Oklahoma city, we are informed by The Purple Church’s website, is dull. So dull indeed that a certain subset of its residents have become ‘existentially bored’ and have therefore discovered the need to let off steam by producing tripped out, psychedelic rock that is swamped in reverb and feedback and often liable to make your head spin. Comprising four members – Lucas Dunn (drums), Robby Harris (guitar/vocals) and Austin and Aaron Tackett (bass and guitar respectively) the band recall the lost-in-ennui feel of the shoe-gaze bands that developed at the start of the nineties although every so often, just to check you’re still with them, they’ll unleash a devilish riff that is pure metal and send their music spinning off on violent new tangents.
With one EP, ‘Woodsporn, already having earned high praise from SonicAbuse for its fiery musical content and sublime packaging (all of which was hand-produced by the band), The Purple Church have now released (via bandcamp) their second EP (discounting their limited cassette single) entitled ‘Twin lakes’ – you can find a link to the site at the foot of this interview – and we decided it was time to catch up with the band and discuss their inspiration and work to date. Read on and discover the excellent Purple Church.
The name, The Purple Church, if searched upon Google, offers up a rather sinister definition aside from being your band’s name – can you tell us why you specifically chose that name and what it means to you?
Austin – The Purple Church is in reference to a spooky barn on the east side of Oklahoma City where a purportedly satanic cult performs rituals. If you went to high school anywhere on the East side (as we all did), this urban legend was pretty unavoidable. Groups of kids take stoned, late night trips to this particular spot and always report of seeing creepy shit like ghost, sacrifices, religious artifacts, and the like.
Of course satanic panic is typical Oklahoma fodder reaching back to the 80’s with this gem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Sellers and as recent as two weeks ago with this: http://www.okcfox.com/newsroom/special_reports/videos/vid_209.shtml . We think it’s funny, sounds cool, and freaks out the squares. It also works nicely with some of the darker themes in our music.
How did the Purple Church form?
Robby – The Purple Church started out with Lucas and I making noise music without any real direction. We started jamming with Austin shortly after, and then we asked his brother Aaron if he’d like to be a part of what was coming together. We started working on real ‘songs’ and our style developed from there.
Lucas – I hadn’t played in any bands for at least a year, and thought I was done with all that, and Robby approached me at a party and asked to start jamming with him. We had been acquaintances since high school, and we’d played shows together with our respective bands previous, but weren’t too close. Originally, we were going to be an AIDS Wolf rip-off called Funny Bunny, but when we jammed the first time, it had a very, very different direction.
Austin and I used to have a noise/performance art project called Projectile Cesarean, and I knew he wanted to play in a band again, so we asked him to come play. Aaron and I had played in many bands before, and I knew he was what we needed to flesh out the texture. Luckily, he decided to come aboard, and since then we’ve been trying to define and hone our sound, whatever that is.
Stylistically Purple Church sounds quite different to anything else I’ve encountered (although there are of course some reference points along the way) – does that reflect a wide range of tastes across the band members?
Austin – None of us can really agree on anything, which is why we sound the way we do. Aaron and I fall more onto the metallic angular side of the spectrum, while Robby and Lucas are the pop and melody guys. We tend to meet in the Venn diagram of taste somewhere around the “Smashing Pumpkins” and “Sonic Youth” center.
Lucas – We are all to some extent enamoured with psychedelia, noise rock and shoegaze, ‘70s rock, and Steve Albini.
In particular there’s a real feel of British indie circa the early nineties – is that an accurate description and how did you come across these bands?
Austin – Not really, unless you count the trace elements of Jesus and the Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine that are present. Our influences are certainly located more in the American Mid and North West.
What music specifically would you cite as influences?
Neil Young, Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr. The Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth, Big Black, Sleep, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, The Melvins, The Wipers, early Metallica and many many more.
The ‘Woodsporn’ EP sounds pretty professional – was it your first experience of recording or have members of the band had experience in other projects?
Austin – Credit here is due to Chris Harris at Hook Echo Sound who engineered the recordings for us. Lucas and I had never recorded professionally before this point, although I think Robby and Aaron have with previous bands.
How long did it take to record and how did you go about it?
Austin – The first two tracks on the Woodsporn EP were mixed and recorded in about 8 hours at Hook Echo Sound in Norman, OK. We cut the two tracks live and mixed everything in a single session. The other two tracks on the EP we recorded ourselves at Robby’s house using a pretty similar method of live playing and fast mixing.
One of the great things about that first EP was the amazing packaging – it must have taken an age to make that up?
Austin – It did, but we think the end results justify the couple of practices we had to skip to get everything put together. It’s hard for us to not get wrapped up in things like producing flyer art, album art, t-shirt designs and other things that aren’t totally related to the music. We like to see all of it as one big package.
Lucas – Producing physical media for something people want in an intangible digital medium seems like such a frivolity anymore, so if you’re going to spend money on a bunch of extraneous packaging, it better goddamn look cool.
It seems that as artists and labels have become threatened by downloading there has been a really creative response – packaging has become more elaborate and exciting which is, at least, of great benefit to music fans who actually buy the product- how do you feel about the so-called ‘digital revolution’? has it been a hindrance or a catalyst for your band?
Austin – Personally we love the digital age of music. Punk rock was obviously a cultural revolution, but many people fail to realize that it also revolutionized the way we think about music as a business. Whether they would admit it today or not, the current digital accessibility of music is the kind of DIY utopia that Black Flag worked so hard to achieve in the hardcore era. The destruction of the music industry was the goal all along, and we’re finally about to see it happen (THANK FUCKING GOD).
We have no intentions of making a profit on the music we record. We like to think of it as “art for art’s sake”. If we can touch just one person with a song we’ve written, then that’s all that matters, not the two or three bucks we’d be hassling potential fans for.
And honestly, what’s the point of charging for music when there are literally millions of other bands competing for your attention online? It seems like shooting yourself in the foot if you ask me.
If bands are interested in making a living on their art, then touring is the answer. This is where having a physical product becomes important as you’ll always need a little something to sell to ease the cost of touring.
What informs the lyrical content of your music?
Lucas – Robby and I generally write the lyrics together. Usually, one of us will get a concept and we’ll split up duties on the verses or choruses. We try to keep them as diverse as the music, sometimes being creepy, sometimes being sad, sometimes being funny. ‘Trapped Under Ice’ is about seasonal affective disorder getting in the way of personal relationships, but I think that one is kinda funny. We have a song on the new ep called ‘Landfill’ that was inspired by a television program we all watched together after practice one day called ‘Hoarders.’ It’s about people whose homes become so cluttered with junk they can’t throw away, which is a reflection upon their troubled psyches. I suppose the common threads in our songs are mental illness, failed relationships, and spooky imagery.
Robby – What Lucas said.
You’re now recording an album – is that correct?
Austin – We’re still in the stages of writing and conceptualizing. Up to this point we’ve written all of our songs with the strict purpose of playing them to a live audience. This time around we’ve decided to spend more time working as a studio band conceptualizing themes and recording tricks to make something that works more as a whole piece. We’ve cleared our calenders for the next couple of months and hope to have a self recorded album completed by the end of summer.
What can we expect from your first full length release?
Austin – A bigger dynamic between our loud and quit polarities, artful experimentation in the studio, noise, and way better songs in terms of writing and structure. The mood should be pretty much what you’ve come to expect from The Purple Church.
What are your long term goals for the band?
Lucas – Put out albums, tour, tour, tour, tour outside the US, learn how to write better, learn how to play better, and maybe after we’ve attained all that, quit our jobs.
Robby – Further development of our style as a band. Tour. Personally, I’m very proud of what we’ve done, but we still have a long way to go.
Can we ever expect live dates in the UK?
Lucas – Don’t hold your breath, but it is a big dream of mine to tour the UK and Europe. I’ve long wanted to visit the British Isles, and I could see the audiences being very receptive to our particular style.
Any final words?
Austin – Lets all do our parts to take music back from the huge corporate interests who would rather use your art to market products and foster consumer lifestyles under the guise of “subculture”. Steal music and try your best to see past the bullshit.
Ans as if to prove their point, Purple Church have released their new EP, ‘Twin Lakes’ for free via Bandcamp: check it out here.
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