The psychedelic rock resurgence has been going on for a few years now with thanks to Tame Impala. There are many new bands riding on their coattails and forging their own unique sound, one being everyone’s favourite King Gizzard, but if you’re looking for another to sink your psychedelic paws into then Google the hell out of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets…just clear your internet search history, if you know what I mean. Glam Adelaide writer Darren M. Leach spoke exclusively to singer and main songwriter Jack McEwan over in Perth just before they launch their new album, High Visceral {Part 2}.
McEwan may have only been born in the early 1990’s but his youthful 24 year-old spirit seems well more advanced than most with the amount of music knowledge and ideas floating around in his mind. McEwan has been in bands since he was nine when he lived in the UK and ended up moving over to Australia when he was 13, since then has been performing music in various bands. He completed a graphic design degree, this has come in handy as he has designed some of the bands artwork. Holding a safe normal job for a mining company after he completed his studies, he decided that wasn’t for him and took a left turn instead of a right turn in life and chose music instead. There’s even a song on the new album about this change in life called “Ergophobia”, which means the fear of working.
His love of music, like most, came from an older family member. In this instance from his Dad. Raiding his father’s music collection as a young boy, he listened to artists such as Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, Link Wray and other bluesy/psych-rock music. I started by asking why chose to form a psych-rock band?
“It’s the easiest genre to change and you can go anywhere with it”, he begins. “It was almost a joke calling the band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets but then we got dragged into it anyway as it was psych-rock anyway. We can easily evolve from one big heavy track here and then make something with say violins. I always liked the genre especially Tame Impala, they kind of made it cool again. It’s the biggest genre to expand and change and warp into it, it’s got a lot of undiscovered territory. I love The Mars Volta they are just epic, I can just listen to that all the time.”
Having only formed in 2015 in Perth, the 4-piece made big waves in their hometown before releasing their debut album, High Visceral {Part 1}, in April 2016. The band is completed by Luke Parish (guitar), Danny Caddy (drums) and Luke Reynolds (bass). The debut album was well received by fans and critics alike. I asking McEwan how they set about writing a second album now there’s a bit of hype behind the band.
“With the second album I put way more effort into the writing; a good year of actually writing. I expanded my listening to different styles rather than stick to the safe options. It’s about pushing yourself into listening to something that you don’t normally like and try to listen for ideas. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music. I’d listen to how they construct a track so to speak, rather than just verse chorus verse chorus.”
PPC have self-produced both albums but with help from colleague Michael Jelinek. He’s a music teacher from Perth and works with the Parish. McEwan mentioned that their first album would be completely different without his help. He explains it almost didn’t happen as Jelinek just offered on the fly to have a listen to what the band thought was a finished product.
“His nickname is Jelly”, jokes the singer. “Jelly mixed the album but he was more of a co-producer. He would have a chat to us about which EQs to use, sounds on the album, and what instruments to bring out in the mix. He took things away to make it sound better, because we had violins that we didn’t use and loads of other instruments such as synths. It was good to have a second opinion, it’s like he’s a fifth member. We weren’t going to use him but Luke works with him. It was finished from our point of view but Jelly offered to mix it and it was released about three months afterwards. He made it sound a lot better.”
Most of album number two’s ideas have been since the first one, in fact High Visceral {Part 1} may well have been a double album but McEwan goes onto explain that the band was glad they didn’t fall into that trap.
“We wanted to release it as a double album and then it was obviously going to take double the time. A lot of the songs were written simultaneously. I’m glad we didn’t release it as a double album because it’s a bit self-indulgent and especially as it’s a debut release.”
Being the main songwriter McEwan had several finished demos ready for a second album. Most of the demos were recorded at home and features his midi drum kit which is his new favourite thing. The album was scheduled for a January 2017 release but due to getting the sound perfect, the album was delayed. McEwan explains.
“I finished the album about six months previous and we chose about 17 of the songs to work from and then it was the hardest part for me because I had all these finished ideas, then the bands came along and just tore them apart but in a good way,” McEwan laughs. “The actual demos themselves have been around awhile. It seemed to take forever to get the sound right because it’s easy to record a demo.”
“For that last month of mixing we had a lot of late nights discussing the sound with Jelly, but we put the deadline way too soon. We only got it finished about a week ago, it was meant to be finished in January. We had already booked the tour for April, release the album January and have all the vinyl ready to go for the tour. The vinyl we have only just sent off so it will be released after the tour, only the CD and digital download will be available April 14th. We need to be more switched on about timing.”
Speaking of vinyl, the band have pressed both albums to vinyl. High Visceral {Part 1} had a pressing of only 500 and swiftly sold out and is now a collector’s item. High Visceral {Part 2} is up for pre-order now but will sell out. In this digital world I asked McEwan if he thinks vinyl is keeping the industry alive.
“Definitely!”, he excitedly remarks. “It’s influencing a whole new generation. Our guitarist Luke has a big vinyl collection. People aged in the teens and low 20s are buying it. I know all my friends want to buy music on vinyl because I think you’ve got a whole new generation of kids growing up listening to music and they can get it physically; it’s a different experience as you can listen to it anywhere for free. Vinyl just beat digital download sales. It’s getting bands money so they can record more, especially small bands like us, so instead of saving up a whole year of gig money to get back into the studio you can now have that capital from vinyl to do another pressing. You can’t really live off it but your hobby can.”
Both albums share the same title so I asked if this new album is a sequel to the first one. McEwan even shared some ideas for their future third album.
“The initial idea was to have it as a sequel. A lot of ideas carried over to the second album. It’s a space and light theme…big universe. But I think the third album will go a different direction, we didn’t plan on being psych-rock it’s just what we’re writing at the moment. The next album I just want to get back into riffs. I’ve been listening to a lot of Godspeed You Black Emperor lately, the way the songs build I wouldn’t mind doing something like that.”
Its amazing to hear McEwan’s outlook for the band. He’s a positive band leader and has some grand ideas for the bands future, which can only be a good thing for the fans and his band. He continues.
“And even maybe going on tour with a couple of strings players in the future. That ambient, epic like drone kind of quality. Just to try something different, because we’ve been thinking if we record another psych-rock album then that would be too predictable to come out with as a third album, so we’d like to do something different.”
The great thing about music is the art form isn’t just limited to the sound, there’s also the visual aspect. McEwan also designs the bands posters some the albums packaging. Wait to you see the gatefold of the new album! And in a first for me, he explains that the visual art came first before a note of music was written.
“Yeah I do the artwork for posters and the gatefold for the albums. The band was a university project to begin with. One of our projects was to brand a band or a magazine. My lecturer asked me one day ‘Do you have any music for this?’ and I was like ‘yeah I could do it’. It was like branding a psychedelic band, so I came up with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. He thought it was pretty cool so I just started writing songs. Then I went for a job interview at The Corner Gallery where one of the owners shared with me some of his music, then I showed him some of the Porn Crumpets stuff and then he said I need to get a band together so that’s how it all kind of came about. The art came first which is unusual but now the music comes first.”
By Darren M. Leach
The new album, High Visceral {Part 2}, is out April 14.
The bands national tour starts in Adelaide on April 20 at the Crown and Anchor. Get ready for a tripped out, ear bleeding experience as they like to play LOUD.
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