The
Pains of Being Pure of Art
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart:
Exclusive interview with Evan Chase
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are
really, really great. Groove is in their indie shoegaze-y art.
I had the chance to sit down
with Peggy, Kip and Alex at Schuba's in Chicago during their nine-city
US tour.
Here’s what
they had to say about their rave Pitchforkmedia.com review, the joys of
creativity
and where they got their amazing band name and Kurt Cobain’s "Cardigan."
On The Pitchforkmedia.com review:
Kip:
It was a wonderful thing. I think the things that still matter in the
Internet Age, touring and playing for people and putting on a good
show---all the things that seem 100% old school. I think that’s a good
thing; it makes bands work for their dinner. You have to earn people’s
acceptance and it’s not just handed to you.
Peggy:
It’s cool to
receive accolades from the indie community. I think a lot of people
heard us for the first time after reading the Pitchfork review.
Where
The Pains of Being Pure of Heart Name Came From:
A friend wrote a children’s story called "The Pains
of Being Pure At Heart" and its moral,
as all children’s stories have morals, that the time you spend when
you’re young traveling with friends and the friendships that you forge
at that time of your life are really to be valued and celebrated. It’s
a nice way of thinking about our band---we’re all friends and young and
we have these adventures getting to go places and play music together.
It’s a pretty fitting name. The phrase feels really right.
Artistic
intentions/Comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and The Smiths
Kip:
It’s always flattering when
people draw comparisons to our music to such incredible artists as
Morrissey or My Bloody Valentine, but our music is more about us and a
natural outgrowth of who we are as people and who we are when we plug
in our instruments and play that’s us. We have a huge respect for a
huge canon of music through the past, but we’re pretty happy being The
Pains of Being Pure At Heart. If people want to draw comparisons to
bands that are a lot better than us, that’s fine, but we’re happy to be
our own world.
On
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart cd
Kip:
We wanted to capture that and
document that so these songs lived in a permanent way. To have that
final product sound like and not be something we’re not. It was a very
natural-sounding record.
The
Pains of Composition process
Alex:
Kip writes the songs
and brings them to everyone.
Kip:
Behind every great writer is a great editor. I think creativity is
over-valued in our society. Being creative is a wonderful thing, but
being able to pick-and-choose. But if it was just me there’d
probably be thirty songs on the album and twenty wouldn’t be that good.
Peggy: We also get a lot of
ideas from just hanging out. Inside jokes and stuff. Like Kurt Cobain’s
"Cardigan."
Inspiration
for Kurt Cobain’s "Cardigan" 7” single
Kip:
All of our experiences and our
friends’ experiences, they’re (the songs) very much about our
collective experiences, shared experiences.
The title’s
almost a reference to what the song sounds like. The song sounds a lot
like the Vaselines. My introduction to The Vaselines was through
Nirvana’s covering of them and Kurt Cobain’s championing of these
smaller indie-pop bands that would’ve never gotten mainstream of any
attention in the U.S. He took the time to use his celebrity to further
other bands and offer listenership. The song isn’t about
Kurt Cobain but the song wouldn’t have existed were it not for Kurt Cobain.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/
back to home page