Interview + Live Review
Plastic Mermaids
The Louisiana, Bristol
February 23 2015
Words/ Photos: Pollyanna Sheehan
Plastic Mermaids, the Isle of Wight five-piece outfit, are headlining The Louisiana in Bristol. Having earned themselves a reputation for a fine live performance, notable for its stage production involving handmade sets, lasers, projections and samples from films, tonight is an opportunity to combine such with a mixture of songs from their 2014 EP ‘Drømtorp’, as well as plenty of new material from their upcoming follow-up, ‘Inhale The Universe’ (out on March 9).
Before the Mermaids hit the stage two of the band, Doug Richards and Chris Newnham, kindly took the time to answer a few questions, explaining what the island Mermaids are all about…
Plastic Mermaids are: Douglas Richards, Jamie Richards, Chris Jones, Tom Farren and Chris Newnham.
Okay, could you tell us who all of you are - and maybe one word for each member that you feel best sums you up?
Doug: Douglas: goat. Jamie: is 'god' allowed? Chris: ethereal. Tom: tallest.
Chris: techno (Austrian).
Chris: Yes, and…Douglas - sassy, Jamie - upright.
How did you all come together to form the band? Had you all been friends beforehand?
Doug: We all knew each other before Plastic Mermaids in varying degrees. We kind of formed gradually over a couple of years. Good musicians are rarely not already in a band or busy with some other musical project, so you kind of have to poach them. This was bit of a slow process.
Chris: I used to live next to Tom when I was younger - which is a random one!
'Plastic Mermaids' is a pretty unique name - how did it come about? Which one of you was set on being a 'mermaid’?!
Doug: Uniqueness was definitely a factor in deciding on the name - you don't want to be sharing a name with someone else or even something else, it makes searching for a band online difficult. It's pretty straight forward to spell, you don't want to challenge people before they've even heard your music. I think Jamie had the MySpace for Plastic Mermaids for some reason back in the day and it'd got a couple of hundred views despite having no content. We thought this was probably a sign, so named the band that.
Doug: Home audiences are generally more receptive, as half of them are your friends, but I really like going out and playing our music to people who've never heard it. Generally some of them are into it by the end of the set, which is all that matters really.
Chris: It’s nice to leave the island and go to new places and play gigs to different people - it’s what it’s all about really.
How does the songwriting process take place - do you try to focus on any main themes?
Doug: We all write bits and pieces and every song seems to come together differently. We've got a hatful of ideas we haven't finished, so if we ever find ourselves with some time on our hands - which is pretty rare - we'll pull one of these out and work on it. For us, writing words and actually finishing songs is the tricky bit - everything else comes pretty easily.
Chris: Yeah, the initial ideas always come together pretty quick. It’s the numerous choices of direction to send that idea in that takes the time. Some of the songs we’re playing and recording now sounded very very different a year ago. The whole process tends to involve lots of tea and going round in circular debates, but it gets there eventually - and it's the best feeling when it all comes together.
Who would you cite as your most notable musical and non-musical influences?
Doug: Musical, Bowie. Non, George Greenough (kneeboard pioneer)
Chris: Musically, Hendix got me into guitar (but I don't get to shred much, I get shut down pretty quick for widdling). Non musical, this is hard, I only really care about music. Oh yeah, and my girlfriend, I'm going to say my girlfriend, thanks babe.
Your sound is often described as ‘psychedelic' - do you agree with this, and how would you describe what you do?
Doug: I'm way happier with other people describing our music than having to do it ourselves, I mean, they're the ones listening to it, so if they say its psychedelic then I guess it is.
Chris: I don't think the music is psychedelic at all really, you could probably say the videos are...visuals definitely have a massive impact on how you perceive the music.
Your upcoming EP has a delightfully dreamy vibe - have you in any way gone for a different approach this time?
Doug: Before making a record you always have ideas in your head of what you'd like it to be and what you didn't like about the last one, especially when you're recording and mixing it yourself. I think one of the main differences is we put a lot of thought into trying to make the new EP feel like a complete record: something which flows from track to track rather than just a collection of unrelated songs. This is one of the things that drove it towards being quite large for an EP, but I'm pretty happy with the final thing.
Chris: I don't think so. Quite a lot of time has passed since putting out the first EP, we've done a lot of writing, a lot of jamming, bought and made new instruments and effects. I guess it’s a very organic progression. Doug's on a new diet too, no onions, tomatoes, dairy, wheat… actually 4/5 of us have made the switch to decaf now! And we drink a lot of tea…maybe all this has had an influence!
Doug: There'll be an amount of stuff going on for sure to keep it vague. It’s tricky when we've only got a small van, so can't tour with a heap of stuff at the moment. Yeah, it's definitely something we feel is important, like if you turn up to a gig and the stage looks rad you're already more excited before the music even starts, also from our point of view it's just more fun performing when there’s a good vibe on stage and stuff looks good.
Chris: Smoke and lights make everything better, so you can expect lots of that.
Will you be treating the crowd to any music that does not feature on either EP?
Doug: We haven't done a gig in about five months, which has been really nice to have time to go over the set and make sure everything is sounding as good as possible. We've got a couple of new ones, which we're quite excited to give an airing. Our set up on stage has changed too, a couple of new synths (Jamie's just finished making a fully analogue synth and sequencer which will be getting its first outing for these two gigs).
Chris: We're always coming up with so much new music that we like, doing something new at most gigs, whether it’s a new song or an instrumental. I think it makes it more exciting for an audience that they never get the same show twice.
Do you have a favourite part of live show playing? Has there been one memorable performance that sticks in your mind?
Doug: We did a big gig on the island last year with an eight-piece choir, string quartet and two drummers which took a lot of organising / orchestrating, but was a lot of fun. When you've got that many people involved with something you can never be completely in control, which makes it pretty exciting.
Chris: I bloody love playing live. Probably twice as much as anyone else, if I could do that forever I’d be happy.
What goals have set yourself as a band that you’d like to achieve this year, or in the future?
Doug: We’ve got a load of music we'd like to get out and that’s about it really, you never really know what people are going to like, so just want to get as much recorded and released as possible. Hopefully do some good gigs to people who haven't heard us before too.
Chris: Long term, I'd like to have a hot tub.
Live Review
Taking to an impressively set-up stage featuring a range of instruments and equipment from loudspeakers to maracas, Plastic Mermaids went on to deliver exactly the type of mind-blowing set you would expect from a band dressed in every colour imaginable - with added sequins and glitter for good measure!
Starting their hour-long set with an astounding amount of noise through combining layers of electronic sounds, light and rhythmic drumming with prominent synths, they proceeded to perform ‘Window Display’ and ‘Polaroids’. Both are impressive tracks from their first EP - the latter being the track that first brought them to attention - that come to life through their live performance. The combination of background animation and vivid lighting add to the electric atmosphere that they create.
The quiet piano interlude of ‘Window Display’ and the incredible extended instrumental section of ‘Polaroids’ highlight the diversity of the sound that the band is capable of. Following lively and appreciative applause the Mermaids produce yet another impressive live track, ‘For Nothing’ - also ser to appear on their upcoming EP. Regardless of the familiarity of the song, the characteristic electronic sounds and upbeat drums served as more than enough reason to get the crowd dancing on their feet and wholeheartedly singing along.
Plastic Mermaids’ set culminates with exceptional performances of ‘Drømtorp’, and ‘Playing In Your Mind’, before finishing with the mind-blowing ‘Saturn’, for which they are joined on stage by guest vocalist Rhian Teasdale, whose operatic vocal tone lend a delightfully dreamy edge. In true PM style, this performance would not have been complete without the use of cowbells, epic synths, megaphones, unexpected drops, energetic bass-lines and incredibly lively drums. To say that seeing and hearing this band perform live was quite literally something of a truly incredible experience, is no exaggeration.
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