Amidst this pandemic, time is in abundance — offering music lovers the ability to dive deep into the ever-growing pool of talented Canadian musicians and making it easier than ever to bolster your musical roster. This time around our West Coast Spotlight – Post-Modern Connection. PMC is a five-piece indie-soul-pop group based in Kelowna, British Columbia.
A relatively new band, PMC have been creating and evolving together for three years in the Okanagan valley. Throughout that time, the outfit has spread it’s musical wings, showcasing the diversity of the members skillset, incredible talent and hunger for achieving their goals. Brushing elbows with everything from do-wop and R&B to jazz or alt-rock, PMC is not one to pigeonhole, as their turns and twists are as sudden as they are beautiful, and their latest single “Drowning” proves just that.
We took a moment to chat with PMC via email to get the low-down on their latest earworm and its accompanying music video, their growth and what’s next for this band-on-the-rise.
You have recently added some new members to the band. Who are they, what do they contribute and why did you feel it was time to expand the line up?
Yes! Mitch and Cam just joined us! Mitch joined us in late 2019. We were looking for a piano/Synth player because we couldn’t make the sounds we have on our demos, live without another player or a really tight and complex live setup.
Mitch approached us and we played a few gigs together and it was great! Him playing violin was really a bonus, but it’s enhanced our sound a lot. Cam joined us as our drummer early this year as our previous drummer wanted to focus more on his band. Cam is an incredible drummer who adds a lot rhythmically to the creative process. He’s got his own ideas on what songs should sound like and sometimes adds new sections.
As someone who has followed the band since nearly the beginning, your music has really come to evolve significantly over the last couple of years. Was this a natural progression or has this sound been a goal the original triad was striving for since inception?
This sound has kind of always been the goal, that weird blend of Indie, Soul, Jazz, but also synth pop, dream pop, but sometimes math rock, doo-wop, lounge rock, and classical (classical because of mitch). It just took us a second to figure out this is what we liked lol and how to play it. Tega only learned bar chords and jazz/RnB chords in the summer of 2017 so about 3 years ago.
But to be honest we make music based on what we listen to and on a song by song basis. So, if we hear a song we like, we want to emulate it. For instance, “Drowning” inspiration comes from “Gutter Girl” – Hot flash heatwave, “You belong to be me”- Nico Yaryan, “Wavy Gravy”- Okey Dokey, “You were my girl”-Palmas and “Believe” by Benjamin Booker. But “Little Things” our previous song was inspired by The Districts and “Old Friends” by Pinegroove.
PMC’s music has always been poetic and for lack of a better term, quite deep, both musically and lyrically, but your recent single “Drowning” seems to be one of your most poignant yet, what is the story behind it?
“Drowning” is inspired by feeling very overwhelmed with life really wanting to give up. Something Tega (vocals and guitar), relates to when he wrote it. It’s about being in over your head and having problems in life that are out of your control and not caused by you. It sucks and it makes you feel powerless. Tega was dealing with a lot back then, family issues exacerbated by university, immigration, and financial issues. Getting through school while dealing with these and managing the band and being broke and feeling isolated. Working while being in school too lol so a lot going on.
Why do you feel it is important to explore heavier topics through your music and engage your fans on that level?
We think it’s important because to be honest because Tega just wants people to not feel alone. It’s nice to know someone out there gets it or has been there. If you’ve been there you understand.
We try to capture these feelings and express them both to be understood and to say we understand. We think it also sets us apart. From the jump we’ve always wanted to be honest with our music. To let people know we’re human. We don’t like idolizing people or artists because at the end of the day we’re all human.
The music video that accompanies the single, to me, adds a whole new layer to the song. Why did you want to articulate the song on a visual level as well? I know you crowdfunded to make it happen.
We wanted to go all out for this one lol. We knew the song was nice but also different from our other works and we wanted to highlight that. It took a lot of time with the whole process. It was also the perfect opportunity to work Teaghan McGinnis who had wanted to work with us before, so we took advantage of it. Teaghan brough his influences on the video, which gave the song another dimension.
Musically, the song stands out in your discography in the sense that it’s a first taste of what the newer band members have to offer. To me is a really great testament to the diversity of the band’s sound. Were there any new influences you were eager to explore to bring this song to life?
Yes! Like we said earlier, we make music on a song by song basis so when “Drowning” was made by Tega when he was listening to a lot new age Doo-Wop/Lounge Rock bands like Trudy and The Romance and Blah Blah Blah. The vibe of “Drowning” was the best medium to express his mood. Once Mitch (synth and violin) and Georges (guitar) heard it they added a lot of cool little bits to it. There’s a lot of really subtle cool stuff going on, from violins and leads to synth and vocals. It’s also the first song that really highlights all our different ideas. First true collaboration.
Moving forward, what can fans expect from PMC? Is there a new album in the works?
Fans can expect lots of new songs for sure and very different sounds. And we’re working on our first EP! We hope to have it done this year and released next year, but we’ll see what happens lol. We have a lot of ideas for it.
This West Coast Spotlight – Post-Modern Connection is over and we want to say thank you to the members of PMC for taking the time to chat with us.
Packed with sultry vocals, a juxtaposition of hulking lyrics and airy instrumentation, relatability and entrancing melodies — “Drowning” is the unintentional anthem of isolation for those whose minds are flooded with anxieties.
You can listen to PMC’s creations on all major streaming platforms
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