Tastes Like Caramel at http://tlc-blog.com: BBC Electric Proms

TLC featured Pete & The Pirates in an Artist Spotlight last month after rediscovering their poppy post-punk gem of an album, Little Death.

While perusing the BBC Electric Proms 2008 line-up we were thrilled to see our favorite Reading lads headlining the BBC Introducing gig at Proud Galleries in London. That momentous gig is happening tonight at the close of the annual week-long event. TLC caught up with Pete & The Pirates' guitarist David Thorpe who talked to us about what it means to be involved in Electric Proms, what they're working on now, and when they might (FINALLY) tour the US.

>Congratulations on headlining the BBC Introducing show at the Electric Proms! The first time I heard Pete & the Pirates was on Steve Lamacq's show and then on Zane Lowe's. How instrumental has support from the BBC, namely Steve Lamacq, been in your success so far?

DT: Steve has been amazing, he has supported us right from the beginning, not just by playing our records on his shows but coming to gigs, saying hello and what not. The BBC in general has always been very supportive of us which is great. I think as a band it just gives you a little boost and a bit of extra confidence to keep doing what you're doing.

>What significance does participating in the Electric Proms hold for you? What are your expectations?

DT: It's quite exciting, some of the shows seem to be collaborations between people you may not usually put together, which i think is a great idea, even if it ends up sounding not so great. It is definitely good to encourage artists to try new things. We actually went down to an event on the opening night of the Electric Proms called Africa Express where we met some really interesting people and managed to play with some musicians who we normally would not have had the chance to play with when you just do standard shows around England. Although in the end we didn't get to perform the songs on stage, we hope to perhaps meet with one or two people we met there at one of our gigs in London and play the songs there instead.

>You've all been or are currently involved in other musical projects. How did Pete & The Pirates form? Is it the main focus for all of you or do you like to continue to work on other projects simultaneously?

DT: We formed in Reading; we all lived very close to each other and gradually met one another through mutual friends or seeing people at the same pub or whatever and realised we all were songwriters and interested in recording music and just kinda grew from there. A couple of us had been in bands together before so it was all very natural, just hanging out playing songs together and recording, just sort of dawned one day that we were a band without really thinking about it. I think The Pirates is definitely our main focus, however I think all of us have solo side projects too. But the boundaries are very vague, as to what is Pirates and what isn't. I mean we all write songs and some become Pirates songs and some don't.

>Your bio describes the band as "bright, young commanders of a brand of unique Englishness." In your view, what about your music is distinctly "English" and how does that set you apart from today's other indie rock bands, English, American, or otherwise?

DT: Coming from Reading you are just far enough from London to not be in "the scene" there. I think all our influences were from listening to each other's songs rather than hearing a popular band's sound and kind of apeing that. So I think our sound is different perhaps from some other bands just because we weren't really influenced so much by what is or was popular at a certain time. Our writing is very much based on our own experiences and things that concern young folk growing up and living in Reading, England, not necessarily explicitly but kind of innately. I guess how could we not sound English? Also, we have never put on accents when we sing, so I guess people pick up on that too.

>Describe the music scene in Reading. Are you still based there or did you make the obligatory move to London?

DT: Yeah, we are still in Reading. Its tricky, as I think it really suffers from being 40 miles from London. You never get that many big bands playing there as most just play in London and there are unfortunately very few live venues, so it is difficult for a scene to kind of take grip. Which can be a good thing, as it enables bands to do their own thing and not worry so much about sounding like other bands around. If there is not much there already it gives you an impetus to make your own fun and get out there and play in places like London and Manchester etc.

>Can you tell me a bit about the new material you're working on? How different is it working with Dave Allen versus Gareth Parton, who produced Little Death?

DT: Well, so far we have recorded two new songs (actually off to finish the mix off in a mo) with Dave and a man named Mark Ralph (who is part of Filthy Dukes) for a single to come out soon. They are sounding great, feel quite excited for people to hear them, I'm kinda terrible at describing songs... I think everyone you work with has different approaches and ideas about how to do things and it's good to try lots of different people just to see what's out there. We are quite hands on when recording so obviously the sound is very much down to us as well. But yeah, I've really enjoyed working with all three.

>Lastly, when are you going to tour the US?! I know quite a lot of people who would love to see you here in NYC and noticed other Stateside fans clamoring on your MySpace page for you to make your way over. What are your plans for the rest of 2008 and early '09? Does a trip to the States factor in?

DT: We are doing a big UK tour for the whole of November and then in December I think we are just gonna finish off some new songs, try and get the next album ready to record. Early 2009 should be releasing a single at some point and then off to record the next album. And then, fingers crossed, a quick trip to the States in or around March (which hopefully will drop by in New York for sure). It's something we have wanted to do for a long time now.