Interview: Pale Blue Eyes

Alternative indie trio Pale Blue Eyes have recently set out on a headline tour around the UK amidst the excitement from their new album 'New Place'; the Mic's Liz Clarke caught up with the band before their show at Bodega, Nottingham.

Q: You’re a few nights into the tour now, how has it been so far? Any particular highlights?

Matt: Every night is good, each audience is unique and special. Glasgow was really fun, Bristol feels like a bit of a homecoming gig for us, we have a lot of friends and family there, Aubrey lived in Bristol for a while, and his first ever shared flat was there, he ran into some friends and we didn’t think we’d see him again before the gig…

Aubrey: Yeah, it was the Thekla in Bristol

Q: That’s the venue on the harboured boat, if I’m not mistaken?

Aubrey: Yep, that’s correct. They used to do ‘Thekla Thursdays,’ and as a young man it was one of my favourite places to go!

Matt: Well, there’s a picture of you up behind the bar!

Aubrey: Yep, but then when we did the actual gig it was a Thursday, so then the gig kind of emptied out into the club night that I used to go to, which was kind of a funny coincidence. It was nice to be back somewhere that I know well.

Q: Your new album is called New Place, and this title is quite literal, seeing as you moved from Totnes in Devon, to Sheffield during the places. I know Sheffield to an extent, but have never been to Devon, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I can imagine they’re quite different places. Did that move influence the creation of the album in any way?

Lucy: I think it did. I think part of PBE, and all of the music that we make, is that it’s all interconnected with whatever we’re going through. We moved from Devon to Sheffield and it is very very different, I remember being in a taxi in Sheffield and I told the driver we would be moving up here soon, and he was like ‘Why?’! So I had been working quite hard to sell the move to Matt, and this driver just seemed to want to undo it all! (Laughing). No, I love Sheffield, it’s where I’m from and the move has definitely been a good decision as it's a little closer to a lot of what we need.

Q: You’ve self-released the album on your own imprint, Broadcast Recordings. How is that different to doing it with a full label behind you?

Matt: We’ve learnt an immense amount about the practical side of things, which has been really interesting. But we are very lucky to have a very dedicated management and distributor on our side. Even with this model, there are a lot of people behind the scenes who have helped to make it feasible.

Liz: That’s really good to hear, it’s important to have a crew around who are supporting you through big decisions like self-releasing.

Matt: I think a lot more artists are doing it like that, it’s becoming a lot more common, and you need good management around you to make it work. At the moment, the music industry seems to be always changing, there are an infinite number of ways of doing it. That model just worked for us for this record, and we were lucky to have people around us facilitating it.

Lucy: Yeah, we knew we just wanted to put a record out that was our own, so we just plowed on with it. It was an interesting experience for sure.

Q: Do you have any more plans for Broadcast Recordings, or are you just taking it as it comes from here?

Matt: I think we’re just seeing where it goes for now, taking it day by day. We’ve got a home studio to go along with it as well now, so we’ll just see how that goes. But I think it was just an interesting way of doing this release. Aubs did all of the design and packaging, so it’s very, very in house.

Aubrey: And that’s the same way that we put our first single, Motionless / Chelsea out, so it wasn’t totally new to us. We did everything in house, and did some fundraising in Devon, where some really good local businesses got on board. It was quite an eclectic mix of fundraisers that helped us out in the end.

Q: What is your relationship to crowdfunding like more broadly? It’s definitely a growing part of musicians’ financing.

Matt: It’s funny that you should bring this up, because we had quite a similar support base for this record. Without the people that pledged money, (jokingly) that for some reason like supporting our band, the record just wouldn't have gotten made. It’s an amazing mix of people that just wanted to help from the bottom up, and they’re all listed in the liner notes for the album. Without them, it wouldn’t have happened, it was tight from day to day and the credit cards did get rinsed. Crowdfunding from fanbases is definitely a big part of the future of the music industry and we are so grateful.

Lucy: It was a big risk that we took that has definitely paid off, and we did get a lot of help from those around us, given that we were building a studio and trying to record in parallel. (Touring member) Lewis was helping out and playing in house too…

Matt (laughing): Building…

Matt: But yes, we want to do this forever and want to have a sustainable lifestyle, and we’re lucky to have people around us who want this too, in a day and age where you kind of have to pay your way in the music industry.

Q: And on that note, is there anything you’d say to anybody who wants to make their way in the creative industries?

Matt: You’ve just got to stick with it, and also, it’s fine to have another thing that you have to do. If you’re a writer or an artist or a musician, you just have to find a way of doing it. We’ve always had other jobs, we’ve driven ourselves around the country, we’ve said yes to every opportunity that comes our way. Don’t get disheartened. Musicians, we’re all introspective, and we’re all massive emos really…

Matt:... but you can’t let it define you, you need to be able to talk to somebody else about it, and generally we’re all feeling the same. Communication is key.

Lucy: And so is variety. We all come together and we do this project and we love it, because we have other things as well. Lewis is a producer and engineer too, and Aubrey is a photographer and filmmaker, and this keeps inspiration flowing.

Matt: I think they should say that and promote that more on uni courses. It’s fine to have another thing you need to do to finance it.

Aubrey: Similarly, the longer you keep at it, the longer you keep nurturing whatever it is that you do, the higher your odds get that the break you truly want is coming. You’ll find the right collaborator, or the lightbulb moment somewhere down the line. For example, if you were to say to yourself, ‘I’ll give it two years and I need to be a star,’ good luck! That pressure isn’t sustainable. You need to give it your all and not expect anything back.

Liz: Absolutely, you need to give yourself time to grow

Lucy: Yeah, exactly. And to take that one step further, art and pressure don’t go hand in hand, but also art and music don’t always go hand in hand. You might write a song that you like, and absolutely nobody else likes it or listens to it, but the process was still worth it. 

Matt: So what song are you talking about here, exactly? I think I know!

Another burst of laughter

Q: On the subject of finding the right person, what is Dean Honer (producer of New Place, member of The Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family off-shoot The Moonlandingz) like to work with?

Lucy: Just absolutely amazing. One of the best people we’ve worked with, in our lives, a genuinely brilliant producer and mastering engineer. There are no words… we’ll send him the stems, he’ll send us the finished thing, and we’ll just love it. It’s the easiest working process imaginable. And I will say, I’ve had a sneak peek at the new Moonlandingz record, it’s absolutely banging. There’s just no words for what he does, it’s like magic.

Q: What was it like to support Slowdive on their European tour last year?

Lucy: A dream come true?

Matt: We’d need a whole other interview to even scratch the surface, honestly. A totally new experience in every facet. Getting dropped in and getting to play for their audience was incredible, we visited countries we’d never been to before, we were dropped in and we just loved it, and their audience seemed to like us - we got to meet so many passionate young and old people. But on the less arty side of it, we were driving for like 10 hours a day! Trucking across Europe, I’m pretty sure we went through about 5 different vans because they kept failing on us. That kind of more rugged day-to-day life was definitely new to us.

Q: How did you pass the time, driving for 10 hours a day?

Aubrey: Game of Thrones, for me!

Q: The whole thing?

Aubrey: It was twelve thousand kilometers!

Matt: I remember one time, I looked around the van, and either on our phones, laptops, or the big screen, there was a different Game of Thrones episode. I didn’t know where to look, it was everywhere!

Lucy: We can’t remember who started it, even, but eventually the whole crew was just watching it at different intervals!

Aubrey: But to come back to the tour, I think the real highlight of that Slowdive tour was meeting young people who were big fans of them, these kids who were like 15 or 16 and just starting to learn bass, who wanted to talk to me about it. It felt really good for me because I had some really impactful mentors at that age who validated me wanting to do this, and to know that somebody had seen me and had that same experience was just unbelievable and reminded me of why it’s important to do all of this.

Matt: It’s beautiful because we’ve all been there, asking questions like “How is he making that sound with his guitar?”, “What’s that thing he’s stamping on?”, so becoming that person for somebody else was really special.

Liz: That's an important sentiment, and I think I’ll end it on that note if that’s alright with everybody: thank you guys!

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Edited by Bethany Coldwell

Image courtesy of Pale Blue Eyes on Facebook