A Chat with Vacant Pavements (04.07.24)
Carving a niche in the Glasgow post-punk world, Vacant Pavements is stamping its unique blend of shoegaze and vintage goth music in a sometimes-stagnating scene. With engaging live shows to intoxicating studio releases, Patrick McDermott (vocals and guitar) and Shannon Bell (bass and synth) are quickly garnering an international following. We speak with McDermott and Bell about Vacant Pavement’s debut EP The Cost of Complacency, live shows, tastes in music and much more.
OSR: You recently released your debut EP The Cost of Complacency. What can you tell us about it? Any themes or backstories?
Vacant Pavements: The Cost of Complacency is a concept EP inspired by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Each song tells a story, discussing multiple perspectives on the event. It highlights themes like societal decay, human nature, and perseverance during hard times. The Chernobyl disaster has always been a topic of interest for us, and the aim of the EP is to shed light on the themes mentioned previously through our modern twist on 80s post-punk music.
OSR: What were the most exciting and least exciting things (for lack of a better word) about creating The Cost of Complacency?
Vacant Pavements: The most exciting thing about creating our debut EP was definitely the writing and rehearsal process. It was clear that we had found something special and with every song we wrote for the release we found our niche. Another exciting aspect is all of the gigs we have played surrounding the EP, mostly our launch gig that we held in May. The night before the release of The Cost of Complacency we headlined Glasgow venue Dannsa to a busy crowd, showcasing our EP in its entirety which was one of our best experiences as a band. In terms of the least exciting, there was a lot of boring stuff behind the scenes like emails, gig cancellations, and last-minute changes that we had to adapt to.
OSR: If you could change one thing about The Cost of Complacency, what would it be and why?
Vacant Pavements: If we could change one thing, we probably would have organised music videos sooner to pair with the tracks on the EP. As big fans of film and cinematography, music videos (especially from post-punk) bands have always stood out to us. However, there are plans on the horizon…
OSR: Vacant Pavements have played at some of Glasgow’s most popular venues, what is the greatest challenge about playing live and the most exciting thing about that experience?
Vacant Pavements: The most exciting thing about playing live is 100% the exhilarating feeling of being on stage and performing your music to a crowd, knowing how much effort you’ve put into it. There is nothing like hearing a crowd singing your songs back to you. It’s hard to describe the feeling we get after being on stage, but it’s a mixture of satisfaction and sheer thrill.
The greatest challenge we face playing live shows is adapting to different types of equipment at each venue, and ensuring we have a consistent sound across our gigs. Our band setup is not your usual deal, as we work with drum machines and synths as well as noisy shoegaze-like guitars which can make soundchecks rather challenging occasionally.
OSR: Why did you choose to pursue a musical career?
Vacant Pavements: For both of us, music is something that we can’t imagine life without. We deal with music every day, from listening to it to studying at Riverside Music College together being constantly surrounded by the industry. Despite the bumps along the road, it’s never felt like a job to us or something we’re forced to do.
OSR: What makes you unique as a band?
Vacant Pavements: Vacant Pavements stand out in the Glasgow music industry as the post-punk scene is relatively small, especially our niche. We blend two separate genres together (post-punk and shoegaze) to create a nostalgic and captivating listening experience that draws inspiration from classic post-punk whilst adding our own twist. We also incorporate a drum machine into our sound, which is very different from a lot of other bands in the industry.
OSR: If you had to recommend one of your singles to a person who had never heard of Vacant Pavements, which song would you choose and why?
Vacant Pavements: We would recommend ‘Caesium 137’ which is the lead single from our debut EP. This song was the first song we ever wrote and is the perfect introduction to the rest of the release. The song encapsulates our sound as a whole, featuring our signature blend of haunting vocals, driving bass, and atmospheric guitars.
OSR: Has your taste in music changed over the years?
Vacant Pavements: Yes, both of our tastes in music have definitely changed over the years, and since meeting each other in 2022, going from the likes of Twenty One Pilots to eclectic bands like Bauhaus and Joy Division that inspired us. We both enjoy various genres and bond over bands that are not exclusive to post-punk, including classic rock outfits like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. In addition, we love shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive that have influenced the sound of Vacant Pavements.
OSR: Do you work better in the morning or at night?
Vacant Pavements: We both work better at night, in terms of both writing and rehearsals. It always feels more productive, and fits in with our schedule more as we’re both full-time students. The nighttime, especially in winter, always feels more relaxing and greatly improves our creative process.
OSR: What can we expect from Vacant Pavements in the future?
Vacant Pavements: More gigs and more music. We are playing at King Tuts’ Summer Nights Festival on the 4th of August, where we will be playing both tracks from our EP and new, fresh material. In terms of sound, we are planning to take a more gothic approach and incorporate more electronic aspects to our music. As we continue to experiment with Vacant Pavements and hone our sound, we are incredibly excited for what the future has in store.
Many thanks to Shannon Bell and Patrick McDermott for speaking with us. Find out more about Vacant Pavements on their Instagram and Spotify.
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