Posted on April 1, 2009 - by Mark Zonda

Sweet Little Pristines

The sweet gazedelia of  “The Pristeen” is proudly hold by the self confident Jon E.Hardy, Albion. Who knows if “Series Two“ was stroke by the direct honesty of the catchy ballad “Rosey Honey” or“Sarah Records” and secret library hints.. Maybe it’s just me! Regardless, I’m gonna introduce you the singer and his “suitable lies”

Mark Zonda: How “The Pristines” came to life and, above all, why Pop-Art?

Jon: The best and fullest explanation is found on the MySpace. But, basically: The Pristines was a side project to other bands I was in at the time (The Balloon Farm, Dolores Haze) for which I recorded 4-tracks that didn’t fit with my main bands. The Pristines was a bit of a joke name from the Sea Urchins’ song “Pristine Christine” which was 001 on the influential Sarah Records. I was copying a fanzine compilation cassette for a friend, and cheekily put one of my own songs on it too as “The Pristines”. He reckoned it was one of the best on it, so I compiled a tape of 10 tracks and sent it off to fanzines for real, and tracks got put on compilations for real, which lead to Sunday Records contacting me to make a 7″ single and record songs properly in a studio, and now, some 18 years later, I’m still doing that.. The Pop Art cover was the inspiration of Cath Cheung who does my covers for me. We both like that genre of art, and it started when she did a mock up Roy Lietchenstein style picture of one of my photos. Which led to the cover for the States of Mine album. Cath also did the covers for the singles on Edition-59 records (Germany) and the Actress Trilogy single on Susy Records. Peru.

Mark Zonda: Why in your opinion are we still talking ’bout Sarah Record? Why this lablel was so inspirational and important to pop culture and which is your favourite artist?

Jon: I think really, it’s a combination of two things. Nostalgia for a time past, of vinyl, mail order only labels, and a time when Indie really meant Independent, and wasn’t just a generic term for dreary guitar rock/pop bands affiliated to major labels. Independent labels/bands used to be music for outsiders made by outsiders and released by Do-It-Yourself ethos labels like Sarah Records, Rough Trade, Postcard, Creation, early on, and so on… It gave people the chance to make & release music who would never get the chance. I think people miss the honesty and integrity of that. And secondly, they just had great bands who released great records. For me , the most consistently good band on the label were The Orchids, who just got better and better. The Field Mice had great singles, but no outstanding album. Sea Urchins released a couple of very good singles. The rest I can take or leave really, The Sweetest Ache released a very good single for Sunday Records though. For me, my favourite 2 albums on Sarah by quite a way are “Striving For The Lazy Perfection” by the Orchids and “Make It Loud” by the Wake, both of which I still play regularly these days.

Mark Zonda: When did you began writing song?

Jon: I’m not, or have ever been musical. No one in my family plays an instrument. I can’t read music. At school my music teacher despaired of me – but what do they expect playing a 12 yr old Dvorzak and forcing him to play the recorder – probably the 2nd most vilest instrument to bag pipes. I first joined a band aged 18 at Polytechnic, and started to learn guitar from the guitarists in that band. As I learned new chords, my songs included them. So I guess my first song was A,E,and D as they are easiest 3 to learn first!

Mark Zonda: “Polytechnic” would be a great name for a band! Bag pipes sound great on “Neutral Milk Hotel” records. Do you know the collective “Elephant6″?

Jon: Yeah, it sounds like an electro band name doesn’t it? Bag pipes never sound good. They sound like a cat killing a seagull. No, don’t know Elephant 6, but know the Spacemen 3…

Mark Zonda: I really like the “Rosy Honey”. It’s direct, it’s dark, got hand-claps, it’s classic. What inspired the song?

Jon: Lot of different things inspired this one.
“Rosy Honey” itself as a phrase appears in the Nabokov book “Lolita” – Humbert Humbert describes Lolita (Dolores Haze) as something like “she’s my angel, my darling, my rosy honey” (I’m paraphrasing the quote) , but that stuck and I wrote it down as a good song title.
I don’t know where the 2 chord repetition came from to be honest, probably just messing about on the guitar. But, I do remember where the handclaps were inspired from. I was listening to The Kinks a lot the time of demo-ing the song, and a track called “Rainy Day in June” has handclaps drift into it, so I decided it fitted this song better than trying to add drums to it and stole the idea. I do remember recording the handclaps in the studio. We had 2 mics set up, and 4 of us stood in pairs at each mic with headphones on, trying to clap in time with each other, and unable to even look at each other as it would set us off into fits of giggles and we’d have to start all over again.

Mark Zonda: A happy memory then! Favourite Kinks songs?

Jon: Oh, that’s difficult – The Village Green Preservation Society is my favourite Kinks album. But “Waterloo Sunset” is one of those songs that every songwriter wishes they had penned. “Money-Go-Round” was wonderfully cynical about the recording industry way before its time.

Mark Zonda: Was “Numb” directly influenced by early Bowie stuff or is just a cosmic coincidence?

Jon: Cosmic coincidence. Was not even awar of a Bowie track called “Numb” I do have a couple of Bowie albums, and I particularly like the Low album. But, no, he’s not really an influence, more a passing interest.

Mark Zonda: I was hinting at the atmosphere of the song and the attitude of the singing. Anyway. Which chanteuse would you pic for a duet?

Jon: I have recently recorded a song with the Japanese shoegaze artiste Hideka. That came out really well, and we shall work together again. We are just trying to decide how, where & when to release the song at the moment.  I guess I’d most like to work with PJ Harvey. Just because I admire her work so much, and I think we (mostly she!) would come up with something rather good.

Mark Zonda: Just like John Parish! Good taste! Your collaboration lead me to another question. What’s your impression on Japanese Pop?

Jon: We don’t really get a lot of Japanese pop crossover into the UK. The only Japanese bands I know are those on similar or the same labels as us and I know through MySpace. Of the hugely commercial pop of Japan – girl bands/boy bands and so on I have no interest or knowledge what’s over, but there is an underground scene in almost every country that is worth investigating.

Mark Zonda: Interesting interview indeed! It made the day!

Jon: Cheers, I enjoyed doing it!

The Pristines – “Good Things Never Come Despite the Wait”

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