Five minutes with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Words by Jackson Lavell-Lee

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are a Perth band that has been developing a hippy, highly visceral image and rapidly growing number of fans. Their live shows have gathered a positive and energetic response from audiences where the band vigorously rolls through songs in a complex poetry in motion style. We had a chat to the lead singer Jack McEwan and Guitarist Luke Parish.

So Guys thanks for taking the time to have a chat. What’s been going on?

The RTR broadcasting session breakfast with Caitlin was pretty fun, talking about our single launch. Otherwise just gigging man. Getting Bill Murray's face on our visuals.

It’s the elephant in the room, what was the inspiration behind your band name? Very rarely have three so obscure words combined so brilliantly.

We were jamming a few years ago and brainstorming a name and two suggestions were we should have a band with crumpets and we should have a band with Porn. I guess psychedelic sums us up a bit so that was the final ingredient.

A few weeks ago you played at the Odd Fellow bar Fremantle. Firstly excellent show, I think everyone got massively involved in that intimate space. Secondly Jack, you play behind a curtain of hair that hangs over your microphone, do you find that it improves your focus or is it simply for visual effect?

My hair has a bit of a schizophrenic mind of its own depending on where it wants to swing. Luke has got a nice Megadeath thing going on, down to the nips for that metal snazz.

Luke, your guitar shreds man, what are your biggest influences in lead guitarists?

We're not a traditionally-formatted band, Jack and I both mix between leading at different stages of songs, but I’d say my biggest influence is Pink Flloyd's David Gilmore from a traditional rock upbringing. I love jazz stuff too including Steely Dan and Larry Carlton.

Some amazing lyrics that really caught my eye were:

“I lost my sense, But I found a friend to talk / Addicted to fluorescent minds and colourful dialogue his ideas are all pear shaped / Cause his brain and his heart are divorced, From a time long before me / So scattered and out of control, He's on planet hoping endorphins waiting for life to be reinstalled."

Who was the mastermind behind those?

Marmalade March was the first one I (Jack) wrote for Crumpets, I was kind of going for a universal adventure spectacle. Something that pieces intangible ideas, modern scientific theories and has a quirky exploration feel to get lost in.

So you’ve said you want to deconstruct the cliché way in which to write a song, do you have a particular writing process? If so what goes into these psychedelic rhythms?

Someone will bring a flavour to the table then we throw it around in a jam, find something interesting and work on structuring a song around that. It’s usually a riff or maybe a heavier breakdown then get our heads around the bass and lyrics come last I guess. Luke and I write a bit more now that we live together but the hardest bit is eliminating sequences because we like more than we don’t at the moment and were trying to experiment. There’s no real control of a typical ‘this should go here and we need a bridge there’, we kind of just let our ears rule our composing choices.

Your visuals in the video clips and posters are vibrant and convoluted. Are you looking to capture attention with the use of symbolic and LCD style psychedelic images?

Yeah definitely, we want to scramble brains and challenge people to see an unfamiliar realm of comfort, if that’s possible. What we’re trying to do is post-modern I guess. There’s hundreds of ‘this band’, ‘that band’, those safe genre’s. We’d like to find something that is classic and golden and give it a modern twist. Because everything has been done, there are no unturned stones. It’s just about piecing the stones together and painting it how you want.

You’ve said that watching Red Engine Caves made you think that you “need to do that” have they been a big inspiration behind your sound or performance? Which other bands have been your most valuable learning tools?

Watching Red Engine was the first experience in the Perth underground rock scene and I realised what I’d been missing. They’re the people we want to write for. That edgy and loose hidden society that doesn’t follow a particular formula but just goes with it. That heavy, fuzzed up vibe.

The second single launch Cubensis Lenses At Jack Rabbit Slim's last Friday night was a rad show. Have you begun writing an entire album?

Yeah we love the response we’re getting at our live shows and we do have an 11-track album recorded. We’re in the final production phase and pushed it back Until January to build some hype around it.

I know you’ve supported King Gizz at GIZZfest, is there any more plans of touring and gigging in the works? Where can we see more of you?

GIZZfest was huge and incredible. There are some more Perth shows over the next two weeks including WAM Festival and the opening of the Garage on October 24, again at the Odd Fellow Bar on October 31. Then we’ve got a Melbourne tour in November at the Workers Club Thursday 12 and Sunifest at the Tote Friday 13.

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Psychedelic Porn Crumpets use a complex combination of heavy riffs, obviously psychedelic breakdowns and multidimensional lyrics to captivate their audience. The use of alliteration and assonance in the titles Marmalade March and Cubensis Lenses is a testament to the rhythmic psychotic way the band is approaching their image. These musical brainwaves capture the invading feeling of being taken on an out of this world journey of exploration.

Get your hands on their singles here.

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