A new track from our latest release and an interview

Seeing as it’s been a good few weeks since we unveiled a track from our forthcoming split 7”, we thought it was probably about time to share another one. It’s actually been pretty hard trying to resist sharing this song with every single person I’ve ever met. London two piece Playlounge, seem to have this ability to make effortlessly infectious, ball-busting noise pop. ‘Conor, Oh Burst?’ is no different and at only 1 minute 25 seconds long, leaves you hankering for a second (and third and fourth) listen straight away. Hit play below and then read a really ace interview I carried out with drummer/singer Sam last night.

Hello Sam, has anyone ever asked you why you’re called Playlounge in an interview before? If not can I be the first?

Sorry to say yr not the first to ask. It’s a lame story though. When we first started out, I wrote down a list of cool words/phrases I thought could be useful for song titles or potential band names. I had a friend who owned a studio called ‘The Playroom’ which I mistook for Playlounge and it was the least lame thing on the list when it came to choosing a band name and it just kinda stuck.

Oh I think I actually remember that story now! You’re a two piece and it’s really nice that you seem to celebrate this fact, is there any particular reason behind this?

I do love being a two-piece. I’ve been in bands with 3-4 members in the past and it’s just a lot easier being only 2. I think with being a two-piece it pushes you to do more with less and I guess that’s why our songs have a certain sense of honesty to them (well to me anyway) because it’s less filtered by compromise. It’s hard to explain why being in a two-piece works, it just does. Me and Laurie understand each other very well musically….like our instruments finish each others sentences hah. It wouldn’t work with anyone else because we’ve learnt to play our parts making up for what is lacking in a third member.

A lot of your songs seem to fall under the 2 minute mark, I remember the first time I heard Conor, Oh Burst? I was frustrated it was so short, why are you taunting us?

We’ve never set out to write short songs but the two of us are both really into punk rock (the 80’s DC hardcore scene especially) so when we write a song clocking in under 2 minutes it doesn’t feel short to us. Hold it up to something like ‘Straight Edge’ by Minor Threat and ‘Conor, Oh Burst?’ is like a concept record. If it works in a short amount of time we see no point dragging it out to fit the conventional pop song time frame. My favourite thing about Conor, Oh Burst? is that as soon as it finishes I want to play it again straight away so it was pretty funny when Jen Long did exactly the same.

That’s literally what I did the first time I saw the video of you playing it on the rooftop, I felt like Augustus Gloop entering the chocolate factory. Had to just go back for more and more over and over again. You seem like one of those bands that would be really fun to be a part of, what’s the best thing about being in a band for you?

Man there’s so many things I love about being in a band. I love writing songs, I find it very cathartic to deal with whatever is messing me up and I love playing shows because nothing beats that feeling. But my favourite thing is how we get to go to parts of the country I wouldn’t have otherwise visited and all the people we get to meet along the way. I have genuinely made some of my best friends playing in Playlounge and it blows my mind that bands like YRRS, Joanna Gruesome, Fantasy Rainbow and so many more aren’t just fans of what we do but we’ve become great friends from playing together. It’s like the ultimate validation of what we do.

RELEASE RELATED QUESTION. In the hypothetical situation where you’re stuck on a bus in a Speed like scenario, which band from the release would you like to be stuck with and why?

No offence to Gum or Keel Her, because everyone on the split is wonderful but I’m going to go with Joanna Gruesome. We’ve been on tour with those guys and slept on each others floors and shared clothes and grrrl stories….so if it came to the end I’d like to share it with them. Plus they have the most members so I’m sure between the 7 of us we could find a way of out witting Dennis Hopper (or Dafoe). I’m sure Nicholls could do a great job creating a diversion whilst the rest of us escape. JOKING I LOVE YOU GEORGE.

You’re obviously having a lot of fun doing what you’re doing right now. But is there a certain point you want to reach where you can just stop and say ‘this is as good as it’s ever going to get, we’ve achieved everything we ever wanted to’?

I’ve always had small goals when it came to Playlounge. Obviously there’s things like Summer Sonic in Japan and Warped Tour that I would love to do but when it comes to realistic dreams all I wanted to do was find a label I love who’d have the faith to release us (tick) and write a song one of my musical heroes liked (Johnny Foreigner tick). So without getting ahead of ourselves, everything that may follow is a plus for me. As long as it remains fun and our creative output never goes stale I don’t see any reason to quit anytime soon. I don’t really deal with the things that mess me up inside, so I’ll always write songs to deal with that and myself and Laurie have such a great understanding of each other when it comes to this band as well as being real great friends. Just seems like we’ve got a good thing going on right now.

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The family portrait 7” is still available to purchase from our Bandcamp. Playlounge are playing the Old Blue Last tonight and Power Lunches (w/ Breathe Out and Yrrs) on the 28th June, plus probably lots more but those are the only ones I can remember off hand!