“Yeah, when we started out, we often rehearsed in car parks… or in parks,” he explains. “Somewhere there weren’t many people around. When we were in our late teens/early 20s, we loved The Flaming Lips and their attitude. We wanted to try new sounds and a different way of doing things – we took that ethos from their attitude.”
Setting the homage to The Flaming Lips aside, while The Parking Lot Experiments are often pigeonholed as alternative/experimental, Pratt is quick to point out that it’s a bit of a mischaracterisation. “We’re not super experimental,” he qualifies. “When we started we were folkies. Now we’re a hyperactive, electronicy punk band.”
In terms of recordings, their music is oddly beautiful and danceable to boot (have a listen to Track Five on the Dave’s Drones EP for confirmation). Sometimes it’s pretty, sometimes it’s melodic, sometimes it’s electronic drone, and, harkening back to their roots, on at least one track it’s outright folk (Remembered Light off the Apartment – Home Recordings album).
After a flurry of releases in 2008 and 2009, the band went quiet on the recording front, preferring instead to hone their stagecraft – and it’s paid off. It’s their live performances that really set them apart and ignite their fans. Frenetic and fun would be apt descriptions of their vigorous live sets.
“When we decided to focus on our live performances, it meant that we looked less at the detail and made sure that our shows were jam-packed full of moments and feeling – beats and energy,” Pratt explains. “We want there to be a certain spectacle. I think that you should be giving people a reason to go and see you, rather than just listening to you at home. We want it to be fun. Very fun.
“There’s definitely a cathartic element to our performances,” Pratt notes. “They’re very energetic. All of that jumping around, dancing, screaming… I enjoy it emotionally, and physically it’s a good release – an opportunity to vent. I imagine that people see us get that release, too.”
Sometimes, though, the band’s music is an interesting dichotomy – they couple miserable lyrics with the happiest music (Funeral Song, Grey On Black Life, and White On White Life from the band’s LP are good examples).
“We make the music we enjoy and want to play and hear,” explains Pratt. “What we’re thinking about is more melancholy. We don’t gravitate towards lighthearted lyrics, but it’s two sides of the same process.”
Fans will be happy to know that not only are the band returning to more frequent gigging, but a new album is also in the pipeline. “We probably only did six shows over the last year or so,” reflects Pratt, “but we’ve been working on [the album] for four years on and off. This is really our return to form. We wanted to make sure that the album was a good representation of us. When we play live, there’s an emphasis on energy and fun. We wanted to capture that on the album – that chaotic energy. It’s a perfect storm: it’s fun and listenable and has the depth of being an album that you can sit down and listen to. I feel a bit like we are starting again.”
BY MEG CRAWFORD
