Pandr Eyez
For synth-r'n'b duo Pandr Eyez, Prince, Battlekat and old synths all go hand in hand. This US-UK cross-Atlantic musical pairing are shaping up to be a band to watch in 2012.
We caught up with Ferren Gipson and Tom Lloyd, who make up Cascine Records' latest signing in a Turkish cafe in Dalston to chat past influences, awkward band name misspellings and the merits of halloumi versus hummus.
First off, thanks for chatting to us guys. Can you tell us a bit about how you got together, and started off making music?
We met while doing post-grad study courses in London. Ferren is American, having lived out in Denver for a while before moving to London, while Tom is mostly from Reading. The decision to make music together was made after a drunken night with friends that ended up with an impromptu performance in someone’s room with Ferren on a keyboard and Tom on guitar. Things just sort of grew from there.
How did decide on your sound/direction, and what was behind the decision?
It took us a little while to hit upon a good mix of the things we like to hear in our music, but our sound developed out of that – what we feel is a good combination of our various influences. Although we think the EP as a whole does have a unifying sound about it, the tracks themselves go in a few different directions. Our sound is always changing, as we don’t want to be too much of any one thing.
We both listen to different types of music, and our tastes come together in their own way in our sound.
Ferren, which singers in particular influence your vocals?
A whole variety, I guess. I grew up listening to Destiny's Child and all that sort of stuff, but I've got a lot of love for people like Prince too. I started off writing my own stuff when I was younger, and I've always been singing. Now people want to label our band as part of some hipster r'n'b movement or whatever, but that's just the way that I sing; I can't change that.
Which bands or artists are you into at the moment (new or old)?
We both love Prince, and in general we like old school hip hop and throw-back jams. Ferren loves Teena Marie. As far as new stuff goes, right now Tom is listening to Battlekat and DA-10, amongst others.
What equipment did you use to record your Eyes On You EP? And what were your thoughts when you unleashed it?
All of the tracks from the Eyes On You EP were arranged and recorded on a Roland MV-8800 sampler, using a cheap dynamic mic and a microKORG synth. The choice of equipment stems from the fact that Tom is used to making music with hardware and the hands-on approach to manipulating a track, coming from a DJing and sampling background. The tracks were all then mixed down on a laptop after recording.
And we were generally really psyched about the record coming out on Cascine. It's great to have a team to help us manage all the day-to-day stuff with the band, and give us a platform for releasing our music. We were a little gutted when iTunes misspelled our name when the EP first came out, but that's all corrected now!
Where your first show and what was was it like?
Our first show was at Old Blue Last this past July. It wasn't too packed, but we think people had a good time. It was mostly DJ sets, so we stuck out a little bit. But it was cool. And we're looking forward to playing more shows and getting together a full LP release this year.
Keep up with all things Pandr Eyez via their site and Facebook page.
Text from this interview was originally published on Addict Music.
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