Passion Pit Interview: BeatCrave Exclusive

Passion Pit has had one hell of a year, and we’ve been following them ever since Chunk of Change was commercially released as an EP. Every “Best Of” list they’ve made since then has been a reward that was well-deserved for their unique sound and energy on their albums and at their live shows.

Their full-length debut album, Manners, was even more successful and easily made them one of the top bands to book at any venue or at any festival. They recently kicked off a major tour that started with NYC’s annual Summerstage and will continue to play everywhere from London to Paris to Tokyo.

Tonight, they will be playing a sold-out Los Angeles show at the Henry Fonda. Get pumped up for tonight by checking out this exclusive interview I was able to get with Passion Pit’s drummer, Nate Donmoyer, below! Catch a glimpse of their ride of success in the past and what’s to come in the future.

You guys have have blown up beyond belief within the last year and it’s no surprise since Chunk of Change has been a favorite of ours from the beginning. Your album Manners took you guys even further. What has been the best reward within all this success?

The coolest thing we don’t take for granted is the travel we get to do. We go to these countries we’ve never been to before. Especially the foreign countries we’d never thought we’d be at and play for the crowds we’ve played for. It’s been unreal.

Have you been other other countries before going on tour?

The only time I’ve ever left the country was to go to England before for a weekend once.

When it comes to your write-ups and reviews, are you guys more in tune with blogs or magazines?

We try not to read as much blogs and magazines as possible. We try and avoid anything that’s written about us because it can be a negative experience, but mostly a weird experience. It’s one thing if it’s a full feature but if someone is making fun of how you look, it’s kind of silly. No one else wants to read that or anything like that about themselves. We read blogs and magazines to get into other music and find out about other bands and people.

So you guys started on part of your tour on the North American end starting with Summerstage the other weekend – which I heard was sold out. What was that experience like? What was it like to open with Phoenix?

It was the most incredible thing. We’ve been friends with Phoenix for a really long time and it was an honor to share a stage with them. It was the perfect atmosphere with perfect weather and really great friends.

How many people were in that crowd?

We sold 5,000 tickets each night. It was also the first time my mom and dad had seen the band. So it was cool to see them out there while we played.

That’s a good first show to see!

Exactly.

After your North American dates, you’ll be heading to Europe. Any place overseas you’re really looking forward to playing again?

Dublin. Dublin’s always been awesome. We’ve been there before and it’s always amazing. We’ll be doing some of the smaller cities in France and we’ll also be going to Berlin for the first time which I’m really excited about.

Passion Pit has a Japanese Edition of Manners coming out with 5 bonus tracks. Is any of this new material?

Yeah. Capsule is a favorite J-pop producer. Wait – there are 5 bonus tracks? I didn’t even know that. That’s awesome; I want a copy of it! I’m assuming they’ll be remixes by Japanese artists to get our name out there.

Have you played Japan before?

No, but we”re going there in February. We don’t know what the reception will be like because we’ve never been there, but our label is very positive, haha. I can’t wait though.

Your electronica sound is so distinct with Michael’s falsetto being a factor. Does he ever sing without falsetto? What’s his vocal range like?

He sings in his chest voice just a couple times on the album. It’s probably not obvious because it’s doubled with his falsetto, but he does have a pretty great range. He just chooses to use his falsetto for our sound.

A couple of tracks on Manners included vocals from the PS22 children’s choir you guys worked with. Did they have any idea how cool it was for them to record with you guys?

Well, it was a mutually unbelievable experience. There were so many kids and they were just glad to have a day off of school, be in a recording studio, and just repeat stuff. We were just blown away by how amazing their director was. He’d invoke these harmonies with just a hand movement. There were three-part harmony sounds coming from these pop songs they covered. Our mouths were just hanging open and we were tearing up a little bit because it was so beautiful. They were all really cool and funny and really into it.

You guys have had four singles off of Manners now. Any plans of heading into the studio to record again after your massive tour?

I think we’re all going to do our own thing for a bit before we actually depart from Manners. Hopefully, we’ll go into the studio within the next two years!

Are you going to the Passion Pit concert tonight? If not, no worries! We have the rest of their tour datest below!

Passion Pit Tour Dates:

10/15  San Diego, CA @ Soma
10/17  San Francisco, CA @ Treasure Island Festival
10/21  Sheffield @ Leadmill
10/22  Newcastle @ NorthumbriaUni Stage 2
10/23  Glasgow, Scotland @ Garage (sold out)
10/24  Manchester @ Academy 2 (sold out)
10/26  Oxford @ Academy
10/27  London, UK, London and South East @ Koko (sold out)
10/28  London, UK, London and South East @ Koko (sold out)
10/30  Bristol @ Anson Rooms
10/31  Southampton @ Uni
11/01  Birmingham @ Academy 2
11/03  Dublin, Dublin @ Dublin Academy (sold out)
11/04  Amsterdam @ Paradiso
11/06  Lille @ Aeronef
11/07  Paris @ La Cigale
11/08  Nantes @ L’Olympic
11/10  Toulouse @ Le Bikini
11/11  Lyon @ Ninkasi Kao
11/12  Zurich, Zurich @ Alte Borse
11/13  Munich @ 59:1
11/14  Cologne @ Werkstatt
11/16  Berlin, Berlin @ Lido
11/17  Hamburg, Hamburg @ Gruenspan
11/18  Brussels, Brussels-capital
01/08  New York, New York @ Terminal 5 (sold out)
02/04  Osaka, Osaka @ Club Quattro
02/05  Tokyo, Tokyo @ Duo
03/11  London @ HMV Forum