Interview: Lawrie Pattison (Miss Vincent)

A few months ago I sat down with Lawrie Pattison, the guitarist and backing vocalist for Miss Vincent, a band who have the stage presence and sound to be the next big thing in the punk scene, thanks to their definitive mix of horror punk and early-2000s emo pop.

So, I'm gonna start off pretty general, what were some of the first artists that inspired to pick up your instrument?

The main reason I wanted to learn guitar was so I could play the riff from Bowling For Soup's 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want'. They were the first band that really made me think 'I want to do what they're doing'. Once I'd been playing for a while I became one of those kids that could play 100 different riffs but couldn't play a whole song, just the bit that everyone knew. 12 seconds of Purple Haze here, 20 seconds of Stairway To Heaven there... It was a habit that my secondary school guitar teacher used to berate me and all the other guitarists for.

I see, how about your influences when first starting the band, and how do you think they've changed over the band's lifetime?

We still listen to a lot of the same bands that we were listening to back then (Alkaline Trio, Bayside, Misfits, Ramones) but in terms of what directly influences our music, it's much broader now. I think that's pretty natural for most bands though, if you keep drawing influence from the same places then you're almost certain to do the same thing over and over and that can start to feel stale. On our last EP 'Somewhere Else' there were some hints of 50s vibes here and there, but it's far more prevalent with the new record. That's been a pretty natural progression for us, but it's also come from Alex listening to loads of older artists for inspiration. Sometimes you have to look back in order to move forward.

I see. Other than that, what differences can we expect on the new record and is there a possibility of the return of the massive choral vocals, heard on Reasons Not to Sleep?

Reasons was probably the most aggressive thing we've released and a lot of that came from the group gang vocals. There's nothing quite in the same vein on the new record but it's very vocal heavy - lots of harmonies and layers of backing. Aside from the vocals, it's easily the biggest record we've made in terms of the scope and the overall sound and there's definitely some moments that listeners won't be expecting.

That's great, you have a gig with Creeper coming up soon, and they're constantly cited as being one of the hottest new bands in rock music, how does it feel anticipating that?

Yeah we’ve got three shows with them in August. It’s been a long time coming but we’re really looking forward to it. All three shows are sold out now so it should be a lot of fun and we can’t wait to play a new song or two.

Okay, and my final question is: What is your favorite experience that you don't think would have happened without the band?

I think I'd have to say touring the UK with Energy last summer. We made some great friends on that tour and it was possibly the most fun two weeks I've ever had. It just felt like one big gang hanging out, drinking, sharing stories and playing shows every day. There were some stressful moments as there can be on any tour, but looking back on it always makes me smile.