INTERVIEW WITH PEGGY SUE
You’ve played Bristol quite a bit (Dot to Dot etc) do you have any ties with the
city? If not, what do you think of it?
Katy: We have great memories of playing in Bristol, mostly at the Louisiana where we play again this September. This time around it feels even more like home because we spent a month here recording our album with John Parish back in January. We lived in Stokes Croft and tried out every local pool table and most of the cafes around there. Now when we come back there are too many old haunts that we want to visit and never enough time.
We last saw you supporting Two Gallants how was that?
It was brilliant. They have been one of my favourite live bands for a while and I’ve always wanted to play with them so yes pretty great. Their show is so powerful and still very intimate and their audiences were very attentive.
Some say your name is quite deceptive, implying a rockabilly sound, what would
you say to them?
Most band names are rubbish aren’t they? What can you do. It seems like a good idea and then you have to live without forever. It could be worse. I quite like surprising people anyway; if you can tell exactly what a band is going to sound like just from their name they’re probably going to be a pretty boring band.
What inspired the decision to drop the ‘and the Pirates’ bit? And were there any
other band name contenders?
We dropped the ‘and the Pirates’ when Olly joined to mark the change in the sound that came with us becoming a 3 piece. There were many other amazing contenders but we will be keeping them under wraps for possible future projects.
The new album has quite a mature sound, tell us about how that came about…
Partly just from us growing as songwriters and musicians. We are much better at our instruments that we were when we started and more inclined to challenge ourselves. Also we had a proper practice room for the first time when we were writing this album, where we used to also write and rehearse in our living rooms and basements, so we could make what ever noise we wanted to make and I think we all just felt like making a bit of a racket.
Is there anything happening for you in the States at the mo?
Acrobats is going to come out on our label there Yep Roc in late October and hopefully we’ll get to go back over there and tour it.
It’s really refreshing to see a quality female fronted band, which other female
musicians do you admire?
I think we are quite lucky as a generation to have had some great female musicians as role-models. More so than the generations that preceeded us. Kim Deal, Carrie Brownstein, Laura-Mary Carter, PJ Harvey, Kim Gordon, Kristen Hersh. These are all women who play in amazing bands without it necassarily being about them being women. Right now I am really in love with Wye Oak, She Keeps Bees, Tamaryn and Eternal Summers.
You played Primavera Sound, our new favourite festival, what did you think of
it? And do you have a favourite festival (we spotted you at End of the Road last
weekend)?
Primavera was great but we were only there for the opening party and then we had to come back to play in Norwich or somewhere. We were heartbroken because the line-up was amazing but we played with Los Campesinos! at the opening party and they were amazing it was the first time we’d seen them. Then we drunk loads of super cheap frozen margheritas at a kebab shop. Weird but amazing. End of the Road is one of my favourite UK festivals. SXSW is definitely the best festival I’ve ever been too. It’s so much fun – fingers crossed we get to go back there next year.
Tell us about the best gig you’ve ever played…
We headlined one of the small stages at Green Man festival a couple of years ago and that was amazing. It was on the friday night so we’d just got there and hadn’t had a chance to get all grubby and hungover yet and the audience was massive and lovely and lots of our friends were at the front getting into the festival spirit. We knew we had the whole weekend of music ahead of us too so that probably helped.
Finally, Myspace seemed quite important for you in your formative years – what
do you think of it now?
I think it was a brilliant, simple way to present yourself as a band when it first began but they tried to make it too complicate and it got so horribly overwhelmed by spam and rubbish that it is not really any use to anyone these days. It really helped us get our name out and find gigs and release lots of DIY cds though once upon a time. RIP Myspace I say.
Peggy Sue play Bristol Louisiana on Thursday, September 15. Tickets £8adv. More info at www.thelouisiana.net
