Hot on the heels from the release of their third LP Champion, Norway’s Pom Poko return to Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms with their familiar flair of Punky pyrotechnics. The Mic’s Ross Williams sat down with band members Ragnhild vocals, Martin guitar, Jonas bass and Ola drums to discuss touring, plus the trials and tribulations of making a record
It’s exhilarating to find a band whose sonic identity enmeshes perfectly with the present-day zeitgeist. Many were first exposed to Pom Poko’s technicolour brand of Punk (myself included) with their sophomore release Cheater- an ideal post lockdown tonic of bit crushed percussion and blown out guitars that doesn’t spend any time moping about. Likewise, Pom Poko’s latest effort Champion builds on the group’s sound, at times embracing the delicate moments, in lieu of their signature caffeinated fuzz.
Ragnhild: “I think Go is very fun (one of the new ones). It's pretty difficult, which makes it fun as well”.
Jonas: “On Monday we played Big Life from the new record for the first time. That was really cool”.
Ragnhild “We always play Crazy Energy Night as well. We love people dancing, moving, doing flips”.
Their live show is a sight to behold. The band manage to raise the spirit of the room higher with each song. By the end, the crowd were enraptured in an ecstatic mania as the band fell into a Dionysian fugue of sorts. It’s crazy guitar music, all delivered live by an adept four piece that never relies on automation to achieve this dizzying new sound.
Their latest effort, Champion delves into themes of growing maturity and the realities of adulthood in a unique way. The band wrote the record over several years and recorded it over a handful of studio sessions, leaning on deliberate composition instead of post-production tweaks.
Martin: “I think the way we make the music is like we write the songs and kind of rehearse them, arrange them (that's the big hurdle), then we just record that. For this album, we didn't mess about too much with the postproduction, it went down very quickly. We didn't have too much time to doubt or to add the unnecessary stuff. We just sort of had to make the basics really really good (I think we did)”.
When asked about how they honed the sonic progression on this record, the band confessed that it was a completely natural process...
Ragnhild: “I don't think we really think too much about it, it just happens. Write and develop as people or as musicians and as time goes something new comes out. We don't really talk about it, what's in your sound here it just feels like you're making it”.
Ola: “We have tried to talk about it, but it doesn't really go anywhere; We'll just end up doing whatever happens organically. Pom Poko’s sound is the sound of us four- we're all equal parts…Maybe that’s why we don't have to talk about it. If we have written a song, that means that everyone is content in a way, because getting there is a lot of work”.
Wider pop culture will have you believe that playing in a successful band can be a strain on friendships, yet Pom Poko assure us that their camaraderie plays to their advantage...
Ragnhild: “We hang out when we have the time off.”
Ola: “We hang out all the time.”
Jonas: “Compared to with other touring bands that we’ve spent time with, we are extremely lucky to be such good friends. It makes it extremely easy, or that's probably what makes the band work that we've toured so much as we have. It would not have been impossible unless we had been very good friends.”
Friends can laugh off studio mishaps, for example…
Ragnhild: “We broke a really expensive microphone <When recording Champion>.”
Ola: “I tripped on the cable and it was, of course, very expensive and extremely unobtainable! The mic was pretty rare…we're still dealing with the aftermath. We managed to use it; that incident was during the packing down of the studio. It was a 1950s Neumann stereo mic, for the absolute nerds out there.”
Like their Ghibli inspired name would suggest, Pom Poko draws inspiration from far reaching fantasy sources, aswell as friends from their label Bella Union
Martin: Right before writing on the songs, we were listening to some Nintendo soundtracks. Which were a direct inspiration. Animal Crossing on DS. That's what really worked.
Ragnhild: Penelope Bay Isles on the label are really good.
Ola: Our fellow Norwegian, Suzanne Sundfør- She's very big in Norway but quite niche here in the UK.
Their affinity for quirky Japanese media seems to be mirrored in the sublime cover art of their releases. They have worked with Norwegian artist Erland Peder Kvam for the breadth of the project, giving him complete creative control.
Jonas: “Yeah, absolutely. We leave it to Erland, for better or for worse. Sometimes I've had big shocks. Oh my god. The Cheater cover came late, close to the deadline”.
Ragnhild: “It's a picture of him and his girlfriend on the cover”
Jonas: “I thought the entire cover was a placeholder (it was the final version)- but I love it now”
Martin: “The sprites on the Champion cover is playfully conceptual. Its like a story with a cabin and every person is one of the songs”
Champion released on August 16th 2024, courtesy of Bella Union
Written & edited by Ross Williams
Images courtesy of Pom Poko's Facebook
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