New Blood: PVRIS

Life's a funny old thing. If we're to believe the butterfly effect, the smallest, most seemingly insignificant moments can go on to play an important part in shaping the future. It's certainly something that applies to Boston three piece PVRIS.

Originally forming as a metalcore band, when vocalist Lynn Gunn, guitarist Alex Babinski and bassist Brian MacDonald headed into the studio they noticed a drastic change in sound in the new music that they were writing, with a lot more pop and electronic influences being absorbed into their music.

“I don’t think we aimed to have a unique sound, but it just came out that way,” says Gunn. “We did it subconsciously, but I never thought we’d be a band people couldn’t pinpoint.”

With their debut album White Noise sitting somewhere between the infectious rock of bands like Paramore and We Are The In Crowd and the dark electro-pop of acts like Purity Ring and Banks, their sound definitely marks them out as a one of a kind proposition. And the band’s current record deal is a similar case of unplanned events working in their favour.

“We were meant to sign to a different label initially,” Gunn explains. “But the day we were meant to sign with them we were playing our local date at Warped Tour and our manager was on the bus with Sleeping With Sirens. [SWS Frontman] Kellin Quinn is good friends with him and when our manager showed him one of our music videos, Kellin was like ‘Don’t let them sign I’ll get them a deal with Rise Records’.”

The Sleeping With Sirens frontman made good on his word, making the band the first female-fronted act to sign to the US rock powerhouse.

“It means I have to be a boss ass bitch,” laughs Gunn. “We try not to look at it as we’re different from any other band on the label. We have to work just as hard and prove ourselves just as much as anyone else.”

The band have already been putting in the hard work, playing a string of dates on this year’s Warped tour, winning over crowds throughout the summer. PVRIS are catching more and more people’s attention, not only with their unique sound but also the sense of mystique the band offer, with subtle supernatural themes that run through their music.

“I’ve always been into ghosts, and aliens, and creepy things, ever since I was super little,” says Gunn. “When I was in a crib I had this blow-up skeleton from Halloween and I would sleep with it, that was like a stuffed animal for me. My mom would take me to the library and I would always pull out the haunted house pop-up books. I was a three or four year old in the library with all these creepy ass books! I’ve always been drawn to it and I think that translates to the music a lot.”

With their debut album on the way and a lot of touring on the horizon also, the band are looking forward to reaching more and more people with their dark, highly-infectious electro-pop-rock hybrid sound, especially here in the UK.

“I always do British accents when I’m at home,” says Gunn. “So I can’t wait to hear them in real life!”

PVRIS’s debut album White Noise is out November 3 through Rise Records.

My House is Sophie K’s Record of the Week on Breaking Bands on TeamRock Radio. Listen to the show every week day at midnight, or listen again here.