Back in October 2013 we posted the video for ‘Sustaining’ by Pirate Video Company, with accompanying text: “Pirate Video Company are set to release their debut album soon.”
We were wrong. Then tentatively titled ‘Doing This And Sustaining’, the debut Pirate Video Company album has now arrived, three years late. It’s basically self-titled now, and is streaming through BandCamp.
The eventual release is accompanied by a lengthy statement, available to read in full below.
Hi everyone, you may have been wondering where we’ve been, what we’ve been doing for all these years, and why things went silent all of a sudden back in 2014,” the band have revealed on Facebook.
Our debut album which was to going to called ‘Doing This and Sustaining’ was recorded over the course of a full year from 2012-2013, and it was a bit of weird and turbulent time for us, both as a band and as individuals. We were all living in different cities, being pulled in different directions, and ultimately jaded by playing music together due to our own individual priorities, lifestyle choices and music tastes. Despite several attempts to pull together to release the album over the years, there just never seemed to be a ‘right’ time to do it.
Last Thursday it dawned on us that it’d been 3 years to the day since we completed the final mixing session at Stakeout Studios, and a lot longer than that since we began writing the songs back in Piers’ garage, our flat in Brighton, uni halls in Southampton and various run down practice rooms across the UK. It just seemed kind of ridiculous to us that it had been 3 years and the album STILL hadn’t been released.”
While we do see the funny side, we couldn’t handle the irony of the original title ‘Doing This and Sustaining’ as unfortunately in the end we didn’t live up to the albums statement. So here it is – the follow up to our self-titled 2011 EP; our (also self-titled) debut album, PIRATE VIDEO COMPANY.
We’re unsure what kind of reception this will get seeing as it’s been so long, but this release is more for ourselves. Our way of finally being able to draw a line under the band.
We’re really proud of what we achieved with this album – part of the reason that the recording process took as long as it did was because we were always our hardest critics, so the final product was something that took 100s of hours of time, countless redrafts, endless debates, and the help of a room full of incredibly tolerant and talented friends to complete. We can honestly say that there’s not many other things we’ve been prouder of, so we hope that you enjoy / detest / criticise / but most importantly, LISTEN, (…and let us know what you think).
From home shows and garage parties in Jersey right at the beginning, to the first UK gig in a Brighton basement playing to less than 10 people, to the BBC stage at Glastonbury, we loved every moment of it and are eternally grateful for all the good times that came with the journey.
Finally, we just wanted to say a massive thanks to Tony Le Moignan for giving us the opportunity to make this record, Jason at Stakeout Studios for recording and mixing the album and putting up with us for what became a very lengthy and sporadic recording process, Sam Falle AKA Winterfalle for his enthusiasm, help and guidance, Holly Smith, Sam Bullock and Tharindu Elkin for their part in helping to create the album artwork, and of course everyone that has supported us over the years, come to our live shows, listened to our music, bought a CD or t-shirt, etc etc. You know who you are.
> PVC. Nick, Max, Piers, Adam.
2008 – 2013. 2016.