06 June 2010 (released)
15 June 2010
Penguins Kill Polar Bears formed in Winter 2008, bringing their own alternative breed of indie pop to Edinburgh’s booming unsigned music scene. Hailing from self-described 'drab and drizzly’ Scottish town Linlithgow, Penguins Kill Polar Bears are Ben, Gavin, Kieran and John.
Penguins Kill Polar Bears provide a delicate yet fearsome live performance whenever they take to the stage, combining traditionally beautiful Scottish vocals with atmospheric volume and indie laced guitar-lead tunes. As the band prepare to release their first EP on June 19th, Music News reporter Susan Ford caught up with the band to talk headlining tours, the serious odds of a penguin killing a polar bear, or as almost proved on stage, a drum kit killing a person!
Who are Penguins Kill Polar Bears and what's your story?
Penguins kill polar bears are a group of friends who write music together. We all went to school together and played in different bands, most of them were pretty heavy...
The band properly kicked off writing, recording and gigging around April 2009. We like to record all our own songs so we can work on them as much as possible and see where we can improve parts and add some extra bits in where possible. We all take influences from different musical genres so we try our best to combine our musical skills to write the best songs we can.
Where does your unique band name come from?
Lot's of people have asked us this one, so I guess we better come up with a good story. We decided on the name after we started talking about what animals would be good in a fight together. Since they both live at opposite poles it's a fight that's never going to properly kick off. Ben thought that a large enough huddle of penguins could easily kill a polar bear using their stealthy moves and fantastic magic skills. We liked the thought of the underdog winning in a fight against the only bear roaming the North Pole and it stuck.
Describe your music for those who are yet to hear it?
We like to write songs with some dynamism behind them, the kind of music that makes you want to go outside and climb a mountain and relax at the top and enjoy the view. It's intense at times, but we know how to get some chilled out vibes going. Imagine the ginormous sound of Mogwai funnelled through the anthemic power of Manchester Orchestra...
How do you go about penning lyrics and writing songs?
We're not really sure how we go about writing lyrics; we usually write the songs first and then get a feel for it. The lyrics tend to have a negative vibe to them; it works well as an emotional out put.
What can you give away about the new EP?
We're going to be recording some older as well as some newer material for our first EP. We're still working on other new songs but we felt that it was about time that people could get a collection of our songs that we have written past and present and have played at shows all over Scotland. We're going to be recorded the majority of the release ourselves so we can spend as much time as possible refining our sound to the way we want it.
Where do you draw influence in lyric and content from?
We all take our influences from different bands across a few different genres of music. Some of the main ones for us would be Aereogramme, The Appleseed Cast, The Smashing Pumpkins and Minus The Bear.
Who is your favourite live act to see as a fan yourself?
We love playing shows with local bands, I think it's safe to say we all love watching Lightguides play. Nothing better than watching David Cowan slay his drum kit like a knight slaying an angry dragon.
Do you think you take anything from admirable live performances as mentioned above into your own live performances?
We all try to play with as much energy as possible, I guess at the end of the day, our goal is to get out there and play our music as passionately and as well as we can. We've had one incident where Ben took on our drummer Kieran and his drum kit mid show but sadly the drum kit won the fight and Ben ended up unconscious on the floor. Drum Kit 1- Ben 0
What have you got lined up in terms of live performances?
We're currently in the process of planning some dates for a tour after we launch our debut EP at Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh on the 19th of June.
We're also hitting the road with our buds in The Whisky Works in May. We're going to be playing the places we won’t get to on our EP launch and plan on having a blast the whole time!
What can fans expect from a live show?
"A big sound and a lot of power but delivered in a way you wouldn't expect. Equal measures of restraint and excess, which tend to reflect the song of the moment. Penguins Kill Polar Bears definitely give a very honest performance, which is much to their credit - As Ben's lyrics reflect the songs, so to do the band on stage. They are something to be experienced as reasonably, Penguins Kill Polar Bears' performance will never translate to words without losing some of its energy and vibrancy" Seoridh Fraser, lions.chase.tigers
What’s next for Penguins Kill Polar Bears?
We're launching the EP on June the 19th at Sneaky Petes and touring on that for a short time at the end of June, hopefully we'll get some festivals under our belts before summer is out. We'll just have to wait and see.
Photo © Matt Beech
mattbeech.com
Live Dates
Edinburgh - Sneaky Pete's - 19.06.10
Dundee - Westport Bar - 23.06.10
Aberdeen - Cafe Drummonds - 24.06.10
Stirling - Cape w/ Sound of Guns - 25.06.10
Glasgow - King Tut's w/ Sound of Guns - 26.06.10
Bathgate - Harley's - 27.06.10
London - The Watershed - 16.07.10
London - The Enterprise - 17.07.10
London - Wimbledon Calling w/ The Xcerts - 18.07.10
Glasgow - King Tut's - 22.07.10
