Stereoboard Talk About Touring, Inflatables And Honey Badgers With Pure Love (Interview)
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Written by Alec Chillingworth
So there I was, sat on the sofa at the Bodega Social Club in Nottingham. I felt somewhat out of place. Then again, I was the only person in the room wearing a Pikachu onesie. Next to me was my mate, suited and booted in a Stitch onesie. After telling us that we looked like Teletubbies, Frank Carter and Jim Carroll of Pure Love lead us downstairs to pick their brains. Obviously, things had to go awry at some point, and they did; there was a titanic technology failure that we only noticed after the interview. This resulted in us spending an hour and a half sat on the cold streets of Nottingham, frantically trying to transcribe this interview. Try to enjoy it.
When people talk about Pure Love, there’s still a sort of stigma attached due to Frank being the ex-vocalist for Gallows. Do you think this stigma’s died down or faded away?
Frank: Well you’re still asking about it! (laughs) I think that, at the end of the day, it’s a different band; that’s all I can say. I will always be the first singer from Gallows, and that’s gonna be with me for the rest of my life. Like I will always have red hair. That’s just the way it is. But hopefully in the future, as well as that, I will be Frank from Pure Love, maybe to more people than I was Frank from Gallows. And that’s all that I can hope for, that this band goes better than anything I’ve done in the past. You always want your latest project to succeed. So hopefully that stigma will begin to change; I think it’s already beginning to change now, they [the fans] kind of get what we’re trying to do, but a lot of it’s up to the journalists too. When they stop talking about it, [Gallows], then that’ll enable us to just focus on Pure Love, and people can be introduced to us as just Pure Love. Obviously, our history counts towards what happens in our future. But the thing is, this year we have an album out, and hopefully people will judge us on that instead of what we did before. That was the problem and that’s why it took so long; we didn’t have an album out. Obviously we had a few songs out, but there’s a certain depth to the music that you can’t really get from two or three singles. So hopefully, with the album out this year, that’ll put everything to rest and we can just crack on with being Pure Love… Frank Love and Jim Love. (laughs)
Does the audience demographic tend to differ from the ones you had for your previous bands?
Frank: I think it’s completely different. Jim: I mean, obviously we get fans from our previous bands that come and say how much they’re enjoying this, but I think for the most part it’s brand new fans. Which is great! That’s what we wanted! If we have old fans come in and enjoy this then that’s great, and if not then that’s fine too. But we have tons of new people coming in, fresh blood. It’s been fun, in a way. Everyone’s been really energetic and excited about it, so we don’t really have a reason to complain.
Is there any explanation behind encouraging the audience to bring along their inflatables to your shows?
Frank: Fun. Purely fun. Like, fuck it, you know? At the end of the day, rock and roll, to me, is when the people watching are as involved if not more involved than the band. Obviously, as a band, we get up there and play our songs with the maximum output we can give. But when you’ve got a bunch of people there, they’re amped up and ready to go, it gives them something to climb on... Something to cushion the blow when they fall off (laughs). It’s just purely fun. I mean, when have you been around inflatables and ever had a bad time? We’ve got the rock show, we’ve got the inflatables; all we need now is a pool! Jim: Well, we’ve still got a few shows left... (laughs)
What’s next for Pure Love? Have you got any plans for the remainder of the year?
Frank: Yeah, but I don’t know how many we’re allowed to talk about... June and July will mostly just be European Festivals and stuff like that. We’re playing the Pirate Satellite Festival in Germany this April, and that’s fucking great for us. So yeah, just that, and start writing a new album, I guess. We’ve already started writing, it’s just a matter of getting into a rehearsal space for a month or so, just to hone it and, y’know, get it down.
I went to Twitter and Facebook for some questions. Unfortunately, most of them just seemed to ask about food and animals.
Jim: That’s fine. I love food. Frank: And I love animals.
Charlotte asks: Will you marry me?
Frank: No. (Holds up his hand and flashes his wedding ring) Jim: Erm… No.
Janie asks: Frank, what’s made you change so much? You look so happy now, instead of being so angry like you were in Gallows.
Frank: (Holds up his ring finger again) I got married. Not to Jim (laughs). Jim: Although that is legal in my country, so we could do it if we wanted to... Frank: We wrote a great rock record, and that’s enabled us to do what we want to do. I think we’re the puzzle pieces for what the other needed. Like, the way he [Jim] writes music just sets off loads of interesting ideas in my head, and it allows me to have that thought process without having to explore what I want to write for a song. And I think likewise, Jim gets to really focus on the music and just write great rock songs. So yeah, that’s great, I got married and that was fucking great, and life’s great. I’m just walking around feeling like a boss. (Looks at Jim) Not the boss of him... We’re both the boss.
You don’t want to de-boss him...
Frank: No, I’d never de-boss him!
Jack asks: Koalas or Pandas?
Frank: I held a Koala once and it shit on me... Jim: I didn’t, I went to the zoo and they were all asleep. Apparently they sleep all day, then just wake up and stay really mad for 3 hours. Frank: I’d say Pandas. I like that video of the Mother Panda sneezing, I like that. They’ve never pooed on me. I think Jim just likes both. Jim: Yeah, I like both. Hopefully they can both live together in peaceful harmony.
Bridget asks: What was your first musical memory?
Jim: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel... just a shit-load of the oldies. Like The Beatles. Frank: I remember getting ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson on cassette, which was the first time that I thought ‘Wow, I love music’. That, and my Dad always used to play Madness around the house. So there I was, about 6 years old, skanking around the house. Without even knowing what skanking actually was (laughs). Obviously I don’t skank anymore.
Michael asks: What do you think of the new Gallows music?
Frank: I’m not answering that. Put that in your article.
John asks: Pound for pound, is the Honey Badger the hardest animal on the planet?
Frank: They’re pretty tough. Have you seen that video? But pound for pound... I’d say the Great White Shark; they can get up to some nasty shit. Jim: Can a Honey Badger even swim? Frank: I’m sure they can swim, but the Shark can’t really get onto the land... I don’t know, I’m not sure. Isn’t there an Ant that can, pound for pound, fuck shit up that’s like 100 times its weight? Surely on just what it can lift, that’d win... Jim: But then again, what about the Cockroach? I mean, it can survive nuclear wars; you can chop off its head and it spends days just crawling about. I mean, sure, you can stamp on it. But it’s still pretty impressive. So yeah, I’m going with the Cockroach. Frank: Fuck your Honey Badger!
Pure Love released 'Anthems' on 4th February on Mercury Records. Pure Love continue their UK tour tonight in Southampton.
Tue February 19th 2013 - Joiners, Southampton
Wed February 20th 2013 - Le Pub, Newport
Thu February 21st 2013 - The Croft, Bristol
Fri February 22nd 2013 - Temple Rooms, Birmingham
Sat February 23rd 2013 - Esquires, Bedford
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When people talk about Pure Love, there’s still a sort of stigma attached due to Frank being the ex-vocalist for Gallows. Do you think this stigma’s died down or faded away?
