Bandicoot is a band with some momentum behind them. They have played at this year’s Big Day Out. Some of their songs were placed in bFM’s Top 10. Their live shows are exuberant, feisty, and, above all, fun; winning adherence from the likes of Shayne Carter (Dimmer), and The Mint Chicks. Their latest EP Jurassic Warfare is a promising loud-fi release by the power trio from Western Springs college. Craccum’s Joon Yang chats with Reuben Winter [guitar], Pearl McGlashan [vocals], and Daniel McBride [drums].
CRACCUM: You guys are really young for a band that has such momentum.
Daniel: I think how young we are is part of the drawing factor.
Pearl: It is definitely, like, really weird for us to be young and have this. Like Daniel said, it is a draw factor because lots of people want to help us because we really young. There’s this big push now in the New Zealand music industry to help out younger bands – to give them a head start and to listen and to know them. Our community and our label, they are all pretty young and it’s amazing of what they can achieve.
How did you guys meet?
P: We go to the same school
D: Reuben wanted to start a band during science class.
P: We got recruited, basically.
D: Recruited into his vision.
Where did you record Jurassic Warfare?
Reuben: We’re supposed to say [Creative House Media Group] or something. But we recorded at the [SAE Institution] with Tyler Burke. He did a lot of the stuff on our label (Muzai Records), like with Sherpa and God Bows to Math.
Are you guys formally trained?
P: I’ve done some grades in singing.
D: I played recorder when I was 7 till 9. Then I started saxophone at 11 and I had guitar lessons for about 6 months. So yeah, I had lessons for ages.
R: I only started playing music when I was 12. I got an electric guitar and I was more interested in making feedback and weird noises. Just attacking the guitar.
D: For me, this is a real weird place. I never got lessons in drums and I only started playing them for a few months before we started Bandicoot.
Pearl, how did you develop your spoken-word style?
P: I did it as I was told. Reuben told me what to do.
D&R: She’s a fucking amazing singer.
P: It’s not that I’m afraid of singing. I defaulted to this because it was easier (laughs). And it’s louder and it’s brattier and it’s more fun.
What are your styles of music that resonate with you guys?
P: We listen to everything. I don’t think any of us associate with one particular genre.
R: All I really listen to is really loud and noisy stuff. And hip hop.
D: I listen to everything but jazz is a genre I like to play.
How did you get a slot at Summer Series?
R: Benjii, the guy who runs our label, rang me one day and said “bFM just asked me if you guys want to play at Summer series with The Mint Chicks and Bang! Bang! Eche!” I said, “Sweet! Let’s do it!”
Funny bar stories?
P: I had lesbians hitting on me. Like, big “grrrr!”
ALL: (laughs)
P: And we just being like “I’m gonna go over there. You stay here but I’m gonna go over there.” So that’s not okay.
R: I just don’t like bars.
D: Bars are not a nice atmosphere. They are oppressive. The people seem so reluctant to get into it. Like, every show we played except for bars people danced a lot.
R: When you’re there watching bands, you don’t feel you can dance to them because it’s such a depressing atmosphere. They make you really tired as well.
D: I love how this came from the funny stories question. “Oh, they are depressing and awful!” (laughs)
P: What was the scary place we played called?
R: Ambassador~!
P: That was like a biker haunt. We went in there for a sound check and the lady behind the counter was telling this girl this story: “Yeah, we used sell drinks on fire. But then someone’s head caught fire so we don’t sell them anymore.”
D: There were bald, middle-aged men everywhere just feeling you up, not even discriminating between genders. “You got longish hair, you got soft cheeks.” (Laughs)
What are you thinking for your next studio album?
R: Personally, I would like to do one but I don’t think we’re mature enough.
P: Something that we can be proud of. Not that we’re not proud of our EPs.
D: At the moment, we’re still not refining songs in any way. Reuben will have a riff, I’ll have a beat, Pearl writes the lyrics, and we have a basic structure. That’s pretty much every song (laughs). Once we’ve got a song we don’t work on it really more.
Where do you see Bandicoot five years from now?
D: That’s scary. We don’t talk about stuff. Commitment? Time?
P: We don’t really have that kind of foresight because we’re teenagers.
R: Pearl’s potentially moving to America in like, 2 years, to study. Then I’ll just form my own post-rock band.
Bandicoot’s latest EP Jurassic Warfare is out now. They are one of the many fantastic bands set to play at the bFM Summer series on March 7th at Albert Park, joining the likes of The Mint Chicks, The Naked & The Famous, and An Emerald City. They will also open for Deerhoof on March 11th at the Kings Arms.
Photography by Frances Carter
