A Heart Is A Spade Interview: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart recently dropped by KDHX. Like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart on Facebook. Follow ‘em on Twitter. Purchase The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart items via Insound. Photograph via Getty Images.

1. Pains are a part of CBGB Festival. Who are your fave CBGB icons?

My favorite bands are probably Television, Blondie & The Ramones. It’s a weird thing because those bands had hits and you’d see them on MTV. That early 80s New York scene is thought of as punk but it’s also so pop at the same time. It’s an awesome line to ride – being loud and in your face and also writing really melodic songs. Television didn’t enter into my psyche until I was 20. As far as Blondie – I still see photos of Debbie Harry from that era and I just sigh. She was so beautiful, classy and effortless. She didn’t have to dance around like any of the pop stars now. It’s something that’s lost on the world today.

2. I’ve heard that there’s a limited edition covers release in the works. What can you share?

One is a Magnetic Fields cover. The Magnetic Fields were my favorite band in high school. I remember being in physics class and studying magnetic fields and doodling in my notebook and being like ‘this is my favorite band also’! Holiday is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love it so much. Holiday came to me at this period in my life where the lyrics were so in conjunction with my adolescence. I remember the first time I saw The Magnetic Fields – I’m from New Orleans and no bands toured through there at all or they didn’t used to at least – Magnetic Fields came through and it was the most magical show of my life. All of the synth parts were played with strings – it was such a cool thing to me. The other cover is a song by East River Pipe. It’s tricky with covers because you don’t know if they’re gonna resonate with everybody.

3. Can you reveal any teasers about the third album?

We’ve started playing some songs but we’re still trying to find our footing. We were done touring so late – we ended in March. I think the third album is a very tricky thing. You don’t want to overthink it but you kind of have to.

MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Higher Than The Stars