A Quick Chat with People Taking Pictures
Luke, coming from your work with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, what inspired you to explore darker electronic and hip hop influences on ‘Let This Be’?
With People Taking Pictures I have always wanted to explore other genres and styles that deviate away from Psychedelic Rock and Hard Rock. Being on the road touring for half the year in PPC definitely fills up my cup for guitar heavy music. PTP has always been hiphop and experimental and with this EP I wanted to combine my knowledge of heavier genres and fuse it with what I had already been making. The answer I was looking for to fuse everything together seemed to lie more in heavier electronic genres like Drum and Bass.
- Rish
‘Let This Be’ blends drum & bass, rave textures and psychedelia into something chaotic but controlled. How did you approach balancing all those influences creatively?
It was a lot of experimentation particularly in the earlier stages of the EP. I spent a lot longer than usual just making rough demos and arrangements before I recorded everything properly. That way I was able to sort of chop things in and out easily until I found something that worked well together. Being mostly a guitar player its easy to get carried away with overdoing guitars, so i would write a lot with guitar and then replace it or take things away until it sounded more contrasting in the arrangement. Bringing in Nelly (POW! Negro) early on in the demo stages was also a big help as he helped me re arrange a lot of the demos that didnt work. Adding demo vocals too set the tone for how the final recording should sound.
- Rish
The 16mm-shot music video feels gritty, surreal and cathartic. What was the vision behind creating that visual world?
From the start I wanted to do something that was all black and white, the album covers, the press shots and the videos to give it a cohesive look. I have always loved working with film and after working with Robin (robsolete format) in the past we both share a love of this process. By using 16mm you get a really cinematic look but in black and white its also super grungy. This whole EP was very dark and political and so I wanted any visual elements to also bring this message across.
- Rish
People Taking Pictures has built a reputation for immersive live performances alongside recent support slots with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Morcheeba. What have those experiences taught you as a live act?
They’ve taught us that there is an audience out there that would enjoy what we do but we just haven’t found them all yet. It's been a long road delving into the more obscure blendings of genre and I think those kinds of support slots are great for getting it in front of the right people and finding those communities that like the sound.
It’s also taught us that our music sounds way better live through a big sound system then a small club and developing this sound for a long time in the studio lends itself to better stage production for sure.
- Nelly
The upcoming EP SOOP dives into themes of digital overload, politics and modern anxiety. Why did those themes feel important to explore right now?
Music should reflect the times and be a source of positive energy, catharsis and influence for affirmative action especially in times of crisis. We’re in a crucial time in human history where people have become desensitised and resigned to this descent into visibly escalating atrocities, in-equalities and in-equities. It’s important for us as artists to use our platform and art to push back against it, in the hope that it stirs people to come together and fight for a better future for all of us.
- Nelly
With both People Taking Pictures and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets pushing genre boundaries in different ways, where do you see this project evolving next?
It’s hard to know, there are so many different avenues we’d like to explore. I think we are enjoying the heavier side of music at the moment but there will always be space for those softer genres.
We’ve been thinking regardless of where we take it next, focusing more on sound design and further evolving the production. We’ve been loving the new Board Of Canada stuff and are also very into dance music but just figuring out how to still keep it feeling like PTP rather than completely switch it up genre wise.
- Nelly