After a 4-year break, we were delighted to hear that The Pale White are back on tour with a new album to be released on 16th April 2025. I had the incredible opportunity to interview The Pale White with Morgan Cummins from Burn FM, before their gig on 10th March in Digbeth. We spoke to singer Adam, bassist Dave and drummer Jack asking questions on all-things tour, live performances and inspirations. You can listen to the full interview on Burn FM Spotify, or listen live on air Tuesday 25th of March at 19:00, or Thursday 27th of March at 13:00.

We are so excited to watch you guys play, how has tour been so far and how are you feeling for tonight? 

Very good, excited! Tour so far has been amazing. Leeds was the last one, I’ve been wanting to play the Brunel for a while, it was absolutely unreal yeah it really lived up to expectations, exceeded! 

A huge congratulations on the release of your two singles- ‘Lost in the Moment’ and ‘Nostradamus’- after a reasonably long break from releasing new tracks, how does it feel to have released these?

Class! We’ve had this album recorded for over a year now, when we got the Pixies tour it sort of delayed everything really, like getting the mix and stuff because we were on the road so much. So, like these songs, feel pretty old to us so it’s nice to play them. It’s weird like, when you play songs that people know, people seem to sing along and jump around but when you play new stuff, you can’t really tell if it’s going down well, you know, but to us it’s felt amazing and I think they have been going down well

I think it’s like a blessing in disguise that the album tour is before the album comes out because we get to showcase exclusive things to the fans on this tour. When people start smiling and stuff it’s like ‘awh’,  you can see someone hear it for the first time and most of the compliments have been on the new material more than ever before. 

Regarding inspirations, you released a Spotify ‘inspirations’ playlist with classic alternative bands like R.E.M, Manics, Radiohead- but there are some slightly niche choices on there like Danny Elfman’s ‘What’s this?’- how can we see these inspirations reflected in the new album? 

You know what, I think when you hear it you’ll know. The orchestral bits maybe? And the production. There’s a lot of melancholy in the album now, and I feel like Danny Elfman has a lot of that, it was actually a big influence. We just wanted to try and go different places with the songs and some of the songs do go different places that you wouldn’t expect a bit like Danny Elfman writes scores not songs really, they’re like journeys and I feel like this album is a journey. There’s song called ‘January please’ on the album which it goes a bit topsy turvy. I think the playlist will make a lot more sense people once albums out. But there’ll be a lot of comparisons like the Danny Elfman thing, maybe people think we’re taking the mick, but I think people will like get vibe when they hear it. 

As an independent band, have you faced challenges as opposed to working with a label? 

Yeah I guess it was just a decision made because it’s like you spend so long and chatting to labels and everyone kind of wants to keep you under their thumb and so toy with you a little bit  maybe not on purpose but they don’t want you to be with anyone else but they are also scared to commit and it’s like we just want to get moving faster than that and the decision was as simple as that. But as for restraints or whatever, we’re a working-class band and you know there’s a lot of bands that have you know the little hint nepotism or maybe a silent millionaire behind them and we’re as real as it gets so I’m really proud and it’s really nice thing to be able to put this ourselves.

Finally, what would you say is the message behind the upcoming album?

We don’t want to be pigeonholed- I feel like a lot of the time, bands are trying to tick a box or what people might like or what people might want to hear but like this album has all been on our terms sonically or release-wise or whatever and it’s just nice to be able to do that. You don’t have to be anything but yourself. You spend years trying to prove yourself to other people and like other people are really good at spending your money and people have a really good idea what you should do and it’s just like you know what, this time, this is what we wanted to do. We usually record in London and we recorded the first album in Ramsgate with a big producer but it was just nice to come home and it all be on our terms home in Newcastle. 

Live Review

After the interview, we were lucky enough to stay to watch The Pale White perform. Opening the night was Lizzie Esau, an incredible, ethereal sound that worked well to get the audience moving. Wearing a set of fairy wings, Lizzie was clearly very happy to be on stage, alongside her fantastic band. Managing to get the crowd to sing along for the final song, it was a great start to gig.

The Pale White started with arguably their most popular song, ‘That Dress’, the gig beginning as punchy and loud, a sound which rarely stopped for breath. Driving the performance with relentless energy and animation their drummer, Jack, kept energy high both within the band and among the audience. Adam’s solo song, played with just him on stage with his guitar, was a lovely interlude to the set, and gave the audience a moment to really soak in the musical talent of the lead-songwriter. Tastes of the new album were played to a very receptive audience, and by the end of their set, despite the busy room, it was difficult to find someone not dancing along.

We watched a high-energy, raucous gig with incredible songs from first releases to new sneak-peaks of what is to come from the new album. The Pale White are a fun, energetic band who create an electric vibe throughout the room when they perform. They radiate an energy on stage that forces you to dance making it impossible to have a bad time a Pale White gig. After speaking to the band, it is comforting to see their passion for music and see how they use this to fuel their performances. Every song was memorable and we cannot wait to hear what is to come.  

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