Spindle Radar: British-French Duo PAMELA Share Their Introspective EP LIVE. SHIFT. DREAM.

PAMELA has invited music listeners to embrace their existence and keep their hopes alive with their new EP LIVE. SHIFT. DREAM. Co-produced with Pierre Cheguillaume, the project features elements of dance music, indie rock and Britpop, similar to the likes of LCD Soundsystem, The Cure, and Soulwax.

In addition to delivering a genre-bending production, the British-French duo’s EP has an inspiring message of perseverance and making the most out of life. We were able to talk to band members Sam Sprent and Simon Quénéa about all things LIVE. SHIFT. DREAM, their upcoming music festival schedules and more. Read our full interview with Pamela below.

Thanks for catching up with us, PAMELA! Could you introduce yourselves and tell us what your band name means? 

Hello! I’m Sam from Pamela. I sing and write the lyrics with my two pals Simon and Pierre, who come up with all the music and production. We were all working on other musical projects in Nantes, France, so we knew of each other without ever properly meeting and spending time together. Both of our personal projects were put on hold. Simon started producing for other artists, while developing his own project on the side. He was missing vocals, so he thought of me! It happened naturally in his studio, without pretension, just to try it out. We needed to do something different, something more like us. We connected around UK sounds, stuff we had listened to since we were kids. Our encounter was particularly intense, a musical love story that we ended up wanting to share with everyone. Why Pamela?  The name is my grandmother’s, I came up with it one day when we were thinking about names and it stuck. It means a lot and it sounds perfect.

You just played The Great Escape and will be performing at LIDO this year. What can festival goers expect from your sets?

It’s an honor playing at both festivals. We are going to be super hyped and happy just to be there. We’ve been playing music in other bands for a while and basically live for live performances. We put everything into our shows so you can expect a lot of energy and sweat. Our aim is to have a lot of fun making music and it’s even better playing it live.

What has been a highlight for you at any of your gigs so far?

Our first headline show in Paris in March. Sold out and so intense! People belting out the words and dancing all together was mind-blowing.

Is there an emphasis on what a song will sound like live during your writing process?

Our writing process is very simple; we tend to write fast and use the first ideas that come to mind. It’s all about the energy in the moment. There are lots of guitars, basses, and synths in the studio… It’s an easy space to be creative. It usually takes us an afternoon to lay down the outline of a song. We start by talking about what we’re listening to. We share the things that move us, that inspire us. We’re on the road quite a lot, with Pamela and other musical projects, so we gather all the experiences and bring them back to the studio. Everything is plugged in, and as soon as we have an idea, we play on it, we record it. The thoughts on how it all sounds live come later on when we work solely on live shows.

What was the first gig you went to that truly blew your mind?

It has to be Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Biblical.

If you could share a stage with any other music artist, who would you want to perform with?

That’s easy. LCD Soundsystem.

Your music borders on some experimental ideas, what inspires you to break the mould and reach for sounds outside of conventional pop music?

We’ve always been more interested in instinct than perfection. A lot of our music is born from first takes, happy accidents, or sonic ideas that we didn’t overthink. I guess we’re drawn to raw textures and weird juxtapositions because they feel more human, more alive, and we just want to make stuff that we can deeply love!

Who were some early influences in your childhood that led you to develop an interest in this kind of indie pop?

There was always music around, a mix of super pop hits and rock’n’roll. I grew up on British bands like Blur and Oasis, and later got obsessed with artists who break the rules but still write great songs, like Gorillaz or LCD Soundsystem. That mix of catchy and chaotic probably shaped a lot of what we do.

Congratulations on releasing your debut EP in March! How does it feel to have a milestone project like that under your belt?

Thanks! It feels amazing and surreal, honestly. It all came together really fast. We managed to record over 30 demos and chose the six best for the record. We didn’t over-polish it, and I think that gives it a kind of urgency. We just followed the energy, captured it, and put it out. It’s raw and imperfect in the best way. To have people connect with it and sing the songs back to us live is crazy!

If someone listened to your EP with no prior knowledge of your band, what would you want their first impression to be?

I’d want them to feel surprised like they didn’t expect it to go where it goes. But also, I hope there’s something emotionally familiar in there. We like music that doesn’t explain itself too much. Just feel it.

On top of killer live shows, what can fans expect from you throughout the rest of the year?

More music, for sure, we’re always recording. We’ve got some surprises coming, maybe a few unexpected collaborations, and definitely more touring. We’re very lucky and excited to play at a load of really cool festivals this summer. 

Check out PAMELA’s EP LIVE.SHIFT.DREAM