Meet ‘Em – Stuart Pearce

We’re really excited to be playing what feels like the biggest show yet for us – headlining our hometown, along with friends old and new. We’ve been practising a lot recently, took some time away from gigs for a few months while we’ve been concentrating and recording and finishing the second album, so very much looking forward to sharing the fruits of our labour with the good folk of Nottingham.

Had a nice moment whilst setting up when the bar manager came to talk to me and said “This is going to be a very special night tonight, because it’ll be the last time Stuart Pearce play in a venue this size”. I’m sure that won’t be the case, but it has felt in recent months that people are really starting to take notice, which pleases us all greatly.

It can be a bit daunting when the audience are so close – able to see the red in their eyes and creases in their faces, but the minute we launch into the first song all that tension dissipates and we kick into rock action. We almost had a nightmare with cymbals further compounding things this year, but we tracked them down a couple of minutes before we were due to start. I kinda like the nervous energy things like that can bring, keeps us on our toes and makes us adaptable to any situation. Either way, the audience seemed to love it, I noticed the manager having to close the door due to capacity while we were on and we even had some people dancing!

It’s all been very positive so far. The label informed us we were their best selling album yet, which is validating because we really are just four guys from the Midlands, past their 20s, with all the heartburn and back pain that comes with that, so the fact that anybody cares at all or believes in us is important. There’s a few songs that have become perma-setlist fodder from there and a few that fell by the wayside, but I’m only ever interested in the next album anyway.

It’s a song that came to me in a real low period, where I felt trapped in a job that only further alienated me every hour I spent there. I was listening to a podcast on European politics in the 60s-70s where the discussion brought up some Italian revolutionary graffiti: “when it’s dark when you leave, and it was dark when you got there, the bosses are stealing your days”, which became the opening line. This line hit me like an articulated lorry; made me question why we’ve internalised the idea that it’s natural to give over the hours 8AM-6PM 5 days a week to somebody that would happily (and easily) replace you when you cease to become valuable to them. None of this is natural and none of this is going to change until we start liberating ourselves mentally from these modes of thinking, so think of this mere pop song as our attempt at a wake-up call for all those stuck in the morass of false consciousness.

Sure can! We were working really hard earlier in the year on recording our next album All This Vast Overproduction and there’s a few songs there that we’ve been playing live at recent shows. They’ve all been getting a great reaction, even as we explore new seams further along the coalface.

Well a lot of the songs begin with a demo I’ll write in my bedroom before bringing them into the rehearsal room, where everybody adds their own touches and idiosyncrasies to them until they’ve developed to a point we’re all happy and comfortable. I’m never short of ideas, taking inspiration from the things around me or whatever interests I’m hyperfocusing on at the time and I write a lot (set myself the challenge of writing a song a week and I’m ahead of schedule) but everybody puts their own touches on the songs, bringing their backgrounds and interests to the fore – whether it’s past lives in egg-punk, prog-metal or indie-pop bands, they’ll find a way to rise to the surface. Then the task becomes balancing cohesion and diversity to create something that fits the SP sound – the changing same and all that.

Oh we’re not the most flashy guys in the world and for all the rock manoeuvres on stage we’re quite tame off it. We like fizzy pop or non-alcoholic beer (Erdinger Alkoholfrei is the best by far), Embassy Gold and crisps mostly.