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The Big Pink at Coachella 2010

Apr 28, 2010 By Laura Studarus Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern The Big Pink

For two men, multi-instrumentalists Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell (aka The Big Pink) make a lot of noise, crafting billowing layers of synth in a melodic sonic assault. Despite prepping for the unenviable task of playing a set opposite Thom Yorke, the former Pleased to Meet You artists, sat down with Under the Radar at Coachella to drop tantalizing hints about their new sound and why when it comes to their career, bigger is better.

Laura Studarus: You’ve been touring behind your debut album for a while. How does it feel to be playing for larger audiences?

Robbie Furze: We like playing. We’ll play to any kind of audience. It depends really. It doesn’t matter how many people are there to be honest.

Milo Cordell: We play different sized venues. As long as it’s filled we don’t mind.

Furze: Yeah, we don’t give a shit.

Have you noticed a difference between British audiences and American audiences?

Furze: I think there’s a respect for the album more rather than the singles. Americans seem to know all the words for some of the more obscure songs on the record, some of the slower stuff.

Cordell: I think there’s definitely a divide. In Britain it’s all about the singles.

So what’s been the most surprising thing so far in this process?

Cordell: I’m surprised about everything.

Furze: The whole thing is surprising.

Cordell: It’s one constant surprise. We can’t believe we’re playing on this stage, we can’t believe we’re here. We’ve done 50-odd shows, and we can’t believe they’re all sold out.

Do you perform at a lot of festivals?

Furze: We’ve done quite a few last year. This is our first festival this year.

Are you starting to think about your next album?

Furze: Yeah. Definitely. We’ve got a new song we’re going to play tonight.

How does it compare to the songs on A Brief History of Love?

Furze: It hasn’t got a name yet.

Cordell: I guess it’s a lot crisper, maybe. A lot more words in it. It’s a lot more wordy.

Furze: Yeah. The melody is a bit more complex, maybe. I don’t know if it’s going to be our new sound, or if it’s that different. We’re very confident and very excited about getting into the studio. I think we’ve got a good idea of where we want to take it.

Are you looking to introduce other elements into your sound?

Furze: No, I think we want to refine the sound from our first album. I think that’s the idea.

Cordell: I think you can’t include more elements in what we did already on the first record.

It’s pretty epic.

Cordell: Yeah, we don’t want to get a brass section or anything

Furze: It’s taking it down, spinning it.

Milo: It’s taking away rather than adding.

Do you have any goals for the upcoming year?

Cordell: We just want to write a great record, if we can achieve that. We know we can do good shows. We just want to get into the studio really. Have fun really.

Furze: Being in a band I think there has to be a balance between the studio and the road. At the moment the road is kind of winning. We’re a bit out of balance. So we’re quite excited to be getting back into it.

Do you find inspiration on the road? Are you able to get some ideas down?

Cordell: Yeah, I think we’re an ideas-based band. We’re not the kind of band that just kind of jams around. Our ideas, we take from what we see and what we hear. So yeah, we’re inspired all the time.

Furze: I think a lot comes from just being together and having fun and just having a great time. And feeling like we’re really doing it. Everything is on an upward trajectory. That makes us positive about the future.

If you could have anyone’s career path, is there and artist that you look to?

Furze: Elvis.

Cordell: I don’t know. This slow-burner thing isn’t really us. We want to be a big band and play bigger places, and be in Madison Square Garden by next year. You know there’s that. That’s what we want. We want to be as big as we can as quickly as we can.

(www.musicfromthebigpink.com)