INTERVIEW – Matt Bowman (THE PIGEON DETECTIVES)

Since the 2013 release of “We Met at Sea” the Pigeon Detectives have been hiding away in the studio working on their 5th album, due out early next year.  Having not toured for a couple of years they are about to head out for a set of low-key shows, starting this weekend at Southsea Fest in Portsmouth.

Front-man Matt Bowman kindly took time out to catch up with Mr Teeth:

1. You’re kicking off your tour with Southsea Fest, have you heard much about the festival?

“We play a lot of festivals in this format nowadays; multiple gigs across multiple venues in various areas of the city. Personally I think they’re a brilliant idea. At a traditional festival people can fall into the trap of getting comfortable at the main stage and staying there all day. This kind of festival gets you on your toes and into various venues discovering new bands! It’s absolutely brilliant for the local music scene and local venues too!”

2. Will you get a chance to check out many of the venues/stages and is there anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing?

“I’ll definitely try and make it to The Wedgewood Rooms at some point, I just love that venue! We have some great memories of playing at The Wedge and it lends itself to a real rock n roll atmosphere! I can’t wait to watch British Sea Power too. I’ve always been a huge fan of British Sea Power…I went to watch them at a 300 capacity venue in Leeds when they were first starting out and they had a little band called The Killers supporting them, well that was some gig I can tell you!”

3. With the exception of the likes of yourselves, Southsea Fest is very much about promoting unsigned or up and coming bands from within the region, when Pigeon Detectives were starting out did you have anything similar? 

“Yeah we had a festival called Live At Leeds which copied the American Festival South by South West but has subsequently been the blue print for all these UK versions that are popping up! Just like Southsea, Live at Leeds turned the entire city into a festival without a fence! I loved and still love Live at Leeds, it’s just a full weekend of wandering from venue to venue and catching bands you’ve never heard of but become huge fans of, it’s live music in its most rewarding guise.”

4. How was the local the scene when you were growing up and how has it changed?

“We were so lucky. Leeds had an amazing scene when we were at the start of our adventure! We kind of found ourselves in a spontaneous backlash to London and the mindset that the only way to get a record deal was to move to London.  All the bands in Leeds knew each other and attended each other’s shows, independent radio shows were started, independent labels set up, independent magazines and fanzines popped up, people were making underground studios in basements and the whole city was just buzzing with a “f**k you we can do this by ourselves” attitude. It was a real hotbed of creativity. I think that attitude still exists in Leeds but other cities have kind of cottoned on and adopted the same approach so it doesn’t feel as rebellious or punk anymore – but the passion to create something on a local level is still abundant and makes you feel proud to be from Leeds.”

5. Who have you enjoyed playing/touring with over the years?

“It was quite special to share the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festival with The Strokes, as they were a big influence on us when starting the band.”

6. You’re playing a lot of smaller venues on this tour, how do they compare to the sort of places you’ll be heading to in 2017? 

“We’ve not toured properly for a couple of years and someone came up with the idea of doing an intimate tour as a warm up and an opportunity to connect with fans again. We haven’t played in venues of this size for a decade, so the opportunity to go back and resurrect that rebellious rock n roll spirit we’ve always enjoyed at live shows was too much of an opportunity to pass up. These shows will be chaotic, but’s that’s what rock n roll should be.”

7. Is this a chance to experiment, or will you be heavily promoting the new album live?

“This tour is more about blowing the cobwebs of the guitars and tearing up the countries best local music venues. It’s giving something back to the places that helped us along the way by returning and selling the gigs out in a week. In all honesty it’s probably going to be all the ‘hits’ with a couple of new ones sandwiched in there for everyone to take a breather.”

8. Speaking of the new album, I gather you’ve pushed yourselves more with this record – how does it compare to previous releases? 

“This album is more reflective than previous albums, it’s a thank you and an apology, it’s all the songs that we were never previously brave enough to write and it’s the first time we’ve had enough self-belief to say “we hope you like the record, really we truly truly  hope you like it, but if you don’t – who cares, we love it”.”

9. What was it like working with producer Richard Formby, who’s been in the industry over 25 years?

“Working with Rich Formby was a conscious decision by us to find someone that would challenge us at every turn in the studio and refuse to take the easy route. It was agonising at times to watch a song we’d spent two years writing and rehearsing be broken down into little pieces and then put back together, but the end result was the most important thing and when all’s said and done, Rich has smashed it out of the park with the production on this album. I think our fans are going to find little gems and new favourite tracks all over this album, it’s an honest account of this insane journey we’ve been on, and let’s be honest – they’ve all been a part of it too…”

10. I also noticed the bands rather to the point twitter response when someone complained they couldn’t torrent your first album “Wait for me”, so what is your take on people either illegally downloading music or streaming it online for free? 

“I don’t agree with downloading music for free – it’s how I pay my mortgage and feed my dog. People use the word streaming as a euphemism for stealing. Let’s be honest though that’s the world we live in, so we’re not exactly going out of our way to fall out with every person that’s ever downloaded one of our albums for free…because at some point they’ll probably come and see us live and pay for a ticket, which is cool. The exception with the tweet you’re referring to was he tagged us into a tweet complaining about how hard it was to torrent our music. It made me feel angry because they were stealing from us and telling us about it at the same time, where we supposed to be happy?!? He wanted a rise out of us and he got one, and he made himself look stupid…the end.”

11. As for yourself what was the last album you bought?

“I bought Biffy Clyro’s latest record and it absolutely blows my head off every time I listen to it! The first three or four songs just pin you to the ground and smother you in heavy guitar and wet kisses! It’s such a great record…”

12. …and is it likely to influence the Pigeon Detectives in the future?

“Sure, without a doubt. Everything we see or hear every single day has an influence. I believe the human brain is a sponge and tends to hold on most ferociously to the things that excite and inspire. It’s only natural that when trying to express yourself artistically at a later date the things you’ve stored will play a part and have some influence.”

In the meantime, thanks for your time, enjoy Southsea Fest and good luck with the rest of the tour.

“Thanks a lot. Thanks for the questions and see you at the Festival. Cheers….”