A day before going on to play a memorable and stunningly energetic set at Punk Rock Bowling, and then following that with proposing to his long-time girlfriend on stage during The Muffs’ set, Pears’ guitarist Brian Pretus gave us a few moments to ask some questions. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were on stage in the background and a few too many drinks were in us before we even started, but Brian still managed to be a very cool and kind guy to interview.
This is a very strange job. What made you decide to pursue being a touring musician from the start? And were any members who weren’t ready for the touring life lost along they way?
Well, I hated my job, and for my entire life the only thing I ever gave a shit about was music. I mean, I had girlfriends that I said I cared about, but I really didn’t, all I cared about was music. Like, if they couldn’t talk to me well enough about music it would aggravate me. And absolutely, Pears’ first drummer, the guy who recorded on the record, is now an accountant. He makes lots of fucking money. Which – good for him, but he’s a fucking kick-ass drummer. Plus, everyone thinks we tour all the time, but we only tour twice as much as NOFX. If they tour two months out of the year, we tour like eight.
I always tell new bands to make a really solid first record, and then break up for like ten years and wait for a reunion tour to get back together. It seems like the only way to earn a living from music nowadays. Do you recall the moment you played a show and knew this was your calling, that it was time to take things a little bit more seriously?
Oh, from day one, dude. We showed up to our first show with like four different t-shirt designs, a set up for it, a mannequin head with a hat on it that said our name, and all the gear we still use now. There’s no reason to come out sucking. There’s some bands that don’t do that, but that’s just their aesthetic. Like that band, Pissed Jeans, that dude sounds like the laziest motherfucker, but he knows exactly what he’s doing.
What keeps you focused and psyched on the road when it’s easy to fall into a rut?
Because it’s fun as fuck. We play a show to nobody like all the time. There’s still a lot of ground to cover. No one has answered an email from us in Boston.
Are you guys still believers in physical records you listen to from start to finish or was putting out singles only easy to embrace?
In the beginning of the band we released one song and then a music video. We did that two more times. Then that ended up being our demo CD, which people still buy, I don’t know why. I think that releasing just singles is fucking great. Especially if you don’t have anything else to write yet, if you can think of one or two rad songs that are fucking awesome and 100% the best thing you can write, put them out!
What’s next for the band this coming year?
Well, we’re recording a record in July, and we already finished recording a 7″ that’s coming out in August. Also in August, in support of that 7″ we’re doing a month long tour of the west coast by ourselves and doing a couple of those Fat [Wreck Chords] anniversary shows. Then after that we got a month long tour in September with Teenage Bottlerocket.
If you don’t know who Pears is, first get your priorities in order, then go buy everything they have for sale on their site. They just signed to Fat Wreck Chords and finished a tour with Strung Out and Red City Radio, with impending plans to tear things up in your city very soon. Support good music any way you can.
Interview by Alan Madrigal | Video courtesy of Tyson Zoltan Heder at Punk Rock Bowling.
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