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LOCATION: Seattle, WA
GENRE: psychedelic, Post Punk, '90s Britpop, humid surf-rock
INFLUENCES: Siouxsie Sioux, Liam Gallagher, David Bowie, Thurston Moore, Frank Black, Anton Newcombe, Malcolm Young, Dolores O'Riordan, Nancy Wilson, Malcolm Young, David Gilmour, Billy Zoom, Late 60s era Kinks and 90s alt-rock like Blur, Pavement & The Pixies
Publicist: CHRIS ESTEY / ESTEY@XOPUBLICITY.COM / 206.728.0457
Bio
The Purrs have a timeless quality for lovers of rock as a mystery religion, the kind of venue-addicted musicians and fans who unite in worship of the car wreck lifestyle, transmitting heavy vibes both Medieval and futurist between psychedelic music and post-punk rock. Back when live music consumed your nights, they were Seattle’s best bet for a rigorous, relatable, trippy, dark yet comradely great time.
Their exquisitely entitled new live collection We Thought There’d Be More People Here starts off with the bass-driven deep cuts and features a middle apex of anthems like “Taste of Monday,” “Much Too Much,” and the SPIN Magazine-kissed single, “Loose Talk,” about which the premiere was writ, “Like fellow Neo-Classicists Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Purrs deal in subdued stompers and hazy rave-ups — the kind of rock that convinces parents their kid is on goofballs.”
Another choice piece of hype at MXDWN further nailed the band’s songs, a fat 14 of which are on resplendent if randy display here: “The Purrs’ sound is remarkably enigmatic. The lead singer’s voice appears ostensibly British, yet the group’s place of origin is Seattle, WA.” It’s that bridge between 60s pill-fueled rock club intimacy and raging, Rye-infused New Wave insouciance that keep you coming back for the down by law lyrical narratives of scene-mythic lead singer and bass monster Jima Antonio, true tonal guitar genius Jason Milne, with Liz Herrin on rhythm Guitars and backup vocals from 2010 - current, and Dusty Haze on drums and backup vocals from 2015 – current.”
After recording several full-length albums — including the Johnny Sangster-produced pinnacle of soulful-punk Destroy the Sun last time around — and a few EPs and singles under numerous independent labels, Milne came up with an idea for a necessary release in era of quarantine quandary, which he explains:
“Coming into 2020, the band’s 20th anniversary, we had been working on demos for the next new album. We had a string of shows scheduled in early April with (XO roster mates) Blue Glass to get the songs healthy exposure to being played live. And we had a week of studio time at Crackle+Pop to record primary tracks for the new album. We were hoping for a Fall release and were discussing NOT touring the West Coast, but tour Maui instead. We got burned on the last tour. But that’s another story.
“COVID-19 hit,” Milne continues. “During the 2nd week I went through some boxes and found some random old live recordings. We know there is more, but we can’t find it. I thought it would be a good idea and put out a live album and new videos for our 20thanniversary rather than sit on our asses.”
Produced by Sangster and The Purrs, live albums are rarely as sensually intoxicating and filled with crepuscular verisimilitude as We Thought There’d Be More People Here, in which you can smell the neck of the pint-wielding giant in front of you and the sweat of the sweetest, deepest fans dancing perilously near your toes. High points include “Taste of Monday,” “I’m Leaving Today,” and “Get Me Through This,” but it’s all about the full album-as-set experience.
This is a band that has startled and seduced audiences who probably came to hear Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pearl Jam, and Okkervil River (“I don’t think it does a band very much good to just play with those in your own genre,” Milne says), but left with fistfuls of Purrs CDs and seven inches from their merch table. Their evolution of 80s Paisley Pop into third psyche wave era sound rangers lit up audiences at Bumbershoot, CMJ, Voodoo, and other fests, and this release can hold its own with U2’s Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Nocturne, and even Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York. The cave-shadow fire and black acid of those in-concert classics are in this cohesive, thrilling collection as well.
Two videos from the sequence are already done and ready to be premiered: “Yes I Do” and “Only Dreaming,” made by Stephanie Neil in Portland, OR. “Stephanie was under a heavy COVID-19 infection while she was working on Only Dreaming,” Milne says. “She thought it might be the last video she would make.”
That is another reminder to listen and savor the memories of The Purrs performances branded on the brains of real rock fans lucky enough to catch them regionally or on tour — or to feel all that for the first time in your own home as you await a future gathering with fellow chosen disciples of raw yet elegant, temple-smoking rock.