Pearl Harbor Explode

Pearl Harbor are the best LA sister duo since.... ever really.

The band was formed by Piper after being inspired by a chance collaboration with godfather of the home recording R Stevie Moore. She then found further motivation to form a band after finding an abandoned bass guitar in her parents’ house and began to make songs there were a sonic daze of harmonies.

Their songs fall into the bracket of too odd to be pop and too pop to be odd, it’s hard tell whether they want to be millionaire pop stars or are attempting to soundtrack a séance, there’s echoes of the Cocteau Twins, Mellow Gold era Beck and a My Bloody Valentine that you wouldn’t feel awkward dancing to.

The origin of their name changes with every interview, it could be inspired Pearl Harbor and the Explosions or legendary cult duo Stone Harbour or in Pipers own words "(we could) go down as a great disaster in the history of the Pacific coast".

I spoke to lead singer and the eldest half of Pearl Harbor Pier Kaplan about their first show, the band motto and her burgeoning obsession with USSR pop rock.

What's the band motto?
"shut up and play it RIGHT"

What do you think of most current pop music?
Next

Definition of the perfect song?
"Dream Baby Dream" by Suicide.

*What was your first show like?
Our first show was great. It was a show Mario Orduno put on at some bar in San Diego. We played to a pretty decent-sized crowd of bros and their
obligatory hoes with a bunch of those tiny ass Vox practice amps and a drum machine I borrowed from Nite Jewel. My sister had to stand
outside till we played, then we went home.

Your favourite new album?
Ariel Pink's Haunted Garrido Bros II

*Average day in the life of Pearl Harbor?
Chatroulette

*Your top tip for surviving as a struggling musician?
Don't get high on your own supply?

*What do you like best about USSR pop rock?
Cuz it's the cat's pyjamas, the balls to music's proverbial shaft.

*Who are your favourites?

Кино, Àâòîãðàô, Аквариум

*What do you think of Pearl Harbor and the Explosions?
Between you and me, I like her because she's fucking nuts. I recently
heard she was married to Paul Simonon for a minute. As Alan Partridge would say, "Back of the net!"

*Who would you get to cover your songs?
Yanni, 12 Stories of Christmas, East of Gideon, Sunhouse, Sade... Sorry I'm just looking at random shitty cassettes (though Sade’s not shitty) my mom has lying around. I'm at her house right now playing string with my sister's cat answering this.

*Loudest gig you've been to?
My Bloody Valentine tops everything else. That hair-splitting noise meltdown they do in the middle of You Made Me Realise made all the organs in my body twist up into a pretzel of agonized ecstasy and all I could hear for the following 3 weeks was shriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggg))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Piper also told me about the must see teen rock comedy from the nineties Rockula, About a Virgin vampire trying to score, which also stars Bo Diddley.

By Dan Wilkinson