Silversun Pickups Interview

Heading out to Australia as a part of Gosford’s Coaster Festival, Los Angeles’ Silversun Pickups have answered the call of a very appreciative fan base. The Pickups’ Nikki Monninger called from her LA home whilst on a break from touring to chat with Soulshine’s Max Easton.

From the moment the Silversun Pickups hit Australia with their breakthrough single ‘Lazy Eye’ in 2007, it was pretty clear that they’d struck a chord here. Along with debut album ‘Carnavas,’ Silversun Pickups had stamped their fuzzy-guitared Smashing Pumpkins-meets-Dinosaur Jr sound on Australian audiences. With the androgynous voice of Brian Aubert crooning over their unique take on 90’s grunge, the Pickups delivered a sound that people had been looking for ever since the Pumpkins split and reformed to disappointing results. Fast forward a couple of years and their triumphant second album ‘Swoon’ charted even better, demonstrating their ability to stay ahead of a swelling alt-rock market with quality tunes.

In 2010, a solid year after their last release, the Pickups are coming back to Oz. This time to appear on the line-up of Gosford’s Coaster Festival, an announcement that came as some surprise for those used to a pretty tame line-up from the low-key one-dayer on the NSW Central Coast. Even bassist Nikki Monninger was unsure as to how it happened.

“I believe,” she begins, “that they offered to bring us out. I don’t know exactly. We were hoping to come out last year and be able to tour ‘Swoon,’ but for whatever reason, that didn’t happen. We really weren’t expecting to get out to Australia this year, so when they asked, we were so excited to go. We’d been touring so much in the US and Europe that we haven’t had a chance to stop and think about it…so we’re just very excited to come down.”

The second album ‘Swoon’ wasn’t so much a departure from ‘Carnavas’ as it was decidedly heavier, managing to retain the melodic quality that made their debut so well-loved. If anything, that was the Pickups greatest achievement with their follow-up, and the line between heavy and melodic wasn’t something that was walked carelessly.

“Our record company didn’t put any pressure on us, they let us take our time and let us do things how we wanted,” Monninger breathes, “We padded out a sixty piece orchestra, so we set out to make it more…I dunno. I can’t think of the word…I really don’t want to say ‘theatrical.’ We wanted to let it go a little quieter so we’d be able to then go louder and grander at parts, in the build-up. Luckily, we were able to take some time to accomplish that.” She pauses to consider. “Yeah, I can’t think right now. I might need to get to that coffee…”

With ‘Swoon’ so well loved, and slowly developed, the next step in the Pickups evolution comes with much interest then, and hence, the sound that will appear on it.

“We haven’t actually started writing for the next album. So I’m not even sure [how it’s going to sound]; your guess is as good as mine. We kind of move like a turtle, you know…really slow, but really steadily, just going in our little direction [laughs]. Hopefully we can just add upon all the knowledge that we’ve gained as a band for ten years. We’ll be having our big ten year anniversary in Australia…”

Ten years is a long time for a band to be around in any sense, especially to have put out only two albums and an EP in that period. Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert famously admitted a few years back that their first EP, ‘Pikul,’ was recorded after picking up a bootleg of one of their own shows which horrified him with its poor quality. Maybe it’s this laidback attitude to record as it comes rather than aggressively pursue it that goes over so well in Australia; regardless, it’s certainly not something that Monniger regrets.

“Yeah, I’m happy that we’ve taken our time to do things how we’ve wanted to,” she explains, “It took us about four years, maybe five years for our first EP to come out. Before that, two or three years for us just to get out one song on a seven inch. I mean, we didn’t set out to go so slowly…but we were able to build our confidence as musicians and just as a band…to solidify our sound so that we can feel more confident. We started out really not knowing anything, so it took us a while, but we’ve been able to outlast a lot of bands, and I think that has a lot to do with our slow beginning. It meant that we were able to form a clear opinion of ourselves. But yeah, we moved slow. On year four we got t-shirts which was a really exciting event [laughs].”

From t-shirts four years in the making and reactionary EP’s to celebrating their ten year anniversary on the other side of the world, the Silversun Pickups have come a long way in time, and on September, a long way geographically. To come from that touring environment to this one must have some pretty drastic differences.

“Well, as far as the East Coast of the US goes, it’s very city to city, but on the West Coast there are some long drives in there. It is a little interesting to just fly across the whole country [in Australia] to just do one show, and yeah, there isn’t a lot of places in between, but once you get to the cities…I think I like Australia so much because a lot of it reminds me of Southern California. And Melbourne reminds me of the East Coast a little. You know; I just love the weather. We’re going at about the same time as last time, like it’s cooling off in September, so I really have a strong connection to Australia and I’m just really looking forward to going back. I got some new shoes actually that I’ll debut there. I’m really excited about it.”

Silversun Pickups tour Australia in September, appearing at the Coaster Festival on the 25th, and appearing alongside Birds of Tokyo on the following dates:

Sept 22nd – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide

Sept 24th – Convention Centre, Brisbane

Sept 26th – Wrest Point Ballroom, Hobart

Sept 30th – Hordern Pavillion, Sydney