PANGEA, a four-piece indie band forged at The University of Liverpool, consists of Slye, Levi, Paul and Kieren. The band brings something new to the contemporary soundscape by channeling the energy of 70s and 80s’ greats into songs of relevance to the fledgling 21st-century.
The band’s mission is simple – to make people dance, and they surely do that. Check out what they said below about their writing process, story behind the band’s name, and their latest single, “Something Bad.”
How did the band come together?
Me and Levi got talking at uni about music and realized we were both into the same sort of styles. Levi was already in a band with Paul and Kieren so he grabbed those two and it all just made sense.
Who or What has inspired your sound and latest single, “Something Bad?”
We’re trying to find a frequency between funk and indie. In “Something Bad” you’ve got guitar riffs that would be comfortable on an indie record but funky parts that could fit on any record out of Studio 54.
Is there a story behind your band name?
PANGEA is the name of the original supercontinent, back when all the continents were joined together. For us that represents ideas of unity, togetherness and solidarity.
What is your favorite show memory?
Slye – We’ve got a big progressive R&B song and we played it for the first time in the back room of a small pizza place. I randomly had a cowbell and just starting parading around with it, which made for a weird night.
What would be your dream tour and why?
It would be easy to say our favorite current artists. It would be unbelievable to join up with some of the modern soul and funk pioneers like Allen Stone, Tingsek, Hiatus Kaiyote but we’d love to go on tour with some of our extended family in Liverpool. To team up with our brothers and sisters over at Venus Demilo, Black Pulp or Xamvolo would be something special.
Tell us about your writing process; any unusual quirks?
Slye – It varies. Sometimes I’ll come in with a fully fledged song or simply an idea and we’ll work through it. Once I said I wanted a heavy R&B tune, left the room and by the time I was back the boys had something solid.
What’s your favorite song to cover?
We don’t really do covers but we’ve learnt some Prince songs we’d like to drop in our set, but we’re not sure if we’re brave enough just yet.
If you were to create a “soundtrack to your life”, what songs would be on it?
Collectively that’s pretty difficult but we’d have songs like, I’d Rather Be With You – Bootsy Collins, Fools Gold – Stone Roses, Comedown – Anderson. Paak, Lover You Should Have Come Over – Jeff Buckley, Maggot Brain – Funkadelic, The Boss – James Brown, Can’t Stop – RHCP, Let Me Have It All – Sly & The Family Stone, Mirror In The Bathroom – The Beat.
Would you like to add anything else?
We’ve got some more stuff to come at you pretty soon so check in with all our social media. We love you. We Are One x
Filed under: Creation Stories