The Plastics: Interview

The MC shouted "Rock 'n Roll is not dead!" and the crowd erupted.

I recently got the opportunity to go to an event hosted by SAMS (South African Music Scene) in conjunction with The Side Show and got to catch some rad live performances by The Ballistics, Al Bairre, aKing and of course The Plastics!

The venue made me feel as if I were transported back in time, it might have because of the fiery blues resonating from the main stage which reminded me of a Bad Company song. Next Al Bairre set up the stage to rock to their tracks 'Right Here in July', 'Solid Gold' and their indie vibe cover of Cyndi Laupers 'Girls just wanna have fun'.

There was a 10 minute break before The Plastics took the stage, they started playing and the crowd went crazy, captivating the audience (and myself) with their retro persona, clever and well put together chord structures which were musical genius, backed up with their insane stage presence. Opening up with my personal favorite 'Sooner than Later' then going into the more up-tempo indie-pop-rock crowd pleasers like 'Stereo Kids' and 'Occasional Lies'. By now I was already well acquinted with the fan girls trying to get as close to the stage as possible, no doubt trying to get a better view of Emile (lead guitar) rocking in all his eccentricity which I think the entire band adhered to as well. Major props to Pascal (lead vocalist) who played meticulously even after he had snapped a string before closing the set with 'Best Pretenders' . The entire atmosphere was really intimate and I think that's what made it so insane.

After they had finished their set, we caught up with the band backstage for probably one of my favorite interviews yet, I got to meet the guys behind all the rad music I've been fan girling over for quite some time now!

Katelynn: Okay, so The Plastics - what's the story behind your name?

Pascal: The name 'The Plastics' comes from the movie mean girls. The group of hot bitchy girls in the movie. We just kind of thought it was an ironic name . We like to think of ourselves as pretty chilled out, friendly approachable guys. We had the polar opposite vibe going as the mean girls. Then secretly we each are one of the mean girls. But never ask who's who. Don't ask who's Lindsay, who's Regina. It's never going to happen.

Karl: Well I'm meant to be Regina because of my hair.

*group erupts in laughter*

Katelynn: Tell us more about the sound you guys are going for.

Emile: Well the last album Pyramids was kind of a complete mesh between a modern sound with a very strong 60's backbone, we're trying to take our influences from the 60's but modernize it in a way that it hasn't been modernized before. You know like to give it a completely different new sound. And the way it went down I think we kind of succeeded or at least I hope so.

Sash: It's the modern 60's.

Katelynn: So you guy's are actually taking influences from 60's and 70's Rock ń Roll and bringing it back?

Emile: Well because our influences from the 60's and 70's are so strong they are undeniable. And you know its obviously going to come out in everything we play, but its kind of like managing those influences and trying to stay up to date with what's happening with the modern sound.

Katelynn: Can you tell me a bit about the lyrics writing process?

Pascal: With writing the lyrics it's always very different song to song. My favourite artist ever is Bob Dylan and one of the ways that he writes a song is that he will come up with a little turnaround catchphrase, so let's say a "Hard rains gonna Fall" [for example]. The lyrics will go and go and then there will be that little catchphrase. Sometimes I'll start a song with a clear idea which is kind of that little turnaround idea and then for all the lyrics or verses, I'll be toying around with that idea and then bringing it home again and again with the chorus, other than that I will literally kind of take a bunch of mumblings that I do while writing the chords and then decipher my own mumblings into some kind of storyline because I find that way I get to kind of stream consciousness into the lyrics and make it all make sense afterwards. So those are the two kind of approaches.

Karl: So you should record yourself while you sleeping because you mumble while you sleep.

*everyone giggles*

P: I do! I actually laugh in my sleep.

Katelynn: That was a great fact!

P: Dreams are funny... *laughs*

Katelynn: What would you say was your favorite live performance?

E: Ever?

K: It's quite hard to say because we have been a band for 6 years now but I mean the big festival gigs definitely stick out.

S: Two Door Cinema Club...

P: Yeah opening for Two Door Cinema Club was a pretty big one.

S: Lately we've had a few great gigs as well!

E: Like Rocking The Daisies 2013 was kiff.{adj. Awesome}

S: Even Up The creek was pretty cool man.

E: We literally arrived there 5 minutes before and Pascal and I were planning an acoustic set because Sash and Karl weren't there yet. So we planned these acoustic ballads to play to something like 2000 people on the spot. So yeah that turned out to be pretty cool. K: There is so many, even the one we played tonight. Such a cool crowd, the vibe was cool. I guess with all the big gigs that we've played these little gems kind of slip your mind a little bit. The gigs where the crowd is really close and sweaty and the vibe is so intimate.

Katelynn: My favorite music video by far has got to be "Stereo kids". What inspired it?

P: Yeah well a lot of the Stereo kids music video was conceptualized by a guy named Rob Smith and he was the guy that directed the video. He approached us originally with a whole different idea that we really didn't like. So this was his 2nd or 3rd approach for the video and he was like " hey what about some kooky 80's kid's at the prom dancing and partying" and since we had done The Caves video which was also a dance video. We thought we'd get something going with the choreographed dance video thing and its probably something that we will toy around with again in the future. We are always trying to do it slightly differently and push it forward in a new way every time.

Katelynn: I've heard that an artist's music should be a way to describe them. Do you feel that your music reflects each of your personalities?

S: I think so.

E: I think its diverse enough to cover all our different personalities, but its more than that . It's the entire package that you get from the band you know. Its everything from the artwork that we put out to the way we express our dressing. It's the entire package, its not just the notes we play you know, its more than that.

Katelynn: Do you feel that a lot of bands and musicians from our generation are taking influences from 60's and 70's Rock ń Roll legends such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones?

P: I mean yeah I think every musician since the 60's have been taking influences from them. There's a reason why The Beatles are still the biggest selling artists of all time. They kind of broke down every possible border that they could at the time. They were in a really unique position given how many records were selling and how unexplored Rock music was in that time. I doubt even Rihanna or Justin Bieber would deny that they've listened to and loved The Beatles I mean I know Miley Cyrus did a cover on a Bob Dylan greatest hits album very recently like 2 years ago and Kesha was also on that album. So I mean nobody can deny the past you know but you got to " on the shoulders of giants" you know. You take what they've done and you do your best to build on it. Push it forward I suppose. You don't want to rehash the past, you want to modernise the past. Take folk music for example, its music that's been going on for 100's of years and people are just rehashing the same songs but for new generations and the same kind of thing could be said about alot of modern rock music. You'll get like The Black Keys where yes they're a super modern band, they sound really good now but their whole tone and the way its recorded has got this low-fi busted kinda quality which Is supposed to remind you of a garage recording from the 70's, its not suppose to sound modern and polished you know so I think undeniably, yes.

Katelynn: Yes I completely agree, I love that whole vibe.

P: Everyone does, its the imperfections that are the things that you listen out for.

Katelynn: Its the rawness.

P: Exactly.

Katelynn: So you guys have witnessed first hand the immense progression on the South African music scene over the past couple of years, what are your personal views on it?

S: I think that in the last 5 or 6 years its grown a lot, I think the standard and the level of bands coming out and the starting level of bands are much higher than what it was from when we first started. I think that the bands have taken a lot more care of their image now. I think that in general their entire consciousness and awareness of what it actually means to be a good band has raised and I think that there's a lot of bands that are coming out now who are learning from the bands that have been going for 5 or 6 years like us or aKing or those guys. OK, so this is going to sound so nubi-ish but its the truth like the access to fast Internet for South Africans has only come in the last four or five years. You can actually see shit on the Internet now, so people being able to see what the hell is going on overseas has raised the standard a lot. I think there's a lot of amazing shi-stuff coming out of South Africa recently.

E: I mean South African bands also have more desire nowadays than a couple of years back, you can't actually settle down in just the South African music industry because you won't be able to make a living for yourself you know so the goal for all South African musicians now is to break on through to the international market so that they can actually sustain themselves in their craft and the only way to do that is by being of an international standard so you know that's the level that everyone's trying to get to.

S: But we will always come back to South Africa when we make it big.

E: No ways, definitely bro! We'll rock like a Mercury (local night club) gig in ten years.

S: Why not hey, one for old times sake.

Katelynn: Where can your local and international fans grab a copy of your latest album  Pyramid?

P: The best place would probably be iTunes, you can always check out our website (insert link here) . We have a store there, you can buy T-shirts and CDs. You can buy our old prints of K' our first EP, Shark our first album. Its probably the best place to do it. And hopefully quite soon also a whole bunch of new music. We're hoping to have a new album out this year sometime.

Katelynn: So we all know that The Plastics have an indie-retro-rock vibe, is there anything new we could expect in the future, like broadening your horizons or something?

E: There is something but its a secret.

S: Psychedelic reggae bro!

P: Don't blow it dude, its a secret (laughs)

Katelynn: What does the future look like for the band?

K: Well for the future, the thing is these days there's so much that you can do and the music scene changes so fast and so quickly that I mean its really hard to say but for now,our next step is writing really really really good material. We're going to take our time about it and work with really good people and we want to make an album that we are really proud of and that we can present internationally. We want people everywhere to get wowed by it. We're going to keep making cool music videos, keep touring and just keep on keeping on.

P: Well said.

S: Just positive vibes man yeeeeah.

Katelynn: ...and some psychedelic reggae!

*everyone laughs*

Katelynn: Anything you want to say to the awesome Stereofox readers out there?

P: Keep reading Stereofox and keep supporting it and reblogging it and put it on twitter and follow all our interviews and all the stuff they do cause its gonna be the best thing.

*Sash whips out the finger guns*

E: Thank you to guys as well its been such a blast.

Katelynn: Thank you guys so much for your time, its been really interesting. Hope we can do it again soon!

*high-5s and hugs all round*