September 2nd, 2009
Interview with Pinkshinyultrablast
It’s been 18 years that the noise lovers have been waiting for the Loveless sequence, the much acclaimed My Bloody Valentine classic. Kevin Shields said he managed to release new material in the meantime. But all he has done was burn the money Island had offered for a new record, quit the label and collaborate with Sonic Boom, Primal Scream and Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation). At least the band is back, for the joy and glory of the feedback-addicted.
Even if Shields is not in a hurry, candidates for the new Loveless release are everywhere. The most recent comes from St. Petersburg, Russia. Pinkshinyultrablast has released the EP Happy Songs For Happy Zombies through the indie label OddBox Records. The four songs are very close to what Kevin Shields could have done if he were less perfectionist or less lazy. It’s one of those records that make you want to listen all day long. It’s all there: guitar waves, distant voices, melodies and electrostatic. It’s impossible not to play this on repeat.
Ivan, bassist, answered a few questions to Sinewave. From St. Petersburg, he mentioned things that are quite similar to São Paulo - the difficulties for an indie band to play live, small audiences for a noise-oriented act, the aid of internet. Anyone out there would care to bring a hot act for some gigs in São Paulo? The cold St. Petersburg has one.
–By Filipe Albuquerque
SW - I was searching some information about the band on the web but there isn’t much available. So, can you give us a little Pinkshinyultrablast’s biography?
PINKSHINYULTRABLAST is four people: Lubov (vocals, keyboards), Roman (guitar), Sergei (drums) and Ivan (bass). We were friends for quite a long time before we started PSUB. Before that we all had projects and bands. At some point we became really close and started to hang out all the time together (we live in the same part of the city), so when our previous projects ceased to exist we thought that we would try to play together. It was in the fall of 2007. After a few months of composing and practicing our songs we did our first show in a local club, which was in the early 2008. We played some more gigs in Saint-Petersburg and then Ivan went to study abroad (in the U.S.). The band continued to play without him, even though he was still counted as a member. The EP Happy Songs for Happy Zombies was recorded with the help of our friend Andrei, who played bass. Now Ivan is back and the band prepares to play in the original line-up. We have built our own practice space, which is really exciting.
Was the band’s name taken from Astrobrite’s record? What is the story behind the name?
Scott was always our inspiration. When we needed a name to announce our first show we could not find anything better than “pinkshinyultrablast”. So it just stayed there. There is actually a nice story about our name. When we made a myspace page we got a message from Scott who said that Andrew from Mahogany told him about our band and it “made him smile”. He told us to play good music and tell everybody where we got our name. You see, Scott is cool!
How do you describe the scene in Saint Petersburg and around Russia?
Dull.
Do you normally play in Moscow and other cities in Russia? What about the countries around Russia, do you travel to play abroad?
There was one gig in Moscow. It was interesting but it was not very successful for a number of reasons. That was our only show outside of Saint-Petersburg. We totally want to play as many places we can but sometimes there are difficulties.
Is possible for the band playing some gigs, even tours, around Europe? How many countries have you been playing since you started the band?
As said, none! But we would be happy to do that. Some Russian bands toured Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, we might do it as well!
Pinkshinyultrablast have influences from the best shoegaze bands, I think, from bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Astrobrite, Medicine. There are so much noise mixed with beautiful melodies as well, with nice female vocals. Are there good audiences for this kind of sound in Russia? I’m asking it because here in Brazil, there are a bunch of bands making noise, however it’s so difficult to find venues to play…
Yeah, same here! Nobody is really into this stuff here, but there are nice people around the world who like shoegaze and want to promote it. We play mostly for them.
How was the contact with Odd Box Records for the EP release? Did they find you first and send you a proposal?
When we had the EP we wanted to try to release it outside Russia, on some strong label. We were messaging to different labels on myspace. LostMusic records agreed to release the EP. But then it collapsed and we stayed with ODDBOX (which formed on the ruins of LostMusic). It is cool anyway.
If the internet didn’t exist probably we would never have this conversation, and I think it would almost be impossible for us to listen to your songs. How do you use the internet to spread your music around the world? Your sound reaches Brazil through the internet…
We have our myspace page and an e-mail. These things are very helpful. We thought about a blog, but we do not have it yet. Actually we use the Internet mostly to download movies about zombies and ninjas.
Can you describe how is the life for an indie band in Russia? What are the most difficult things to be an independent band in your country and the best part to be an independent artist there?
Hm… well, instruments and amps are expensive here, you get virtually no money for what you do and nobody pays attention to your music, otherwise it is all fun!
Do you believe that internet changes the way to make, listen and distribute music forever?
Looks like that! We just hope it changes things for the better!
