INTERVIEW: PARASOCIALS SHARE NEW TRACK, ‘KARMATOSE’

Hi Parasocials, How are you?

George: I’d say were about as good as can be under the current circumstances.

Tomer: I read online that Corona was actually genetically engineered to prevent the formation of this band, so I guess we’re doing really well!

 

You sprang up during lockdown, tell us how it all came together?

George: Over a pint at The Birds Nest in Deptford, a few solo records in Tomer’s shed and finally meeting a certain drummer sporting the Ddraig Goch (Welsh flag) in spandex. In the end between us all we felt there was no other option than to start a bloody band.

 

Tell us about your new single ‘Karmatose’? What does it all mean?

Tomer: Karmatose is when you’ve indulged in so much Buddhist theory that you can no longer react to the world or the actions of individuals towards you. You’ve been Karmatosed.

 

What else can we expect from the debut EP, Parasocials? Why ‘Parasocials’?

Tomer: We’ve got to credit our bass player Felix for the name Parasocials, according to him it’s a mental condition where you think people on the TV are your friends and you know them personally. That felt pretty appropriate for the last 12 months to be honest…

And from the E.P, expect to hear three completely different songwriters presenting their idiosyncratic styles, which are disparate, but slowly merge as we move through the E.P.

 

What’s the story behind the tracks? Any specific events that inspired them?

Tomer: I’ll speak for myself and say that Karmatose could be about any number of whacked out pseudo corporate hippies I’ve met over the years. I’m pretty sure the song Julie is about someone specific too, but that’s still part of an ongoing court case so I can’t talk about it…

George: Rebel Yell was born out of facing the stampede at BLM sparking conversations of youthful passion and aged resentment, Thorns was me and Tomer sharing a beer, exhausted after rehearsal and as for The Fall, we can leave that one for the imagination.

 

How would you describe your sound?

Tomer: I think the best and most easy to process descriptor would be jazz inflected post hardcore lo-fi proto punk.

George: Or in other words, having your eardrums gently kissed by bricks.

 

Tell us more about your songwriting/recording process? How has it been during lockdown?

Tomer: Well when we started off we all had a massive back catalog of tunes we’d written but not had chance to try out with a band. We’ve moved through that now and are at the really exciting stage where we’re fully collaborating on the songwriting process, we start really getting into this on the E.P with Rebel Yell and Thorns.

George: Felix always leans towards rock and grunge whereas I find myself listening to anything from Moor Mother to Richard Dawson. But I think that’s why we work, the marriage of such range in musical background with a bedrock love of the classics.

 

Tell us about your influences musical and otherwise?

Tomer: I’m hugely influenced by instrumentalists such as John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk on the one end of the spectrum, while also loving more literary artists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. My favourite music is the type that hits these two different areas at once.

George: I go beyond jazz and am mainly influenced by the sporadic improvisation of bird song.

 

What are you most looking forward to coming out of lockdown?

Tomer: PLAYING LIIIIVE!!!

George: Or outside MD Japanese takeaway Deptford, the fifth member of the socials

 

Where can we find you? (socials)

Tomer: We’re on all the trendiest social websites

Instagram