It has been a remarkable year for Manchester post-punkers PINS. They’ve impressed critics and fans with their gloom-laden, reverb-drenched “skeletal” rock. In the process they've become both torch-bearers for and champions of a burgeoning new DIY scene thanks to their label Haus of PINS. Most importantly, they've released a debut album, Girls Like Us, that will make many “end of year lists” this Crimbo. When Hot Press meets PINS’ founding member and singer/guitarist Faith Holgate, she tells us she still gets a buzz out of seeing her first LP sitting on record shop shelves.
“It’s pretty exciting to have it out there and we’re glad to be sharing it,” she proffers. “At the time we didn’t really think about it and were just like, ‘Oh, we need to get on with this and get it done.’ Now that it’s been taken out of our hands and been pressed, I’m like, ‘Oh wow, it’s in the shops! How weird!'”
Lean, mean and cooler than Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna in the North Pole, Girls Like Us took the band, who are completed by bassist Anna Donigan, guitarist Lois MacDonald and drummer Sophie Galpin, a mere seven days to record. When we ask the singer if the week-long session was stressful she laughs.
“It was really fun!” she chuckles. “We’ve always worked really fast. We did an EP last year [LuvU4Lyf] and that was recorded quickly too. It's sort of how we work.”
Inspired by bands from a bygone era, PINS made the album in Liverpool. Faith tells us that the group, who occasionally swap instruments to mix things up, had a very specific sound in mind when laying down the tracks.
“We brought a bunch of references to show the engineer,” says Faith. “We listened to Elvis songs and Thee Oh Sees, The Black Lips and a load of bands that use a lot of analogue equipment. We were in Liverpool when we were making it, so The Beatles came up a lot as a reference too.”
Another thing that keeps life fresh and fun for PINS is running their own label (the aforementioned Haus of PINS) and designing and creating their own packaging. Are the band control freaks, we wonder, or do they just enjoy being post-punk's answer to Blue Peter?
“It was something we’ve always done,” considers the singer. “Doing our own packaging and everything was something that we’ve taken care of from the very beginning. We’ve always done it, so it seems a natural thing to continue to do. It’s good that Bella Union is our label now, as they always help us out when it comes to actually physically bringing our ideas to fruition. Before, we’d sit there and stick the
the records together and have a little production line going at one of our houses. It’d be like, ‘You do the gluing, I’ll do the cutting.’
“We started Haus Of PINS so we could release our first single, ‘Eleventh Hour,’” she continues. “We had a little bit of label interest when we started out but nothing we wanted to commit to, so we thought we’d just do it ourselves. It really worked as a platform to get our music out.
So we thought, ‘Why not try and do it for other bands?’ The whole thing is a learning curve.
It’s really fun and will hopefully help other acts. It’s great to release music from the likes of [Dublin’s] September Girls.”
Speaking of September Girls, by the time this issue reaches your grubby little hands, PINS will be out on tour across Ireland with the aforementioned ladies. Faith tells us that they’re all excited to make their debut on these shores.
“This will be our fi rst time coming to Ireland as a band and my fi rst visiting personally,” she grins. “I’m excited about being a tourist and going to see the sights. I don’t know too much about the Irish music scene apart from September Girls. I’m looking forward to finding out more. We’ll also have a Christmas song online by the time people read this called ‘Kiss Me Quickly It’s Christmas’, along with a Haus of PINS compilation tape featuring 12 bands.
December’s going to be fun!”