American rock band PVRIS (pronounced PARIS) released their successful sophomore album “All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell” in August 2017. While on their UK tour in November, we got the chance to catch up with Brian MacDonald, bass guitarist of the band who told us more about the band’s musical inspirations, and the upside and downside to being on tour:
So you guys are on tour right now, what has that experience been like? And what would you say is your favourite song to perform live?
It’s been great so far. We’ve finished shows in mainland Europe and Ireland. My favourite song is No Mercy- it’s high energy and really gets the crowd going so it’s a great song to perform live.
And what’s been your favourite venue out of the ones you’ve played in so far?
From the venues we’ve played at so far I think The Academy in Manchester is an amazing venue.
As PVRIS what’s been the highlight of your career so far? And what are your further ambitions?
Just doing this – travelling to and playing at places we’ve never been to before – is a highlight in itself. Travelling the world, and being able to meet great people who enjoy our music is the highlight of our career. As for ambitions, we just like to focus on the present rather than the future but also hope that we can continue doing what we are doing; touring, and recording music.
Speaking of touring, you guys have been doing a lot of that lately. What’s the downside to travelling so much?
The obvious, we miss home when we are away for so long. But the band is also its own little family and everyone back home is so proud of what we are doing, so that motivates us. Wouldn’t call it a downside, I mean when we go home for just two days the band end up missing each other!
Your sophomore album, “All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell”, came out earlier in the year. What was the inspiration behind the tracks?
It’s basically drawing from the experiences the three of us have been through in the past three years- both as a band and individually. We all came at it from different angles as people and as musicians.
How would describe PVRIS’ sound? And would you say its changed since debut?
Dark, moody, electro-pop. It has definitely changed and evolved as we have grown as people and musicians like I mentioned earlier.
Who would you say are your musical inspirations both personally and as a band?
For me personally, I would say Ben Howard. He’s one of my favourite artists. The way he goes about writing and producing his music is beautiful. His music keeps you waiting on your toes and surprises you. As a band, I wouldn’t say we try to sound like any particular artist. We just go off and learn from a number of musicians like Iron Maiden and Paramore, artists we’ve listened to growing up.
Check out the official music video from their album below
By Malvika Padin