PURE & SIMPLE

Interview with Pride

UK rockers caused a bit of a stir with their debut album 'Close to the Edge'. Now after a blistering live set at this year's Gods, the guys are finally back with album #2. Self-confessed major fan Kieran Dargan gets the gossip...

The songs on Signs of Purity are far harder edged than those on the debut album. Was this a natural progression with the writing process or was that something the band felt needed to be addressed this time around?
Matt: It s a natural progression really, at least I think so. If they say anything different they re lying, hahaha.
Simon: I agree with Matt. We never sit down and write in a particular style, it just comes out the way it comes out.
Chris: More than anything for me, the production had a lot to do with it. The production on the first album was a bit soft. What I really tried to get on 'Signs...' was a 'Mood Swings' type feel. Ambitious I know, but also we thought a little more about the music. I mean when we did the first album 'Saviour of a Broken Heart' wasn t written until we got into the studio because we were short one song. This time because we had extra time for the second album. I think it shows that we were more prepared and it sounds better for it.

The Writing process, from inception to completion ... who exactly is involved with the process and does the band work to any particular formula?
Matt: Chris, Ivan and myself are basically involved. Chris and Ivan will write the music and then I will usually write the lyrics, or I ll write on an acoustic guitar and then give it to Chris and say 'Well here s the idea', and then he ll usually take it and work it into electric format. Ivan sometimes will say he has a chorus idea and we ll all work on it from his basic idea.
Simon: Yeah, they do the basic structure of the song before we re all let loose on it and chip in our ideas. The final 25% of the tracks usually end up being written in the rehersal room.
Chris: It works pretty much as the guys described but for me it could be just a cool chord progression or a chorus idea and then maybe Matt will come up with a melody idea or lyrics. Ivan pretty much puts the icing on the cake. Usually the basic song is done and then he ll say, well what about this or that. He came up with the chorus for 'Story of Our Lives', but really it s the three of us who concentrate on the writing and then everybody will kick the ideas about until we feel it sounds good enough.

The material on 'Signs of Purity' is a lot stronger than the debut. Do you think this was because the band were more confident with what they were doing or was it perhaps because producer Pete Coleman knew you better this time?
Matt: A bit of both really. The whole band had rehearsed the material really thoroughly before we went into the studio so it came together really quickly. Also we had a definite vision for the album, in as much as we knew exactly how we wanted it to sound.
Simon: Pete learned a lot about us during the first album - poor man!! Maybe on the first album we suffered from some nerves working with Pete because he has such a great reputation, but this time we were all very comfortable when we went in and it was very easy going, very productive.
Chris: As soon as went in there we took in a bunch of CDs and said this is what we want. That s usually impossible because the music is different and you can t recreate it, but we knew we definitely wanted a more guitar orientated album, and I think we managed to get that this time. But you know me, I sit there and go oh, I would have preferred that song if it sounded a bit more like this or that, but looking back on it now I think we managed to come as close as we could to getting it to sound as we wanted it to.

So finally, after many delays, the album's out. Is it like a weight being lifted off your shoulders, because I know you mentioned it had gotten quite annoying with everybody constantly asking when it was going to be released?
Matt: It is like a weight suddenly disappearing. I had promised myself that I wouldn t stress out but it got to a point when Chris and I went back up for more mixing and we both looked at each other and went 'That s it, enough.' I actually listened to it last night and it sounded really good . I m really pleased.
Simon: It s a relief. It s out so please go out and get it. It was all Chris fault&.really, blame him. The rest of us do&.bloody guitarists, hahaha!!
Chris: Oh it s a huge relief. I mean I was heavily into Skid Row and it seemed like a lifetime before 'Slave to the Grind' came out. I was like why haven t you done another album yet? And now I have a little more idea of what goes on. The writing happens relatively quickly but after we came out of the studio in September 2002, I mean that s ten months for Gods sake. We have been sitting around waiting, and the people who bought the first album have probably been thinking what the hell are you up to, how hard is it to record some songs and give them to your record company.

The transition from studio project to a seriously good live band has been evident for all to see. How do you think you managed to do it so effortlessly?
Matt: From day one we were in the rehersal room working on the songs at every opportunity. All of us have played out live with bands previously: Chris, Rik and I played in one band together and Simon has played out with his previous outfits as well and Barry has toured the world a few times with Dirty Deeds. So we re all pretty experienced, just the opportunities never really presented themselves for Pride previously.
Simon: Without sounding arrogant , I think it s a bunch of good musicians. As Matt said, we re all experienced live musicians and getting out to play live is the only thing we want to do anyway so it was easy for us.
Chris: Like the guys said , we ve all been playing for years. It wasn t about how to play to a crowd, it was more like learning about playing with each other on stage and trying to recreate what we did on the records without keyboards or a great backing vocalist like Tony O Hora (Preying Mantis) who did all the bv s on the debut album.You ve seen it, when we get a run of a few gigs together, by the third or fourth we re cooking. I think it all comes from getting out and playing on front of a crowd as often as you can. If you do it often enough you can only improve.

You played the Gods this year and got a tremendous ovation, and then backed Danny Vaughn for a few numbers. It must have been really funny for you though Matt watching the guys up there without you?
Matt: No, it was great fun, brilliant. It was funny getting the chance to see it from the other side. They were great.

Has the reception afforded to you when you have played live this year surprised you at all?
Matt: Yes, a little. When We did the Gods and people are singing your songs back to you it s like &whoa! These are the same people who were watching Harem Scarem last year and we re getting a great reception just like them. I think the fact that people can see we are enjoying ourselves onstage helps too. I mean if you look at us up there it s five happy guys grinning and laughing.
Simon: Yes, definitely. There had been such a gap between the debut album, and with the new album not yet out we thought we might have gotten a chilled reception. We just went out with the attitude of just doing what we do and hoping the people would like it - and guess what? Tthey did. It was awesome, amazing. Danny Vaughn isn t a bad old singer either is he, haha!!Chris: It was great to play on a big stage. It was awesome. I never liked watching a rock band standing still on stage. I mean you can go buy their CD and it will sound the same, but if you can get out and move about, have fun and give people a show, you know value for money for the price of the ticket. Playing with Danny was great. When we rehearsed with him he was amazing. He has a big loud voice, even with two guitarists on stage. When we first started talking about playing live we considered playing 'Forever Young' as a cover, so it s always been one of our favourite tracks that either Simon or I would ask to be played at a nightclub ... but to get up and play it with the man himself, and to play that fucking solo which every other guy air guitars to&it s like aaaagh. Now I can go around the rock clubs and tell em all they re doing it wrong, hahahaha!

So what are the remaining live plans for 2003?
Matt: Well next up is an open air festival in the South of France on August 15 that we are headlining. They are expecting three or four thousand at that so that s nice. We d love to do England again too, but as usual it s all down to money. We ll play anywhere with electricity as long as we can break even and just not lose money. Perhaps a good support slot with a bigger band. Offer please
Simon: Yeah, a decent sized tour. We enjoyed the Danger Danger gigs a lot. It s just a pity we couldn't do the whole tour.
Chris: Yeah, France in August. We have lots of enquiries for tours, shows here and there. But so far they are just enquiries, nothing solid but we re hoping.

Is It too early to mention album number three?
Matt: Well, I have a small studio at home and I have been recording a bunch of stuff, Chris too. We spoke about it and I don t think it will be too long before we get together and start to get the heads down and work on it .
Simon: I think Feburary/March of next year for recording is a fair guess. We re going to try come up with twenty or twenty five songs for the next album and then pick the best to try come up with an album choc full of hitters. Not that there s any bad ones on 'Signs of Purity', but we do have a lot of different styles on the album and we need to work out exactly what we do best and then try come up with a killer album.

Is there anything you would like to add?
Matt: Thanks to everybody for buying the albums and coming out to check us out live. We hope they are enjoying listening to the music and come and meet us at the bar for a laugh.
Simon: Thank you so much to everybody for your support. In these days where our music isn t the most popular we d like to thank everybody for getting the albums and coming out to see us live. It really does mean a lot to us.
Chris: Thanks to everybody who has travelled to the live shows, from Spain, Ireland, the Scots ... everybody, sometimes for just a half hour set. At the Danger Danger shows it was amazing to see people out there wearing Pride t shirts singing our songs, and that s what makes us want to keep on doing it. From the bottom of my heart&.thank you.

Kieran Dargan