Exclusive Interview: Pendulum
BeatCrave brings you an exclusive interview with Australian drum and bass sensation, Pendulum. If you’ve haven’t heard of them within in the last year, it’s safe to assume you were living under a rock. Starting out as DJs in all genres with a specialization in metal and rock, Pendulum is now a full fledged live rock band riding on top of the Electronica scene.
After wrapping up their first US tour, Pendulum’s own Gareth McGrillen (DJ/bassist) was cool enough to give BeatCrave an interview before they left for Europe. If you’ve yet to experience Pendulum, you’ll definitely want to after this! Check out the scoop below…
There has been a growth in drum and bass bands within the last few years. Why do you think music fans have come to appreciate the drum and bass combination so quickly?
I think drum and bass is a diverse genre so weather its commercial and popular or underground it’s always going to be there in its different forms. Our audience is definitely different from the DnB audience from back in the day. Today our audience is everyone from ravers to metal, punk and emo kids all going crazy.
Are all of you from Perth?
Not all of us. Rob, ElHornet and myself are all from Perth but Kodish, Perry and Ben Verse are all from the UK. Rob and I met in high school and always worked on musical projects together from bands to production outfits to bands. We met Paul Elhornet when we went to perform the first Pendulum show live with computers. We didn’t get to play live because the computers crashed the night before. I convinced Paul to DJ our songs from CD and he did and liked our tracks. From there we decided to work on songs together.
How would you describe the music scene in Perth?
The drum and bass scene in Australia has always been healthy but never very big. It has always played second fiddle to a lot of other bigger dance music scenes. Australia is a great place to live but for music it wasn’t working for us. It’s so far from everywhere and for us having access to Europe and the rest of the world with ease is important for DJ’ing and performing live. It’s also hard to get hold of equipment and pro music technology from Perth.
There are many references to metal and punk in your past and present music. How did you incorporate these styles into your initial DJ careers?
Aside from Electronica we listen to a lot of Metal and Rock. My father used to play Led Zeppelin to me when I was a child. When we were writing ‘In Silico’, Rob and I started to listen to their stuff again and how it influenced the rest of rock music and so many rock bands until this day.
How did you choose the name, Pendulum?
The name pendulum came from a short list of names we were looking at. There’s no particular meaning behind the name!
Combining electronica and live instruments is something bands do more and more today. What have you done to make sure it’s done right?
We use many different kinds of drums and percussion, as well as old and new synths both analogue and digital, as well as about 25 different basses and guitars with many different amp combinations. When we’re searching for a particular sound we never stop until we find it. Technology is the most important part of our studio setup and our live setup. If certain technology wasn’t invented, the live show would have never happened. The computers we use in the live setup enable us to process all the instruments so we can perform like the songs in the studio but 100% live.
Pop elements seemed to have slid into your current music. Could you tell us why and how this has occurred?
I think 2008 has shown so many diversifications of so many kinds of music. The biggest songs in hiphop and RnB sound like house and half-step trance tunes. If you strip down Timbaland and Rhianna, bands like Friendly Fires, Klaxons, Bloc Party or Late of the Pier don’t know what camp they reside in because they’re so Indy yet deeply entrenched in electronica and don’t make a single move with out a remix. We’re definitely blurring some kind of line. You only need to look at our audience to see that.
You’ve finally given in to the demand for a tour in the States! What was the experience like?
We were blown away by the amazing reception we had. We have a lot of fans from the US who contact us through MySpace, etc., asking when we were going to play over here but we weren’t too sure how we were going to be accepted. For each show we had, the crowd was just amazing.
Quick Fire-Round:
What’s the one thing you miss most on tour?
I miss not being on a tour bus! It can get quite crazy staying in such a small space for days on end. It’s always a relief when we get to a hotel!
What was the last album you bought?
We’re listening to lots of new albums at the moment but mainly Cancer Bats, Friendly Fires and MGMT.
What is your favorite song to play live?
I can’t have a favorite song! It’d be like picking a favorite child. As long as the crowd are going off to it, I’m happy!
What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen on tour?
Haha, you wish I’d tell you that. I think we’re pretty well behaved… mostly!
Photography courtesy of Ear Storm
