They haven't been around for long, but The Pink Pound Experience are doing their best to get themselves out there and heard. As well as playing 95BFM's Fancy New Band Night on the 21st of June, they have also recently been nominated for a Myspace Choice Award. We managed to find out a bit more about the band in an email interview, finding out what they have been up to lately and whether or not they're the kind of band who'd vote for themselves to win an award.
How long have you been playing together as The Pink Pound Experience?
We only got together in late November last year because we applied to be in the MTV42 unheard competition with a demo I had done and we got into the final 6, so I kind of had to get a band together! We only played our first show in March though.
Where are you based?
The finest parts of Parnell!
What’s your current line-up?
Stu Larsen plays guitar, Sai sings and plays a bit of guitar, Dan / David plays drums and Henry plays with himself.
How did you get together?
Dating agency
What other bands/projects have you been involved in?
Various things, henry played in an awesome band called Odyssey, they were awesome, kind of.
Is there a story behind your band name?
Jack and the beanstalk maybe?
How would you describe your sound?
It's kind of not like anything I know,especially our newer stuff. I think we throw together really different influences, it's pop, but not purposefully. I guess it has that old school indie feel about some of it although I hate that label.
What has been happening with The Pink Pound Experience recently?
We are recording tracks for an EP that we plan to release in the coming months, playing plenty of shows, filming our first music video for 'Easy Come, Easy Go', writing new songs and just generally getting our live act together. We're still really new so we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought we were anywhere near tight enough or experienced enough not to concentrate mainly on that.
How did it feel to be nominated for a Myspace Choice Award?
Its very cool, very unexpected.
Have you voted for yourself?
Of course!
Do you have any releases out or on the way?
Yes, we have lots of things recorded that we haven't released. We have 4 tracks on MySpace and our Facebook page that we recorded with Dave Parker at Little Monster Studio and we plan to keep them up there for the foreseeable future. We are going to release 'Easy Come, Easy Go' as a single when we release the video that NZ on Air were kind enough to fund, and we have an EP on the way that will be released when it's ready I suppose.
What is your writing/recording process?
Normally two of us will get together and jam a melody and harmony, then take it to the other guys as a basic format, and we will spend as long as it takes to get it to the standard we want, which often takes a long time. Some songs just happen, like 'Easy Come, Easy Go'.
Are you looking forward to playing the 95bFM Fancy New Band Showcase?
Yeah its going to be awesome, I bought a new t-shirt for it and everything.
What do you enjoy most about playing live?
The rider is the best part, can't beat free booze, I recommend Juice bar in Parnell for that, they give you a huge rider!
What’s the best or most memorable gig you have played?
The MTV 42 Unheard final. We sucked. Everything went wrong. I bought a new Rickenbacker for it and it just sounded awful, Someone de-tuned Stu's guitar and our drummer missed the main part. We hadn't even played a show before that gig so it's forgivable. Also, someone had a go at Stu for wearing a headband to keep his hair out of his eyes, i think it was Gin Wigmore. Strange.
What are you listening to at the moment?
At this second I'm listening to the Popstrangers on Bfm. But i was listening to The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band earlier.
What does the future hold for The Pink Pound Experience?
Hopefully good things. We work hard and really care about our music, we practice like three times a week and have only been together a few months so I think it's looking good.
The state of music in NZ is….
Good question. Depends what mood I'm in. There's a few really great bands out there - White Birds and Lemons, Brain Slaves (although they've split up now), The Earlybirds are really tight, I used to love the EC's, Artisan Guns, The Checks, Ruby Frost, Lisa Crawley are all great pop bands, just to name a few. There's also a lot of shit out there. Most people wouldn't admit it but it's true. But it's great to see bands like Cut Off Your Hands really making an impact abroad. NZ on Air do a great job at funding good bands so as long as that continues it should continue to get stronger and stronger. There is some brilliant music being made by Kiwi musicians.
By Gareth Meade
