Struck by Lightning is a standalone single which drops right in between the band’s latest release and new EP coming up in the fall of 2018. Along with the single PBSM is letting go of an up-tempo rendition of the classic Lana Del Rey song Blue Jeans. With a respectful nod to the original and Lana’s dusty sensual voice the PBSM version jumps into a different rock-infused realm, fused by gritty fuzz guitars and a cheeky off beat hihat pattern on the drums.
On both tracks the duo is accompanied by Danish drummer Lasse Herbst (Blue Foundation, Fallulah, Choir of Young Believers)
PBSM is Lauritz Carlsen (Vox, guitars) and David Tholander (Bass, Drummachine) and started out as a long-distance songwriting relationship between Berlin and Copenhagen over a year and a half period. During this time, the Berlin crowd around the 8mm bar (incl. bands such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spacemen 3, Kadavar, The December Sound, Blue Angel Lounge, Cavern of Anti Matter) and a love for psych and krautrock, formed the band and the songs from the beginning. A couple of DIY 7″ releases formed the basis for the band’s debut EP released through Copenhagen-based label Møs Møs.
Live, PBSM are a guitar/bass/drum machine power-duo, making a cacophonic wall of sound through their four-amp setup. The duo has already toured with rising UK rock act Nothing But Thieves and art-rockers Arrows of Love, as well as American noir songwriter Nicole Atkins. Check out Blue Jeans below!
We managed to catch up with the band as they talked about their latest cover and more!
How has the release of your cover Blue Jeans gone down with fans so far?
We’ve received a lot of messages from people who thinks it’s a great version of the song and that it works quite well as a an uptempo rock song! We are very happy about that our fans seem to like it, and it’s also good fun doing a coversong now and then to mix up with our own tunes.
Can you tell us something about the release no one else knows?
Well, needless to say we are big fans of Lana Del Rey – it actually started out with us fooling around in the studio one day where both of us wore blue jeans and white t-shirt. So, warming up before some vocal takes, I(Lauritz) decided to do a couple of lines from the song. David joined with the drum machine and nudged the tempo up by some 20bpm – so we continued down that lane and didn’t do the actual vocals we wanted to record that day at all. We also did the video for the song, but I guess that’s an easy tell… Hahahha.
Struck By Lightening has just been released also, what has been the initial response to this?
Struck By Lightning has been received great this far – both by blogs and playlists around Scandinavia. It’s a stand alone track between two EPs and points towards the sound of the next one, so happy about the reactions this far.
Will you be releasing an EP/Album this year?
We are currently working on a new EP, which we will release sometime during the fall.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Would be great to work with Lana Del Rey – maybe her and Tyler the Creator and do a noir version of Sangria Wine… hahahaha.. Could think of loads of other people we also want to work with and see where collaborations will take the music. Maybe more of that in the future?
Will you be touring at all this year?
We will definitely be fit for doing gigs sometime around the release of the next EP. Outside of Denmark we’re currently looking into gigs in Germany.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Roxette sometime in the 90s (DAVID)
Danish band “Dizzy Mizz Lizzy” -also in the 90ies. I was too young to have a beer at the show and my dad was there too. (Lauritz)
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
It’s hard to think of anything that does not involve music somehow. We recently bought a green screen – great fun to fool around with that since we can go to anywhere on the planet (or outer space) with that. So otherwise from just hanging out, going to shows and trying our best to look cool -we spent a lot of time on the visual side of the band.