Australian early risers, Pinkish Blu, have been steadily growing over the last two years. The self described “underdogs” surfaced on the indie pop/alt scene in 2018, with singles “Lovely” and “Capricorn,” creating a solid sonic foundation. In May 2020, Pinkish Blu released their debut EP, theres no such thing as good people, featuring three single tracks and two new offerings.

Their visuals are just as impressive and introspective. The storylines of “Superstar” and “Red Hot Moon” are intertwined, capturing a purely honest and real relationship. They showcase the giddiness of new found love and the underlying hardships of being together. The cinematic qualities of these visuals take Pinkish Blu’s art to the next level with the help of frequent collaborator, Luke Franceschini. After the official release of theres no such thing as good people, “Calm Down” and “Watermark” have also claimed visuals, continuing with the aesthetically pleasing vibe of the band. Now we can only hope a “Coupon” visual is on the way, rounding out a series of videos for their debut project. The group is currently finishing up their sophomore EP, with the first single out in March and will be locally touring in Australia this May!

For fans of Nightly, The 1975, and Bad Suns

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How are you all? How are you holding up?

We’re pretty good all things considered! We’ve probably run out of patience in regards to no touring/releasing music so we’re itching to get back on stage with new songs out in the world.

Can you talk about the development of the band? How did the band come to be?

Brice and Seb have known each other since like five years old, so they’ve been playing music together for a long time. In 2016, they asked me (Ricky) to join their new project they were starting, playing bass. Not long after that, in 2017 we met Luke our drummer through a mutual friend.

In what ways has the band evolved over the last year? 

I think this past year we’ve learnt more about who we are as a band and what we want to “accomplish” or “achieve” as four individuals playing music together as a potential career.

Your music has the sonic characteristics of the soundtrack from a coming of age movie. How did you develop your sound?

Our sound development could probably be attributed to literally growing up as people or even just becoming interested in different things over time – whether that be our taste in music, film or even our worldview itself. If our music sounds like it’s from a coming of age movie I guess that’s because our music is an interpretation of us discovering and learning new things about ourselves in our own lives, like that of a main character does in a coming of age film.

What do you like to do outside of music that contributes to your musical creativity?

We all have our own little interests outside of the band that benefit us greatly back in the world of musical creativity. For us it varies from skating, cooking, reading, filmmaking – or literally anything, our pets? Our relationships? Everything can inspire creativity, sometimes it’s just subtle to see.

Let’s talk about your latest EP, theres no such thing as good people. How long were you sitting on these songs? Which was the hardest/easiest to write?

“Red Hot Moon” was probably the oldest song on that EP release. I think that was written mid 2018? “Calm Down” was written literally a couple months before the EP was released. Each song came out fairly naturally but “Watermark” definitely had more versions than the others.

Collectively, what is your favorite track? Why?

We actually all have different favourite tracks on that EP – which is a good thing I think?

What’s the backstory of the title? Do you believe there is more bad than good in all of us? Are people not as good as we make them out to be?

EP1’s title is kind of open for interpretation. Our next EP’s title will connect the two together and might make the meaning a bit clearer for people.

Do you believe we must fail in order to become our best version of ourselves?

There’s countless cases of people throughout history who have failed in order to reach their full potential/success/happiness, so yeah I guess we agree with that way of thinking.

When a mix is finished, do you take that track and listen to it in a certain place? Whether that be in the car, the studio, etc? What is your go to way to listen to a final mix for the first time?

We listen to the mixes every way possible – car, speaker, phone, laptop – basically anywhere we think people might consume our music. It’s definitely through headphones first though!

What kind of gear is part of your writing/production set up?

Pretty much all PB songs have been written on Ableton, a Mac keyboard and a couple guitars. Live setup we keep pretty simple – the Roland SPD and synth tracks are important to us.

The band has a good presence in the Australian music scene and has been played frequently on TripleJ. How do you think being from Australia has affected your journey and music? How has your hometown shaped you?

I think being a band from Australia you immediately have the attitude of an underdog/wanting to show the rest of the world what we’re capable of. The whole hometown thing we use as inspiration, it keeps us humble but also drives us to move onto bigger and better places.

Where’s your favorite place you have performed? What’s your dream venue?

 I don’t think we have a favourite venue we’ve performed at thus far, however we definitely have some venues we don’t like! We would love to play at a venue here in Adelaide called Thebarton Theatre. I think our 16 year old selves wouldn’t believe it!

Do you have performance anxiety? If so, what’s your backstage process before a show?

It varies from show to show, depending on the circumstances… you’ll probably find us backstage hyping each other up, pacing around and exercising? Which is weird but I guess it releases the adrenaline? 

There were some shows scheduled for February/March of this year, but were unfortunately canceled. How do you plan on continuing to interact with fans amidst a global pandemic? 

The cancellation/rescheduling of shows/tours is something we’re all going to have to get used to. In the meantime when shows aren’t an option we’ll continue to work on releasing new music and having somewhat of a presence on social media so people don’t forget about us…

Any upcoming livestreams they should know about?

No livestreams for the foreseeable future, just real actual live in person shows! Apologies to our international fans who aren’t as fortunate as us Australians at the moment. Keep wearing masks and social distancing please!

What advice do you have for other musicians who are struggling right now?

I guess right now amidst the pandemic and such, our main advice would be to look after yourself health-wise, both mentally and physically. Then learn to adapt to playing less live shows, write and practice as much as you can and also be present and interactive on social media (something we’re working on ourselves).

Who would be your dream co-write?

A co-write with Tyler Joseph (twenty-one pilots) would be pretty magical.

What’s next for Pinkish Blu? What are you working on right now?

Right now we’re putting the final touches on EP2. New single out early March and getting ready for tour in May!

Where do you hope to be a year from now?

A year from now we’d love to be working on an album and touring/relocating overseas (covid permitting)…

Everyone stay safe and be COVID-safe. We have new music on the way very soon. We love and thank each and everyone of you who have shown this band any kind of support.