Photo Credit: Constantin Timm
After releasing their debut album Chlorine and spending 2019 playing as many shows as possible, including tours with Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould and Kadavar, Berlin trio PABST are back with Ibuprofen, the first taste of their forthcoming sophomore album. Also marking their first new material in a year, we caught up with the band to find out more about Ibuprofen including themes, changes to their writing process and behind the scenes stories from the video shoot.
Can you give us your quick elevator pitch on this track? Why does this one standout for you as a band?
It’s a bittersweet pop/punk tune about a legal drug and how it has snuck into our lives as a simple salvation for our daily struggles. It’s fun and uplifting but with a darker twist. It’s also the first song we’ve released in around a year. After playing dozens of shows last year it’s really exciting to share new music with our fans. We’ve been playing this song live for a year now and it was about time people could finally listen to it on their Walkmans (Walkmen?)…
How did you tackle the writing process for the song? Was there anything unique about this track compared to your usual/previous approach?
Since we were recording all new songs live, together as a band in one room, the song had to be at a much more mature stage of arrangement by the time we went to the studio. Previously we’ve been recording one by one on click-tracks, which makes it easier to retrospectively rearrange songs and swap out guitar lines etc. This particular song also felt special because it’s the first we wrote after the recording sessions for our debut album.
Can you tell us how the song’s theme came about?
During touring cycles, as well as our everyday-lives, Ibuprofen has actually become kind of a staple… so we thought, let’s make an ode to that!
Tell us about the video, do the themes of the single transfer to the video?
In the video we really tried to convey some of the ideas that the song touches on through more pictorial metaphors. The pill as a kind of a communion wafer, as breakfast, as a pigment for warpaint etc. All that paired with the fluffy, soft look the video has to convey the warm fluffy feeling you get after you take the Ibu400 and your hangover-nausea finally vanishes.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories from the video shoot?
For Ibuprofen it was the first time we ever actually built props. The Ibuprofen pill was handmade out of styrofoam and knifing putty. We thought we could use it sometime at our shows, but it’s really heavy and got lost somewhere in Cologne. Also we double-face-taped the colored wool material on our actual instruments, which took forever.
Anything else you’d like to add for our readers?
Don’t do drugs, kids! Save that for when you’re old and have nothing in your life to mess up anymore. Unless you really wanna. And if you’re hungover from alcohol, don’t (seriously, don’t) try to tackle it with Paracetamol…it’s a nightmare!
PABST‘s latest single Ibuprofen is available to stream or purchase HERE.
