Newcastle trio The Pale White kicked off 2020 with their new single ‘Polaroid’, a song about “freezing a specific moment in time and living in it forever”. A bit like – but not really – how we feel now, stuck in a virus-induced lockdown. Timing, right? Thankfully the band are making good use of their time, working on loads of new music. Adam (“frontman and ‘shredddding guitar’”) tells us more, ahead of their set at Homeschool in a week-and-a-bit.
Hi Adam, how’s it going? Are you guys all self-isolating?
Yeah, we’re all good thanks… staying indoors n’all that. Can’t complain! Drinking too much coffee, though.
How have you found it so far, do you have lots to be getting on with? Are you getting in your one-hour of outdoors time?
It’s been ok. The initial post-apocalyptic week or so when it first booted off in the UK freaked me out a little, but mainly because of the way people were behaving in supermarkets and stuff. The toilet roll thing… what was that all about?! Bit weird. But yeah I feel used to the whole scenario now and taking the time to write and finish a pile of songs that needed some tweaking.
I was doing Couch to 5k too which I was thoroughly enjoying considering I’ve never been the type to run… but was wearing the wrong footwear and done my left foot in. I’ll be back, week 3.
Do you have any podcast or book recommendations to help fill the time? What at-home entertainment are you into?
I’m not a huge reader personally, but I do try. I’ve been trying to get through Keith Richards autobiography for like two years now. I’m shite! It’s good, though.
I got Tom a book he was after called ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’ for his birthday a few years back now, but he reads it over and over so it must be a gooden. It’s about the NYC music scene in the early 2000s and goes into the rise of the likes of The Strokes, Interpol, The Walkmen and a tonne of other great bands in that scene.
Podcast-wise, we all listen to a lot of The Joe Rogan Experience. I’d highly recommend the Elon Musk episode. They discuss where technology is heading in the near future with the likes of Artificial Intelligence and… it… is… mind-blowing! But scary.
Has the lockdown mucked up many of your plans?
Festival season is out the window. Which is a shame because it’s the first year we’ve built to a proper big run of them too. But it is what it is, and there are bigger issues the world is facing right now so would feel daft moaning about it. It’s insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Are you able to record songs while at home? What’s your usual set up like?
I used to do some home demoing, but I wind myself up, trying to perfect every little thing too much. What should take an hour takes weeks with me, so I took a step back a few years ago. I just write with my iPhone voice recorder and a note pad & pen.
Do you think ‘current events’ will impact what you want to write about?
Yeah, in that first week of initial panic that I mentioned above, I wrote a song called ‘Cabin Fever’. The guitar tuning is in drop C and sounds quite unnerving, but I think it has loads of potential. The song keeps building bigger and bigger, and the lyrics are a sort of totally heightened, over-exaggerated monologue of this whole thing unfolding.
“Cabin Fever is kicking in,
A chapter written by Stephen King,
Quarantine to cleanse the soul.”
…you get the picture.
What’s the first thing you’ll do once lockdown is over?
Big fat pint and a big fat practice with my big fat lads.
When do you think you’ll next be able to play a gig? It feels like we’ll never be allowed down the pub ever again.
I reckon September, if we’re lucky. But it will be worth the wait if it’s longer. There’s no point in going back to normal civilisation prematurely, to have to go back into hiding for even longer. Let’s just do this properly and get it over with.
Tell us some good news?
This free time has opened a window for us to record a big collection of songs, also known as an album. We’ll hopefully get this dusted once and for all, no more messing about. Our fans deserve it.
In other good news, me and Jack are gonna be an Auntie and Uncle in a few weeks as our sister is having a baby, which is exciting. The poor bairn will be born into a weird time, but it will be a cool story to tell him when he’s old enough to understand.
And lastly, I just want to take this opportunity to say: unlimited amount of thank you’s to our precious NHS. True heroes.
The Pale White are taking part in new online festival Homeschool, which runs from 8th-10th May – visit homeschoolfest.com for details.
