“We’re going to write music in the United Kingdom—the country where the drum and bass movement comes from. We’ll see whether they like it. We’ll work with people who want to work with us.” When the members of the Australian trio Pendulum said this around two years ago, they had not the slightest idea how accurate the statement would prove to be. By that time, their first official release—the legendary “Vault”—had set them on the road toward the drum and bass heights. The name Pendulum was everywhere, although most people had never seen the guys and knew nothing about their background.
And then it was more of the same. A couple more tracks, and the trio—namely Paul, Gareth and Rob, headed for London with hope in their eyes and a contract with the newly established label Breakbeat Kaos, headed by Adam F and Fresh.
They fell in love with drum and bass rhythms after seeing Fresh and Maldini perform in Perth, Australia. Rob says: “I heard ‘Messiah’ that night and thought—holy shit!” Gareth adds: “That day, we walked out of the club, looked at each other and said—we’ve got to make something like this!” And then 2004 arrived. The name Pendulum was on everyone’s lips, from the most advanced ravers to ordinary listeners. Thanks to their original approach, wealth of ideas and a number of improvements in sound quality, Pendulum moved to the forefront, overtaking many others. They made a loud statement about themselves and their place in drum and bass, repeating the success Bad Company had achieved in its time.
A little history. Rob and Gaz have known each other since school. After forming a band, they wrote heavy metal together. It all began the day Gaz invited Rob to the aforementioned club. After that, the guys became interested in electronic music and producing their own compositions. Rob had already been trying to do something similar by then, but his attempts never got beyond the attempt stage… The circle was completed when Paul joined them. He had been DJing since 1995 and began playing at drum and bass parties in Perth at exactly the same time that Rob and Gaz came up with the crazy idea of repeating the success of Fresh and Maldini. Soon, “Vault” was written—the track that made the now-famous trio’s name. It was signed to Doc Scott’s 31 Records. This gave the guys the opportunity to move to the United Kingdom, the home of drum and bass, and continue what they had started there.
So, after making a name for themselves in 2004 through remixes and singles, Pendulum did not stop there. Besides, they had accumulated a sufficient amount of musical material. The album did not take long to arrive. Work on it became the guys’ top priority, and all their other everyday affairs were abandoned. “We worked on the album for about two years,” Gaz says, “but during the last three months we simply detached ourselves from the rest of the world and focused on the work.” Rob adds: “We were simply finishing what we had started, reworking old ideas. For example, ‘Masochist’ became something of a reincarnation of a track we had sketched out about a year earlier. We shelved it, initially thinking it wasn’t good enough. But the track had a concept, so we came back to it a year later and finished it. That’s basically how we work. We start something, leave it for a while, wait for original ideas, and only then finish the track.”
The guys themselves rate their work highly and speak about the results of two years of labor without unnecessary modesty. Rob: “There is a lot of varied material on our album. There are tracks that fully fit our sound, and there are completely unexpected ones—things we have never done before.” Gaz adds: “We’re offering people different options; you can even find breaks on the album.” Rob: “Yes, we have two breaks tracks, one of them written together with Freestylers. There is also melodic, softer material. Overall, the album turned out 50/50—half soft tracks, half dancefloor tracks.”
After moving to the home of drum and bass, Pendulum encountered one natural danger, in the opinion of many producers: the influence of the latest directions and trends in drum and bass. It is very difficult to remain original when you have the opportunity to listen constantly to every new release. Gaz explains: “Here in the United Kingdom, the surroundings are very different from what we were used to in Perth. There, you’re somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, enclosed. Here, you constantly hear new releases and, naturally, are influenced by them in one way or another. All that remains is to keep your distance and try to be original. Which is also problematic when you play in clubs every week.”
To ensure the album’s 100% success, Pendulum brought several people into the project, including Fresh—this was how the track “Tarantula” came about. It is also worth mentioning Jasmine Yee, the vocalist of the Australian group Halogen. “She has an absolutely incredible voice; I can’t even find the right words to describe it,” Rob says. “When we heard Jasmine, we immediately realized that we had to invite her to work on the album. It’s a little strange that she still sings in that group. Her voice is simply perfect for electronic music. We specifically traveled to Perth to record Jasmine’s vocals. In the end, we got much more than we expected. We placed ourselves entirely in her hands, and the result exceeded all expectations!”
Work on the album did not stop even during the tour. Musical material was recorded everywhere, in various studios. Nevertheless, Pendulum specifically returned to their native Perth to finish the album there. Rob talks about the studio: “In Australia, we wrote music in a room that it was difficult to call a studio—it was that small. Nevertheless, nothing distracted us or interfered with the work there. You know how it is—you’re recording vocals and, at that moment, a police car or an ambulance drives past the window. That’s exactly why we had to leave Hampstead—police cars drove past every 15 minutes. On top of that, on the ground floor beneath our studio there was a children’s clothing shop. Every time the sub-bass was too loud, the owner would pound on the wall with all his strength. This was right in the center of Hampstead—there are fancy shops there. You can imagine what class of people visited the place where our studio was located. Wealthy prudes. Now imagine their reaction when, in the middle of the day, they walk into a shop and hear sounds like heavy, muffled blows and gut-wrenching bass. And this happened constantly. I wonder what they thought?”
Rob handled the sound engineering and mixing of the album’s tracks. And the surroundings played a very important role for him. “I find it very difficult to work in London. Here, you constantly feel as if you’re in an enclosed space, within four walls. Lots of people in the neighboring rooms. It’s distracting and sometimes irritating.”
As for working with the Breakbeat Kaos label, everything is going as pleasantly as possible. Rob says: “It’s great that we hit it off with the people at the label. At first we were rather skeptical, since we knew nothing about them and even thought we were getting ourselves into some kind of adventure. We were nervous, of course. It turned out there was no reason to be.” Gaz adds: “They’re very pleasant to work with. Many people assumed, admittedly, that BBK would strongly influence our sound and so on. But that didn’t happen. On the contrary, we did what we wanted to do. And they had no problem with it.”
The album Pendulum—Hold Your Colour—was released on vinyl and CD. “The musical material released on vinyl is aimed at the dancefloor. The 13 tracks presented on CD are more varied. We also released CD mixes of several tracks familiar to everyone, such as ‘Another Planet’ and ‘Still Grey.’ Thus, people who do not buy vinyl have an excellent opportunity to listen to them.”
Speaking about their music, Pendulum do not dismiss the importance of “live” musical instruments, such as brass instruments. They are currently working in the studio with a guitarist and plan to incorporate live sound into their tracks from time to time. Rob explains: “Actually, we weren’t planning to stop writing music entirely on computers. We simply have several tracks written together with different people who play various musical instruments. We just want to achieve a more natural sound and use more than samples.”
While working on the album, Pendulum also found time for a series of singles. The guys also wrote a typically dancefloor track, “Guns at Dawn,” together with Baron; it was released on BBK before the album’s official release. “We simply decided to use the simplest, standard sound. No innovations. This track was written strictly for the dancefloor.” Then came a collaboration with Sub Focus, which differed considerably from the collaboration with Baron. Many skeptics assumed that it was merely a fusion of two well-known tracks—“Another Planet” and “X-Ray.” “Yes, yes… That’s exactly what people expected from us. So we simply had to do something that would surprise them. Our collaboration is called ‘Virgin Android.’ And we tried to bring something of our own to it, to make one thing using various sound solutions.”
Many people were concerned about whether Pendulum, who had burst onto the drum and bass scene so rapidly, would be able to continue surprising their listeners with new, original concepts and tracks. But as practice shows, since the release of “Vault,” the guys have hardly put a foot wrong, doing what they love—and what, in turn, made them leaders of new school drum and bass. It can be said that the success of Fresh, which they had dreamed of at the very beginning of their career, was repeated. Gaz says: “We’ve encountered people who aren’t fans of drum and bass music, but who often change their musical tastes after listening to our tracks. They say—we don’t really like drum and bass, but what you’re doing is incredible. That is exactly what we wanted to achieve from the very beginning. That’s what the album was written for. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s as if you are personally adding to the ranks of junglists!”
As for future plans, the famous trio has plenty of them. Writing several more singles, collaborations, a tour, as well as work on a live project in which electronic sound will be combined with live sound through various musical instruments. What can Pendulum promise now?
Rob: “We won’t stop surprising you!”
Text: Knowledge Mag
Translation: Lysergic Lady
