Baby Honey says, 'YES' to 'Say No To Love.' (Mini-interview with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's Kip and Peggy)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart release a new single, 'Say No To Love' on June the 8th. And it's a cracker, already sounding like the soundtrack to my summer. It pulls off that particularly POBPAH trick of sounding both profoundly melancholic and like the most life-affirming thing you've ever heard. So raise your skinny fists to heaven and get ready to embrace what singer Kip Berman describes as; "three chords, a fuzz pedal and lots of feelings."

Below Kip and Peggy from the band talk about the song in more detail, as well as hula-hoops, great bands and why Kip decided not to get 'Rock'n'Roll Forever' tattooed on his forearm.

You can hear the single here.

It's so good to have The Pains back! Can you tell us a little more about the new single, 'Say No To Love?'

Kip: It's a song about a girl taking charge of her life, rejecting a guy who's pouring on sentiment in a way that overreaches reality. When you're young, it's so easy to get sucked into this hyper-adolescent idea of love, where it's more important than anything and used to justify and opiate the true sources of dissatisfaction in your life. But you have to go out in the world, live your life, do things and not define your life so explicitly in relation to someone else, especially when you're so young. It's about knowing you need to follow your dreams, not your heart.

You'll be spending June touring the states, do you actually have time to do anything other than write, record and tour at the moment? When can we expect to see you back in the UK?

Kip: I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing than playing music, so the fact that we get to do it nearly constantly is pretty amazing to me and something I'm really grateful for. I also believe there's something about the day in and day out dedication of being in a band that makes the music stronger-- knowing that you'll be playing your songs every night, you want them to be as perfect as you are capable of making them. It would be a nightmare Groundhog Day scenario if you woke up and were forced to perform something of little worth to new people every day. This last year of near constant touring has taught us the importance of making sure what we say, what we make is something we can say and live with and never feel shame or regret.

Peggy: I almost feel like I have too much free time at the moment! We haven't been on tour since February. I've been playing this video game called Peggle, and I got a Tivo. And I've been throwing epic 90s dance parties. We'll be back to the UK in July, it's been wayyyy too long.

Kip: Yeah, we'll be back in the UK in July to play Latitude and Indietracks, but aside from a show in London and Brighton, we won't be playing any other dates around the country, as we'll be using some time over there to work on finishing up our new record. That being said, I'm sure we'll be previewing a few new songs in our set.

Ahh, Indietracks! Have you ever been before? It's like being inside an Enid Blyton novel (only with Indiepop and llamas.)

Peggy: I'm so psyched to be playing Indietracks! Even if the summer is long and boring and stupid, at least I have something to look forward to. I can't wait to see the Pooh Sticks and White Town and the Primitives and Veronica Falls and lots of other bands and hang out with our friends from all over the world. It sounds legendary.

Kip: I've wanted to attend Indietracks desperately since 2007. It's a festival that truly celebrates the kind of bands that exhibit the values and spirit of music I love most. We've even tried to play in the past, but the scheduling and distance was too difficult for us to make it over. I am grateful this year we'll get to do it, and it's a massive honor to be headlining the festival. Last year Teenage Fanclub played, and they're such a tremendous influence to us. Plus, so many of our favourite bands are playing like Blanche Hudson Weekend, Love is All, Shrag, Veronica Falls, and our labelmates on Fortuna Pop, Allo Darlin.

And can we assume that this single means a new LP is on the horizon?

Kip: We're heading into the studio to start working on some demos this weekend, and then we'll start recording in earnest in late June and early July. It's hard to speak of something that doesn't yet exist, but we're all really excited about the opportunity to record the new songs we've written. I think the most important thing to us has always been good songs, so while we'll take care to make things sound the way we want as best we can, the focus will remain on the songs. In many ways it'll be no different than how we mentally approached the first record, but I know we'll have a bit more time and opportunity to fully realize the sound we want.

What have you been listening to recently?

Peggy: Right now I'm obsessed with the Strawberry Switchblade song, 'Vicious.' But in other news, I've been into Fergus & Geronimo, The Drums, Twin Sister. And umm, lately I've been into Blake Babies.

Kip: The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream album, The Prids yet-to-be-released Chronosynclastic (they're old friends of mine and gave me a sneak peek), The Slumberland re-issue of Chin Chin's Sound of the Westway, Titus Andronicus' The Monitor, The Depreciation Guild's Spirit Youth, The Secret History's The World That Never Was, the most recent Black Tambourine re-issue and some minimal wave re-issue compilations on, perfectly enough, Minimal Wave Records.

As for the Titus Andronicus record, to me it's a perfect example of a band that looked inward and became even more of themselves. I loved their first record, but this new one seems like they pushed the boundaries of that record and became even more Titus Andronicus, if that makes sense. It's sprawling, unabashedly lyrical, smart, heroicly self-depracating, yet self affirming, and most importantly emotionally sincere. Its scale is epic. There are no singles, but it is not delberately difficult-- it is difficult because that's what it needs to be to express itself perfectly. There is an honesty, a true genius in Patrick Stickles songwriting that makes me hang on every word.

Tell us a secret.

Kip: I like watching (American) Football and eating Nachos.

Peggy: I'll just say, "Ask me about my hula hoop."

Do you have any tattoos?

Peggy: NOPE. But I have 3 piercings in each ear.

Kip: No, in fact no one in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has any. When I was a lot younger and in school, I wanted to get "Rock'n'Roll Forever" tattooed on my arm. I still believe in the spirit behind that wish, but am glad I expressed it a different way.

If I got a tattoo today it would probably say, "Mom (sorry)."

Cannanes mini-interview and download!

Frances Gibson from the legendary Cannanes here takes time out from her incredibly busy schedule to answer some questions exclusively for Baby Honey!

It's such a treat to have The Cannanes back! And with a new single and British shows too! I'm very excited about the forthcoming split with (Baby Honey favourites) Summer Cats and Soft Paw in particular. Can you tell us a little about how that single came about and what will be on it?

Well the song is called 'Truth B2031A.' It’s a little bit about bushfires as they were much on our mind at the time as 50 houses burnt down where we live and 173 people died not too far away(Feb 2009). Scott from the Summer Cats has long been a friend and also a supporter during some bad OS touring experiences and he asked us to do it, and we are pleased to oblige of course. Not sure what will be on it from the others as we haven't heard it yet.

There's three(!) new albums on the way too? How is this even possible? What form do they take and when can we expect to hear them?

How is it possible they haven't come out 5 years ago is more the question! But stuff happens in life and sometimes you cannot get what you would like done unfortunately.

Well there is one album we recorded a few years ago which we are not so sure about and may come out in the form of an EP maybe. There's some good songs but the band wasn't really together when recording and we didn't do that great a job. The sound is sort of arty barbecue like I guess...

Second album we recorded with Explosion Robinson in New York and he is working on this but is so busy it will take a while. I expect it will be well worth the wait as he is a whiz to put it mildly. There's some pretty good songs on that one.

Then...there is the album we recorded just before Christmas known as LAWN 2 (Love Affair With Nature 2) which was recorded with Francesca Bussey and David Nichols and James Dutton - people we have played with on older recordings. They are coming this weekend to work on that one and get most of the overdubs done we hope.

I won't even go on about the 40 tracks we recorded with Stewart Anderson a number of years ago which are sitting on an old Mac and one day we hope will be finished off if technology can reach back that far in time.

And you're playing Indietracks! That's going to be amazing. Have you been before or heard about it? It's quite the most perfect festival ever.

It looks pretty fabulous. I was supposed to be back in Sydney well before then but pleaded to get the trip extended as it looked good and something unusual and the chance mightn't come again. It is so long since I have spent any time in England it will be odd. I lived in London for a year once and spent quite a bit of time in Nottingham and when I went back to Australia I was so miserable and thought I had made a bad choice by coming home . I recovered long ago of course but it will be good to be back even if for a short while.

And tell us a little about 'Short Poppy Syndrome' the Cannanes documentary. Were the band involved in the making of it all? The UK premier is coming up right? Didn't you design a Converse trainer too? How on earth did that come about?

We were only involved in the making of the film by being in it I think . With some dreadful hairstyles etc on my part I remember. The film makers moved on to other things so it was never quite finished but will have a showing in Newcastle with live performance and we hope may be able to come out with a Best Of compilation

We were going to put out a Best Of in the near future but Stephen said last week he is so excited by the new recordings we have to wait to see what should go on there from then.

The film is by turns funny and rather embarrassing but what can you do? It is the past. I hope it makes sense to people who don't know the band.

The shoe - Well Converse asked us to contribute to 100 artists designing shoes and we got Davo as we knew he would do a good job. They are a pretty impressive shoe I have to say and I don’t give a toss about shoes normally

Let's go back to the beginning. How did The Cannanes form? You (Frances) were a founder member right? How did the hook up with Calvin and K come about?

Despite being around since 1985 it is often pointed out cruelly to me that I am NOT a founding member. You know I can't remember but its all at www.cannanes.com- Here's a sample

"The Cannanes really began as an imaginary band of David Nichols, featuring friends Annabel Bleach and Michelle Cannane. The fiction sort of became reality when David moved to Sydney from Melbourne in Oct. '84. This lineup did not really change until early '85, but Michelle was rarely available, besides which, none of the members could actually play instruments. However in December one song was recorded with these 3 involved

Annabel and David had written some lyrics, notably "The Cannanes"(later changed to "Tales of the Brave Cannanes" to suit their fixation with 60's supergroup Cream "Ode to Cream " (aka "Shower Scene Backstage at the Fillmore"): Stephen ONeil who lived across the road had written music, or so he claimed, and so one afternoon in December the four rehearsed in the 'family room' at 202. At this session they composed and recorded "The Cannanes" and "Ode to Cream" (one rendition of which featured a guest performance from "Triffid" Alsy MacDonald), the same versions now found at the beginning of "Rarities". This is the first time Annabel sang in the group. David was too nervous to play. Many songs were composed over this 3 month period, sometimes with and sometimes without Fran.Gibson Towards the end of the band's usage of this title, Stephen, Annabel and David recorded the 12 copies of the cassette single "Life"/"It's Hardly Worth It" individually. 3 shops were chosen to sell 3 copies each. Covers were individually made.

Then Fran, Stephen, Annabel, David and Michelle combined to record what was to become "The Cannanes Came Across With The Goods." It was to be a C30 cassette, side one beginning with "Hell & Back" and side two with "Sunday". "Bone " was to be excluded as it was cut off half way through. Many more songs had been composed including "Happy Was A Fly", "Skeleton is your Little Boy", "You're So Groovy", "Sunday" and "Gloom Turns to Boom" (pt.2).

The line-up in the Cannanes Mk. 2 was usually Annabel, David, Stephen, and Fran more often than not. A,D + S had busking forays in the streets of Sydney, including one marathon outside the Hellenic Hall recalled here by David's brother -

"In 1985 I was 16 years old. I was studying year 11 biology at high school. My main interests were gardening and golf. Something has changed in the intervening period... At easter time of that year my sister and I visited David in Sydney. His house had a tabloid newspaper poster in the kitchen which said "Skeleton is your little boy". On Saturday night there was some kind of benefit concert at the Hellenic Hall in Abercrombie St. with lots of punk bands playing. The Cannanes took two guitars and a drum, some cider and Tamsin and me and set up a sign outside saying "the Cannanes play 40 of their greatest hits" (or something like that). Not much money or interest was raised, but I do seem to remember an ugly drunken couple dirty-dancing (ahead of their time) to some tune or other, accompanied by Annabel's taunts. It took me a bit more than all this to convince me that The Cannanes were a 'band' but it was a start."
Michael Forbes Nichols Sydney, Australia 27/7/1990"

Calvin and David were/are pen pals. We played with him on recent Australian tour.

What's the line-up of the band at the moment? I believe you have a kind of rotating cast of oddball geniuses currently.

I don’t know about genii but David Nichols and Francesca Bussey and James Dutton are doing stuff and we hope others like Stewart Anderson and Shintaro Kiyonari and Guy Blackman and of course Explosion Robinson will in the future,

It will be just Stephen O'Neil and I in the UK and we hope to have help from Sarandon folk on bass and drums for a couple of songs.

You're heavily involved with the campaign to save small live music venues in Australia. What's the situation with that at the moment? Is there some kind of petition our thousands (cough) of readers can sign?

There was a great march in Melbourne-Basically it is about the usual- gentrification and people not wanting music in their areas and also badly thought out legislation trying to curb alcohol fuelled violence which doesn’t even happen in most original music venues, but laws were passed requiring bouncers even for a pub with an acoustic guitarist in it and forcing live music to stop at 12 pm and even earlier. And charging very expensive licence fees.

There is a petition I have signed but not sure about online. You know anyway - Think globally, act locally - so you readers go and make sure you look after music in your town!

What are The Cannanes listening to at the moment? Have you heard Milk Teddy, the band that Scott Summer Cats has been producing? We like them.

No haven’t heard Milk Teddy. I have been listening to some music from some surfing people - Windy Hill from Byron Bay and a reissue of the Chads Tree albums and stuff from Canadian songwriters James Keelaghan & Hugh McMillan - kind of folky - and Djan Djan who are : Mamadou Diabate, Bobby Singh & Jeff Lang whom I saw on the weekend, and I bought that Grizzly Bear album, and I had a ridiculous Stevie Nicks phase for a while

Tell us a secret.

I saw the Pixies and they were bad. Is that a secret? A real secret is that we haven’t played since one night in Mexico City in 2008 and I am rather scared about our shows in the UK.

Do you have any tattoos?

Nuh. I can't think of anything I would want indelibly written on me. I did think for a second I could have the word Newtown (where I lived and am about to live again in Sydney) once but I would never bother. Pain is to be avoided in my world. Most tattoos are a bit pathetic I have to say but I don't care if others want them. I am surprised they are still in fashion though.

Cannanes: Cardboard (Download)
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Sourpatch mini-interview and download!

Hello Sourpatch, discovering your band helped make 2009 a great year for me, and your wonderful hit single 'I Want You Either Way' made my Top 20 Songs list. What were your favourite songs, LPs, new bands, popshows of 2009?

Rich: My favourites of 2009 were Leaving Mornington Crescent, new Magrudergrind LP, Roskopp, Superbad (R.I.P), Fleabag, new Pants Yell LP, Grass Widow records.

Nicole: New Julie Doiron, the new Rose Melberg.

Christine: Raincoats reissue, Mirah, Brilliant Colors, Screaming Females, Songs for Moms.

Mander: Pains of Being Pure at Heart LPs.

And what does 2010 hold for the band? Any new records? World tour? We'd love to see you come to the UK and there's a Baby Honey gig waiting for you if you want it!

Mander: Robo tripping.

Nicole: More videos, new recordings, and spring tour with Fleabag!

Rich: We have enough to make another LP so hopefully something/anything new on vinyl and we'd love to go to England, but probably not till next year, can anyone help?

Your sound reminds me of some of my favourite bands ever; Velocity Girl, Spinanes, Tiger Trap and Go Sailor! particularly. Were these important groups for you? Any more influences we should know about?

Rich: Wow! Ummmm...yea, they are important, we have so many influences it would take a whole storybook to name 'em all, but here are some more...

Nicole: Mazzy Star, The Cranberries, Gayle Garnett, Victory at Sea, Pam Berry.

Mander: Billie Holiday, Henry's Dress, Crass, Cub.

Christine: Kate Bush, Boyracer, The Raincoats, Aisler Set, Odetta, Bessie Smith, Patti Smith, Chrissy Hynde, Amelia Fletcher, Janet Weiss.

Rich: Superchunk, Undertones, anything Tracy Thorn, Allison Statton, The Wipers, The Lemonheads, Mary Lou Lord, That Dog, KIT, Dear Nora, this list could go on a lot longer!

Crushin' is a nigh-on perfect debut LP, any plans to release it in the UK? The shipping costs are crazy!

Mander: That would be awesome!!

Rich: If anyone offered we'd probably do that..hint hint!

The video for 'IWYEW' is ace and makes me want to pack a bag and head for California every time I watch it. What's the 'scene' like in San Jose? Is it a big Indiepop town? Any other local bands you'd like to recommend?

Rich: I honestly think we don't know or fit in to a lot of the local indiepop scene. I would like to play with a lot more pop bands but we tend to stick to a more punk/d.i.y side of the bay area. No dis, it's just that we aren't very clean cut in looks or sound.

Christine: The indie pop scene as it's defined here is more radio friendly. and when I say that I mean that the sound is more like the newest Built to Spill or Modest Mouse or new Stereolab; bands that are well known but still have roots and connections in the indie scene. The sound that we like to play is more punk than it is pop, or at least we'd like to think so.

Rich: The bay area scene is very hit or miss, we usually have more fun at small house shows than at legitimate venues so we try to play those more. Some great bands to check out; Opt Out, Fischer, Trouble, Trainwreck Riders, Ovens, Young Offenders.

Mander: Fleabag, Godstomper, Songs for Moms.

Nicole: Ugly Winner.

Christine: Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, Albert Square, Forever ( who live in Portland now), Younger Lovers.

Not many people actually read our blog at the moment, so we're trying to bribe people to come visit by giving them free stuff. Do you have anything knocking around on mp3 we could shove in their direction if we make them promise to buy the LP?

Rich: Umm, well the only thing we have is this acoustic version of a song that nicole had recorded to show us all.

Christine: We recorded it with all of us but it got cut on the record, maybe it'll be on a comp in the future!?

Sourpatch: Party Of Five (Download)

Your Myspace status reads: "Fuckin' Pan! Fuckin' Cakes!" and, as it's recently been Pancake Day in the UK, this would seem like the ideal time to share Sourpatch's perfect pancake recipe with our readers.

Rich: You have a pancake day? Do your pancakes mean the same as ours?

Mandi: Go bananas for pancakes!

Christine: It's actually national pancake day here in the US on Feb 23rd, but I'm a waffle person myself.

Tell us a secret.

Rich: If Nicole drinks and smokes weed at the same time she freezes up like a vegetable and is scared of everything! It's pretty ridiculous.

Mandi: Plus she has four nipples. No joke.

Do you have any tattoos?

Rich: Yea, that's a weird one; I have two roses, two x's, a wooly mammoth/reaper sleeve on my left arm, a noise symbol on the other arm (I also play in a grind band - like Napalm Death), the words "empty head" above both of my wrists and a local vegetarian restaurant's logo on my other wrist (I got it on a tour as a joke - the joke is on me.)

Nicole: Red wagon, ice cream cone, k records logo, Rose Melberg tour poster logo (the one with the jumping boy.)

Christine: A replica of a tattoo my dad gave himself when he was 12, it's a rising sun but people think its a taco, a tarot card image meaning strength, the same Rose Melberg tatoo as Nicole (it was meant to be a friendship tattoo but she got hers 6 months later), and the words "though the return be never" on my forearm. It's from the Langston Hughes poem "No Regrets."

Mandi: A king on a bike on my thigh, I have 2 "W"'s tattooed on each butt cheek so when I do cartwheels it says "WOW MOM!" Hahaha!

Rich: Hahaha!

Christine: Hahaha!

Nicole: DUMB!

Sourpatch Myspace

Smittens mini-interview.

Hello Smittens! I'm interviewing you because your wonderful cover of the Just Joans 'What Do We Do Now' (from your seven inch split EP on Wee Pop!) made my Top 20 Songs of 2009 list. How does it feel to be in receipt of such an overwhelming accolade?

Well that was some great company to be in. And clearly we couldn't have done it without the genius song they wrote.

And how did that collaboration come about? Were you good friends with the Joans beforehand? Can we expect similar projects in the future? Maybe with Transmittens?

We wanted to cover one of their songs after we saw them play the first time in Glasgow. We were on the books to release a single on WeePOP records, and invited them to join us because we enjoy gimmicky symmetry and of course we wanted to hear what their cover of one of our songs would sound like, and, lucky for us, they were game. As far as future collaborations go, there's nothing currently on the books, but you never know.

Similarly, what are The Smittens favourite songs (or popshows or LPs) of 2009? You don't have to do twenty, I know that you're busy people.

The Littlest Smitten says her favorite pop show was seeing Gordon M. from Ballboy playing in the church at Indietracks.

The Charming Smitten says: The Middle Ones at London popfest, Suburban Kids in San Fran (the night after the SF popfest) or the POBPAH Valentines show in Burlington, VT.

The Greek one says: San Fransisco Popfest final Tullycraft show

The Lady Smitten says: I fell in love with Cats on Fire last summer at Cosy Den.

And the Dashing says: The Would-be-Goods at Twee as Fuck last February, Burning Hearts in Stockholm, Speedmarket Avenue at Indietracks, Just Joans at the Nottingham all-dayer in November. I've been addicted to all these bands' records this year.

Your performance at Indietracks last summer was one of the highlights of the year for us here at Baby Honey Towers. Any other favourite moments of 2009?

3 Smittens got married a week apart in 2009 (two of them to each other). It was really the year of doing everything we dared ourselves to do. Also finally touring Sweden--better known as the Magic Kingdom of Indiepop.

And what does 2010 hold for the band? New records? Are you coming back to the UK? Can we book you? We'll start stockpiling the Newcastle Brown.

Yes, yes, and yes please. Though Colin still hasn't gotten over the fact that they don't have Newcastle on tap in Newcastle. 2010 holds some time in the studio recording a new album, the release of our addition to the Tullycraft Covers compilation (put out by LA Tool & Die), the release of our latest album, The Coolest Thing About Love on vinyl, a cover of a Cars Can Be Blue song for the HHBTM 10 year anniversary compilation, and for sure, a UK and European Tour. We are also confirmed to play NYC popfest and Indietracks, and have been invited back to play Cosy Den as well.

How is Vermont? Is there much of an indiepop 'scene' going on in Burlington? Are you aware of the British band called Vermont? They were pretty good actually.

We love Vermont. As far as indie pop goes, we are currently sitting in a room with 80% of the indiepop people in this state (it would be 90% if Max was here). There is a big indie community here in Burlington, VT but it spans a variety of genres and media--artists, farmers, dancers, folk musicians, bakers, and more. It's an amazingly creative, conscious, and beautiful little place and we totally feed off that and hopefully give something back as well.

We're big fans of Wee Pop! and think that Camila is, like, totally rad, but can you tell her to stop making the packaging for the 3" CD-Rs so pretty? Sometimes it's heartbreaking to have to open them and spoil such beautiful design.

First off, Camila is the bees knees! You've seen her cd artwork; what you don't know is that she makes a mean veggie lasagna and is the best host in all of the UK! If you buy two of every release, you wouldn't have to worry about whether your only copy got ripped.

When I cack-handedly attempted to interview you and The Pocketbooks last time we met, you mentioned that you very much enjoyed discovering some particularly British delicacies such as Marmite and Newcastle Brown Ale. In the spirit of cultural exchange, are there any US or Vermont-based

foodstuffs us Brits should know about?

We have really good locally brewed beer here in VT. And great local cheese. and obviously there are those guys Ben and Jerry. You might want to check out spelt pretzels, fluffernutter sandwiches, half and half in your coffee, and when in New York, Dominican breakfasts of yellow rice, black beans, and eggs (with a side of fried sweet plantains). PS don't be fooled by the Canadians: Vermont maple syrup is the best. In fact, it's nearly sugaring season.

Tell us a secret.

We can be real bitches. If we're on stage and all wearing stripes, it's not actually a coincidence...

Do you have any tattoos?

Both Dana and David are inked in places we can't divulge.

The Smittens: Something Sassy (Reverbed)