The Pigeon Detectives
Location: Leeds
Website: http://www.thepigeondetectives.com/
Bio: In a perfect world, rock groups would meet at junior school, share rites of passage at teenage parties, then become a best-selling band after five ... (more)
years rehearsing in bedrooms and back-rooms. They would then release brilliant, life-affirming pop records and refuse all offers from major labels biz, preferring to stay on a trusted independent (the peerless Dance To the Radio).
Impossible? Clearly, you haven’t met The Pigeon Detectives. Two years ago, this most principled of groups could have been mistaken for any other post-Libertines guitar band, were it not for their gang-like swagger and knack of making gloriously infectious guitar-pop. Now, with Top Three album ‘Wait For Me’ still selling by the lorry-load, they’re major league pop stars, genuine rivals to fellow New Yorkshire alumni Kaiser Chiefs and The Arctic Monkeys.
“We’ve grown up a lot in the last two years” says singer Matt, owner of the best corkscrew locks since Marc Bolan. ‘We’re not five lads from Rothwell who work in call centers anymore. We’re five lads from Rothwell who struggle to go for a beer in Leeds without somebody coming up to us and wanting to chat all night.”
For this newly famous five, 2007 passed in the sort of blur which they readily acknowledge they’ll never see again. In twelve short months they played everywhere from Glastonbury to Tokyo, brushed shoulders with Macca at The Q Awards and ended the year gate-crashing the nation’s front-room on the Christmas Top Of The Pops.
Matt: “It’s been mad. But at the same time, those experiences have brought the five of us closer together. We’ve got our own Fortress Pigeon Detectives no one can else break into.”
In a reaction to such a meteoric rise, critics cast the net wide to crack their code. By the time the band had released top twenty hits 'Romantic Type’, 'I’m Not Sorry’ and ‘Take Her Back’ they'd been, erm, pigeon-holed as being simply sonic heirs to either The Undertones or The Buzzcocks. Which seems a little odd when an hour in their company finds them enthusing knowledgably about everyone from Rufus Wainwright (Ryan) to Kanye West (Jimmi) to The Strokes (Dave) to Joni Mitchell (Matt) and Jonathan Richman (Oliver).
“We take influences from all manner of things” says Matt. “But as a band we all started off listening to the Beatles, then we grew up as teenagers with Oasis. But it was only when The Strokes and The Libertines came along that it suddenly seemed possible for us to actually make it as a band."
Fast forward to mid-2008 and The Pigeon’s are about to release their brand new album ‘Emergency’. Confident, intelligently arranged and choc-a-bloc with killer tunes, it’s the sound of a band eager not to slash the ropes anchoring them to the past.
“We didn’t want to make a second album full of songs about going to America and feeling really homesick” explains Jimmi. “We wanted to write an album people could associate with. People warmed to ‘Wait For Me’ because they could relate to it. I like the fact people can hear a song once and get the sentiment straight away.”
Oliver, the band’s songwriter, puts it even more succinctly: “I always think that if you try too hard with the lyrics, you put people off.”
It's no coincidence that an album full of such clarity and purpose came together in the tranquil surroundings of South Wales. Written and recorded in a three week blitz in the residential seclusion of Monnow Valley with uber-producer Stephen Street (Smiths/Blur) it’s a vindication for those who see The Pigeon’s as the most natural song-smiths of the entire Britpop boom.
From blazing first single ’This Is An Emergency’ to the final ‘Everybody Wants Me’ - ‘Emergency’ sees the band exhaustively explore emotional fragmentation, joy and minor madness over serrated riffs and explosive rhythms. 'Keep On Your Dress' is a heart-wrenching companion song to ‘Wait For Me’s’ ‘You Know I Love You’; 'Don’t You Wanna Find Out’ a poignant pop exocet; ‘She’s Gone’ is a revved up romp while acoustic break-up tune 'Nothing To Do With You’ and ‘Love You For A Day (Hate You For A Week)’ will resonate with anyone who’d ever found their personal lives unraveling in front of their eyes.
“We’re fans of catchy three minute pop songs which tell stories” says Matt. “We make the sort of music we’d want to listen to at home. If I wasn’t in this band I’d want to sit at home and listen to this record on my hi-fi. That’s the only criteria we can have. If we like what we’re doing, we know we’re ok.”
Best of all, ‘Emergency’ exists entirely within its own frame of reference. It’s a hyper-ventilated view of life as a star in the pop cosmos, as relevant to 2008 as ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was to 1964. And if it sounds like a band in a hurry, that’s because it is.
“We told everyone we’d release our second album exactly a year after the first one, and we’re only two days out ” laughs Matt. “The title sums up our lives over the last year. Everything from getting the video’s done to playing festivals has been one big emergency.”
A classic album from a band with an indie ethic.
The Pigeon Detectives: here to solve pop’s problems.
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