Words by Grace Joel
Photos by Dagmarette Yen
On the eve of the millennium at party in a countryside castle, amongst loud music, million pound paintings, suits of armour, and people swinging off chandeliers, Robbie met Milo. In this surreal scenery, whilst people were practicing trepanation and drilling into their heads, a desire was drilled into Robbie’s and Milo’s; to make the loudest music ever.
The two friends started experimenting making sounds together, often so loud it literally ruptured blood vessels. “We started a label together called Hate Channel, with really industrial noise. We signed this band, called Panic DHH and toured around Europe. We played one song, it was so loud and aggressive, my nose just started bleeding,” Robbie reminisces of their earlier years.
As their friendship has evolved, so has their sound, becoming easier on ears and noses. Their latest guise is the Big Pink, an “electronic Velvet Underground”, combining shimmering synths, catchy choruses and electronic beats. Taking their name from a 1968 folk album of the same name, which they both grew up listening to, a definite folk influence is instilled in their sound.
Crystal Visions with it’s soaring vocal melodies and plenty of tambourine is set to an industrial backdrop of digital rhythms, is fresh and almost dreamlike. Too Young to Love incorporates a similar entrancing mood, with a sense of raw aggression which lurks round the edges of their sound, nodding to other prominent influences like the shoe-gaze style of My Bloody Valentine and early 80s noise rock band The Big Black.
“Our music has the aggression of The Big Black, but with the melodies and song writer-ship of Woodstock,” although Milo and Robbie remain resistant to pigeon hole their dynamic sound.
“When we started we literally had a floor tom and a tambourine and that was it. Everything else was electronically programmed beats.” Tambourines feature in every song. But don’t think playing the tambourine is easy! “You know tambourine is really hard to play! It’s hard for me, I keep trying to play it on stage and it just must look so stupid! I keep looking at people and then you go out and everyone just looks at you. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks.” shares Robbie.
So what’s next for The Big Pink? “We want to try and be the loudest band ever, louder than My Bloody Valentine! And then when we split up and get back together we’ll play more shows than them, and people will talk about how loud we are. And possibly a move to New York is on the cards for the near future.”
Robbie and Milo write together, experiment together, make noise together, party together and claim to have never had an argument. Even their girlfriends are best friends. “We just started to have a good time, and we still are. It just gets better and better, louder and louder and more and more fun.” And that you can tell by listening to their music.
But one last question. Who is “Too Young To Love”?
“We can’t tell you that… for legal reasons!” It’s time to paint the town pink!
www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink Too Young to Love/Crystal Visions double A-side single is released Monday 29th September 2008 through House of Anxiety.
