Foto-© Stephan Strache

Während unsere Freunde vom Maifeld Derby gerade via täglichen Adventskalender-Line-Up-Ankündigungen (bisher: Slowdive, Orbit und Chalk) die Vorfreude auf die nächste Festival-Ausgabe (31.05. – 02.06.2024) kontinuierlich steigert, arbeiten wir noch die Interviews vom diesjährigen Festival ab! Wir trafen Ella, Josh und Louis von PVA in einer Box im Backstage Bereich des Maifeld Derby. Aufgrund der einsetzenden Dämmerung ging es zuerst auf den Maimarkt Parkplatz für ein paar Fotos. Anfangs wirkten die drei etwas abwesend und gestresst von ihrer Anreise. Bereits während der Fotos tauten sie aber auf und wir trafen auf unheimlich humorvolle und spannende Gesprächspartner*innen.

You already had a festival gig yesterday?
Ella: Yes we already played a European festival gig yesterday. It is nice to see all these different places and it is very exciting to see this specific places and all the different cultures.

You’re traveling from the UK. Did Brexit influence these trips?
Ella: Yes. It is stupid. Brexit was stupid.
Josh: Everything got more tricky. It is more work and more expensive to go on a Europe tour. We got a terrible government.

So it would it be easier without it?
Josh: Without the government? (Alle lachen)
Ella: It would be much better without.

Which festivals did you play?
Josh: Yesterday we played in an old prison. With different stages in the different courts. It was a very special place. Kind of scary. And last weekend we went to Poland. It was like a giant exhibition centre or something like that. We played on a massive stage. The PA was amazing and we had a good crowd. Some couple of weeks ago we played Fusion festival. It was a similar time slot to this one.
Ella: It was amazing.
Josh: The night before we played there we had an accident by car. Luckily nothing really bad happened and we could play Fusion. But we were shocked.

You played festivals all summer and in winter you come on tour again?
Ella: Are we? We haven’t been told yet. (Alle lachen.)
Louis: I thought we are working on a new record. We got an album to finish. And we are playing in LA.

So the next album is coming?
Louis: We hope so. We taking focus on new songs.

Two years ago you played SXSW?
Josh: We couldn’t go because of COVID, so we only played the digital festival but stayed in UK.
Ella: Which isn’t quite the same. (Alle lachen.)
Josh: Everything was filmed in the UK.
Ella: We haven’t found the right time to go to SXSW. It is really expensive. And we don’t have any money. Perhaps we need some more albums before. But I’m sure we will be playing there one time.

We hope it will work out. One of our regular questions – what ist first: melody or lyric?
Louis: Drum beats. (Alle lachen.)
Ella: I think I read a really cool interview by Aldous Harding. For her latest album, she said she let it flow, getting inspired by the music. I would also think that I’m getting inspired by the music. And then the lyrics, the words fly by. It’s way easier to sing by a sound, which already exist.

And if you’ve got the right words? You sing it yourself? Or are any of you helping?
Josh: I’ll put some backing vocals. And if a melody comes to my mind I’ll try to do a bit more, I guess.
Ella: Josh is a really good singer, a really good vocalist and a good creator. It is good in a band, if everyone can help to create a song.
Josh: I don’t have that practice. So it is difficult sometimes to write lyrics.

So maybe you will sing more on the new album.
Josh: Maybe. Let’s see, what we will create.
Ella: Or Lois has to sing more. He also has a wonderful voice.

So you want both guys getting more involved into singing.
Ella: Yeah, this will be a new chapter.

Which is your favorite song of your own?
Ella: One we play?

Yeah.
Ella: Oh, I don’t know. I think of Blush my favorite song is Kim. I really like this song when we play it. I love the lyrics and I think our crowd loves this song too. So I think Kim is my favorite.

Most Energy?
Ella: I think so.
Josh: I would go for Untethered. It has a lot of personal DNA of us in it. The way it came out was very natural.
Louis: My favorite song is a song we are working on at the moment. The song isn’t released yet.
Ella: It is so lucid.
Louis: Undercover.
Ella: My song is undercover. But we will play two new songs this set. Songs you haven’t heard before.
Josh: We are not very used to them.
Ella: We were playing them for the first time last night and looking at the crowd.

So you still get a bit nervous?
Ella: Always when you play a new song. It is always a vulnerable thing to play new music on stage. Will the audience love it as much as we love it. Last night we was a bit nervous to play the new songs. The crowd was also rather subdued for the still unknown songs. And then we played Kim and everybody was dancing. It was a nice feeling.

But today is a new day. Just because a new song didn’t work yesterday doesn’t mean it has to be the same today. And sometimes it also helps if your crowd already knows a song.
Josh: It certainly helps when the crowd knows a song and likes it. It’s also always up to us as a band and our own expectations. But today our two new songs are getting a second chance. Even if we weren’t happy with the reactions yesterday, it can be completely different today. With the new stuff, we can also feel the uncertainty in the audience. They understand that they hear it for the first time.

Would you name an artist, which has great influence to your work?
Josh: It is hard for me to pin only one.
Ella: Dry Cleaning. The band is lyrically and personally and metaphysically important for me.
Louis: I don’t think, I can pin it on one person. My influences are quite in changes. I think for the instrument I play, Erik Bodin of Little Dragon is phenomenal. He got so much personality in his performance. He just looks like the coolest person ever. I listen to quite a lot of pop. I love relaxed ambient sounds and think about, how we can relate it to electronic music. Maybe with a light darker touch.

Would you tell our readers something about your band history?
Ella: Josh and I have been producing tracks since 2017. We established the genre “Country-Friend Techno”. We got to know Louis at our first gigs and he took our live performances to a new level with his percussion. Then there was even more energy. We played shows with Goat Girl, shame and Dry Cleaning. Our support shows helped us to gain a foothold in the UK.

From my point of view, the best music ever has always come from the UK for decades. Why is that?
Ella: Because our government is so shit. Our country is a piece of shit. There are people in our country, that are piece of shit. The coldness and indifference in society creates a sense of suffering that musicians sublimate into creativity. I was thinking about it the other day. I was thinking why so many bands come from the UK although the country is so shitty.
Josh: We have virtually nearly no support for musicians. No support from labels or venues for the artist. Many musicians are in a very bad financial situation at the beginning. So you have to really want it and have your own drive to make music and keep at it. As sad as it is, this hard school certainly leads to good bands. You only do it, if you really want to make music.
Ella: It is more punk I guess. When we play European festivals other bands tell us, they get founded by the government. In UK we have very less. For example this weekend at a venue in South London friends are putting on a festival by theirselves. It is much more diy, also everything is so expensive. That is, why the UK is very special, because doing this thing, while everything is try to stop doing it, creates something special. You feel special doing it.
Josh: I know it’s a shitty narrative. Survival of the fittest. As if capitalism promotes music.

When we go to London – what should we see?
Ella: Superstore. And don’t get hit by a car. Victorias East. Perhaps find a good pub and ask where to go. I think East London will be a good place. We all were born in London but the rents rose so much. It is so expensive.
Josh: Since COVID the prices were rising more than 25 percent. So many people have to move to the outskirts. I do love this city. There are a lot of people there. I love the energy and the creativity. But it is hard to live there.

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with us.
Ella: With pleasure. It’s always nice to talk to other people about music before our show.

Nach dem Interview ziehen wir gemeinsam aufs Festivalgelände.