Punks Primetime Failure discuss their upcoming EP “Oxygen”

Primetime Failure is a band I've been following for a while now and I got the chance to listen to their upcoming EP before doing this interview. Let's face it. If you're into punk rock, you absolutely have to listen to these guys. They were kind enough to answer a couple of questions for us. Learn more about their upcoming EP “Oxygen” below! [caption id="attachment_201240" align="alignnone" width="700"]
Picture by Tobias Dellmann[/caption]

Hey guys! As a start, please quickly introduce your band to our readers!

We’re Primetime Failure from Bielefeld, Germany and we play what some might consider Pop Punk, Skatepunk or whatever the folks in the nineties might have called it. For us it’s just the music we love and what happens if you lock the four of us in a room. We started this little endeavor in 2016 without any bigger goals than to practice from time to time and here we are, a couple of years later and this is our third release and we might have played a show from time to time, too. If you’re interested, you can find all of our music on the usual platforms readily available for your streaming convenience.

You're about to release your new EP, “Oxygen”, on March 24th. How long have you worked on this release?

Most song ideas came up during the pandemic. Since getting together for rehearsal wasn’t so easy during that time, it took quite a while to transform those ideas into real songs. Recording was a quick thing at Tiny Pond Studio in Hannover…just professionals over there. After that Uncle M once again did the digital release and Shield recordings only had to find a pressing plant that was not completely overbooked. So lets say, it took us about a year.

How was your writing process for this EP?

To be honest, 90% of songwriting works like this:
1. Kids are asleep
2. Open a bottle of beer
3. I (and this refers to the bassplaying kind of Tobi involved in this operation) come up with a basic Idea, mainly chords, guitar melody, chorus and a beginning of some lyrics
4. I (yep, him again!) record a pretty bad demo and send it to the other guys
5. They (basically meaning each and everyone in this band besides “I”) come up with the rest of the lyrics (that's why our second verse is mostly better than the first)
6. After that, we (“I” & “They” <3) finally have to meet in person to play that song, see what we have to change and so on. While playing we come up with a lot of little changes that really make the difference between a static demo song and a good Punk Rock song.

Is there one song on this EP that you particularly love?

I personally like “Blueprint”, because it has a different, kind of melancholic vibe to it. &embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.distrolution.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

It will be available digitally but also in a vinyl format. Is it safe to say that you personally love vinyl as a music fan? If you have a vinyl collection at home, please share with us your favorite one!

This one is for the other Tobi ;) Other Tobi: If there’s anything you can say about me for certain, it’s that I love vinyl quite a bit. Since I was a kid, I have spent a good chunk of my money on records and I don’t regret a buck or two (besides some impulsive pre-orders we will never mention again). Even ran a small vinyl label with a bunch of friends for a couple of years and before Record Store day edition limited pressings of greatest hits compilations by major labels in quantities of “just” 1 or 2 million jammed the pressing plants. I might have a couple of favorites, but that changes on a day to day basis and is mostly not about something being very rare or limited, but is all about sentimental value and memories attached to certain records. If I had to nail it down to one single record today, I’d say the original pressing of the Operation Ivy record, since this record was the soundtrack to so many years of my life and it paved the way for me to discover tons of other bands.

Let's talk about the artwork of the EP. Who's the artist who created it and what's the idea behind the visual?

The artist is a really cool dude from Indonesia. We stumbled upon his work years ago on instagram. You wanna check his work out @the_vigilante88 on insta. Mainly the idea was to have artwork supporting the ”Oxygen” lyrics. I love the way it came out. The actual printing on the b-sides of the records was done by David Finke over at Fairtrademerch.com (he prints our merch, too, make sure to check out his website for cool stuff!) and we couldn’t be happier with the whole package. All the parts are just pieces of one big puzzle that came together in a way we aren’t afraid to show it in broad daylight!

The last words are for you. If you have any other projects in the making or a message to convey, here's your chance!

We’d like to thank you for the chance to let your readers know a little bit more about us and we would like to thank each and everyone out there that takes the time to listen to the songs we came up with between the four of us, it means the world! You can now preorder the 10” from Shield Recordings and it will be available physically and digitally (via Uncle M) March 24th. For all of you in the UK, Disconnect Disconnect should have some copies available, soon! If you’re more of a visual kinda person, head over to Youtube and check out our new videos, maybe you will find something to enjoy!