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PVRIS release their second album All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell this week
To say this week is an exciting one for PVRIS and their fans would be a bit of an understatement.
It has been over two years since the Massachusetts electro-rock trio exploded onto the music scene with debut album White Noise.
Fast forward to 2017 and the band are finally back on UK shores ready to drop their second – and highly anticipated – record All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell.
Vocalist-guitarist Lynn Gunn, guitarist Alex Babinski and bassist Brian MacDonald are laughing and joking over their decaf coffee as they sit down to chat to Express.co.uk in the lobby of a London hotel.
The three friends appear relaxed, but under the surface the anticipation of finally releasing their new music into the world is bubbling away.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s happening,” Lynn tells me.
“I don’t feel ready to have it out, honestly. I feel we’ve been working every single second since we’ve been making it, towards it coming out, that it’s like ok, what do we do now it’s out?”
Sharing that sentiment, Brian adds: “I’ll have to wake up that day and see everyone posting about it online, then it’ll feel real!”
This sense of vulnerability, and one that is so prevalent in their lyrics, is perhaps what has led to the trio amassing a legion of dedicated fans over the years.
As a band, PVRIS has never been shy of wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell certainly follows suit of this.
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The band are made up of Alex Babinski, Brian MacDonald and Lynn Gunn
We had fun making it and we got to express ourselves in every way and that is the most important thing when making music
Much like their older songs that fans know and love, the new record is tinged with that same gritty pain and angst, but with a sense of maturity that documents how the three friends have grown as artists and on a personal level.
The use of music to channel negative emotions is something of a soothing process for Lynn, but one that was perhaps not even intentional during the writing process for All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell.
“It was just pretty natural,” she tells me.
“Those feelings are all the most basic feelings of sadness, confusion and fear, and that’s ultimately what I think a lot of the emotions of the record are.
“But even if you don’t necessarily deal with those anxieties and depression, you feel [those emotions] anyway as a human being.
“I think it’s such a human experience and so many people go through it in their own way.”
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She then turns to Brian and Alex and asks: “It’s so fulfilling for me saying it and screaming it, so I always wonder how that [release] feels for you guys. Is that equally as cathartic?”
Both seem to agree, as Alex tells her: “It’s the only release I know of – because I can’t write lyrics at all. My release is just playing and get it out in a instrumental way.
“I don’t know how fulfilling it is vocally, but it is fulfilling to physically perform it.”
While the new record still feels like how it should coming from PVRIS, you could argue there was one clear difference looming in the air this time: expectation.
This is round two for the trio and with that comes fans who have been waiting a long time for new music.
As artists, there was a fine line to tread of giving their followers what they want and coming up with a record they are happy with.
“It’s definitely an interesting conflict,” Lynn ponders.
“With this record we went in with the same intentions as the last one, and with the last one we had zero intentions and that was just to create the best songs we could and something we would be the most proud of.
“Ultimately that is what this record is. So depending on how this record goes that will be the thing we keep on following, that inner compass and just putting your blinders on when you are creating.”
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Lynn Gunn opened up about the writing process for the second album
Explaining how a large chunk of the songs were written while on the road for their last record, Lynn explained: “We finished vocals really, really late.
“A lot of the songs on the record, the first verse and the second verse and the bridge onward part were written about a year apart or more.
“So taking a lot of subjects that were a year old and being about to reflect on them in the present was difficult because some of the things I didn’t relate to anymore or connect with, so it was finding those connections and making them relevant again that made it a struggle. You never want to rush it or compromise the quality.
“I still don’t feel ready; it’s still marinating! Even if no one gives a s***, we’re still proud of it.”
Alex adds: “We had fun making it and we got to express ourselves in every way and that is the most important thing when making music.
“Not just trying to please everyone, but being happy with what you’re making.”
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The trio revealed how a lot has changed since their debut album ‘White Noise’
The band will play Reading & Leeds festivals this weekend in what will be their first major shows after releasing the new record.
They last played the festivals back in 2015 on the Lock Up stage, but their return in a few days time will see them on the main stage, no less.
“I think they got the wrong band!” Lynn laughs.
Thinking back to their first time at the festivals, Brain adds: “I am so excited because it’s still to this day my favourite festival we’ve ever played. It’s unbelievable.
“I remember fearing about being bottled for the first time! I imagined hundreds of bottles flying over like arrows, Game Of Thrones-style. Luckily we didn’t get bottled.”
“That was a crazy show,” Lynn recalls.
“We hadn’t done a headline show in the UK yet, we’d just been opening so we never really got to see what a crowd of our fans looked like.
“As soon as we walked out it slapped us in the face – like wow, this is real, this is intense!”
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The band will be back in the UK in November for a full tour
Fans will no doubt be wondering what they can expect from the trio this time round.
While the band kept tight-lipped on their setlist, they did reveal they had a few tricks up their sleeves.
“There are some surprises but we can’t give too much away,” Alex says.
“It’s nothing crazy – we’re not being shot out of a t-shirt cannon or anything! We’re trying to keep a good balance of good and old,” Lynn tells me.
Whatever the surprise, their UK fans will no doubt be glad to have them back – and it looks like the feeling is more than mutual from the band.
“It feels like home,” says Alex, as Lynn agrees: “Even the first time coming over, we’d never been here before, but when we touched down it felt coming back to a place you’d been on vacation to a long time ago and you’re like ‘oh I’m back!’.”
Back, they certainly are.
All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell is out this Friday (25 August)
PVRIS play Reading Festival on Saturday (26 August) and Leeds Festival on Sunday (27 August)
The band will be back touring the UK this November – dates as follows:
02 Academy Bristol – 22 November
02 Academy Birmingham – 23 November
The Academy Dublin – 24 November
Mandela Hall Belfast – 25 November
02 Academy Glasgow – 27 November
02 Apollo Manchester – 28 November
02 Brixton Academy London – 30 November