The Purrs

There is no better feeling that the first tantalising taste of a new album of a band you’re already a pretty committed fan of. In this instance ‘She’s Got Chemicals’ by a band seemingly constantly on the cusp – The Purrs. The band are to release their second album The Chemistry That Keeps us Together in November following on from the brooding chiming jangle of their debut The Dreams our Stuff is Made of . The Purrs have been kicking about Seattle for a good few years and could best be described as almost anti rock’n’roll. No attention seeking spiralling egos and wanton lusty displays of decadence and tell-all books about being knee-deep in willing groupies here, instead the band and their lyrics are endearingly self-depreciating. These are just regular guys who are wading their way forward as best they can through the world. At times they drink too much and love too little. They believe in their music and soldier on playing it through good shows and bad braving mile after mile in a trusty old van.

A recent show is the best example of the turbulent and magnetic ability to attract trouble that the band endures. The band were selected to play at Seafair - a huge annual event in their home town of Seattle featuring hydroplane boats, the Blue Angels and a huge captive audience. It was a prime opportunity for the band to be exposed to a large potential new audience. They were even escorted around in golf carts! All was looking rosy until mid way through their set the band and their audience is sledged by a crazed man dressed as a shining silver fish. ‘Fish Baits Man’ – a particularly pun-prudent editor may have written as a headline. The band resolved the situation by giving the perpretrator a few more ‘hits’ of their own, and not the type that are counted on a singles chart.

So who the devil are this Purrs lot them?

The band began in 2000 and have plugged away ever since, touring largely and regularly around the pacific northwest of America. Things really started happening for The Purrs when Seattle radio station KEXP got behind them. They’re not really the type to go about big noting the band, just letting their music speak for themselves. Their achingly honest tour diary tells of numerous thankless dates and countless criminally under-attended shows and nights that all seem to descend into drunken defeat. Entries such as 2000’s “The band played decently in front of 3 or 4 people. We got paid $20.
Then the band proceeded to get very drunk.”. By the next year the Purrs’ fortunes are best summed up with “At some point, telling you we got real drunk and played in front of nobody in our own home town is going to be pretty boring. If I told you that at least the people who worked at the bar liked us would that alleviate the monotony? I didn't think so.” or the sympathy endearing and wallowing observation of:

“By the time we were ready to play, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. In fact, there wasn't an eye in the house of any kind.
All the eyeballs were gone.
And they had taken their bodies with them.
We played a great show, to no one, yet again.
Don't stop kicking me down....”

The Purrs first recorded mark on the world was the informatively titled ‘4 Songs EP’ in 2002. The follow up was the ‘No Particular Bar, No Particular Town’ EP two years later and it reflected the transient, alcohol fuelled nature of the band and its members and their frequent if at sometimes fruitless touring.

The band pieced together the songs that would form their debut album in their home studio over six months at the end of ’04 and the start of ’05. The resulting album was the 13 track, 74 minute careening delight knows as The dreams our stuff is made of. It ranges from bleak, brooding epics to the cripplingly infectious sheen of Loose Talk. The lyrical themes throughout tell of the gritty reality of a life lead on the wrong side of privelidge and luck – ‘She’s Gone’, ‘Taste of Monday’, ‘Don’t stop kicking me down’, ‘I’m leaving Today’ all seemingly based on the many dreary days of some down-on their luck lads – yet with The Purrs, melancholy has never been so deliriously melodic. There is also that particular perverse humour and undefeatable, chipper spirit that dryly defies and observes the foibles of folly and failure. Their song writing process summed up with “Most of our songs are about drinking and playing music‚ pretty straightforward and hooky. That is what we do and what we know, so that’s what we sing about, right?” The band member’s lack of fanfare and their decidedly staid and unfashionable ambitions allow lifetimes of late-night listened timeless albums to seep into the music. Songs formed from a studied patience and a deep well of musical knowledge played with painstaking precision on a range of fastidiously acquired instruments.

While the music industry and media regularly copulate for each others mutual benefit, not everyone willing play the game. With the world increasingly interested in the bands music, its proponents remained refreshingly honest and grounded. Responding to interviews with “You can compare me to a tree if it makes people want to buy our record.” So with the media clamouring for tales of rock’n’roll debauchery and angles to base their story on the band stoically profers: “Our mentality isn’t conducive to wild stories.”

The Purrs became the toast of the ‘net, being featured artist of the week on MySpace and labelled ‘artists to watch’ by various magazines, blogs, radio stations and street press in the US. They made the odd promotional appearance and toured widely, by the end of 2005 they were supporting the likes of Okkervil River and filling venues. The band were initially very DIY, selling and shipping their album and other goods and shackles from their website. All the interest and buzz saw the band signed to Sarathan records who remastered and re-released the album with seven of the 13 songs coupled with two tracks from the previous EP. The new push saw the band gain further prominence with glowing reviews and wider-ranging tours. The band completed a nationwide tour of the US in late 2006 – the completion of which they celebrated by finally living like rock stars by staying in hotel rooms and eating at proper restaurants.

2007 was spent writing and recording songs for the impending album "The Chemistry That Keeps Us Together” set for release November 6.

www.thepurrs.com
www.myspace.com/thepurrs

In the mean time enjoy some excerpts from the ever-endearing purrs tour diary.


We pulled into the special reserved parking area right behind the stage.
As we got out of the van the stage manager guy comes over and handed us our paycheck for playing the show.
Mission Accomplished!....Everyone hopped back into the van and we prepared to leave.
It was only because Jason begged us not to, that we decided to stay and actually play the show.
He was always the one with a soft spot for honesty.


It was then we were informed that we would not be allowed to bring beer onto the stage with us.

As we prepared to leave, Jason once again appealed to our sense of decency, so we unloaded the van a second time and scurried off to get beer before we had to hit the stage. Jason rewarded us by letting us know he'd brought along some Maker's Mark in a hollowed out chamber in the back of his Jazzmaster.

2002

• After some trouble with the PA we played a short but rocking set ourselves, then proceeded to drink a lot.

• On the way down Jim got all excited because there is a tour bus factory located on the I-5 just past Portland. Jim gets excited every time he sees a tour bus because seeing the outside of a tour bus is as close as he will ever come to fulfilling his rock and roll dream.

• We seemed to get a good response from the crowd although we did not play as well as they could have. You see…we were drunk. The problem seems to be all the hanging around with nothing to do that happens before a band is supposed to play. Finding ways to pass that time is difficult and finding alcohol free ways is doubly so.

• There was almost no one there to see us. I guess there must have been something good on television or something.

• The sound quality was good (we think), the alcohol was good (we know) so I suppose the evening was a success.

• February 24 2002:Seattle, WA, USA Ballard Firehouse Tonight The Purrs played one of their best sounding shows to date and NOBODY saw it.

2003

• After our blazing set, Sara was wisked away to a waiting limo and rushed to the airport. By the time we were done drinking for the night, she was halfway to the Hawaiian "clinic" where she will be spending an unknown amount of time "recovering" from "exhaustion".

• The Purrs set a new record in box office receipts! 125 bucks!

• This was the first time we have attempted to give away some free passes to see us play. We emailed everyone on our email list and said that the first 2 people to email us back would get on the guest list. Surprise, Surprise...we had NO takers! None! Not One........

• We end up playing super early in front of absolutely no one. Then there is nothing to do except drink a hell of a lot.

• Tonight also marks the first time the Purrs have stayed in a hotel. Craig commemorated the event by swimming naked in the hotel pool at 4 a.m. and Jason started a fight in the hotel lounge.

• We got paid nothing last night. Apparently charging admission is something we were supposed to do. Unfortunately we were on stage most of the time and therefore unable to charge anybody anything.

• The second we get done checking guys start lining up to buy Sara drinks. Apparently guys see her and have the overwhelming urge to fill her up with alcohol in the hopes of her lowering her standards enough to give them the time of day. It doesn't work. What they don't know is that she is so meth'd out of her mind that the puny effects of alcohol are no match for the titanic buzz she has going on. We play our set...There is a big jock looking dude standing right in front of me and Sara cheering his ass off at our every song. I tell him that I don't mind him staring at our guitar player if that is what floats his boat, but not to insult my intelligence by pretending to care about our music. This confuses him.

• By the time we were ready to play, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.In fact, there wasn't an eye in the house of any kind. All the eyeballs were gone. And they had taken their bodies with them. We played a great show, to no one, yet again. Don't stop kicking me down....

2004


• So I read in the latest issue of Men's Health magazine that chicks dig guys who drink bourbon because it makes the guy seem "dangerous" and chicks dig danger. So we were drinking bourbon. The problem is that The Hideaway pours their bourbon into white plastic cups so chicks can't see what dangerous drinkers we are.


• You want to hear about the booze and drugs and chicks, right? Well, there really wasn't much of that. Heck, there never really is.



2005


• Then we played to a totally sold out house. All I could see were heads, all the way to the back wall. Heads. After we finished, we packed up our gear and proceeded to get pretty drunk. Before I knew it, we were on our way home. I woke up the next day and realized I still wasn't a rock star.

• Playing Rock'n Roll in a museum goes against an entire lifetime of behavioural conditioning which taught me to be quiet in such places. Thankfully they had a bar. But they ran out of bourbon! Jason drained the bar of all the bourbon they had. How was he still standing?

• I kept walking around trying to figure out how the hell we ended up in such a nice place. Then it occurred to me that we are a kick ass band and that we deserved to be treated uber-nice for once in our 4 year history.

• If we were cooler we'd have gone to a party or something but we aren't, consequently we don't know about late night parties or after hours clubs or anything. I went home and had a bowl of cereal.

• We're playing last out of 4 bands on a Monday at Chop Suey. Well, it could have been worse I suppose.....I'm not sure how.

• My concept has always been that if the band name is short, and you put it on a flyer, and you put it in a bigger font, you can always see it—you can read it from farther away

• Rock n’ roll isn’t exactly rocket science, you know? (laughs) It isn’t exactly hard to be good. You just put some songs together, play them mildly competently, and you’re already 50 percent better than everyone else.