Emerging Newcastle trio The Pale White kickstarted their year with the release of their debut single ‘Reaction’.
Released in January via Ignition 45’s, the single marked the band’s first official release as The Pale White, following support slots with the likes of Band of Skulls and Maximo Park.
Now, as they rack up sold-out hometown shows and slowly release new material, the band is creating a hype with their spontaneous shows as they set out to release of their debut album in mid-2018.
We caught up with The Pale White to find out more about their musical journey to-date and their plans for the year ahead.
With a varied music background, can you tell us about the formation of The Pale White?
It began with a few home demos which I (Adam) recorded in my bedroom whilst I was living in London. I had moved there with a few friends for just under a year, but it wasn’t long until I realised I needed to move back to Newcastle and start a band. The obvious choice for drums was my brother Jack who was already keen to get involved. I asked Tom to play bass after sort of knowing each other from the local music scene a few years back not expecting him to say yes, but here we are! Easy. The hard part was finding a second guitarist. In my head it needed to be a four-piece, but after a short and impatient struggle to find someone who shared the same chemistry and drive as the three of us, we decided to stay a trio. We smashed rehearsals from the off and over time began writing together more and more which really helped us to develop our sound into what it is today. We have similar musical tastes but we all have very different and individual influences that somehow contribute to how the band has ended up sounding.
What was it that made you take the leap to start the band?
The three of us have always wanted to be in bands. We want to tour everywhere we can and make records that really mean something and resinate with people. We want to do this for a long time and take it to a point where it is as big as it can be.
Are there any bands in particular that inspire you at the moment?
We tend to draw influences from a wide range of music and each of us bring ideas and inspiration from fairly varied artists and genres. We’re all fans of The Black Keys, QOTSA, The Pixies and Nirvana and really like The La’s, Love and Bowie. In terms of new bands, we’re fans of bands like Hidden Charms, Tigercub and The Amazons.
For those who haven’t heard your tracks, how would you describe your music?
We like to say that we sound like if Nirvana and The Black Keys had a lovely but very noisy baby. We were once described in a live review as sounding like a blood-stained axe murderer locked in the basement hacking his way out but wearing nice shiny shoes. Incredibly specific, but a pretty interesting analogy!
You’ve been working with renowned producer Adrian Bushby (Muse, Foo Fighters), can you tell us how this came around?
Someone we know passed on one of our early demos to him and he was a fan! Obviously, it goes without saying that we loved his work and were very keen to record with him. He’s such an enthusiastic presence in the studio and incredibly funny as well. We’re really proud of the tracks we’ve done with him.
If you could join the line-up for any festival this year, which festival would you pick and why?
It would have to be Glastonbury. It’s such an iconic festival steeped in musical history and we’ve always dreamed of playing there. I think it’s on every new band’s bucket list really. Radiohead and Foo Fighters! It doesn’t get much better really. So if you’re reading this Michael Eavis, give’us a ring!
Do you have any plans for headline shows in the near future?
Our hometown headline shows are amongst some of our favourite shows we’ve ever done. There’s always a real party atmosphere and things get proper rowdy. We had people swinging from the lights at one of our recent ones. We want to eventually be able to take that and have it happen where ever we go. The next few months we want to concentrate on introducing ourselves in other cities and playing with as many other bands as we can. There will definitely be some headline shows at some point, but I imagine they’ll be at the back end of this year once people have had a chance to hear more new music. There’s a lot more to come from us very soon.
What are your band aims for 2018?
We want to tour everywhere and play to as many people as we possibly can. We want to keep releasing music that gets people excited and most importantly we want to finally compile a comprehensive guide to the best motorway service stations in the UK and Europe, rated on atmosphere, food choice and restroom cleanliness. The people need to know.