Welcome to Tuesday… and welcome to Poisonous Birds!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Bristol, UK
How did you meet?
Finn and I became aware of each other online back in perhaps 2011 or 2012 – we were kicking about in kind of parallel scenes at opposing sides of the country. He joined my band and we became best friends. We met Jack more recently in Bristol.
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How long have you been playing as a band?
Things started properly in 2017 when the first EP came out- we were experimenting for about a year or so before that.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It’s a name I wrote down in 2009 and sat on for years – I don’t remember where the original idea came from. I still wasn’t bored of it years later so ran with it.
What are your influences?
I don’t really draw specifically on any group of musical artists – I guess it’s years and years of being exposed to things and filtering them through my brain.
I’m a lot more interested in electronic and club-adjacent music than guitar music these days. And If I’m stuck for ideas I’ll go to an art gallery (although I haven’t been to any in 2020 and I’m feeling it).
Finn and Jack have different tastes, which get added to the pot too, although everything ultimately kind of passes through my lens during the recording process.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music treads a thin wobbly line between electronic music and rock music. I like good song-craft and a big hook, but I also like synthesisers and techno.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Lyrically, the songs are little vignettes. I try not to cover too much ground, and instead explore an idea in rich detail. Some are personal, some more universal, but I hope our listeners find commonalities with their own experiences, and take a new perspective from it.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
For the audience it’s is a bright, visceral rollercoaster through woozy ballads like Little Puzzle to raging bangers like Mood Stabiliser.
For me it’s hundreds of hours of programming and sequencing and trying to keep the ship afloat as the venue collapses around me.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Greg from the Dillinger Escape Plan dived on top of me at a festival in 2011. I tried to hold him up but I am small and he’s enormous and we fell in a heap.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I use mainly machines made by Elektron – they’re super flexible and sound amazing. But I also like crap or broken gear – I have this tiny Laney amp that me and Mark (Black Foxxes) named the snotboi. He’s very, perfectly poorly.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our best work to date, an EP called We Can Never Not Be All Of Us came out on August 14th. It’s 6 tracks – not quite an album, but a nice chunk of work for people to explore.
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What are your plans for 2020?
Wait for 2021.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Radiohead would open. Death Grips would headline.
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