The Pinheads on Aliens, Wollongong and DIY

The music of Wollongong’s The Pinheads can be described as a do-it-yourself. Yes, they’re a punk rock band, but they are also so much more than that. They're unsympathetic and raucous, a genre-defying group of mates who love what it is they do. The five have just embarked on a string of UK shows following the release of their second self-recorded album Is This Real. They are currently on tour in Australia and just before closing off these homecoming shows, we had a chance to chat with the bassist Tayna Avanus. The full interview below:

Lennox Groove: The Pinheads have been around for a few years now, how did it all start? 

Tayna Avanus:We’ve been together for about 5 years now. The [other] guys knew each other beforehand. I was the only one who didn’t. They all grew up on the South Coast near Wollongong. I met Luke at an Art School in Sydney and ended up moving down here.

LG: How’s the music scene down in Wollongong?It’s a shame Rad Bar had to close down…

TA:Yeah it really is! But over the past five-six years, and after the birth of Yours and Owls, that whole scene, it’s become a lot stronger. There’s a really good group of young people that are booking shows in different venues around Wollongong and making sure that there is a good variation of acts that come through. So not just one genre of music or not just the bigger bands… and It’s not just gig’s as well, there’s some great cultural events that combine music, art and performance. It’s picked up a lot!

LG: Who is your greatest musical influence?

TA: Um, kind of hard to say because there are so many of us!

LG: Do you all have different tastes?

TA: Yeah, we all take different elements from what we like into our writing and performance. But there are some really cool bands that we all love like The Stones, Neil Young, and The Beatles. But then we also love classic soul like James Brown. When you’ve been together for five years and grow up together your tastes are bound to change. It’s evolved a lot.

LG: I’ve read a lot of interesting meanings behind your songs, especially to do with aliens…Do you really think that they could be out there? Have you encountered any?

TA: 100% they are out there! There is no doubt in any of our minds! We are all believers and I think more than less of us have had experiences with UFOs. 

LG: Wow really? How so?

TA: Yeah! There have been instances where we’ve seen a UFO in the sky, and a couple of times when we’ve seen discs or orbs. One time for someone it was a triangular thing with three lights and yeah, it’s a full thing hey? Like it’s real and we love it. We’re so into it! [Laughs.] 

LG: Could you tell me a bit more about the song ‘Not Like You’?

TA: I didn’t write the lyrics, so I can’t really speak for Jez, but it’s kind of an anthem for outsiders. We’ve always seen ourselves as outsiders and we like to connect with people in that way. I think there’s a certain disenchantment with the way that a lot of young people are communicating with each other now, like everything is so online. People’s values are changing, and I guess it’s kind of just standing up to the influence of popular culture and saying, “Hey you don’t have to be like this and it’s okay to be different.” That’s what I gather from what Jez has written. We have a soft spot for all the freaks and weirdos out there because we’re kind of in that boat! [Laughs.]

LG: For both albums, you’ve recorded in your home studio, ‘The Pinshed’ with a DIY approach. Would you ever consider taking a full-studio approach?

TA: To be honest, I don’t know. We like having that sort of sonic creative control over our work. Our singer, Jez engineers all of it. For the first album he recorded it, but he didn’t mix it (although for the last album he did, which gave him a little more control over the finished product). I think we like having as much time as we need to record things because if you go into a studio you have ‘X’ amount of hours and you’re always thinking about how much money you’re spending. But in our own studio, we can go in and stay there until four in the morning. We can do really long sessions, or we can take a break. I think we enjoy doing it that way as it’s a very comfortable way to work. I mean there are some producers out there, people who have really cool studios that maybe we would like to work with… I mean it’s an exciting but daunting prospect because we don’t know how we would go in such a professional environment. But it’s always an option for the next album.

LG: Does that mean there’s another album on the way?

TA: I mean yeah, we’ve started writing for the next one already! While we were doing our tour in Europe, we had an Airbnb in the middle of France somewhere. They actually had a really old barn there, so we set up in there and started writing songs. It’s pretty different but we’re really excited!

LG: In saying that, I’ll be heading down to see you guys play at The Northern this Saturday. Is there anything myself and other fans should expect?
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TA: Definitely expect a really fun show! We’ll be playing mostly new stuff from the album, pretty much all the songs really! Then sticking some old ones in there as well. I guess expect the usual kind of raucous antics and it will be a lot of fun! I mean the music might have matured but I don’t think we have matured as people!