Band Interview: Pale People

Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are proud to being you an interview with Missoula, Montana based band, Pale People.

1. How did you get started as a band?

So Mack Gilcrest (piano, vocals) was having a bad time in college, struggling with his music composition degree, and one day he heard the Dresden Dolls on the radio and it blew up his mind. So he wrote ten songs, and then he called Kurt Skrivseth (bass, guitar) begging for help. (Kurt being an old college buddy, undergoing his own struggles with the music program.) They tried it, and it worked.

Austin Graef is our second drummer, and he and Mack’ve been friends since high school, and he’s the sexy one.

2. How would you describe your sound?

We don’t know. Seriously. Maybe imagine Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” interpreted by morose hamsters.

3. What bands/artists would you say have influenced your style of music?

The Dresden Dolls are the whole reason our band exists in the first place. Blur and Death Cab have also been pretty huge for us. So have Primus, the Pixies, and Talking Heads.

4. Has the rise of YouTube & music streaming helped or hindered you as a band?

Helped. Absolutely helped. None of this would be possible otherwise. We’re unsigned, and neurotically independent, and very very poor.

5. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not making music?

We sort of like making music all the time. Fuckin’ nerds, right?

6. What are your future plans musically? Tours?

For one, our upcoming third album The World Is Yours! Due sometime in August, after which we’re embarking on a month-long tour of the west coast. Excelsior!

We’d like to thank Pale People for taking the time to speak with us & Stencil PR for arranging it. You can find out much more about Pale People over on their website, on Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud & YouTube.