In Conversation: The Pierce Kingans
In Conversation: The Pierce Kingans
Shaun Lee
Hot on the heels of a five year run of phenomenal EPs (18 and counting), Vancouver’s Pierce Kingan has now released his second compilation album on the South Africa based Subjangle label, the thirty track behemoth May I Pierce Upon You? We called him up in his hospital bed (we didn’t want to pry, but hope he feels better soon) to chat a little bit about the past, present and future of The Pierce Kingans, Vancouver’s most prolific pop outfit.
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Shaun Lee: First off, I wanted to talk about the EP as a format. It’s obviously worked out great for your solo output, is there a particular appeal in the format that made you choose it as your primary method for organizing your releases?
Pierce Kingan: Well I just like the idea of a four song EP, like making a whole album seems too daunting, like four songs, that’s about half an album, and the four, because I write in different styles, I was thinking about four ends on a clover leaf, like each one could be totally different and not have this kind of like, cohesiveness, if that makes any sense?
SL: Stylistically, there’s a pretty wide gulf between your work as a soloist and the sound of your previous group, The Prettys. Even your bass tone on the new work sounds more warm and rounded. Is this down to the musicians you’ve been collaborating with, or are you consciously seeking out a more produced, pop oriented sound for your solo output?
PK: Yeah, more pop oriented. I mean, with the first Prettys LP Felix Fung got me to play that weird Beatles bass thing I play, and I wasn’t used to playing with a pick. But then after the Pretty’s albums, recording myself, it’s not so much the Phil Spector production style, it’s a little more laid back, you can kind of sit in it more, and then playing with Ian (Browne), he’s the main drummer I use for the Pierce Kingans stuff.
SL: Lyrically, there's a directness on a lot of your songs where you seem to be explicitly making an appeal to the listener. I was wondering about your ideal for a performer to audience relationship. I get the sense that there’s a lot of consideration for the listener in your work.
PK: Yeah, yeah, well, I kinda try not to be preachy, but there’s a lot of uh preachiness in it (laughs). It’s kinda like advice I’ve thought of, or ideas that I’ve just discovered, like when you’re a kid and you go up to your parents, you’re like “hey mom and dad, it’s all about moderation” like you thought you invented that. So yeah, it’s advice I guess, or personal stuff, or as lame as it is, like self therapy
SL: There’s a bit of an unabashedly romantic tone running throughout your work. I feel almost like that’s somewhat frowned on in music these days, when the affectation of ironic detachment is often seen as a valid artistic pose. Like, there’s a line you sing about how “love is hard to talk about and accept.” Does that kind of vulnerability in your art come naturally, or did you have to work on it?
PK: I think it comes naturally. I’m generally a sad but happy yet funny person. It’s kind of a personal thing too, like when I was a kid or even now, my parents would never say “I love you,” or they don’t say it to me, so it’s sort of a weird thing I had to get over.
SL: Your music has been described as lo-fi bedroom pop, but realistically, the production value, especially over the last three EPs has been anything but lo-fi. Code Pink and Validation especially almost give me classic pop vibes reminiscent of Harry Nillson. Who’s helming the board on this stuff?
PK: Yeah, well, me and Ian have been slowly moving it from my bedroom to the studio that him and (guitarist) Jay Sly are putting together where they’re getting more and more equipment, so it kind of starts off in the bedroom and then goes over there and we do the live drums and most of the band stuff there, so it’s getting less and less bedroomy.
SL: Along the same lines, how would you define your production aesthetic? Like, are there specific records or sounds that serve as your benchmark for what you're trying to achieve?
PK: No, not really, that’s the kind of beauty of it, we’re just putting things together and seeing what it sounds like. Like maybe songwriting wise, I mean, “Code Pink” kinda has the classic ‘50’s/60’s kinda shit, but mostly just kinda like, pick it out of the ether and strive not to be anything, but just make it something original.
SL: Let’s talk about this new comp a bit. How’d you manage to link up with Subjangle, a label located in South Africa?
PK: They just got to me through Twitter. I think I sent them some stuff on SubmitHub and they started liking some tracks and then looking into more of the stuff I’ve done and liked everything, so they decided to put out a comp in 2020 called Pierce and Love to all the World, and that was a compilation where they chose all the songs.
SL: Was there any particular method used when selecting the tunes for this newest comp? Did you make the selections, or did Subjangle?
PK: This one I made. I just kinda chose all the ones I liked, and the ones that weren’t on the first one, but kinda just throwing rocks in the air and seeing where they land, to tell the truth.
SL: I’m curious about the decision to include the track Entropy twice. Aesthetically there’s some pretty interesting differences between the one performed by your regular band and the first collaboration with Christof Bedé.
PK: I just like both versions, I think it’s a good song and I wanted the listener to hear two totally different versions of the same song.
SL: Are there any plans for a longer, magnum opus full length in the future? I notice you haven’t utilized a “masterpierce” pun yet.
PK: Oh yeah, right (laughs). So me and Ian have this old man band right now, Ian Browne on drums and Jay Sly on guitar, and Wes Cook on bass, and I just recruited Josh Gettien from The Prettys to play guitar, and uh, they wanna do a whole album, so we’re slowly cracking away at that, but I don’t know, recording with other people like that is so fucking slow, so ya know, I’ve already almost finished recording the next EP Delta Sessions, and they’re still getting on to song two (laughs), but the idea is this year to put out a whole album.
- Shaun Lee