Brimming with energy and rhythmic momentum, captivating four-piece Pushpin are an exciting, up and coming prospect within the UK indie music scene. Here at AM, we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to ask them some questions and get to know them a little better…
Hey Guys, thanks for talking to us here at AM! For our readers who might not have heard your music before, how would you describe your sound?
Hi! Thanks for having us. It’s always a tough question, but I guess we’re closest to psych pop bands like MGMT and Animal Collective, with a bit of the energy/vibe of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
That said, we’re probably going to describe ourselves how we want to sound rather than what we actually sound like. We probably actually end up sounding more like a heavier, weirder alt-J. Arthur wishes we could sound like Fiona Apple but not sure how possible that is…
Tell us a bit about yourselves and how you started making music together!
We were a group of friends of friends who slowly gravitated into a creative blob.
Arthur, Adam and Ed first started making music together in 2016 after we went to a festival together and saw Aurora, Kaiser Chiefs, James Blake, Radiohead, New Order, and a weird klezmer hip-hop group who demanded we pirate music and legalise weed called Dubioza Kolektiv. Bonus points for googling that line-up and figuring out where we went.
The first few songs we wrote together probably sounded like some demented combination of all of those artists.
We needed a drummer at the start of 2020 and found out about Laurence through friends of friends. Lockdown happened after our second rehearsal so we planned to live near each other when we could meet in person. That place ended up being South London.
Where did the group name ‘Pushpin’ come from?
Honestly, it was the first word we all agreed on. It came from a very long list of suggestions. We’re a very democratic band.
What is inspiring you creatively at the moment?
Ed: All sorts. This year has been amazing for new music so far: Black Country, New Road, Daniel Rossen, Animal Collective, and the new King Gizzard have been highlights for me so far. I’ve been really enjoying Honeyglaze’s debut album that came out on the 29th April too!
Otherwise recently I’ve been listening to a lot of yacht rock and pop country. Can’t get enough of The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan at the minute.
Arthur: Same boat as Ed with BCNR and Mr Rossen. I’ve recently been just admiring certain performers and energies live, which is new for me because I normally obsess over albums. Adrianne Lenker’s quiet confidence has been on my mind a lot. Also Vanity Fairy, who we gigged with last year, is incredible and definitely worth going to one of their shows.
You guys have performed live a lot recently- what do you enjoy most about performing and do you have a dream venue?
Ed: I love the different energies you get from crowds at different venues on different nights. When a song you know back-to-front really clicks with an audience in the room the feeling of being connected with people is just incredible. That and the free beer.
In terms of dream venue, I’d love to play in a church sometime. London’s got a lot of very nice looking ones at least, and then we could mess with the organ in the set somehow (assuming they’d let us).
Arthur: It’s very intense, like being in a flow state. You blink and the set’s half gone. I like how the meaning of our words can shift with the response of the crowd. Our music has some big transitions in it so when a crowd knows those are coming it can all become really this empathetic soup of excitement.
As an exciting up and coming band, what has been your career highlight so far?
I think I speak for all of us when I say our EP launch show at the Shacklewell Arms at the start of April this year. We’ve never really properly headlined a show before, and to have it sold-out was an amazing feeling.
Also, seeing the vinyls of our first EP, and knowing we’d done it all ourselves, was pretty amazing.
Do you have any projects on the way that we should be keeping an eye out for?
We’re currently working on our next EP which we’re hoping to be able to release around the end of this year. We’re working with a producer for the first time on this one too so looking to really push what we can do with the tracks. It’s currently sounding a bit darker and moodier than Picnic, but still pulling from all sorts of different directions.
Come to our live shows and you’ll see, we always play new songs and change up the old ones.
Where can our readers find out more about you? (social media links/contact details etc.)
You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@pushpin_band), or if you fancy a chat you can email us at pushpin.enquiries@gmail.com
Words by Pushpin & Hermione Kellow
Photo © Pushpin Facebook
