We grabbed Danny Harley from Pigeon for a bit of a chat before they head out to launch their latest single, Oh Hebe.
How long have you been together?
Pigeon have been together now for about a year-and-a-half.
How did you all meet?
Most of us met at high school through various projects and musical endeavors. Chris (bass) and I have been playing in bands since we were 14 and I met Luke through an unassuming passion for jazz. Aaron has always been around playing whatever he could get his hands on and I met Nick at university studying music and boom bap pow… Pigeon was born.
You're on tour in the van – which band or artist is going to keep the most people happy if we throw them on the stereo?
This is a scenario that we run into quite often. Our meeting point is usually somewhere around electronic indie pop stuff. Fail-safe artists that always get a work out in the CD player of the van are Miike Snow, Delphic, Royksopp, Bag Raiders, SBTRKT and that sort of stuff…
Would you rather be a busted broke-but-revered Hank Williams figure or some kind of Metallica monster?
I think as a group we'd probably strive to be a Metallica-like monster and then use the truckloads of cash from that to fund our ventures into other areas of music in which we can make ambient/noise music to show to our parents. Ha ha. No, we're very much about having fun so the more people having a sweet time with us the better really. Bring on the stadium tour.
Which Brisbane bands before you have been an inspiration (musically or otherwise)?
Ooooh, nice question. I think definitely for me and a few others The Butterfly Effect were always a band we loved and looked up to. A bit of a strange one for us but they're amazing. However, we're more influenced by current Brisbane bands at the moment; bands like Tin Can Radio, The Belligerents, The Jungle Giants, and The Cairos. There's definitely heaps of good music coming out of Brisbane at the moment. Get on it!
What part do you think Brisbane plays in the music you make?
Well firstly it's where we write all of our music, it's where we live, and it's where we get most people along to a show so for us it's hugely important. It's a definite influence and I think it'd be difficult not to get influenced by what's around you. I think the main affect it has on us as a band is its healthy music scene and getting to see other bands doing similar things and drawing inspiration from that.
Is your band responsible for more make-outs or break-ups? Why?
Hmmm… well I guess I'd have to say make-outs purely because the majority of the band have girlfriends so that's a fair few make-outs right there, not to mention our saxophone player's tour escapades. Line up ladies. We write music to create a party atmosphere and for people to have a good time so I'd hope that we'd be responsible for more make-outs for sure. Break-ups suck.
What reality TV show would you enter as a band and why?
We wouldn't say no to a cameo on The Shire… That was a joke. That show is a step backwards for the human race. Maybe we'd enter Luke into Farmer Wants A Wife, I think he could pull off 'Farmer'. Or maybe as a whole band we'd do Big Brother just so we could get some decent rehearsal time and maybe track an album, the free time would be much appreciated.
If your band had to play a team sport instead of being musicians which sport would it be and why would you be triumphant?
We're gentle fellows so I doubt we'd be any good at something like rugby. I think something like a winter sport… curling perhaps? That sport is awesome. It's like boules on ice. Chris (bass player by day, manager by night) is great at cleaning up after us so he could be that guy at the front with the broom. I really hope anyone reading this has seen curling before. Look it up on YouTube, it's a riot.
What's in the pipeline for the band in the short term?
We've just finished up a tour with The Belligerents and we're about to head off on our own headline tour happening most places between here and Adelaide. The Brisbane show is at Alhambra on the Saturday 11 August. The tour is to promote our new single Oh Hebe, which you can find on triple j Unearthed or watch the video on YouTube. It's a taste of new music from an EP we're recording currently which will be out around October/November. See you there!