Discover up and coming bands in 10 questions…
17 December 2018
The most schizophrenic band you heard all year, I hear you ask. Must be Belgian three-headed bolide called PINK ROOM, because every time you hear or see this crushing trio you think that the singer’s head will explode with a big bang. His voice’s range is beyond human normality. Add his bouncing bass, and two other ear-crashing noisemakers, one torturing his guitar and one smashing his drums and what you get is something you can electrocute your brains with. Something very LOUD ranging between Future Of The Left‘s blazing insanity and Nirvana‘s tortured soul. They’re totally into punk’s 70s credo doing-it-yourself-is-better and are planning to mess up 2019 with some new sonic shit and tons-of-decibels gigs. You wanna know more? Read on, after this loud and clear introduction…
Hello Bart (Vocals/Bass), Jelle (Drums) and Glenn (Guitar)
Let’s roll…
1. What sparked all of you, guys, to start a band?
Bart: “I published an advertisement with like a 100 band names in July 2016.
The first two persons who reacted where Glenn and Jonas. They stayed. Well,
actually, Jonas left for a trip around the world a year and a half later, but that’s
just something that drummers do.”
Glenn: “I was looking for a band, just started living in Ghent. Had no other options.”
Jelle: “Their previous drummer left to make a world trip. Now I’m their drummer.”
2. What’s the story behind the group’s name?
Bart: “I was listening a lot to the cover album of the Twin Peaks soundtrack by Xiu Xiu.
We were looking for a band name and Pink Room is the soundtrack for the Red Room in Twin Peaks. Also: Pink Moon is the best album by Nick Drake. Also: you can interpret it as
a pseudonym for vagina.”
Twin Peaks’ red room had a pink soundtrack…
3. Bart, is the clamorous intensity of your voice entirely natural, or do
you use some sort of chemicals to make it sound like a war siren?
Bart: “Camel Blue cigarettes + cheap beer.”
Pink Room’s smoking secret revealed…
4. ‘LOVE’, one of two singles you released this year sounds actually like a total nervous breakdown. Is this PINK ROOM’s way of writing a love song?
Glenn: “I think it’s Bart’s interpretation of love: work sucks, but the girl makes it better?
I don’t really know.”
Bart: “I met this girl last year and she fucked pretty much my whole life up. For the better.”
Jelle: “I didn’t write the song.”
.
5. When punk started in the mid-70s it was all about DIY, including organizing your own gigs. That is what PINK ROOM lately did: staging their own gigs. How and why?
Bart: “We just started playing and had some offers, but not that much. I noticed a lot of great bands didn’t get enough gigs so we started to organize them ourselves. I believe highly in the ‘support your local scene’ idea. We’re already working on some shows with even more bands for 2019.”
Glenn: “It was a pure necessity. We wanted to keep going forward. And most of all, we wanted to play some shows with our friends. It’s very comfortable to see how Bart is a genius in social networking; after a week or two of going to gigs of local bands he usually scores some gigs for ourselves.”
6. Which movie would you pick to visualize your
music on a big screen while playing a gig?
Jelle: “Fargo.”
Glenn: “Jaws or C’est arrivé près de chez vous.”
Bart: “Evil Dead 2. Or just a loop of the scene in
Ace Ventura where he gets out of the rhino’s ass.”
Think twice before going to a Pink Room gig, folks…
7. Number one band/artist on PINK ROOM’ list to go on tour with?
Bart: “Future Of The Left or Mclusky: huge influence and they look like
they would be fun to hang around with.”
Jelle: “Ty Segall or Fuzz!.”
Glenn: “Metz, Acid Mothers Temple, Fatso Jetson or Girl Band.”
It’s quite clear why Pink Room wants to tour with Welsh noiseniks Future Of The Left …
8. If you could go back into the past on whose famous door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
Glenn: “Cleopatra VII”
Bart: “I would like to hang out with Frank Black before he formed Pixies. Just to see what kinda guy he was. Wouldn’t ask for a selfie though, but I would show him a picture of himself in 2018. Love to see that reaction.”
Jelle: “John Bonham, just to brag about meeting him. Wouldn’t even talk about drumming.”
9. 2018 is almost over. Which LP and track will top your end-of-the-year lists?
Bart: “Killing Time by the GØGGS. Great album opener, great album. There’s also this
great Mama Mia cover by this guy on YouTube standing in a river in Japan. I also like the song ‘You’ by Muscle Barbie. The EP ‘Really Nice Guys’ by Ron Gallo is really nice! Oh, and ‘Coolness of a fool’ by Bront. Great fucking guy!”
Jelle: “The Now Now by Gorillaz. I was in dire need of some Damon Albarn vocals since Humanz, big disappointment. Closer to home, the album by Dirk., pop songs disguised
as no-nonsense rock.”
Glenn: “The Other by King Tuff.”
Big in Japan…
10. Plans and wishes for 2019?
Bart: “More touring! We will release our new album ‘Zum Kotzen’ on 22nd of March with a show in Ghent, so we’re putting a lot energy and time in video clips and vinyl and planning the tour and stuff! And hopefully at the end of the year a new album. Anyway, I wish that everybody reading this has a nice time. Don’t go out if you don’t want to, don’t stay in if you don’t want to, be where you wanna be! I don’t know, just do your thing.”
Thanks for the chat. May the road rise with Pink Room!
Let’s end this Q &A with some merry Xmas carols
that will scare the shit out of all drunk Santa’s…
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PINK ROOM: Facebook
See you in 2019…
(concert pics Pink Room by TUTV! / live clip by Wouter De Sutter)