INTERVIEW – PVRIS

There’s something about a musical trio that make them stand out from the rest of their peers. Blink-182, Muse, Motorhead, and Green Day are a few names that come to mind that have become staples in the world of music. Enter Pvris, who hail from Lowell, MA who signed to Rise Records earlier this year and are a few short weeks away from releasing their highly anticipated debut album, “White Noise” on November 4th. Currently the group are supporting the release of the album on “The Honeymoon Tour” featuring headliners Mayday Parade, the group sat down with RichardThinks to discuss signing to Rise Records, their debut album, “White Noise”, progressing as musicians, and much more. 

Pvris is :
Lynn Gunn (LG) – Vocals/Guitar/Keys
Brian MacDonald (BM) – Bass/Keys
Alex Babinski (AB) – Guitar/Keys

RT: So preparing for this tour, with new songs and everything, rehearsing for this tour with a brand new set, this time last year you guys were in the middle of a tour with-

BM : -A Skylit Drive yeah, we were just talking about that,  yeah it was cool like, we had the set, basically the same set during Warped Tour, the twelve days that we did it, so we took one of the older songs that we were playing off our old EP and we replaced with a new song on our new record, and so its basically just a whole new set, but just a new added song in so it wasn’t really too crazy for practicing and you know getting ready.

LG: When we first were starting the new stuff we got a whole bunch of new gear and stuff for like a whole new live setup so we were just like, it was so foreign to us.  It took us a while to figure out everything and get everything set up and make sure nothing was gonna set on fire.

RT: What is your favorite piece of equipment that you have on stage now that you didn’t have before?

BM : I think the keyboards, thats new, I just started to play the keyboard at Warped tour, and it’s my favorite thing to do. I just got a pad, its an Akai, it’s like a little sampler pad, that’s my new favorite toy.  I have a whole battle station in front of me with a keyboard and that.

LG: The battlestation’s gonna continue to grow.

BM : It’s just gonna grow and grow until you can’t see us playing live, you’ll hear music and-

LG: like where’s the band?

 

RT: It reminds me of like, the DJ from Linkin Park, Joe Hahn, like how he now has this huge setup.  I actually caught them on their last tour that they just did and he like a whole different setup and it was great. So, we’re a few weeks out from “White Noise” . So let’s talk about that, like how did signing with Rise come together?

LG: They have a bigger platform, that’s a big one, but they were also, they’re such a supportive label and truly believe in what we’re doing and see our vision and have gone above and beyond, more than we ever imagined them.

BM: They put their foot in and guided us and believed in what we’re doing because as you know there’s not a whole of bands that sound like us on a label. So it’s really cool that they went out on that chance and signed us believe in us and keep supporting us through everything.

LG: They keep surprising us with “oh wait we’re doing this” or “we’re doing this” so it’s like they stepped up their game big time.  We were, when we were doing the record we were all kinda like “oh we should have signed to a bigger label, we could have done it” and now I don’t give a shit anymore because Rise is basically doing the same exact shit as a major label would be doing, plus giving us 100% freedom to do whatever we want.  So it’s a win win. They have all the resources we need to be as big as we can get, but they also have 100% support, like the personal staff and obviously not stepping on our toes and letting us do whatever we want.  It worked out perfectly.

RT: What inspired the name for “White Noise”?

LG: We were actually trying to think of the name for a long time, and we were gonna label it “I” or something.

BM: Yeah and we had ideas like “Phantom” and-

LG: -and “Haunt” and stuff.  The records very paranormal themed, and we wanted to tie into that somehow, so we were throwing names around and then our manager one day was like-we have a song called White Noise-“What if you just name it “White Noise?” and we were all just kind like “Shit it makes sense!” cause like when I think of white noise I think of ghosts and paranormal stuff, and I also think of electronics and electricity and futuristic shit.  So the two, like the record itself has that vibe to it, and obviously a lot more electronics, and a whole different atmosphere to it.  So it’s like the two of those things combined kinda just make the name suiting for it.  It ended up working out really well.

RT: Now that you actually mention paranormal activity it kinda makes sense with the “My House” music video.  Would you say that’s the same vibe you were going for in the “St. Patrick” video as well?

LG: “St. Patrick” was a little bit more, how would you guys explain “St. Patrick”?  Just kinda like, “St. Patrick” was more like a visual, like just fucking with your-

RT: -Yeah there a lot of interesting comments and speculation.

LG: Yeah it was mostly just like a visual thing, experience, rather than like a story. My house is all about, it’s a metaphorical poltergeist, that pretty much speaks for itself, the videos based around that so, it’s a little bit more obvious.

RT: Yeah I loved it, honestly I was like “wow this is so crazy”.  How many takes did it take to do the whole underwater thing?  Or were you guys even underwater at all?

LG: Oh that sucked!

BM: Yeah we were actually-

LG: I don’t know how people think we weren’t underwater.

BM: We filmed both music videos in the same day, in the middle of the tour, the Rise Records and Friends Tour. We went and did that, and that was the last shot of both music videos, we were in one of the light producers’ pool. We were underwater for a little bit, and we had weights to weigh us down

AB:  I couldn’t sink so I had to hold weights in like my pockets.

LG: If you look closely at the video, when we’re all at the table together you can see Alex slowly floating up.

BM: I actually went in the pool with my phone, which was so unfortunate, it was bad, but I upgraded so…

LG: It was hard too because it got really cold, because we were there really late.  We were in the pool for like three hours and by the end of it we were all like “Fuck get me out”. When we got out we couldn’t walk or anything we’re all just huddled together to get us warm.

RT: And you said which tour was this in the middle of?

BM: The Rise Records and Friends Tour.

RT: I’m trying to remember during what time period the tour was, was that April or May?

BM: That was May

RT: So it wasn’t as cold, I was thinking because I thought you said the A Loss For Words “The Kids Can’t Lose” tour and I was like “wow!”

LG: That would have been awful!

BM: You know its in May but I mean we were in Northern California, in Sacramento, so you’d think it would be kinda hot but it was just freezing. We got the takes we needed though so that’s all that matters.

LG: It was all worth it!

RT: Everyone’s like “oh underwater’s easy” but with the little video experience I have I’m like “Noooo, that’s an expensive shot, number 1, because you have to get waterproof equipment and then-“

LG: We actually took, like the camera, a Red camera, frigging expensive and put it in a fishtank.

RT: Well expensive or you have to go with a complete DIY, but cost effective route.

LG: yeah it worked.

RT: So going back to the album, you guys had Blake from Versa produce the album, what made you guys decide to work with him?

LG: I actually, Ive been in contact with him for a couple years now, I used to be a super huge VersaEmerge fan when I was in high school. I went to see them in Massachusetts, and I met him outside the venue, and knew he was into like, computer programming and making electronic stuff and whatnot.  I knew he was the mastermind behind it so I was like “hey can you like, give me some programs to download or any advice” and he just gave me a bunch of programs and advice and his email and we were in touch for a while. And we exchanged numbers and just kinda became friends, like I’d always ask him questions about music shit. When he found out we signed to Rise and wanted to do a record he was like “Yo we should do a record together” and I was like “alright we should”. But it was funny because even before we got the deal with Rise he was like “When are we gonna make some songs?” so finally we just, it just eventually worked out.

RT: How do you feel that Blake pushed you to make the best record that you could?

LG: He absolutely did because when we went in to, I went in like a week prior to these guys just to do demos and writing and stuff. I had a huge folder of maybe like 30 songs and half of them are really weird electronic, like pop sounding, and the other half was all rock based and shit. I thought we were gonna go with the more rock based ones. When we were doing demos and just listening, we were picking all the really weird ones and poppy ones with the weird chord progressions and shit. I was like “I dunno should we do this?” we were all really nervous and he was like “these are good songs, they’re gonna speak for themselves, don’t worry about fitting into a certain mold or being what people are expecting you to be.” It just motivated us to do whatever the fuck we want. I think the biggest thing we learned with Blake was that if you’re making good music that’s all that matters, and if you’re proud of your music-

BM: And so, since we’ve released both of those songs, and it’s hard to compare to other people. That’s what a lot of people say when they hear those songs, and that’s basically what he was guiding us to be. He doesn’t want us to be related to anyone.

LG: His main lesson was to write what you feel like writing, that will shine through the most, more than anything.

R: So we were just discussing how you had a more rock vibe on your previous EP, what made you guys want to go from the sound you had on your first EP to the sound you have now for White Noise?

LG:  It was kind of, it was a lot more natural than people are making it out to be. Everyone’s like “You fucking sold out!” saying stupid ignorant shit about it and happened more naturally, we weren’t like “oh let’s make a fucking pop record!” It wasn’t like that. Like I said, Blake had been teaching me how to do that shit for a while and that was even before we recorded the EP so I have all these songs in my back pocket, and all these ideas. I just didn’t really use them and this time around when we went to the studio we were like “alright we’re gonna utilize this and use all this shit and go through with it”. I don’t know, people think it happened abruptly and all of a sudden, and it happened a lot more naturally-

BM: People forget that musicians mature when they keep making music.

LG: And forget that people write music all the time, and they think they’re gonna stick to one genre in their music and their music career. You have bands that release a sophomore album or third album and you can hear little bits and pieces that change. People think that we’re gonna stick to one thing and we just wanna broaden our horizons.

RT: You have to experiment.

All: Yeah exactly!

RT: Again I, and I hate to reference them again, but Linkin Park, their first two albums had that nu-metal sound, and then they went straight rock and power ballad on their third album.  Then their fourth was more electronically driven and their fifth one, “Living Things” kind of encompassed everything they’ve done at that point, and the sixth one was just straight hard rock. So you know its like, you’re in control of your own destiny, don’t conform to what everybody else says. I like the way you guys approaching this album.

LG: And it’s like, I know this sounds shitty, I know a lot of musicians out there are like “oh we’re writing this for you guys and to make you happy” and we write music because we like making music and want to write the music the music we want to write. So we’re gonna do that no matter what anybody else thinks.

BM: And if it makes them happy its awesome because people will be like “this did this for me” and its awesome that when we were all together doing this and other areas of our lives affected us and it affected them and that’s pretty cool you know?

LG: So basically moral of the story is, we’re gonna write what we wanna write but if it helps you out too thats the fucking icing on the cake

BM: And if someone is like “oh this is stupid this doesn’t sound like the EP” then-

LG: Go listen to that EP then. *laughs*

BM: Put it on repeat!

AB: You can say that, but we’re not gonna do that, we’re just gonna laugh at anyone that brings that up because we’re still maturing as musicians.

LG: We already have, I don’t know how many songs like, are already brewing and the record isn’t even out.

RT: Can you tell me your favorite song on the album?

AB: “White Noise” is my favorite, I really don’t know why.  It just puts me in a place where I just listen to it and Im like, and I feel connected to it more than any other song

LG: I don’t know, I think I have, there are ones I like listening to more than others, but there are others I’m more proud of than others. One of them would probably be “White Noise”, one of them is a song called “Bully”, I think those are my favorite songs, lyrically that I’ve done.  They all have cool little stories.

AB: Id say “Ghost”-

LG: Yeah actually that might be my favorite!

AB: Just the lyrics and how everything’s put together

BM: Those are my favorite lyrics.

BM: Fire is another good one, we played that tonight, it’s just really awesome to play live.

RT: So what are the other songs that you’re currently playing live that you haven’t released yet?

BM: “Smoke” we opened with “Smoke”, right into “Mirrors” and then “Tame”

AB: “Fire”

BM: I keep getting them mixed up!

RT: Is “Tame” the demo name?

BM: Yeah it’s literally imprinted on my brain, its called “Fire”

RT: Some bands make funny demo names, did you guys make any?

LG: This time around we didn’t really, when we did the first EP we had some.

BM: I call “White Noise” “White Boys”!

RT: To wrap things up, is there anything else you’d like to add?

LG: Thanks for listening! November 4th, White Noise, order that!

BM: Promise you’ll love every song, promise!

Thank you to PVRIS for their time, “White Noise” is set to be released on November 4th through Rise Records. Pre-order packages are available now and the album is available for pre-order on iTunes. Be sure to come back the week of November 4th for our official review of “White Noise”!