Penguins Kill Polar Bears - Sound In The Signals Magazine Interview

This interview will be featured in the next issue of Sound In The Signals Magazine but I decided to go ahead and give people the opportunity to read it now. Click READ MORE to check out the interview.


Your new EP came out March 22. Can you tell me a little about the album and what went into recording it?
We wrote and recorded the album over november and decemeber of 2010.
The EP has 2 older songs on it (Wish With Worry & Lungs) and 2 new
songs(Between The Tide & Something Old) on it that we wrote
specifically for the EP. Once we were happy with the songs we headed
into the studio to record some drums. We always record our drum tracks
at a studio called The Old Mill. We fell in love with the place when
we started working on first EP there. The studio's live room is
actually a 17th Century Theatre and the ambience is something we've
always tried to capture on our recordings. Once we got the drums down
we headed into my bedroom studio to work on guitars, bass and vocal
tracks. Doing the majority of the work ourselves gives us a level of
control i think we'd struggle to have if we were recording in
"professional studio". It also means we're not working against the
clock and gives us plenty of time to experiment with different sounds
and ideas.

The title of the album is Vessels & Veins. That's an interesting title
why did you decide to title the album that and what was some of the
inspiration for the title?
We decided the name for the EP just as we'd finished recording it. We
had been trying to think up for a name for a while and Vessels & Veins
was one that we all took a liking to. I thought it up when i was out
walking in the woods with my dog and it was a name that always stuck
in my head. I think it was particularly fitting because all of the
lyrics being so heart felt and personal.

You guys got together from what your bio says on a mutual love of good
music. What types of music are you guys interested in and what
inspired you to start the band?
The Smashing Pumpkins, Brand New and
The Appleseed Cast have all been a big influence for us. We all played
in different bands when we were younger and i think back then Nirvana
was probably the main reason we all wanted to play instruments and
start bands. Recently when we were on tour we listened to a lot of
Biggie Smalls, i think it's only a matter of time before Ben starts
writing lyrics about bitches, blunts and welches purple grape juice.

To anyone who hasn't heard your group what track would you recommend
them to check out and why?
Check out Something Old, it's a song we're
all very proud of. We spent a lot of time recording it and i think we
ended up with around 12 guitar tracks playing at the end of the song
to create that wall of noise. Make sure you listen to it with your
stereo cranked right up.

What all is in store for the group in 2011?
We've just started working on our debut album which we hope to have
out at the end of this year/early 2012. We're also going to be
releasing a new single at the start of the summer to coincide with
some shows we've got planned. It'd be great to hit up a few festivals
as well and play to as many new face as possible.

What are your plans now that this album is out?
To continue doing what we all love doing, we're always constantly
writing so by the time we get this album out we'll not doubt have
album 2 well underway. I think it's safe to say we'd all like to play
over the pond in America and Canada so hopefully we can get over to
play a few shows.

I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time to answer
the questions. Do you have any closing comments you'd like to make?
Never trust a hippy with a flute.