"We wear our heart on our sleeves, our music is at it's most pure and shows that we're human."
The Pearl Harts on Rock, Rituals and Representation.
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Emma Aylett |
With a moment of calm in their schedule, The Pearl Harts talk through their pre-gig warm up. On a relentless journey up and down the continent, it usually involves taking residency over the venue's toilet and channeling an all-encompassing energy to fuel them through their notoriously rampant shows. On The Pearl Harts's first headline UK tour, they seem more than seasoned to the demands of touring.
So far, it has brought the pair to venues redundant of dressing rooms and speedy escape routes from the 'PH Mob' of fans who will turn up to each and every sweat-dripping performance.
Over a high octane and caffeinated chat, the pair begin to describe what a loyal fan base they have attracted over the past few years.
"We have old men coming to our shows five times in a row." Singer and guitarist Kirsty giggles, "They're harmless but are super passionate."
It is clear to see however, the cross section of fans that The Pearl Harts have gathered. Ranging from Punk, Blues and Classic Rock. It's near impossible to find a more rebellious crowd later, when we are packed into the cellar of the Sebright Arms. Both Sara Leigh Shaw and Kirsty Lowrey dominate the stage taking no prisoners, fittingly similar to their idol, Pearl Hart, who was the staple of 'badass' for her time. The American criminal fled without a known identity, with only a reputation chasing her. The Pearl Harts agree that they also, cannot be labelled.
Sara: "We wanted to find a name that described who we were as people and we like the idea of being outlaws. We don't really fit into any bracket. It's difficult to be a Rock musician, especially with the kind of music we play and not be considered as 'throwback'. We're trying to breathe some fresh air into it, it's on the outskirts. We're a bit on the boundaries."
They live up to their name. The original 'Pearl Hart', through her masculine disguises in a life of crime, did not want to be treated as the female stereotype. It is that kind of spirit that has influenced and translated into the new 'Glitter and Spit' album bringing together both Kirsty and Sara's ferocious style of playing. Being totally invested in what you are producing is vital and explains why there's no excuse to hold back on a record such as this.
Diving into an intensity that will make Sabbath weep is 'Go Hard', a driving, unforgiving arrangement that makes their new release the most robust yet. Both know how to make their heavy production into anthemic, indulgent songwriting with 'Living's Done' scoring a perfect balance between all-out fury and lyrical clarity. Power chords combined with the snarl of Kirsty's vocals intoxicates the crowd.
On record it is truly wholesome but live, takes on a much more physical and gutsy form. The real grit of The Pearl Harts is shown on the last track, when the record takes a deeper and darker twist to end on 'Hurt'. The hook is the most exhilarating listen of the lot.
Kirsty: "It was written at a time where I was angry with someone and it was painful and the lyrics came out really quickly. Anger can be really productive.
In the middle 8 section where it repeats 'My heart is breaking/My heart is breaking." There's a real fire inside of me, it's very emotionally charged."
What makes 'Glitter and Spit' strike the perfect balance of a Rock record, is the sensitivity and tangible energy in between hard-hitting anthems. 'Lost In Time' is the perfect example of constructing a Rock ballad; harmonised into intricate layers of quality songwriting. It is one achievement to send a crowd into a riff-driven chaos, but totally another to have them at the next moment with a tear rolling down their cheek. Placed half way through their live sets, the song casts you between two different worlds, taking a break from ballsy heavy attitude and reigning in on real emotion.
Sara: "A few things were happening in my life at that time. When writing 'Lost In Time' I came across this word in Portuguese, 'Saudade.' It's basically about looking back at something with rose tinted glasses. When I came up with the idea of it for the 'Lost in Time' it was upbeat and chirpy and then we changed the guitar part and it became even more meaningful."
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| Emma Aylett |
Hurling their feelings out to the crowd is what keeps drawing The Pearl Harts back on the road. Their onstage intensity brings a realness not always seen in Classic Rock. Yes it is emotionally fuelled, but with tears and sweat flowing into the crowd, it's infectious. Fans live and breathe their music: uncontrolled screams, trauma and admiration are released as if we've all been bottling it up until the pair take the night.
It is no wonder that Skunk Anansie took them across Europe to play in front of thousands every night. From Spain, Italy and Poland, the time spent with such a renowned group certainly paid off.
Kirsty: "On the last night of tour, Skunk Anansie did a stage invasion; They dressed up as us! they even had hair like Kirsty and a ginger wig like mine and came up with guitars and drumsticks. They also came with shots, we were playing our single 'Hit the Bottle', I just looked over to Sara and her face was like this *Looks exhilarated, jaw drops* fucking hell mate! what's going on."
Whilst playing to 10,000 in one night has been among the growing success of The Pearl Harts, their journey hasn't come without being marginalised.
Sara: "It feels like there's only a enough room for a certain amount of women. If there's one female duo there can't be one playing onstage beforehand. But then there's Royal Blood, The Black Keys, Death From Above 1979. We were being interviewed by another magazine earlier and they wanted to have space between us and another duo who we've sort of been compared to.
As our press person quite rightly said, if they did that for all their male bands with four members in them they wouldn't have a problem. Being a female isn't a genre its just my gender. 'Not a genre it's a gender!' We didn't just sit there and think, 'Lets make a female duo!' as some marketing idea. We did it because we play incredibly well together."
However the future is not holding back from The Pearl Harts. An upcoming spring tour with Louise Distras is taking them to sticky-floored venues up and down the UK, promising the same unforgiving chaos that follows them on each step of the way. They both have an endless hit-list of festivals they dream of playing.
But then again why should they be dreaming of it? Reading and Leeds and Download would be a "milestone" for The Pearl Harts. On listening, you wonder why these women haven't been rocking the shit out of these stages in the past few years. The Pearl Harts have been picked up by none other than Garbage, Skunk Anansie and had huge airtime across mainstream radio stations. 'Glitter and Spit' acts as a celebration of unloading their talent and grit to the masses, but representation from festivals hasn't seemed to have caught up.
Cleary, this is a widespread issue for many bands who ooze creative femininity. You've only got to unleash a marker pen on Reading's line up in search of a female-led band, to see how desperate the situation facing women is.
Sara: "We definitely want to see a change of the percentage of female rock acts that are put on at festivals. It's difficult for Rock musicians in this country, I think you get a lot of Indie rock but anything that's a bit harder struggles. Wolf Alice's new album has got some heavier Rock in it and they're doing really well. Also the popularity of Royal Blood and the Radio 1 Rock Show is making it come more into the mainstream. But if a band had two males, they'd get taken more seriously."
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| Emma Aylett |
Kirsty: "It's got a lot to do with press and media, from our perspective anything can be heard if it gets the voice, if you're loud enough and getting enough coverage to be heard. The media has a job to allow that, instead of picking and choosing what is appropriate and what you should and shouldn't say. I know there are limitations but in terms of a female voice in the 'Rock world' there's lots of women that we know who have something to say.
The age that we're in now, with gender and trans equality. It's nice when people do bring it up because we have something to say about it. Thankfully we haven't been asked yet "Oh! do your fingers hurt when you play guitar?"
Kirsty: "We'd like to collaborate with Sia. We love her writing and she goes against the 'Pop' grain, even though her stuff is quite heavily pop. What she writes and sings about is so good."
"The new pop that is coming out which is slightly less bubblegum, is a little bit tougher. Especially after Rihanna and Charlie XCX, who've given it an edge we can relate to. Rock can come into it too. Come on Charli pick up the phone! Early 2000's eat your heart out, Nu Nu metal!"
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| Emma Aylett |
The Pearl Harts are anything but old-skool, heavily contradicting the lack of progress in some of the Rock music press and festival management. They are a pair who look forwards in Rock, this is no longer a genre that wades in 70s and 80s tradition. Nothing seems to be out of The Pearl Harts's reach. 'Glitter and Spit' is a climatic, heartfelt hurricane of force. It doesn't submerge itself in the egotistic norm of the genre. With harmonies and heaviness in full flow, this album is pushing 21st century Rock in the right direction.
All Photography by Emma Aylett emmaaylettphotography.com
Must Listen Track: 'Hurt'
Click HERE for The Pearl Harts 'Glitter And Spit' album on Spotify.
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