Rockers PURRS definitely have a lot of plans for the upcoming months!
?: Clément Stalhberger
Hello, PURRS! Thanks for taking time to answer a couple of questions for us. Would you mind introducing your band to our readers? Hey! We’re PURRS, an indie rock band from Angoulême in France. All 4 of us have known each other for about 10 years and have had a few different projects together. PURRS has existed for about the last four years. It comes from a conscious decision on our part to create a band that was much darker and more rock oriented than anything we had previously done. What's your point of view on the French rock scene? It hasn’t always been the case, but over the past few years, the rock scene in France has become richer, more varied. And is more heavily influenced by British and American bands. More and more bands are feeling less obliged to sing in French and use English as their main language lyrically, which has opened up the scene to more varied types of guitar music. We don’t have to pretend to be Noir Désir anymore! We feel really well represented and motivated today by young bands on the indie circuit like Lysistrata, The Psychotic Monks, Last Train or MNNQNS. Who have been able to breakthrough and gain attention from most mainstream media over here while playing very alternative rock music. Your new single “Tribe” is now out. What's the story behind this song? Tribe is the first song we wrote after a lengthy break of about 8 months. It was born out of the frustration we felt of not playing together for such a long time. And was written in a way that was, for us, very fast and very spontaneous. We think you kind of get a feel for that in the way the song sounds and is structured. We really wanted to write something simple that conveys a load of energy. Lyrically, the song is about the notion of productivity and how it’s so easy to feel under pressure to be seen to be as productive as possible in the eyes of others. On the musical side of things, we wanted a rougher and more mature sound that reflects some of the more recent influences of ours like Drenge, Shame or Idles. You guys plan on releasing an EP in March 2020. Can we already talk about this upcoming release? How long have you worked on it? We’ve been working towards the EP in some form or another since we finished Tribe. We’ve really started to properly work on precise songs over the last few months. There should be about 4 or 5 songs on it. It will be our first multi song release since the EP that started our band in 2015. So we’re really excited to get back into the studio for a longer period of time and share these new songs properly with people. Compared to what we have released in the past, it will be darker and heavier than we’ve ever been before. But melody is still a massive part of our music and we want it to be at the forefront of everything we do. How’s your usual writing and recording process? We always rehearse in the same place. We are supported by our local venue, La Nef, who provide a brilliant rehearsal space for us and gear when we need it.
Our songs always start with a few riffs or melodies that we play around with, cut up and change until we are left with something that we find interesting. Then we build a song out of it. We demo a lot of stuff and don’t hesitate to drop ideas when they aren’t working or to work on them as much as possible to improve them if all four of us think there is something there. We all have a right to veto when we’re writing or recording and we always make decisions together. Do you currently have any other projects in the making? We are about to release a live session of an unreleased song called “NAVY” that will be on our EP. We shot it in our favorite bar where we always have a few drinks after rehearsal called “La Girafe” in Angoulême. We’re also currently trying to book as many gigs as we can for 2020 to take the EP on the road! The last words are for you. If you have a message to convey, here’s your chance! Listen to Tribe. Follow us. Listen to guitar music. Recycle. Eat less meat. Love each other. Ngolo Kanté.
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