Following on from the rousing response to his much-loved debut EP 'Potential, I Guess?' earlier this year, fast-rising British artist Oliver Pinder is back once again to deliver his anthemic new single 'Pretty Faces'.
Honing more of that raw and driven indie-rock energy he is quickly earning a reputation for, 'Pretty Faces' makes for a vibrant return to form for the frontman. With its bold and explosive textures, soaring atmosphere, and his own captivating vocals at the helm, he is returning to the fold with one of his most impactful efforts to date here.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with him to find out more about his origins and what has been inspiring him most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
I fell in love with playing guitar when I was around 7/8, I remember my grandma bought me a little crappy nylon acoustic from Home Bargains for like £10 and I used to bash that about. I drew all over it, I actually have no clue what happened to it.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
I loved literally everything, I got hooked on Carole King when I was quite young and was obsessed with Tapestry for yonks. It was a great time! Still a bloody great album.
What was the first album you remember owning?
I’m not sure what the first album I bought was, but I remember the soundtrack for ‘Jazz Singer’ playing in my dads car when I was very young. It soundtracked many holidays, trips, journeys to school and everything in between. Still love that album, ‘Hello Again’ is so flipping beautiful.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
There are so many, and my top one definitely changes all the time. I’d probably say ‘Lakehouse’ by Jeremy Zucker – I love the way that song builds and the impact it has, it’s just silly from a production perspective.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Not really. Every song typically starts and ends in the studio. I do find some of my favourite songs I’ve written have been the ones that have come naturally at home, sat down at the piano, usually very late at night. It varies I guess.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
Agh, so many, so so so many! One of my friends put me onto Medium Build recently, and I can't stop listening. I love loads of local artists too, we’re putting on a Christmas all-dayer which was a great opportunity to just invite loads of people I love to play, we’ve got Lois who is one of my favourite finds of the year, Brodie Milner who is phenomenal, Allora who are epic, Rushbonds who are just craaazy good, Isaac Levi who is an incredible songwriter, Nadia Kadek who has a beautiful voice and writes some of the most insane songs, Marnie Glum who is epic writing beautiful music and finally Makk who writes gorgeous songs but is just an all round legend.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
This is so hard and definitely changes all the time, I’d probably say either Holly Humberstone or Florence and the Machine. So if you’re reading, hit me up!
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
Playing live for sure, particularly now I have a band around me, it’s so much fun playing music with some of my best friends. They all make it so fun and shout out to Morgan, Hattie, Harry and Dylan for being bloody superstars. The most rewarding part of that is hearing people singing lyrics I wrote back to me – it’s crazy cool!
And what is the most frustrating part?
Full transparency, definitely money – it’s an expensive industry to be in for sure and in my position, totally independent, it can make it really difficult to do things in the way you want to do them without surplus funds. You’ll usually find me playing function gigs when I’m not playing original gigs – this helps me fund the project and then the money I make from my day job pays my bills and puts food on the table.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
One of my friends told me, ‘you never know what's going to happen, you might never reach the level of success you want to, but you need to just keep going and working hard and if you're meant to get there, you will’. This stuck with me a lot, it’s not about the end result, it’s the graft it will take to get there – mistakes are there to be made and you just need to continue on.
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Oliver Pinder's new single 'Pretty Faces' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.