Earlier this year, Gold Coast alt-rock enigma prchr. found himself lying on THE PAVEMENT after a particularly big night out in Fortitude Valley. Dusting himself off and nursing a savage hangover on the train ride home, he had a moment to reflect on his creative direction. After having written two concept albums that explored places and character-driven narratives, he realised that he’d fallen away from what he originally wanted to capture and express in his music. Deciding to return to his experimental roots, prchr. entered his lair once again and set out to write something that came from the heart and presented his authentic self.
Fittingly titled, i’m sorry for being myself, prchr.‘s third album is his most confessional record yet, pulling back the mask and giving listeners an insight into the ups and down of his psyche. It’s an ever-unpredictable rollercoaster of sounds, delivering pounding riffs loud enough to blow your speakers one moment and then vocals that are so delicate you can practically hear a pin drop at another. Intrigued by his new direction, we spoke with prchr. for a deep dive into the depths of i’m sorry for being myself.
prchr. is:
- Joel Sims (everything)
1. Was there an exact moment during the writing process where you decided to move way from the character and concept of the first two prchr. albums? Or did you go to write a third record and find pretty quickly that you wanted to take a different direction?
prchr.: The first few songs that I wrote for this new record were pretty much during the release process of THE PAVEMENT, like right in the middle of it, and I felt they were helping me ground myself as what I was beforehand as an artist, as a person and not when I decided to try and push my music as a character concept driven project. The first three months of the year definitely felt like I lost myself in that sort of grey area and I started to drown in everything that was sort of piling up on top of me and the music at the time wasn’t helping.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m super proud of what came before this project but I think it was around that point where I realise that this wasn’t me. I didn’t really want to do that sort of thing any more so I think that’s where the idea stemmed of trying to focus on myself in the music more than the music in the story as a whole. Stop trying to be something that I’m not, right?
2. Were there any songs you’d written for this one that still had the old concept in mind? Or did you end up starting completely fresh?
prchr.: There was an original version of a third album with a story and everything that I was working on previously and when I started to slowly change directions and start fresh, I believe only two songs survived to make it onto this new record because I love them so much, I was super proud of how I produced them and how they ended up sounding and what I’ve written.
I couldn’t keep them off this new project. They were CULT and Has anyone seen me?. Pretty much kept them unchanged, transitions and productions and all. Actually, the audio clip at the end of Has anyone seen me? is supposed to be the sound of me digging my own grave (hypothetically) which to me I feel still fits this new record version just as well, I’m burying “what I was and what I could’ve been”.
3. How does it feel for you now that the record is ready to go out into the world? Now that you can look back on everything that’s wrong with me and THE PAVEMENT, does it feel different to be releasing songs now without a character to portray?
prchr.: It feels a lot more relieving in a way, like this time I can go into this without any form of expectations or whatever and still feel satisfied because I’m focusing more on the music itself and not just the music as well as the story, the character, the context, or the content without feeling like I’m acting like a clown in the process. Though I had a joy in the past, bringing those sorts of ideas and visuals to life, I feel this time around it’s a lot simpler yet accomplishing to put this type of project out there.
4. You’ve worked with producers, engineers, and other artists on previous releases. What was it like doing everything yourself this time around? Did you find you were second guessing yourself or did it feel like a natural progression?
prchr.: There definitely was some second-guessing in a couple of the sessions that I did by myself. Obviously when you’ve got this much control in whatever you do, sometimes there are moments where you’ll find yourself questioning some of your choices whether or not you should’ve taken this route or go down this road or if this sounds better or if this other thing would sound perfect for it. But all in all, I had a pretty decent idea of what I wanted from the start and I think chasing those specific sounds and doing a lot of testing with tones fueled some of the natural progression from time to time pretty easily.
5. Outside of the actual recording of the album, is there anything else that’s different about the writing and creation of the album? Were there any new concepts or sounds that you were keen to explore this time around?
prchr.: Surprisingly, this time around I wanted to try and tap into more sub bass sort of sounds for the low end of this record instead of your standard recorded bass guitar to see what I could get out of it. Getting a bunch of inspiration from the likes of Lady Gaga and The Weeknd with Mike Dean as well as embracing some Superheaven and Balance & Composure types of sounds to be incorporated really helped blend the genres together into what I was looking for: a nauseating, but oddly perfect fusion of alternative rock, lo-fi, shoegaze and orchestral singer-songwriter angst.
6. Which song took the longest to write and/or record? Which one was the easiest? Was there specific reason for either?
prchr.: feel was definitely the easiest ha-ha-ha. Just seven words and three notes on repeat for a little bit, that track pretty much came together naturally for me. In my personal opinion, it has the best mix out of all of the songs. I’m pretty proud. I’d also say Has anyone seen me? was the one that probably took the longest to put together lyrically. I remember most of it was written while I was babysitting my brother’s dog at his place a while back, but the last few lines and putting it all together took longer so I could make sure it was all perfect to me.
sell yourself short surprisingly came together pretty quickly one afternoon. The day I went out to do initial photoshoot in the rain earlier this year. But most of the rest of the record took a little time to tweak and polish altogether like most songs do. I tend to sit on them for a little bit to toss ideas up in the air, and find changes to make to make the listening experience easier for anyone who comes across it before throwing it all up on the internet for people to judge.
7. Many artists are internal, a few artists are more external. Where do you find inspiration? Was the inspiration different for your third record compared to the first two? Or was it the same but it’s just manifested differently for this time round?
prchr.: I’d say it’s a bit of both really. I typically find inspiration from either listening to my favourite artists/bands or even some of my older songs. Other times it manifests itself internally, whether it’s a specific sound or riff idea I have sitting in my head that grows on me. Either way, every bit of it helped mold the record over time in its own unique way.
8. Following on from the previous question, what’s the most personal song on the record?
OB: Is it something you’ve been wanting to put out for a long time or did it come about as part of writing one?
prchr.: Tears definitely holds its spot as the most personal on the record. It came from both past experiences personally and as a response to a popular Sabrina Carpenter song. I really poured my heart into that one and I think it’s the perfect closing track for i’m sorry for being myself. Originally, I was just messing around with a country style riff on guitar to see what I could come up with, that was when I found the famous line in the chorus which eventually turned into the album’s title.
The line pretty much set the tone for the song and helped me shift it towards a more folky, dramatic, orchestral track and over time I put a major focus on that song in particular because I saw the most potential in it out of all the songs. Eventually it became my personal favourite, I don’t think there would be a new prchr. project without that song.
9. Will we be hearing any of these tracks live any time soon? Are there any that you’re keen to perform to a crowd that you reckon will get them going?
prchr.: I have actually already debuted a handful of these songs live a few months ago to warm reception. I’m hoping the music really gets the crowd more intrigued than moving but all in all I’d say CULT is the one I’d enjoy playing to get everyone jumping around.
At this point in time, I’m taking a step back from live performances for a little bit but if anyone wants me to make a come back onto the stage, I’m very more than keen to have majority of the set be based on i’m sorry for being myself. It was fun bringing those songs to life live and maybe at some point down the road, we could find ourselves together again having a boogie to the music and escaping everything for a while.
Hopefully we’ll be seeing that happen sooner rather than later, more live music is well needed in these trying times! i’m sorry for being myself is out today on all streaming platforms. Look at us go, getting an article out on time for once! You can listen to it below:
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