TLC vs. Jack Penate: Everything is New in NYC

Jack Peñate Backstage at Mercury Lounge, 9.15.09

In September Jack Peñate and Miike Snow embarked on a joint US tour with 2 stops at New York’s famed Mercury Lounge. We were lucky enough to catch both shows and interview both artists during their stay (see: TLC vs. Miike Snow: Behind the Masks) No topics were off limits. Check out our interview with Jack Peñate where we discuss death, music scenes, and that horrible break up with New Young Pony Club’s Tahina Bulmer!

Check out our review of Jack’s gigs here: Tonight’s Today: Jack Penate Croons Mercury Lounge and Jack Penate Charms at Brooklyn’s Bruar Falls.

MP3: Jack Peñate – Everything is New or zShare
MP3: Jack Peñate – Pull My Heart Away (The Xx Remix) or zShare

> Have you had any time to do anything in New York?
JP: Not yet no. I feel like I’ve done my fair share of fun stuff as I’ve been here quite a lot in the past few years. I love it. I normally feel like I’m somewhere I shouldn’t be when traveling to other cities, whereas I don’t have that there. It feels quite normal.

> Is that because it’s a bit like London?
JP: Yeah and I’ve got friends here, real friends. You just ring them and it’s completely comfortable. Whereas if you’re in Tokyo or wherever, you don’t feel that same kind of ease. I always have an amazing time here.

‘That style of music seemed the most natural to bring in at this point in my life.’

> I was listening to an interview you did with Jo Whiley after visiting New York and she asked you what the top 3 things to do in New York were and you mentioned Crif Dogs…
JP: Yeah I love that place.

> Anything else to add to that list? Like “Jack’s Guide to New York.”
JP: Oh God I’m the worst person to ask. It’s always based around food. I really like that place Freemans Alley, they do amazing artichoke dip which I’m really into. I just really like the large drinks you get, you seem to pour out more spirit than we get back home. In England they sit there for hours making sure it’s exactly the amount, and it’s the most frustrating thing to watch! They almost wipe off the top if there’s too much. They’d rather you not have more, but in America I love the heavy handed drink pouring.

> That’s also dependant on your tipping..
JP: (Laughs) Yeah exactly it’s very true!

Jack Peñate at Bruar Falls, 6.3.09

> With your second album its a very drastic difference — I  know you’ve covered that in a million interviews — but what we’re interested finding out is why you chose this specific direction of afro-pop Caribbean beats, all this lush sound going around…
JP: First of all, growing up all of  these styles of music were very familiar to me. I went to see Dr. John when I was 9 with my mum, my father was obsessed with Afro-beat, and my brother loved reggae so I grew up listening to Buju Banton, Sizzla, Red Rat and all these guys. I loved all of it but for some reason I didn’t feel like I could ever be obvious with loving that in my own music, and then something kind of clicked during the first record and I thought “If you love something surely you can bring it into your own music.” That style of music seemed the most natural to bring in at this point in my life.

There’s  lots of stuff I’d like to bring in later on but at this point I wanted that.  I didn’t want to come back with a serious second record. I wanted it to carry on that kind of joyous feeling from the first record but contextualize it in music that I loved and felt maybe hadn’t been explored in a lot of pop, and try to combine it with how I write songs. It felt kind of natural for some reason.

> You said you wanted to keep the second record joyous but when it comes to subject matter there is some serious lyrical content. We were talking to (even though your music is very different) a band like White Lies who say that their songs are about macabre themes but it’s still essentially pop music –
JP: I do it in a sort of tongue in cheek way though…

> Where does your perspective on this come from?
JP: I suppose that mainly I still have this teenage way of thinking about life and how it’s going to end. It’s one of those things that kind of carries on and is constant in my head, I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. A song like Let’s All Die actually came about from someone else’s influence. I went on a road trip across America when I was 19 with my bassist Joel, and we saw a funeral procession in New Orleans.

It took me back in quite a shock actually because death is a very different thing in Britain (and most of America) but to see a little pocket of where it was this incredible amazing celebration…I was almost jealous as I’d want that. Music and color, it’s a great way to send someone away and say goodbye instead of quietly sobbing in all black the rain in Bexley Heath, South London. It’s what I grew up with -  heartbreaking funerals that didn’t have that sense of joy which life does have. I also like the idea of 14 year old kids in England singing along to the words, I think it’s kind of funny and in some way sort of punk rock.

‘I still have this teenage way of thinking about life and how it’s going to end. It’s one of those things that kind of carries on and is constant in my head’

> Was that the reception you’ve gotten at festivals? We heard that your set at Reading was huge!
JP: Oh my god it was insane. I wasn’t sure how these gigs would go because of the new record, but it was crazier than any gig we’ve ever done. There were like 15,000 people moshing, you know it’s going to be good when the crowd starts doing the thing where they sway and fall over and screaming. As soon I hit the note the thing went (crash sound.)

Jack Peñate at Mercury Lounge, 9.15.09

> How was it to go from those kind of shows to playing here at Mercury Lounge?
JP: Yeah that was only 2 shows ago! It is definitely a learning curve, it makes you re-evaluate everything and realize there is so much work to do. I’m gonna have to be really strong and make sure I’ve got a huge backbone and just be like (we played last night it was a lovely show but it’s a pretty small crowd) ” Fuck it, this is how it is and you can’t expect much more.”  I think it’s a positive and it kind of knocks you in a way.

> It’s good so you don’t take anything for granted.
JP: Yeah I don’t want to be knocked for too long though (all laugh.)

> Are you working on new material?
JP: Yeah,  I’ve been in the studio any day off at the moment really. Went in the studio with The Streets the other day which was cool, we didn’t finish it though because we only had 6 hours because of our schedules.  I’ve been writing on tour and just looking forward to getting back to do more. I want new music out in the next few months, hopefully an EP soon for people to hear.

> Back to the live show, what was the craziest experience you’ve had? I read a bit about how fans went mad during Torn on the Platform…
JP: We played in a place called Hull in Northern England, they call it “hell hole.” I love it but it’s real, really fucking intense.  We played this place which is a pretty famous bar, if you saw this place…I mean this room (boiler room of Mercury Lounge) is beautiful in comparison and it’s not that much bigger. The people who have played there Radiohead, Coldplay, u2, it’s one of those institution places. They oversold it by about 200 kids, so there were 500 kids in space for 300 IF that. The sound man is severely disabled, it was all sort of a head fuck AND in the middle of a whole estate, the whole vibe is fucking mad.

All the kids got onstage for pretty much the whole gig. I just bought a new guitar and I remember looking over and saying “Where the fuck is my guitar!?” My tour manager had to chase after this kid, they stole everything. Kids were trying to undo the drums but it was all ’cause of love, very much like mementos. I can’t really get annoyed about that, in fact it was kind of funny. My drummer was having to smack kids hands with the drum sticks while he was playing and kids were trying to take my guitar. It was fun, that was a good one.

‘I wanted it to carry on that kind of joyous feeling from the first record but contextualize it in music that I loved and felt maybe hadn’t been explored in a lot of pop, and try to combine it with how I write songs.’

> Over here they just go for the set list or a guitar pick! You’re based in London — is there music community you have? I know you and the Maccabees are friends.
JP: Yeah definitely! I live in a home that’s kind of by the record label. I rent a room and below is a record label called Merock. There’s lots of bands around. It’s a good thing but I kind of want to break away, kind of like the idea of LA because it’s kind of ridiculous. I love New York but it would be too easy but it’s quite close to England. I like the idea that if I’m going to move,  it’ll be 12 hours from home.  There’s definitely a great musical community in London but sometimes it can also be a fucking nightmare. You don’t want to talk about “Did you hear the new (this) single…” and there’s a lot of that, which is what those scenes do. It gets a bit intense, I kind of want to opt out.

> You jokingly mentioned dating one of the girls from New Young Pony Club in a previous interview.
JP: (Fumbles his words) My girlfriend’s here, no. Someone wrote a bit in a magazine and then everyone was saying it. I met her once.

> Not to put you on the spot but I read that she came up to you in a festival and said “You’re my boyfriend.”
JP: Yeah she did, we definitely don’t know each other…

> Oh was it off of the tabloid thing?

JP: Yeah it was a joke, it’s odd to be dating someone you don’t know…

> So you guys are broken up I can assume? (All laugh)
JP: Horribly painful, horribly painful. It’s like a Bon Iver kind of record, crying in my teacup.