Returning with their new EP, ‘A New Breed’, Newcastle riff-trio The Pale White continue where they left off with infectious melodies and focused rock. Fresh from two sold-out shows at The Grove, frontman Adam Hope caught up with Damian Robinson to talk about the EP and upcoming tour.
Congratulations on ‘A New Breed’. The lead single ‘Validate Me’ is particularly fierce and moves The Pale White into new textures. Was that the intent?
Thank you. Perhaps it was; I’m not really sure. Jack came up with the original idea for the song – and that’s often a good sign – and then I built the song up around the idea. Perhaps because it was Jack’s idea, that gave me the ability to write in a slightly different way and to feel comfortable using different instrumentation that what we’ve used before.
It’s almost electric in places…
Yeah, there is some organ and samples on the song. I think they’ve always been a part of our music, but perhaps now, we’re more confident to let those sounds be a larger part of the final mix or to give those sounds a greater focus. If anything, it’s about trying to not be shy about our sounds and influences.
There’s quite a different feel on the EP to previous releases; ‘How Far Can You Push a Man?’, for example, is quite experimental in places…
Essentially, the EP is us looking at the material we’re building up for the next album and trying to piece ideas together. We could have made the EP a single, or maybe even a double-A side, as we wanted to join up pieces that felt similar to each other. in the end, we felt the EP was a collection of strong songs that were unique but had a similar feel.
So there’s work on a new album happening?
There is. But the challenge with a new album is that you can get locked into a two-year cycle of writing and recording and promoting and touring. We wanted to get these songs out as they feel good – and working on an EP makes releasing new music quicker. We really enjoyed playing the two shows at The Grove and wanted to build on that momentum and get some new music out.
You’re following up The Grove shows, and the EP release, with a new tour. Is there any chance you might sneak a North East show into the tour?
Probably not, no. We’re excited for the tour, and we’ve not long played The Grove, so we’ll wait until early next year until we play the North East again. But our Manchester and Glasgow shows aren’t too far away so, hopefully, people from the area who like our music can come and see us play in other places.
‘A New Breed’ is out on Friday.
