Prior to 2002, PENDULUM’s Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen were totally anti-rave. They were a bunch of metal loving Perth boys with a passion for surfing and skating. Now, together with DJ Paul Harding, they’re one of the world’s most loved and respected drum ‘n’ bass bands.
As is the life of the travelling star, Gareth calls from Croatia at midnight. We get into some Pendulum 101, beginning with how he was diverted from his dreams of being a rock god by the fastpaced broken beat when rocking up to a rave with bandmate Rob. “We definitely weren’t down with the glowy sticks, rapper hats and baggy jeans. But when drum ‘n’ bass turned dark, there was something about the heavy energy of it. It hits you in the face the same way metal does.”
Pendulum’s first album, Hold Your Colour, soared with every type of music lover, coaxing a new generation into dnb fever. Tracks like Slam and Fasten Your Seatbelt still strike a fond chord deep within even the most fake tanned pop lover in the mainstream clubs, where before it was only our seedy underground joints where one could find such wonderful off-beats.
“I think we did bring drum ‘n’ bass into the general public – in recent years anyway,” Gareth says, agreeing with my fan girl comment that their album was a ‘breakthrough masterpiece.’ “I guess we were the first kind of drum ‘n’ bass and mainstream crossover.”
Then there was their second album, In Silico. Many wagged their fingers in disapproval at the introduction of more vocals and a focus on electric guitar. But despite fans freaking out about the rock influx to the previously friendly sound we were used to on Hold Your Colour, the album went platinum a month ago. Gareth says the rock influence was a huge part of their first album as well; it’s just that listeners didn’t notice.
“It wasn’t completely new. On Hold Your Colour, we’ve got John and Drew from Karnivool playing. People think it’s hilarious that we suddenly did this album, In Silico, and we started putting white male vocals in there and guitars. Yet the second tune we ever made had them singing in it. That was Spiral.”
Gareth’s defences soon come down as we delve a little deeper into what should have been a musical progression, but was a step backwards for Pendulum personally, and a bitter taste of what it’s like to suddenly make it big internationally and simultaneously try to keep everyone happy.
“We were feeling like we had to continue doing things the way we were. We really wanted to make an electronic album that was influenced by completely different shit. We agree that the album was a bit of a ‘propane nightmare’ to say the least but the album went platinum and Hold Your Colour hasn’t done that. But as far as we’re concerned, we got a little bit lost along the way. At least it did what we wanted it to do!”
So it brought in the cash. I wonder whether they make up references to their own music in conversations with each other, because that ‘propane nightmare’ comment sounded a little too practiced. And it wasn’t the only one…
“It was definitely self-inflicted second album syndrome. We call it ‘In Silicitis’ – where you have a massive identity crisis and you worry that you’re on an iceberg between two continents,” Gareth says, explaining their dislike for the album as if it’s a disease.
“One of the continents is dnb and the other is rock, and you worry that your music won’t be heard by either continent because you’re too far in the middle. But it turns out that we managed to draw both closer to us. We ended up with a bigger dance audience than we had before and a rock audience that we didn’t even have before!”
I kindly point out that Gareth’s accent is also stuck between two continents after seven years in the UK to which he replies, “when we do TV and radio in the UK they’re like ‘it’s good to hear you guys haven’t lost your Aussie accent,’ and whenever we come home we get called Pommy bastards!”
It’s obvious Pendulum miss their sunburned land, apparent in their insanely cool remix of the ABC news theme; which you will not hear on their new album, Immersion. What you will get is an LP that’s gone number one already in the UK and NZ, and is sitting pretty here in the number three spot.
“Immersion’s the best parts of our first two albums, really. We wanted to go electronic again, but we didn’t want to turn our backs on the manifestation of the rock elements as well,” says Gareth, explaining the theory of album number three. “We’ve taken to extremes in both areas. The rock elements are quite heavy and the electronic elements are back to our roots. It’s everything we really liked from our first two albums.”
Pendulum are coming our way soon for our big end of uni piss up, Stonefest. They’ll be bringing their setup of five hectic band members including a new drummer called Kevin Sawker (YouTube him and be amazed) which means every one of you kittens or, as Gareth has named you, ‘future public servants’ will get to experience the euphoric energy that is Pendulum live.
“It’s going to be a hell of a show. Performing with us is quite a physical thing so when we come off stage we feel like we’ve been beaten up. That’s what we’re aiming for,” Gareth says.
As a dancer in front of a Pendulum show, you too can feel what it’s like to be beaten up. And it’s well worth it.
Catch Pendulum live at Stonefest, held at the University of Canberra on Saturday October 30. For ticket details, check out www.stonefest.com.au.
