Listening to the recording of my interview with :PM, it opens with one of the five boys whistling carelessly, the others discussing the ‘vintage’ voice recorder I’ve laid on the table. They’re young, they’re fun and they are gathering fans very, very quickly.
:PM is formed of Dan, Joe, Alex, Josh and Harry and the band have just finished a huge arena tour supporting The Vamps. They are stopping off at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, the city’s biggest venue on offer.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever played venues this size, it’s great getting out there. We just look at each other and do the same thing that we would do in Alex’s parent’s garage when we were little. There’s just more room to run around!”
Alongside :PM on the tour are youth phenomenons, Jacob Sartorious and Hrvy, both of whom have shot to stardom over the last years thanks to their presence on social media. The Yorkshire-born band tell The Courier just how much they are leaning from everyone:
“We watch The Vamps with a microscope because their career has done amazing. You have to learn from bands like that.”
“Jacob and Hrvy are really sweet guys. They’re really talented and their sets are really great as well. Everyone on tour is really cool, it’s a proper family.”
[pullquote]You’ve got Arctic Monkeys on one side with the big riffs and then JB with the big old pop song chorus[/pullquote]
Although :PM may seem to be only on the start of their journey, it’s been more than a decade in the making. Josh recounts the story of when he and Harry, both guitarists, first approached lead-singer Dan:
“Me and Harry were 12 years old, in our first year of school. We ere in the same form group so were best mates straight away.”
“It must have been 2 or 3 months later when we saw Dan in assembly. He was going to play trumpet and last minute he got the guitar and decided to play ‘Hallelujah’. He smashed it and me and Harry went up to him in the break time and asked if Dan wanted to join the band. He was like uhhh, maybe.”
Dan chuckles but can’t have been to hard to convince as he fills in, “We did a little practice in a tiny room and we gelled straight away. From there the team formed. Alex lives next for to me and he went to school with Joe.”
Since then, the youngsters have enjoyed a number of experiences that has seen them hone their music to the confident sound they boast now. When 15-years-old :PM won a competition called the AMP awards and were gifted the chance to record in Johnny Depp’s Hollywood studio. Whilst none of that music recorded at such a young age was released, the chance to play a show at the Whisky a Go Go club was also relished.
Now, the band record in North London’s Konk Studios, the birthplace of The Kook’s sophomore record Konk.
“In the studio the energy is always there, nothing really changes, no-one gets bored. It’s more like let’s get it done. When we are in the studio we already have the song, so if we love it we just smash it out and have a blast.”
The cheeky group are all smiles as they joke about the million songs they plan to release and million destinations ahead of them this year. “You’ve got to go with the streaming hype you know”, one voice chimes in. However, joking aside, there is a lot for fans to look out for.
“We’ve got an EP which we are releasing on the tour. And then we are going to have a new song coming out with some headline shows after the tour is finished which is cool.”
“We love touring, we had a day and a half at home and none of us wanted to leave. The response [on tour with The Vamps] has been great. When we go onto our social medias now and there are people saying when can we get tickets for our shows it’s amazing. We’ve even had a few tweets saying that people have bought tickets for another Vamps show to come see us which is the most surreal thing.”
In terms of influences, the band cite an eclectic mix including Arctic Monkeys, The 1975 and Justin Bieber but, when listening, that mix does come through…
“Big old guitar and pop hooks. You’ve got Arctic Monkeys on one side with the big riffs and then JB with the big old pop song chorus.”
‘Grown Ups’ is the band’s debut single, released in 2017, and their biggest success to date with that sound coming through strong in lyrics such as, “I wanna buy a haribo ring and marry you”.
“It does have a big place in our hearts. It wasn’t going to be the first single originally and it just sort of came out and we just put it out. We all put so much into it and it means so much to us. When we see the streams going up or see people singing it it’s insane.”
It’s a success the boys will have to get used to. Touring with The Vamps is proving a phenomenal success. When they talk of their growing social media popularity, they aren’t joking, fans are flocking in their direction. 2018 is a huge year for :PM, and they won’t have any complaints with the success of the first half of it.
Toby Bryant