Iconic but understated, Australian trio PVT (formerly Pivot) have been creating groundbreaking, genre pushing experimental rock for over 15 years now, during this period it’s fair to say the guys haven’t really been wasting much time.
With four much loved full length albums under their belt – their debut Make Me Love You (2005), the attention grabbing (and Wrap Record debut) O Soundtrack My Heart (2008), the acclaimed follow up Church With No Magic (2010) and finally the most recent Homosapien (2013) PVT’s legacy and fandom build with every stunning release.
The band, two brothers, Richard and Laurence Pike alongside Dave Miller are these days spread across Sydney and London, but that doesn’t stop the a trio from writing and recording, in fact a new album is currently being mixed in the UK.
This year marks the 10 year anniversary of their debut Make Me Love You, released via Sensory Projects, it was an album that would set precedent for the band’s constant reinvention of themselves and the genres in which they inhabit. To celebrate this milestone they’ve reissued the album and will be playing a special 10th year anniversary show as part of Melbourne Music Week. Ahead of the show we caught up with the band’s Laurence Pike to revisit this iconic record.
10 Years On, How ‘Make Me Love You’ Stands Up
“I had to revisit the masters recently to prepare the LP reissue actually. It had been a few years since I’d heard it. I still think it sounds great. It was made in a different time though.
It’s like looking back at your early 20’s self, all naïve and brash… awkward cargo pants. The thing that makes it enduring to me is that energy of discovery, and the willingness stretch ourselves. That seems to be a general philosophy that’s underpinned everything we’ve done since, although we’ve grown immeasurably since as people and artists.
There’s also a lovely reverence in the music, a depth of listening and attention to sound and detail which you don’t always hear from young bands, especially now. I’m proud of it, I think it’s held up well, and after 10 years that’s satisfying personally if nothing else.”
The Process Behind ‘Make Me Love You’
“Pivot basically began as a jam band. We’d just do two hour gigs and try and improvise in a cohesive way using all our influences; everything from free jazz to krautrock to Warp records electronica. Initially it was probably a fucking mess I imagine, but over time the sound started to take shape and we felt a desire to record more concise statements; especially to explore our interest in melodic writing and sound production. That’s basically where ‘Make Me Love You’ came from. I think that’s also part of its strength; that the music developed over a long time and through playing a lot together. It was process-based music born from a genuine desire to say something.
In hindsight Richard and I were very much the driving force behind it, and I dare say very ambitious. Ultimately to achieve the result we wanted we had to push pretty hard to get over the line. There was a point where the personnel of the band were coming apart. People had other priorities as often happens with bands, and at one point Rich and I debated long and hard about scrapping the whole record and starting anew. In the end we decided if nothing else it would be important to have a document of the period, so we persisted and finished it.
It’s like looking back at your early 20’s self, all naïve and brash… awkward cargo pants.We’d done some live to air recordings for 2SER radio in Sydney in the period leading up to it which kind of acted as template for the album, or at least pre-production ideas to build upon. Most of the beds we tracked in a couple of days at (what was) Megaphon studios in St Peters. Then there was a lot of post-production, experimenting and overdubbing in the basement of my parent’s house on an old Mac G3 desktop and an Akai S2000 sampler amongst other things.
I don’t think I’d change too much, as it’s a lovely time capsule to me. Maybe I’d just record the drums a lot better than they were…”
How The Band Became A Career
“Richard and I started the band back in 1999. It was basically a vehicle for us to explore whatever we were interested in. We’d both been studying jazz and composition at the Conservatorium of music, but were feverishly interested in electronic music and production at the same time.
Simultaneously I’d been working freelance playing the drums, and also made a couple of records and was touring internationally with another band I had called Triosk. I think those experiences fed into the process of creating Make Me Love You, which we really pieced together over 2-3 years between 2002 and 2005.
We wanted to be full-time musicians (and happily have more or less managed to be that since). So yes, we’d definitely decided to make music our career, it wasn’t until we made the following record O Soundtrack My Heart and started touring internationally that the idea of PVT itself becoming a full time proposition became more real.”
‘La Mer’: The Favourite Track From The Album
“It’s probably the least obvious choice, but I’ve always liked ‘La Mer’. I think it’s just a really patient and balanced piece of music, and from a purely selfish perspective that’s a really satisfying achievement.
Generally speaking that is one thing that struck me revisiting the album; that we’re quite patient with our ideas across it. I like that. It’s something we’ve been thinking about more again with our forthcoming album actually. We were very much influenced by minimalism and ambient music at the time, stuff like The Necks, Brian Eno and some lesser-known electronic stuff like Labradford, or Berlin guys like Jan Jelinek and Andrew Pekler. That seems to me to be the place that track came from.
There’s also some subtle stuff in there that’s cool to hear now; samples of sticky tape dispensers, hitting the frame of a grand piano with mallets, that sort of fun art school shit. In hindsight I’ve also got a soft spot for ‘Kirsten Dunst’. If only because we were stupid enough to call the track that.”
That Band’s Biggest Change Since ‘Make Me Love You’
“The most obvious change has been the line-up. Dave joined the band almost immediately after MMLY was released and the original line-up then dissolved. Rich and I quickly realised he was the guy we wanted to work with to move forward.
We made the next record as a three piece, and quite quickly and effortlessly (particularly compared with the experience and process of making MMLY). It turned the band into something far more focused, and ultimately more long term.”
Signing To Warp Records
“It basically made us an international band, which we were prepared for to be honest, at least in that our sound has always been international in my opinion. We never existed within a local scene so much. It was always impossible in the early days to find gig bills that we could make sense on musically.
[include_post id=”458042”] The Warp thing was the realisation of a dream on one hand – I had wanted to release an album on Warp since I was about 17 – but it seemed an entirely logical progression of events at the time. Why wouldn’t we put out a record on Warp, you know? Of all the labels in the world they seemed the ideal place for us on a musical and philosophical level.
Go to the source was our thinking. We’d made a record (O Soundtrack) that we thought would be right at home on the label, so we went about getting it to them. We had a friend invite us to a party in London after a show, and Warp founder Steve Beckett was there. He was vaguely aware of my playing through some earlier recording I’d done with another Warp artist, Prefuse73. I basically got my hog out and went and introduced myself and handed him the album. Happily he loved it and sent us an email a few weeks later and said ‘I want to put this out’.”
Surviving Over 15 Years In A Band With Your Siblings
“Rich and I definitely have many shared musical touchstones growing up together obsessed with music, and a strong musical empathy. We’re reasonably close in age, and have been playing in bands together since we could too, so it definitely helps.
Perhaps living in different countries for the last few years and our musical time together needing to be far more efficient has also kept it fresh I dare say.”
Celebrating The 10 Year Anniversary Of ‘Make Me Love You’
“I guess we’re not terribly nostalgic generally, so I don’t think we would have ever staged a big tour to mark the passing of 10 years since the first album came out. We’re very much mindful of the future.
Rich has been living in London for five years now, and by chance he was thinking of being in Sydney at the same time as Small World Festival came up, so it fell happily into place. It seemed a great chance to reconnect the live show after some time off playing, and work up new material to tour the forthcoming album early next year.”
Plans For The Next 12 Months
“Well the new album is being mixed in the UK as I say this which is exciting, so this is very much going to be the start of the next chapter.
I’m definitely thinking of this whole anniversary thing as more of a homecoming party for us than anything else. Eyes on the horizon.”
Make Me Love You – 10th Anniversary Edition is available as limited edition 180 gram clear vinyl and includes a free copy of the You Make Me Love collection on CD from the PVT store, or is available to stream and download.
PVT: 10 Year Anniversary
Monday 16th November
MMW Hub Former Royal Women’s Hospital
Tickets and info at Melbourne Music Week’s website
