Hi guys!Girls bands are back! We met PINS at the Old Blue Last and we couldn”t [not] fall in love with them. Here you can find the chat we had with: Faith (singer an guitar), Lois (guitar) – in the group are also playing Anna (bass) and Sophie (drums).
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1 – I think your music is a combination of ’80s new wave, the ’70s approach and the existentialism songwriting of the ’90s. Where do you best put your influence? Closer to PJ Harvey, Janis Joplin or Patty Smith?Faith – im a fan of PJ Harvey, Janis Joplin and Patti Smith! I don’t know if I would reference any of them as a direct influence for our band. I suppose Patti Smith resonates most closely with me, I read loads of her poetry as well as listening to her music.
Lois – Our influences change day by day, and I deliberately try not to be restricted by it. We listen to loads of different stuff and try and take elements from all genres to bring it into our own sound – sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s much more interesting to work that way.
2 – Classic 4 component group: bass, guitar, drums. Don’t you think that to be successful in these days you need a more electronic approach?
Faith – that may be possible, I don’t know. I’m a real guitar band fan, rock n roll for life! I try not to get too concerned with what’s popular or what could make our band more financially successful or whatever, its about the music and our lifestyle.. We write songs that make us feel good, if anyone else enjoys that then they are welcome to the party!
Lois – Yeah, I think it would be crazy to say that people only want to listen to one style of music – and it depends how you classify success. The set up we have works well live, we like to add extras when we’re recording, and we try to work those into the set without making it too fussy.
3 – “Girls like us” is a song I like much, it seems to say: “Hey, there’s nothing special about us, we’re just girls love playing“. Do you feel ‘different’ since you are an all-female band?Faith – well, I would say that Girls Like Us is us saying that yes we are special and so are you! I mean, we are girls and we do love paying but what we are doing is very special to us, we are the real deal, we love doing this band.
Lois – Girls like us is also applicable to any one who is passionate about anything, it’s about being confident about who you are and the things you do. For us, we’re doing this and putting everything into it, and it feels good.
4 – In Italy and other Mediterranean countries, people and magazines are more attracted by females -almost naked- musicians. Music is only complementary. What would you do once you’ll be invited there to play?
Faith – I only hope we have been invited because people want to see and hear us play. Gender just isn’t isn’t an issue for me, if it felt right then I’d invite a guy to be in the band! Also.. Nakedness is welcome at our shows but it won’t be displayed by us.
5 – We attended your gig at the Old Blue Last and we couldn’t not fall in love with the young Bad Grammar who opened. How is the Manchester music scene?Faith – we love Bad Grammar! I’m glad you enjoyed them! Manchester feels like a good place to be a band, there are a lot of cool kids doing good work.
Lois – there is a pretty diverse scene for a city this size, and it’s great to be surrounded by so many different influences. We also have Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield (amongst others) that are not so far away which is amazing for meeting/hearing new bands.
6 – I read in an interview that you love evolving and experimenting: do you think that it’s the exciting part being a musician or it’s just that you “don’t want to fit in a box”?
Faith – its a natural progression.. Surely nobody wants to do the same thing over and over. One of the best feelings I get from being in this band is the perpetual excitement for the next thing we are doing. I’m not afraid of being in or out of the box.
Lois – The more you do the more learn from it and want to use that knowledge to try new things. We’re all naturally curious and adventurous people, I don’t think there is another way we could do things.
7 – Where are the songs coming out? Before the music or the lyrics? Who’s the writer? Are they coming from your personal experiences?Faith – The album was a combination of Lois or myself bringing fully formed songs to the table and us jamming out songs collectively in our practice space. Some were written with our previous drummer, Lara Williams, and some with Sophie. For the most part I write the lyrics and that is usually after the music is down. I like writing lyrics alone in bed.
8 – Now that you’re getting famous and going on tour in USA..what should we expect?
Faith – probs TV’s out of hotel windows and such…
This is Not Art [QuestaNonÈArte] 
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