Combine bright colours, sad-pop and soft vocals, and you have Pinkish Blu – a fresh, modern sound with a tinge of 80s nostalgia. In the lead up to Groovin the Moo this Friday, I spoke to Sebastian James; media and communications student at UniSA and guitarist for the four-piece. Adelaide has more emerging music artists than ever, but Pinkish Blu were rightfully picked as Triple J’s Unearthed artist for this year’s GTM at Wayville. Although only having two singles released, their two music videos push the boundaries of creativity and encapsulate so much feeling in four minutes. Just like West Thebarton and Heaps Good Friends, their gig at Groovin will catapult Pinkish Blu into the big time music scene.
Can you each tell us about yourselves?
Brice: 24-year-old singer-songwriter, aspiring producer and dumpling consumer with a natural knack and passion for all things creative.
Seb: 24-year-old guitarist, songwriter, hairspray enthusiast and artist manager driven to bring the best out of up-and-coming talent.
Ricky: 22-year-old bassist, tea connoisseur and band tour manager in charge of getting Pinkish Blu from A to B at all times.
Luke: 23-year-old drummer, ahead-of-the-game film director and fashion icon with a surprisingly incredible talent for twerking.
How did Pinkish Blu come to be?
Some of us have been writing music together under different projects since we were 12-years-old and have been childhood friends for even longer. However, Pinkish Blu officially formed in early 2017 with our debut single ‘Lovely’ released in 2018.
How do you describe your sound?
We have heard a few people use the term “sad-pop” in reference to our music, but we encourage everyone to listen and decide for themselves.
Which artists inspire and influence Pinkish Blu?
We’re continually inspired by artists that push the boundaries of their respective fields. Musically it’d be the latest genre-bending work by The 1975, Andrei Tarkovsky’s classic innovative films and the incredible designs of the Gucci & Balenciaga fashion houses.
For both of your singles, Capricorn and Lovely, you have two incredibly well-produced music videos, that are so artistically interesting. Can you tell us about these?
Luke Franceschini is not only our amazing drummer but an incredible director leading the way in the Aus music video scene doing clips for artists such as Mallrat, Allday, The Veronicas and John Floreani. He and best friend Rory Pippan created the ‘Lovely’ and ‘Capricorn’ music videos that artistically and aesthetically took the singles to a whole other level. As a band we value our visuals as important as the music we create.
What’s it like as an emerging artist in a city like Adelaide?
The music community in Adelaide is amazing, the support local bands get from the community is incredible too.
Even though Adelaide is smaller than most cities you couldn’t tell by the amount of people attending shows, the passion for live music here is unreal.
You’ve scored a pretty sweet gig as Wayville’s very own Unearthed artist at Groovin the Moo. How does that feel?
We’re so appreciative to be given this incredible opportunity, we can’t wait to represent the immense talent Adelaide has to offer and play alongside some really inspiring artists. We can’t thank the team at Triple J Unearthed enough.
Which artists are you excited to see at this year’s GTM line-up?
As always we’re excited to see our friends in Trophy Eyes play, they always put on a huge show. Aurora out of Norway is on the list for sure, along with G Flip and DMA’s. But we’re most collectively excited to see possibly the biggest thing in music right now, Billie Eilish.
What else is in store for Pinkish Blu this year?
We’re currently in the studio recording our next single. Expect a run of shows both local and interstate to follow and then possibly a couple more single releases before the year is out.
Interview conducted by Annabel Bowles
Images supplied by Pinkish Blu
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