Primyl Vinyl are a proper rock band, they share their thoughts and plans for the future.

Prmyl Vinyl have been making waves recently.

They caught our ears in gigs at Sound and supporting Hands Off Gretel. We rate their straight up rock and their no nonsense attack of any stage they get near. Plus, there’s that blue whale …

Albeit a pause during lockdown, there has been a single release – Lady Bay and plans for new music coming up. We caught up with guitarist Matthew to see what was going on.

P3dro: Where are and what are you doing?

Matthew: I am at home, near Nottingham. Because there’s been no live stuff, I’ve turned my hand to songwriting, freelance and producing. It’s been cool. It’s been a challenge. The lockdown has forced us to switch things somewhere else. There’s been no support from the Government or elsewhere, so we’ve just had to fucking get on with it.

P3dro: So, song writing for other people? Or for Primyl Vinyl?

Matthew: A bit of both, really. Steve and I have been making a lot of demos. There’s been a bit of small talk with industry people and a couple of labels who are looking to take the next step forward. We’ve been very active in terms of where we want to take the project – what we want to say and how we want to say it.

P3dro: Tell us a little bit about the band, where you formed, where you’re from and how you got together.

Matthew: At the moment we’re down to a two piece. It wasn’t Primyl Vinyl back in the day – it was a jam project with four of us in a rehearsal room in Liverpool. Me and Nahum, our drummer were the two who kind of stuck with it – he’s our second vocalist – he has a great voice. We really liked similar styles of music and we just went: “Shall we give it a go? Shall we make a band out of this?” It didn’t really start to get going until until we had Steve as the third member as lead guitarist.

Then we got a couple of cool gigs and support slots lined up, and it all sort of fell into place with the vocals and the harmonies. We had a friendly sound on top of the more aggressive rock sound, so it seems to be doing the job, so far.

P3dro: You’re from all over the country. How did you wind up in Liverpool?

Matthew: We were all at LIPA together. We were all studying and doing our own things. But Nahum and I had a love for bands like MUSE and Don Broco – things like that. I think there was one time when we were in a class together and we were just chatting about music and bands we liked, so we just went: fuck it, shall we go and have a jam together? And from there, it clicked really well. So, cool.

I think being in Liverpool does have an influence. You’re constantly exposed to [music].

We do have plans, but we’re talking about a small band in the middle of nowhere, but in the terms of the whole industry – you don’t have to look far to find venues that are on their knees.

It’s the venues with 100 cap that are the really central – where you can just go and drink and see what’s happening. They’re the places that can really give you a leg up when you start.

P3dro: Absolutely. You’re not all going to start off playing the big room at the O2.

Matthew: For sure. You only have to look at the number of bands you follow or are interested in that basically [played the small venues] in a dingy small basement. I’ve played in many bands in those kind of places where we’ve been pretty crap, but we’ve been able to play and then work out what has been crap and then change it. It’s invaluable.

You can rehearse and rehearse, but you don’t get the full idea without putting it to the test.

P3dro: Tell us about the single, Lady Bay

Matthew: We’d been sitting on it for a year and a bit. We did it with Mark Winterburn at Edge Recording Studio

We thought it was about time we went in and got some industry sparkle on it, some industry heads, and see what we could do with it. We were about half a day into recording – Baby Steps had just come out and we thought – Jesus – just the knowledge that Mark brings to your sound – It brings you to the next level – we were absolutely buzzing about that.

Then it was just a case of working out a strategy of when to bring it out and how to build on it. But, then, that was all up in the air. It’s so weird, because then the pandemic came about, so we’re: “Do we pause or do we push everything back. And is that going to do more damage than good?”

With Baby Steps, we decided to [put it out] because people were at home and listening to stuff and, maybe wanting music to stop them being bored, so that went down really, really, well.

Then Lady Bay was the follow up. It was meant to be a more summery anthem vibe. Originally we’d planned the songs, maybe a month earlier. But as it’s turned out, it’s the middle of a rainy September.

It has the same effect – it’s loud and energetic.

P3dro: Is there an album in the plans?

Matthew: No. In terms of writing, then, yes there is. There’s more than 12, 14, songs that we have got together that we could easily line up. But you have to play the game a bit. For a band our size, I just don’t think the demand would be at this point there to soak that all up at once. So, that really lends itself to the singles way of doing things. We have ideas, maybe, the middle of next year to put out an EP. That way you can do a bit of hype and move it forward.

There has to be a narrative. There has to be something to say, something for the audience to believe in. With all music there needs to be something that connects with the audience. There is always something being said that resonates with the listener.

If you’re not saying something that you believe in, that people believe in, then what’s the point?

P3dro: I have to ask you the obvious question. Tell us about the Blue Whale.

Matthew: Jeremy, the whale. We played a few shows that were busy and there was a kind of feeling that we didn’t have that one thing that was our thing. Then we [decided] to try and find a blow up whale and use it as our mascot. From there people would take selfies and it was one of the few ideas, as a start up band that comes good. But the original Jeremy is deceased. He had a slow puncture. We’re getting his little brother sorted now.

P3dro: Recommend a band or an album you think we should be listening to right now.

Matthew: The new Biffy Clyro album is absolutely stupendous. I love every track on it.

I’m also listening to quite a lot of lo-fi stuff – like Postcard Boy.