Shocking Pinks! DFA! Simple Mission! Interview!

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The first time I heard Shocking Pinks was in an office, the office of DFA Records (Shocking Pinks' current label), to be exact. At the time, I was struck by how confessional and emotive the music was, that it referenced the dream pop of the early ’90s and that a lot of the lyrics seemed to be about girls. In the context of recent DFA releases, it was much closer to the emotional timbre of say, LCD's "All My Friends" than the brutally minimal deadpan punk of Prinzhorn Dance School. At first pass, I guess you could say I was intrigued and I looked forward to hearing more out of an office setting. 

Last week, Shocking Pinks' sole member/composer/dude (think Magnetic Fields-type deal) Nick Harte was in the city for a quick promo this and that and so I decided to have a chat with him to learn more about Shocking Pinks and see what was what. When I introduced himself and we started chatting about his new Black Flag tattoo (he now has matching ones on each arm), I knew it was going to be gravy. Here's what went down. Hope you dig.

Simple Mission: Can you introduce yourself and briefly touch upon how Shocking Pinks came to be?

Nick: Sure. When I was about six years old, I started playing piano and then picked up drums, bass and guitar when I was eight. After that, I studied modern musical composition and learned the viola, violin and the cello. At about ten, I studied jazz and learned the alto, tenor and soprano sax.

Simple Mission: Wow. I’m guessing now that you play all the instruments on your records.

Nick: Yes. I started recording songs on a hand-held tape recorder when I was 13. They were somewhat in the style of the songs I play now and I consider those earliest songs to be Shocking Pinks songs, because they were written and played by me. I’ve be writing music for about 20 years and have worked as Shocking Pinks for almost 15.

Simple Mission: How did Shocking Pinks initially co-exist with your old band, the Brunettes?

Nick: Before I joined the Brunettes, I was in a band called Incisions. We played old-fashioned R& B and rock and roll stuff, like Link Wray. A few of the Brunettes saw one of our gigs and asked me to play drums. Although I mainly thought of myself as a solo artist, I thought it would be fun to play other people’s material. But after moving to London for six months, I came back to New Zealand and just wanted to do my own thing.

Simple Mission: How do you orchestrate your live performances?

Nick: I use a different band for every show, most of the time. That will change now that I will be touring more regularly, but usually I give a CD of the setlist to the musicians a few days before the gig, we rehearse once or twice and then go out and play. It’s nice to work that way because there are different sounds and chemistries each time. I’ve played with funk bands, electronic bands, rock bands, punks bands. Last night, Panthers Justin Chearno from Panthers, Scott Desimon from Turing Machine and DJ Mcnany from Neutral Mute (ed note: thanks Justin!) were my backing band and they really gave things a great rock edge. Everything was fast and distorted.

Simple Mission: The first thing that struck me about your music, in relation to the other artists on DFA, is that it is very song-based.

Nick: I’m really into melodies and harmonies. When people ask me what type of music I play, I say pop. There’s lot of different elements that go into the music, but the combining of all those elements is pop to me.

Simple Mission: Can you speak in greater detail about a few of the songs on the record you are particularly drawn to? I noticed a few of the songs seem to be about girls, which is always cool in my book when it’s done right.

Nick: “Emily” was written quite a while ago. The name of the girl has been changed from the girl it was based on, but the song, like many of my other songs, are based on relationships. I usually use middle names of nicknames of girls when I put them in my songs.

Simple Mission: Names changed to protect the innocent, or not so innocent.

Nick: New Zealand is a very small country, so gossip travels fast. A lot of the earlier songs were more…angsty…(laughs), very out in the open, so I wanted to add some intrigue.

Simple Mission: A gathered from our conversation earlier that you are pretty schooled student of music, has there been anything old or new that you’ve been playing lately?

Nick: They’re not too old, but I love the Magnetic Fields. The arrangements are really great. As far as older, older stuff, I love the entire David Bowie Berlin trilogy. I love Low, both sides of Low, actually. I bought that record when I was about 14, so it was an important one for me. Lately, I’ve been getting really into Raw Power by the Stooges.

Simple Mission: The original version where Iggy’s vocals dominate the mix, or the remastered one where it’s a bit more evened out?

Nick: The new version. I was very into that album when I was younger, but you know how you go back to old stuff with a new appreciation when you are older.

Simple Mission: Yeah, I just did that today with the White Album actually, particularly “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”. I hadn’t really listened to that song in four years, but was blown away when I sat down with it.

Nick: All those movements in the song are magnificent.

Simple Mission: What can we expect from Shocking Pinks in the next few months?

Nick: Ask Jon (Galkin, DFA label manager).

Jon: Next month, we have “End Of The World” coming out as a proper single, with remixes from Deerhunter—it’s their first ever remix— and Eluvium. There’s another 7” before that, for “Victims”.

Nick: I’m really excited about a song called “Dressed To Please”. That’s going to be a b-side to one of those singles. It’s more of a recent song, very dreamy.

Jon: After those two, there will be another proper single for “Emily”. It will have a video directed by this dude Richard Bell, who was Anton Corbijn’s producer all throughout his career. He produced almost every video Corbin’s ever done.

Nick: He actually moved to Chirstchurch, New Zealand, which is how I found him. He’s worked on some amazing things, like Joy Division’s “Atmosphere” and “Heart Shaped Box”. 

Simple Mission: That's great company to be in. Thanks again for your time mate.

Nick: Thank you, man. That wasn't so bad. I hope my other interviews are cool like this.

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New DFA Video  - Shocking Pinks "End Of The World"

Old DFA Video - Black Dice "Smiling Off"