Hard-hitting Vancouver duo, The Pack a.d., just released their fourth album, Unpersons, earlier this month, and they have taken their infectious garage-rock on tour. They will be heading to Chicago on October 6, to play at the Empty Bottle.
The show is FREE with an RSVP to rsvp@emptybottle.com, but if you’ve got extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can also pick up tickets for $8.
In anticipation for the show, we talked with Pack a.d. drummer Maya Miller about vinyl, the new release, and the tour. On top of that, we have a chance for you to win a SIGNED vinyl copy of Unpersons below!
The Pack a.d. | Sirens
MP3 or Vinyl?
Vinyl, clearly.
What would be the one vinyl record that you think everyone should own?
That’s a good one, because I can think of favorite records, but not on vinyl specifically. I actually have a record that I think is pretty amazing, and it’s Robert Redford narrating The Language And Music Of The Wolves. Just talking about wolves, which I think is a pretty amazing album. I don’t know if everyone should own it, but I think it’s pretty amazing.
What was it like to work with producer Jim Diamond? (The Dirtbombs, The Paul Collins Beat, The White Stripes)
It was great. As a musician, you often hear horror stories of bringing a producer in and not getting along, and not having the same ideas, if any. We got along. We’ve known each other for a little while before we went and did this, and he was super casual to work with, and brought some really good ideas. He didn’t bring them in with any kind of “pushy, trying to change anything we do” way. He just sort of subtly managed to enhance something that we were doing. It was pretty great to work with him actually. Very copacetic.
How is Unpersons different from any of your previous albums?
For one, we took a while to figure out exactly what we wanted to do. With this album, we finally got closer to what we like to do live, which is that we like to be loud and fast. It sort of went more garage-y. On previous albums, we’ve done slower tracks. One album, half the album is slow, and we just never play that kind of thing live. By the time we get on stage, everybody just wants to have a good time, and slowing things down is just kind of a drag. This one definitely got the loudest and more assertive rock that we’ve done so far, and we’re pretty okay with that.
What is your typical songwriting process like?
Basically, when we decide that we are going to make an album, or this one in particular, we just go into a band practice space and we just come up with music. We both write lyrics, but I tend to write them away from the practice space and bring them in, and Becky will improv them.
There were a number of songs that we recorded, and while she was recording vocals for one song, I’d be sitting there practically writing the lyrics for the next song. It’s not that neither of us had an idea of what that song would be about, but for some reason, the lyrics often come a little bit later. It’s very evenly split. Looking at anything that we’ve done, we’re rather hard pressed to remember who came up with what.
Who would you say has been an influence on you personally, or Pack a.d. as a whole?
That’s a tough one. Any influence that I could come up with won’t seem like it has any bearing on what we actually play. Outside of the band, I tend to listen to a lot of electronic and techno. A lot of stuff which has nothing to do with what I play.
The new music video for “Take” is an awesome tribute to Gary Numan.
There you go, so maybe Gary Numan has recently had an influence on us. (laughs) That video was really fun to make. The original video is stellar, so hopefully we did it some sort of justice.
How has the tour been going so far?
It’s been going good. It’s nice to be playing new songs. Maybe it’s just because it is the two of us, but it’s amazing how quickly both of us get really bored. So it was good to come out with a new album, because now we can play all the new songs, and they’re still new to us.
Any final thoughts?
Come to the show, or the kid gets it.
If you’re itching to hear these tracks on vinyl, you’re in luck!
For a chance to win a signed copy of Unpersons, simply share with us in the comments of this post your favorite musical duo.
Mine would probably have to be The White Stripes, but Simon & Garfunkel are definitely a close second.
Please remember, only those of you with mailing addresses in the continental US and Canada can enter! The winner will be chosen the day of the Chicago show, Thursday, October 6.
