that we were finding as we started working together. We didn't really approach the record with any sort of intent of what we wanted to sound like, it was more sorting through what we both had and honing that a little bit more."
"It just covers the ideas of life, death, love - all of those subjects, as far as general subjects, that's what the theme of the album is. I'm proud of the whole thing. It was such a long time coming, getting to that point, recording the record. We had a lot more songs going into the process of recording the record, so we had to cut out songs that we really liked and we had to narrow it down to those eleven songs. Those are the songs that we thought belonged on the record. As a whole, I couldn't be prouder of the entire package."
With a new album about to be released, and being swarmed with the news of HMV's issues, talk turns to the digital takeover in both format and outlet. "I grew up in a time where going to a record store and finding new bands and music was the thing to do," he says. "It was a big deal for me. It was the big way of finding out about music and finding out about stuff. It's tough to see record stores being phased out, but with the re-interest of vinyl and that sort of medium I think record stores will stick around. There are those people who enjoy going to record stores, so I think it'll stick around, just not as prominently. It's kind of sad, but what can you do? It's just how things move forward. On the upside, it's a great way of getting music to people quicker and getting it more widespread. You don't have to just search it out in those music stores, and bands can get it out to so many more people."
But music is more than just an audio file - what does he feel about digital alternatives potentially hampering the physical format? "Music is an artform on its own, but I've always loved getting it as a package, in whatever form or layout people can come up with. It's something interesting to go along with the music, it's good to have something to look at while you're listening to the music that's linked to it and you can have a visual of what you're listening to. Having a package to go along with music is always helpful. I don't think it's going to go away because people really do want that, but it is unfortunate - along with the loss of sound quality in just going digital - there is definitely a downside."
Turning ahead, it seems where 2012 was where the ball started rolling, 2013 is where they hit the ground running. "More touring! This is the beginning of it, so we kick off our tour in a few days. We'll be out for just about a month. From there, there's going to be a lot of festivals coming up over the summer and just a lot of touring in between there. We're just trying to get out to as many places as possible. We'll hopefully play a show at home in New York soon enough - we're working on that right now. That's a big one for us.
"I'd just like to say thank you to all the people that have come out to shows so far, to all the people who have supported us so far and told us how excited they are about us. We couldn't be happier, so thank you!"
Pure Love have begun their first headline run of 2013, coinciding with the release of their debut album 'Anthems' (released Monday February 4th) and latest single 'Beach Of Diamonds'.
You can purchase 'Anthems' from both iTunes and Amazon now. Catch Pure Love live at the below UK tour dates.
Wed February 6th 2013 - Manchester Deaf Institute, Manchester
Thu February 7th 2013 - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Fri February 8th 2013 - Electric Circus, Edinburgh
Sat February 9th 2013 - York Duchess, York
Sun February 10th 2013 - 53 Degrees, Preston
Tue February 12th 2013 - Bodega Social, Nottingham
Wed February 13th 2013 - Arts Centre, Norwich
Thu February 14th 2013 - XOYO, London
Mon February 18th 2013 - The Haunt, Brighton
Tue February 19th 2013 - Joiners, Southampton
Wed February 20th 2013 - Le Pub, Newport
Thu February 21st 2013 - The Croft, Bristol
Fri February 22nd 2013 - Temple Rooms, Birmingham
Sat February 23rd 2013 - Esquires, Bedford
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"2012 was great," explains Jim. It is, by all accounts, the year Pure Love kick-started everything they'd been working on. "I mean, obviously it was a big year for us. We started playing shows and recorded the record - everything's been great so far. Yeah, overall it was a great year and I hope 2013 is even better! Just playing that first show after a year of getting everything together and writing songs - playing that first show was definitely a big one. Obviously, recording the record and touring was a highlight. All of it. All of the build up to now has been amazing, so every moment has been a highlight."
