PRAYERS ELECTRIC: TWO PEOPLE, GIANT EYEBALLS & A LOT OF NOISE
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- 8 hours ago
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PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF…
Jem: Hi! We’re Prayers Electric, a British indie psych-punk rock two-piece based across Manchester and the North West.
We started this band after another project fell apart. We just kept hanging out and making music because we enjoyed it. We also still had gigs booked, so we carried on to honour the commitments. It started as the practical option and ended up becoming the actual band!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE
Jem: Our latest single is “Eyeballs”. It was released in July with our first professionally made music video. It’s taken from Going Round Again, our new EP. I think it’s our strongest work so far, and I’m especially happy with the video. Sam at DeltaV Media took our giant-eyeball idea seriously enough to turn it into a proper little papier-mâché nightmare as we pratted around Manchester.
Farris: The full EP will be out on 14 August, and the launch show is at Stage & Radio in Manchester the following night.
WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?
Farris: Safety of Youth; it's energetic, fun to play live and dance to. The guitar and drum parts really express our energy whilst the lyrics are both serious and playful; an excellent way to end each of our sets!
Jem: For me, it’s You Can’t Stop Me Now. I think it was the first song I wrote directly for Prayers Electric, rather than something carried over from before. It has the core of everything I wanted the band to be; relentless!
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?
Jem: I started on violin, then heard “Plug In Baby” by Muse when I was about fourteen and thought the guitar sounded much cooler. So I taught myself on a right-handed guitar, even though I’m left-handed, because I’d already learned the fingering that way on violin.
Farris: After the early-2000s indoctrination of Green Day and Linkin Park, I picked up the sticks and joined about five bands, as everyone needed a drummer! I felt that drums were a good way to focus my feelings and let them out through noise.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WRITING AND RECORDING DAY LOOK LIKE?
Jem: There isn’t really a typical one. A song might begin with a guitar part, a title or a line pulled from pages of frustrated journalling. I’ll usually make a rough demo with the lyrics, melody and a basic shape, then take it to Farris.
Farris: For this EP we recorded my drums at Simian Studio in Ancoats, then built everything else around those takes.
Jem: Yeah, I’d say we’re still working out exactly how we like to record. After capturing the drums, I recorded the rest at my home setup in Old Trafford, splitting the guitar into separate guitar and octave-down bass paths, then experimenting with pedals, old tape machines, layers and occasional synth parts. I produced and mixed the EP before Harvey Morgan at Crash Test Productions mastered it.
The process is normally to record anything and everything, then edit down: so I make it far too big, then remove things until it still sounds a bit more like the two people you’ll actually see onstage. There were a few lead guitar parts lost in the process but the tracks are better for it!
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR BAND NAME / STAGE NAME?
Jem: We were called Pale Imitation for about a month, which wasn’t exactly a huge vote of confidence in ourselves.
Farris: I suggested Electric Prayers.
Jem: I said Prayers Electric instead, and that was it. He supplied the words, I reversed them. Boom.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUR MUSIC JOURNEY SO FAR?
Farris: Trying to juggle being a musician, a father and a high school music teacher. I’m blessed that my career involves music, but being a teacher is also very challenging.
Jem: For me, the writing and playing remain fun and easy, while keeping the band alive becomes the real work. I love making the songs and videos and getting into a room to play them. It’s the booking, driving, emails, promotion, social media, and finding the money for the next thing that takes the effort and, yeah, trying to make that work alongside real life!
Farris: I do feel that I’ve hit a good balance between everything in my life now.
WHAT’S BEEN THE EASIEST?
Farris: Being able to play the music that I love with one of my best friends in Prayers Electric.
Jem: Yeah, totally! And while being a two-piece means fewer people to share the workload with, it also means fewer calendars, committees and competing ideas about what the band should be. We can follow something just because it excites us, even when it’s a slightly foolish idea. We’re yet to have any major disagreements we couldn’t solve after a chat!
WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T MAKING MUSIC?
Farris: Trying to earn a living painting Warhammer or doing something else nerdy!
Jem: I’d probably be either playing video games and watching countless films, or going to gigs, becoming extremely jealous of everybody onstage and trying to form another band as quickly as possible!
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
Jem: “You can’t rush art.”
Farris: “Squeeze the day until it’s dry.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Jem: The Going Round Again EP is released on 14 August, and the following night we headline Stage & Radio in Manchester for the launch show.
Farris: After that, we’re playing Morley Arts Festival on 29 August and DeeFest in Deeside on 30 August.
Jem: We’re also preparing CDs, tapes and new merchandise, planning more North West and UK live dates for autumn, and writing whatever comes next. The EP feels less like a finished statement and more like the point where we finally worked out how to make Prayers Electric sound like Prayers Electric.
FOLLOW PRAYERS ELECTRIC
Website: https://www.prayerselectric.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayers_electric
Bandcamp: https://prayerselectric.bandcamp.com/
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