We sat down with Late Night Pharmacy after the release of their stellar new tune 'Practice Wife', to discuss what influences shaped their unique sound. Be sure to check out the single at the bottom and follow them on his socials!
1. Mogwai - “Mogwai Fear Satan”
When I first listened to Mogwai's first album, I found it rather disappointing, as of the first nine tracks, I only actually liked three of them (and it’s not like I loved "Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home" and “Tracy” - they were fine, but sort of forgettable). And then, in the eleventh hour, they somehow pulled it out of the hat: they finished the album with a track which takes up a quarter of the album's runtime, and which takes you on an expansive and bittersweet emotional journey. How many times have you heard a 16-minute song which completely justifies its duration, which never loses momentum or stops engaging you? Listening to it, you think of all the things in your life that make you sad, frustrated, afraid, or regretful, and you aren’t sure whether you should smile or cry or both. This track is perfect, it justifies the price of admission all by itself and demonstrates that the obnoxious self-aggrandisement they’d displayed in the first track was actually entirely warranted. I can’t think of a better post-rock track.
2. Queens of the Stone Age - "Smooth Sailing"
Queens of the Stone Age repeatedly re-inject groove and fun into modern rock, without just being plain silly. When I first heard this song, it’s like it gave me permission I didn’t know I needed to draw from modern pop and hip-hop, while still being heavy as feck.
3. Mad Season - “River of Deceit”
"River of Deceit" by Mad Season is my all-time favourite '90s song. It's a beautiful dark masterpiece, with haunting lyrics, raw vocals, and minimalist instrumentation that portrays the struggles of addiction and self-pity. The band's lineup, comprising members from iconic '90s bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Screaming Trees, adds to its legendary status, making it even more regrettable that they only released one album. Nonetheless, the song's simplicity and emotional honesty make it a classic.
4. White Lies - “Bigger Than Us”
I’m going to go with this song because I think it’s one of my favourite choruses in any indie rock tune I’ve heard. Something about the chorus feels very epic-sounding to me. The verses are sung a little lower and build up perfectly to the more open and higher octave chorus. I think some of my favourite songs of ours are ones where I can take vocals to the next level in a chorus or outro, in order to give the song a sort of climax.
5. Mayhem - “Illuminate Eliminate”
You have to be in a particular headspace to really appreciate the album Ordo ad Chao, and it’s never one I reach for when I’m in a good mood. On paper, I shouldn’t enjoy this song: it sounds like it was recorded in a garden shed, the structure is disjointed to the point of being nonsensical, some parts of the arrangement (like that ascending sine tone) would come off as gimmickry in another context. And yet somehow it all comes together to form, quite simply, the most hypnotic, frightening and despair-ridden song I’ve ever heard in my life. When that three-note guitar part comes in during the outro, the guitar tone alone tells you that you won’t get what you want out of life, that “whatever done equals zero times nothing”.
Late Night Pharmacy - "Practice Wife"
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