Brightest Young Things

If I could spend my life listening to one type of music it'd probably be indie-pop.  You can say what you want ((that it's gay) don't worry we will address that later) but at no point do you ever get sad.  Even sad songs are happy.  And so, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Coming off their acclaimed debut album, and now releasing a new EP, the Pains are flying "Higher than the Stars".  Luckily, Kip Berman got a free minute, which turned into an hour, to talk about the band, the new album, and Oasis/ Noel Gallagher, their tonight's show @ The Black Cat and general badassery.

BYT: Hey Kip how are you?

Kip Berman:  I'm doing well whats up?

BYT:  Well, a question that I think is on the minds of everyone, what do the pains of being pure at heart feel like?

Kip:  [Laughs]  They feel good.  I'm not a doctor so I can only describe the conditions but they aren't all that painful.

BYT:  It's like when you hit your funny bone, it hurts a little but you end up laughing.

Kip: Something like that.

BYT: Sweet, so who write most of the songs and what is the inspiration behind them?

Kip:  The initial ideas and chords and words I do but when the whole band comes together it really changes the music and that's the sound that we get.  I can write things and hear them in my head or when I play them but without the band I'm not sure what the sound is really going to sound like.  The inspiration is our lives and our experiences and just what's going on.

BYT:  Can you describe your music in one word?

Kip:  Gay.  Well like if someone wasn't talking about sexuality.  Like maybe wussy is better.

BYT:  I was thinking awesome, but wussy works too.

Kip: [Laughs] Thanks, I guess we can go with that.  It's just not Oasis.  Like I honestly think that I don't drink near enough to be Oasis.

BYT:  Yea, all that alcohol really makes the music better in my opinion. I guess you heard about the break up? *Note* This interview was conduted the day of the Oasis breakup *Note*

Kip: Yea, it's just not Oasis without Noel Gallagher though.

BYT:  Agreed, so what's your favorite venue to play in?

Kip:  At home I really like the Cakeshop. But one of my favorite places was in Manchester, England, the Charlestown Irish Center.  None of the windows would open and it was so hot, but it was awesome.

BYT: When you were a kid like 10-20 what was your favorite music?

Kip:  I liked a lot of 90's Emo, Promise Ring, Sonic Youth, Pavement, most things on Matador records, Belle and Sebastian, Vaselines, Pastels, Yo La Tengo.  I liked the poppy side of hardcore shows.

BYT:  So what was the main reason behind the new EP?

Kip:  Well it was just like for us, what's the highest thing possible.  Higher than the buildings, higher than the clouds, then we figured out that it was higher than the stars, and we just went with that.  On the EP we have 4 brand new songs and have a remix by Saint Etienne which is really awesome.  They are one of our favorite bands so we were honored to have them do a remix.

BYT:  When's the next full length coming out?

Kip:  We start recording in the Spring after all the tours are done.

BYT:  Did you hear that Subpop was reissuing Bleach on white vinyl?

Kip:  Yea I did.  I love Nirvana.  I feel like it'd be weird to meet Courtney Love though.

BYT:  Why, would you want to marry her or something?

Kip: [Laughs] Kip Berman takes fandom too far.  No, the Pains aren't Nirvana.  I could never pull that off.

BYT: Yea then it might end badly.  I mean look at what she did to Kurt.  Who'se the coolest person you have met by being a musician?

Kip:  Just meeting people in other bands honestly has been one of the coolest experiences.  I met Steven Pastels from the Pastels, I was interviewed by Jarvis Cocker.  He's one of those guys that could steal your girlfriend and you'd be ok with it.  Oh it's just Jarvis, that's cool.

BYT:  How long is this tour going for?

Kip:  We are going to be on tour for a while in America and then we are going to England.  Then it'll go somewhere from there.

BYT: Good to keep on top of things.  Do you personally know the members of Cymbals Eat Guitars?

Kip: Not really, we had met a couple times.  I really liked their record and they were just cool about going on tour with us so I guess I'll get to know them better soon.

BYT:  Well thanks for talking to me about this I could imagine it gets daunting to talk about music all the time.

Kip:  I never get tired of talking and playing music.  It's like if you really love porn and then you get in a porno it's like a dream come true.  It's the same thing for me except I'd rather be in a band.

Want more:

Make friends on myspace here and don't miss their show at the Black Cat tonight

BONUS: All our previous Pains coverage:
-Long a go "check them out" story here
-Live show review here
-Catch up stories here and here
-And their very awesome SXSW video appearance, in which at 2:30 min they give us the best BYT compliment ever: