Despite only forming in 2007, the rise of Passion Pit has been swift. Propelled by the success of debut album Manners, the American five-piece is enjoying the thrills and exhaustion of the touring life.
Very soon they’ll land here for the Big Day Out tour, and as FasterLouder learns, it’s all quite overwhelming.
You’ve taken a break from your touring schedule for Thanksgiving. In a world where being a touring band can often be a 365-day-a-year job, why did you choose to stop for the holiday?
I look at it as oxidating. It makes the touring life that much better when you have time to yourself. So we like to break up our touring schedule so that we have time to ourselves. Then when we come back to touring we do our best and put in our all and don’t burn ourselves out.
If you’re going to be travelling all around the world for shows and you’ve been touring for that long and you’re that burnt out, no one’s really benefiting from it. And then it won’t be that good of a show. For us, we’re young. We haven’t toured very often. We get tired; touring is very tiring. So we really enjoy that time off.
Do you find that this time helps comprehend some of the larger aspects of your careers that have recently appeared, such as supporting The Killers and Death Cab For Cutie during their arena tours?
To be frank with you, since it all happened in such a short period of time, everything is overwhelming. Every single step that we take is another step towards this overwhelming extreme. I mean, playing to thousands and thousands and thousands of people in a festival, and then playing to 600 people in a country you’ve never heard of but the club is sold out, it’s a wonderful, scary and interesting experience all in one. I guess we’ve just tried not to think about it anymore, because the more we think about it, the scarier it is.
Most that see Passion Pit from the outside only see the hype that surrounds you. How do you think you get to a stage where you are now overwhelmed by the experience of touring and recording?
Well, it all started in my bedroom. I just recorded songs and soon I had enough songs for an album which I dedicated to my girlfriend. Then my friend saw me perform these songs live and thought, “Hey, maybe we should flesh this out and try to start a band!” And we had nothing else better to do and we were bored so we did.
It was just such an innocent beginning. We were just not that serious about anything at all. We don’t feel like we’re out there trying to be famous or trying to get a record deal. We just kept doing what we were doing and it seemed to catch on. It’s just a sentimental project that’s interpreted live by a number of people. We don’t know where it will take us.
With such innocent beginnings with the mini-album Chunk of Change and full-length Manners, do you fear that when it comes time to write a second LP it may not carry the same emotional weight or quality?
Certainly for other artists, that may be the case. But I’m literally writing every day. I have no problems with being prolific or working through concepts.
Passion Pit was just a concept that was blown out of proportion. Being asked to record a full-length album was no problem for me. I came into the studio with nothing prepared and I just did it. I don’t feel pressure from anyone. The only pressure I have is that which I put upon myself to always write better and better songs.
On that, lots of people ask me: “From an indie label to a major label, what’s the difference?” And I just say not much at all, because I get the same creative power. I haven’t lost any power at all. I’m just doing a lot more radio and a lot more things that major labels kind of ask you to do.
There’s no such thing as structure in my life. I’m always ready to record. I’m always ready to write. I’m always ready to try new things. It’s not just “one album”; it’s like an entry into a diary.
You mention how Passion Pit is just a concept. Would you consider moving away from it in the future for other creative endeavours?
I think that every single band member has another project. I have another… uhh, I have a lot. Right now, the focus is on Passion Pit. But who knows what the future holds in store. If there’s gonna be another Passion Pit record, there’s gonna be another Passion Pit record. If there’s gonna be a Michael Angelakos record or anyone-else-in-the-band record.
I personally think that at the moment we’re in such of a touring mode and getting-better-as-a-band mode that we aren’t event considering sophomore albums. Whatever comes next comes next.
Manners has, arguably, been far more successful in Australia than in most other countries. Why has it taken so long to come out here?
We’re usually unaware of how well we’re doing in other countries until we go there. We don’t really just sit around our Soundscans and then go, “Yes! It’s doing well in this country. Let’s go there NOW!” [Laughs]. Financially is just really expensive to travel to Australia. But when we found out we were going to Australia, we freaked out. We were so excited because we’re bringing our show to the other side of the world!
It’s a question a lot of fans have emailed us about, not just from Australia, but from anywhere in the world really. But aside from travel expenses, we had to build up our home territory first. We’ve only toured the US like…I can count on one hand how many times we toured the US. We’re a very inexperienced band. We just had to build slowly, and I think now’s a proper time to go. I don’t think going earlier would have done us any good.
You’ve made an effort throughout the interview to talk about how overwhelming everything has been up to this point. Is there any particular moment you consider to be, for greater or for worse, the one you’ll tell your grandchildren when recounting the days when you started up Passion Pit?
I think, just when we went all these small European countries that where we expected no one to show up. Then we just pack out an entire club and everyone knows the words and is screaming the lyrics louder than you’re singing them.
It’s just a really overwhelming that you’re reaching people so far away, so outside of your bedroom. This project was never intended for this kind of scrutiny and for it to be a pop project. I never meant to leave a bedroom. And I think that I have so many feelings and such a wide range of emotions for has come over one year since we released the record that I can’t pick one story. I’m very happy to be in this position and I’m enjoying every second of it.
Passion Pit play the Big Day Out circuit around the country, plus a couple of sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne.
Sunday January 17th – Gold Coast Parklands
Wednesday January 20th – The Metro, Sydney
Friday January 22nd – Sydney Showground
Monday January 25th – The Corner, Melbourne
Tuesday January 26th – Melbourne Flemington Racecourse
Friday January 29th – Adelaide Showground
Sunday January 31st – Perth Claremont Showground
to listen to their music now on 