Music, Style & Culture

Best Of 2011: Peggy Sue: ‘We’ve Finally Worked Out How We Fit Together’

DIY spoke to guitarist Katy about the ins, outs and behind-the-scenes info regarding the album.

‘Acrobat’, the second album by Peggy Sue, seemed to come out of nowhere. Well, that’s not completely true - the Brighton band’s debut was released in April 2010 to positive jottings and acquiring a growing fan base in the meantime.

But while ‘Fossils & Other Phantoms’ showed a capable but somewhat disparate band, ‘Acrobats’ - one of our top releases of 2011 - displays a darker side to the band, as they create a brooding and multi-layered stormer of a record.

DIY spoke to the band’s guitarist Katy about the ins, outs and behind-the-scenes info regarding the album.

It took you a few years of releasing a handful of EPs and singles before you made your debut and then you went and brought two full-lengths out in as many years. What do you think was the reasoning behind this?
Yeah, I think after the first record we finally worked out how we fitted together as a threepiece. When we first went into the studio, it was still quite new to us and we didn’t have a completed picture of what we were supposed to be doing but I do think we gained that, especially with ‘Acrobats’. We became a lot more confident and comfortable with our roles in the band, I feel.

When you first went into the studio to record ‘Acrobats’, were you thinking and reflecting on your debut at all? Were there any weaknesses you thought it had that you were trying to overcome?
Well, we did really love ‘Fossils and Other Phantoms’. While we were happy with it, a product of the way that we recording it was that it ended up a bit all over the place. Thus we did want ‘Acrobats’ to be more cohesive, so I guess we learnt that from recording the first album.
And I definitely think we achieved this. For example, ‘Acrobats’ was recorded with just one producer so it flows better. Also, while ‘Fossils...’ represents about a year and a half in the band, ‘Acrobats’ documents only a months in one place.

Was it good to have this pressure on you? Did it help you focus as a band?
Of course but I wouldn’t necessarily say that there was any particular pressure laid on us, just that it was a more intense period of time. It was good because when recording ‘Fossils’, we didn’t have a label or anything - but this time we did and it meant that we could just move to Bristol and treat it as a 9-5 job, where we would have a routine of getting up early in the morning and going to the studio for the day. It meant that we could put all our efforts into shaping where the album was going, along with being able to see it as a whole - rather than just working on a few tracks here and there.

And Bristol’s such a wonderful city for music too, how was recording there?
We originally went to record there because that’s where John Parish [producer and PJ Harvey collaborator] lives. It’s a nice size, has a great music studio and recorded an amazing studio - so it was quite perfect an environment really. We’ve been based in Brighton for a while but it’s nice to have another city that feels a bit like home.
We’ve actually played there quite a few times in the past and it’s always been enjoyable. We played a particular show at The Louisiana around the time of our album release actually. It’s a venue that we all really love so that was nice to go back to the city and think “Ah, our album was recorded here”. It was a very fun night.

How do you think your sound grew or varied between the two records? This new one is definitely more electronically-tinged.
I’d agree with that, but it was never a case of us sitting down and making a conscious decision to change. I think there was one moment when we listened to a few tracks and thought “Oh shit, this doesn’t sound like we used to!” It wasn’t pre-meditated thing but more of a natural reaction to things we were into. We liked how the album was sounding so we just went with it and I’m glad we did.

Your first single ‘D.U.M.B.O’ was definitely a good choice for the lead as it’s a clear standout track. Could you tell us a bit about this song?
That’s actually the oldest song that made it onto the album, in a matter of fact. I think we started writing it around two years ago, probably, and the title is taken from an area in Brooklyn where we had recorded the first record. We were all pretty amazed at all these ridiculous real estate man-made areas that we were surrounded by in New York.
I think it’s one of the most expansive tracks on the record, as it probably has the biggest vocals on the album and three different drum parts. It works well because it could have so easily have sounded like it belonged on ‘Fossils...’ had we recorded it slightly different, but it was one of the numbers that John totally transformed and brought out of its shell.

You mentioned earlier that you always have too much material to use, were there any songs that you were sad that the fans weren’t going to hear; or ones that may have fitted well on the LP in retrospect?
Well there’s one song that we recorded that ended up being the iTunes bonus track. This was definitely one that we always thought had to see the light of day in some form or another. It’s called ‘This Constant Night’ and because we’ve since incorporated into our live shows just like any of the other songs, it’s become just like one of the others on the record. But I guess it’s quite sad that not everyone will get to hear it.
Because of the quick turnaround of ‘Acrobats’ compared to ‘Fossils...’ before it, we were always working on tracks with the intent to release them. If we thought something wasn’t strong enough then we’d just give up on it, whereas this probably wouldn’t have been the case in the earlier days.
We do get a bit impatient about new songs though, wanting to put it out as soon as possible because obviously the most recent track is always the most fresh and your current favourite. But I think we’re getting a bit better at being reassured that things will be released eventually, especially now that we know we’ll be allowed to make a new album or new EP. So if something doesn’t quite make it this time round, we could always work on it again next time perhaps.

How do you feel the album was received as a whole? Are you happy with the response?
As a band, I think we were a lot more attentive to reviews the first time round too. That was definitely a learning curve for us. We try not to do that as much now. I’ve read some reviews of ‘Acrobats’ that label it as the angriest material we’ve ever produced, while others would class it as the most composed and confident thing we’ve done as a band. So I think it’s better to try not to care about all that anymore.

Also, you earlier mentioned a potential new EP and album - will either of these grace our music folders and CD racks in 2012 by any chance?
Hopefully! We’re always the ones who are like “let’s do it right now!” and it’s other people that tell us not to be so ridiculous.
It’s worried us a bit that once we get that realisation that we completely know what we’re doing that it would become not as exciting, so I think it may now be the right time to mix things up a little. I think we’re going to do a lot of covers and demo next year, just something different. We don’t want to get lazy about things.
We recently wrote a soundtrack to a film at this cinema in Hackney Wick, which was a really cool experience. So we’re currently finding a way of maybe putting that out as an EP.

Peggy Sue's new album 'Acrobats’ came 49th in our Top 50 Albums Of 2011. Read numbers 50 - 41 here.