The Pride of Erie PA - Sound In The Signals Interview
For anyone not familiar with The Pride Of Erie PA you guys are from quite a few notable bands from the indie/rock and punk scene. You have members of Ultimate Fakebook, Limbeck, and Motion City Soundtrack. How did you guys all come together and what made you want to start the band?
Bill McShane: Well we all knew each other from touring and playing shows together in the late nineties and early 2000's. Patrick already lived out here in southern CA, and then I moved here in 2003. Then once Tony moved here a few years after that, we started hanging out and jamming on 80's songs for fun. I had a bunch of new songs I had been wanting to record, so I started showing them to Tony. Then we thought why don't we call up Patrick and also our friend Mike Phirman to jam with us on them? So we called it The Pride of Erie PA (a reference to the fake band the Wonders from a movie we all love, That Thing You Do.) Our plan was always just to make this band a side project that we do for fun, kind of a way to still make music but without touring.
All of your previous bands are similar but also very different . What influences do you bring into the band from your previous band, if any, and what is the writing process like for your music?
Bill McShane: One thing we all love are great pop songs, so that is the main influence on all the playing and vibes we all bring to this project. The name of the band and the whole concept is really just us kind of riffing on the old school idea of what rock bands from the 60's like the Beatles were doing, before a million sub-genres of rock came into the picture. Which I suppose means we are going for catchy melodies and great sing along hooks - and a good time! The writing process for me, is I will come up with melodies and song ideas randomly throughout my day, and I record them into my iphone so I remember them. But I never really sit and try to write something. I have learned it's best not to force it, and just let ideas come naturally with whatever is happening in your day. Songs like "I'll Be the Singer" - a new one on our upcoming full length happened like that. That one's a great example of a super simple idea I had just driving around one day, where I try to keep the initial spirit and feeling I felt when the idea came, not shape it too much and just keep it pure to the moment and fun. So once I have some tunes that are full song ideas and I really love them, I demo them at home on my computer and send them to the guys.
I really like the sound and vibe of your EP Let's Start A Band. How long did you guys work on it and what was the recording process like for it?
Bill McShane: Oh cool, thanks man! It took us a short time to actually record our individual parts, but a fairly long time, probably 3-4 months from the start to finish - just getting all the pieces together. Basically, we took my demoed songs and we used my home recorded vocals, guitars, and keyboards, and gave them to our producer (and no our bass player!) Frankie Siragusa. Then Tony went in to the LAB studio here in town where Frankie works and recorded real drums for all the songs. After that, Mike and Pat recorded bass and guitar parts on their own at home and sent the files to Frankie, who then did an amazing job of mixing everything and crafting a real record out of it. So it was a mix of home recording and studio drums, but the idea was to still make it sound fairly slick and polished, and true to the power pop genre we love.
I think "(I Know You Kinda) Hate Me" is a fantastic song and to me it has a very Ultimate Fakebook kind of vibe. What was the songwriting process like for that song in particular and what was the inspiration for it?
Bill McShane: Sweet! Yeah that tune I actually did jam around on with UFB before we broke up. So that melody goes back about 10 years or so which is crazy to think about. But it really stuck with me and I knew it was the right song to kickstart me back into making music again. It just felt so right. As far as the inspiration for it, musically, I remember really clearly that I was feeling like I was stuck in a rut with what I was coming up with - this was back before I learned to not force it like I mentioned earlier. Anyway, I was feeling bored just writing like usual on guitar in the same keys as always, same tunings etc. So for fun I tuned down to "dropped D" which I hadn't really done since the grunge days, and sure enough I found myself coming up with some new melodies and riffs right away. And things like modulating the key that the chorus is in compared to the verse, stuff like that which I love so much just came from the fact that I was jamming without full chords, just all drop D power chords. I think I wrote like 4 songs right away that day. So it really pays to find a new perspective to come at something, or just literally a new tactile feel sometimes with an instrument. Anyway, then when I decided to demo it now 10 years later, the inspiration for the the lyrics came really naturally - I really liked the idea of "I don't care why you hate me" - so I just used that feeling as a starting point, and just told a little story, kind of similar to the feel of "She Don't Even Know My Name" by UFB.
You released a new single not too long ago called "Betty Draper". I know you guys released your EP in 2013. Is this single a prelude to a new EP or album?
Bill McShane: Yeah we released that on Halloween this year and it's the first single from our new full length record. It's 8 songs, and we recorded it exactly the same way as the EP, except this time I tracked all my guitars with Frankie at his studio, and he played all the bass parts. It's great too because the songs this time around are really in the Beatles-y tradition, so we have a lot of background vocals from all the band members, lots of handclaps, fun stuff like that. I'm really excited about it because on this record I really tried to dig deep and only chose the best of the best of my songs I had. I wanted to make a record that didn't have any songs I'd want to skip. I'm really proud of it, and can't wait for it to come out, which will probably be sometime in the new year. We'd really love for it to come out on a label and have hard copies we can actually hold in our hands and throw on the record player, but it may just be a digital release like last time. Not many labels want to invest in making records by a band that doesn't tour, and we understand that. So we'll see!
If you had to describe your band to someone in three words what would they be and why?
Bill McShane: Punky Beatles-y Elvis Costello-y (sorry that's 4!) Why? Pretty much sums up our vibe!
What do you guys have coming up in 2015?
Bill McShane: We have some rock shows planned here in LA, as well as releasing our new full length so we are really excited to get some new music out there!
I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else you would like to add?
Bill McShane: Yeah, our drummer Tony Thaxton has a really great and funny Christmas themed podcast called Feliz Navipod. It's on iTunes, and it's basically a year-round Christmas podcast which he somehow makes work - it's awesome! He's had some huge guests like Mark Hoppus from Blink 182, and great comedians like Paul F. Tompkins recently. He makes these little funny songs too all the time that are great. Anyway check it out at www.feliznavipod.com, I highly recommend it!
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