Pord have just released their brand new album Wild (our review of which can be read here), and we caught up with vocalist/guitarist Mike Paulhac for chat. Find out what happened below…
Thanks for the interview – could you introduce yourself and tell me a bit about the band?
Hi! PORD is a noise rock band from the district of Lozère/France. The band was created in 2002 but we only started playing concerts and making records in 2006 after multiple line-up changes. Our past releases are a self-titled EP (2007), a split single with XNOYBIS Joyeux Mimosas (2010), an LP Valparaiso (2011) and an EP It’s Always Sunny Here (2014) . We recorded our new full length Wild in March 2014 and it was released on September 8th through Solar Flare Records.
You’ve just released your new album Wild – can you tell me about the writing and recording process?
We started writing Wild approximatively in 2012/13. We spent the previous two years touring and promoting our first album Valparaiso. It was a long writing process as we are pretty slow in composing our songs. As you probably have heard, we like gnarly structures! Lyrics come after composition and I write most of them.
Regarding the recording, we worked with Serge Morattel at Rec Studio Geneva/Switzerland. This guy is incredibly competent and tuned in! He understood very quickly the sound we were looking for. It was so dope and easy working with him! We recorded Wild in 6 days.
Were there any songs that were more of a challenge to complete?
The whole album was a challenge to complete! But some songs like On The Couch or Staring Into Space were actually challenges, because we included in those songs a new approach to compose.
Are there any interesting stories from the studio?
Oh! I have so many funny stories from the studio. Serge (Morattel) is quite a character! Sometimes it was very hard to keep a straight face! I can still hear all of the pig growls he bawled through my headphones while I was recording voices.
The artwork for Wild is awesome – could you tell me a little more about it? Did you go to the artist with a general idea in mind or did you just give them full control?
You’re right! The artwork is really awesome! Our friend Rica did it. He is an amazing comic strip writer from Bordeaux. He also does some awesome concerts posters. We were fans of his drawing so it seemed completely obvious to work with him for Wild.
One day we contacted him and we just gave him a few elements like the title, the lyrics and the state of mind we were in when we have composed and recorded Wild. He worked all along the following night and the day after he proposed us this incredible wolf head (that appears on the innersleeve). Then he made a zoom on the jaw and it produced the album’s cover. http://charkyyy.free.fr/
How would you describe your live show to someone who hasn’t seen you yet?
I suppose our shows are rather furious and intense. At least I hope so. That’ s what our fans usually say… But I would like to tell everyone who hasn’t seen us yet to MOVE THEIR ASSES AND COME AND SEE AND HEAR US AND PAY US A GREAT DEAL OF DRINKS AND DRUGS AND FUCK WITH US !!! …!!! hum hum! excuse me!
Moreover we start a European tour on Sept 12th. We leave for 4 weeks, mainly in France and also some gigs across Italy, Switzerland and Belgium. We share the first week with our Italian friends from Lucertulas and we’ll cross a lot of great bands during this trip. In particular Hammerhead on a few dates!!! And maybe one day a USA tour! Who knows!
What would you say the best show you’ve ever played has been?
Really hard to answer! Some shows are significant due to a crazy atmosphere with primitive or sexual or electrical vibes…
If you could play anywhere, on any lineup, what would you choose?
I really wish we played once at CBGB’s. Between Talking Heads and The Voidoids. And spend the night with Debbie Harry.
And if Pord could put its name to a product, what would it be?
I could answer a range of sextoy or a bottle of spirits but I don’t. Probably a medicine. An incontinence treatment.
Pord: Facebook
