Pnau: A Positive Embrace

“It was mammoth, it was really mammoth. It never has been quite as big as that. I love the mystical energy you get up there in Byron, and everyone just steps out a little bit crazier than normal…”

That’s Nick Littlemore of Pnau describing their show at Splendour in the Grass this year. When I talk to Nick he’s in Sydney, which he describes as a ‘cold change’ from Europe where the weather was a lot warmer at 28 degrees.

Pnau is a band that has the skill of appealing to all ages – fans both young and old are captivated by the sounds produced by Peter Mayes and Nick Littlemore of Pnau. Nick and I spend a moment talking about the wide generational appeal of their sound.

“It’s really important. The thing with the record is that we wanted to make something that was conceptionally tight and I think something that looks good and felt good and it could communicate to people of all different ages and while the imagery is quite childlike it also appeals to adults and I think it resonates with lots of different people as well.”

Pnau is playing a bunch of big gigs this year including Pete Tong’s Wonderland in Ibiza where Nick says they will play to “to 80,000 kids.” I ask Nick what he means by ‘kids’?

“Anyone that comes and dances the night away is a kid at heart to me. A friend of ours who is a record producer from England who was out at Splendour who has seen a lot of rock bands and punk things said it’s so rare to see a big crowd and everyone is smiling through the whole show,” he says.

“We are really bringing energy and positivity and happiness back, it’s not a rock show where you are staring at your shoes and you are thinking about the weight of your world, its forget your troubles and dance the night away.”

With the recent release of the Pnau album tour edition, Nick talks about future releases.

“We are halfway through the new record. We’ve got a couple of new songs, Young Tears which we were playing on the tour and we might just leak that out soon. Although the album is officially coming out in UK and Europe through Southern Fried Records, ‘Strawberries’ drops and its all about to start over again like a rollercoaster,” he says.

“I’ve been working in the UK for the last 10 years on and off every six months I go over and do some work, but now since Sir Elton John has come on board and he is managing us we have those connections.

So how is it for Nick working with Sir Elton John?

“He is wonderful. He is really a saint and has helped us out in so many ways. He is building us a studio over in London. It doesn’t get much bigger.”

I ask Nick if he ever gets starstruck.

“When I first met him, Elton, it definitely takes you back a bit but he is so friendly that you end up feeling very natural. They (musicians) still sleep in one bed at night and put there socks on in the morning, people are people.”

Nick reflects on Pnau’s participation in Triple J’s One Night Stand in Collie in April this year.

“It was a funny gig for us, it was the end of the tour and the end of the tour can sometimes be an emotional, full-on experience, relationships can be quite stretched. It was a good show, I don’t know if? it was the best show of our tour… it’s always great to play to 15,000 people in the middle of nowhere to have that kind of assembly of people,” he says.

Next up for Pnau following a string of shows in London is the Airwaves Festival in Reykjavik in Iceland.

“It should be great; I have never been to Iceland before. My girlfriend is back here in Sydney and we are working in England most of the year and I am going to bring her over (to Iceland). Iceland is one of those magical places, I want to share it with someone. It’s a real powerpoint for the unusual and surreal. She (Bjork from Iceland) is a watermark for that I think.”

Pnau played shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney for their ‘Embrace’ Tour in early August. Nick describes parts of the tour.

“It was great, we had a few casualties along the way. In Melbourne, Mikey Cahill, a journalist, got in the skull uniform jumped off stage and cut his foot needing stitches it was terrible. A girl in Sydney actually dislocated her knee. It’s getting worse, I keep saying we are here are positivity but we are having some broken bones along the way,” Nick says.

“It’s really just like Babylon in there when it has all come together with the lights and the smoke and visuals. I wish they wouldn’t hurt themselves. You feel great and you’re elated after the show and you go backstage and this girl is sitting there with a knee as big as a football.”

So what’s next for Pnau?

“There are a lot of things on the horizon; we are looking forward to coming back in December for secret shows in the summer time.”

Pnau play Homebake on December 6 in Sydney.

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