Inspired by Picasso's quote "action is the foundational key to all success", Leeds' four-piece Pablo's Paintings began working together in early 2018,
playing their maiden live show in November. With their off-kilter, psychedelia-with-folk-influence sound, they release new single 'Lizard' on July 22.
Who are you?
We are Pablo’s Paintings and I am Dom Richmond - vocals, guitar. Then we have Matt Allison - vocals, guitar; Jon Richmond - vocals, bass guitar; Peter Leach - drums, percussion.
Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today.
We all currently reside in Leeds but had all toured in bands previously. Myself and Matt had been involved with each other’s projects in the past and always said it would be great to do something together. The band was an accident really, Matt got back from a bit of time living in New Zealand and stayed with me while he got myself back on course again. We started knocking around ideas he’d had for years but not had a band to do anything with and found that they fit well with some half-finished songs I’d been working on. We ended up with a pretty big batch of songs in a short space of time. I work in a studio, so we thought we’d record a few just for ourselves and it just seemed to be working well, so we asked my brother Jon to help out on bass and Peter on drums. It was a pretty organic inception.
Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.
It's always difficult to pinpoint exactly what the style is or where it's come from, particularly with three songwriters in the band, but I think it's fair to say we've all grown up with and been heavily influenced by 60s pop and psychedelic music. Our sound is rooted in melodies, usually plenty of vocal harmonies in there too. Lately we've become interested in incorporating avant-garde elements into the music - we've taken a lot of inspiration from the likes of Captain Beefheart, Tim Presley and later Scott Walker stuff. There is always melody at the centre of their stuff but you've sometimes got to look for it a bit!
Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.
We’ve taken the ever more popular DIY approach with everything we have produced so far, recording, mixing and releasing everything independently. I think that’s given us something, a different sound. All our tunes are melody focused I’d say, but we’re always trying to tap a kink into anything that’s sounding too straightforward.
Tell us a little about your new single.
'Lizard' has been the last song in our set since the band kicked off and it's at the heavier end of our spectrum. The song's been around for quite a while but it really got some bollocks when the full band came in and worked on it together. Lyrically, the song is inspired by an account of somebody not recognising their own reflection in Oliver Sacks' book 'Hallucinations'. The single is completely self-recorded and produced at Eiger Studios in Leeds. Eiger has become a bit of a home from home for us, as we also rehearse down there, so it's somewhere we feel comfortable and we've got some nice sounds out of the studio there.
Can we catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows?
We're lucky enough to have been invited by Tim Burgess (of the Charlatans) to play at Kendal Calling this year, so that's really what we've been working towards for a while now. We'll be playing the Tim Peaks Diner and kicking around for the duration of the festival. We're also honoured to be supporting Tim Presley's White Fence at the Brudenell Social Club on 20th August. The Brudenell is one of our favourite venues in the world and we've seen loads of our favourite artists play it, so it's always a big deal to to get up on that stage.
How's the rest of the year looking, plans-wise?
More of the same really. We've got a host of exciting irons in the fire at the moment, including the gigs I mentioned. We've got plenty of music to get recorded and released and we're hoping to get some live sessions recorded with the brilliant Will Jackson (who has produced the likes of Pigeon Detectives, The Music, The Cribs and loads more) at Eiger in the coming months too. We'd just like more people to hear the music really, so we'll be doing our best to get the word around.
Where can we hear more of your music?
Our music is up on all the usual streaming sites and YouTube, but the best place to hear it is live, so get down to one of our shows!
What social media platforms can we find you on?
Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
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