As mentioned in the previous post, Kevin Rose diggs Pinback. And he’s not alone. The San Diego duo has been around for years making addictive, hypnotic laptop pop, hopscotching from sci-fi classic to teen-angst soap without missing a backbeat.
Pinback originally formed around the turn of the 21st century, when bassist Zach Smith’s other criminally underrated band Three Mile Pilot fragmented under the pressure of major-label headaches and interpersonal drama. The drama also caused 3MP’s singer Pall Jenkins and pianist Tobias Nathaniel to create Black Heart Procession.
Rob Crow, on leave from one of his hundred other bands, including Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, Optigonally Yours and many more (including the riotous Goblin Cock), signed on with Smith shortly thereafter. Since then, the two turned out a series of compelling full-length efforts and EPs created in the comfort of their own homes and garages.
Pinback’s band name, as some of you might guess, is taken from the naive, doomed astronaut in John Carpenter’s philosophical sci-fi comedy Dark Star, a student film that set the table for the seminal horror classic Alien. Crow dons pilot Pinback’s Dark Star flight suit for the video for "From Nothing to Nowhere," viewable at right, the lead single from their last effort Autumn of the Seraphs.
Both Crow and Smith have been interviewed at length about their sci-fi obsessions. In fact, Crow’s geek metal incarnation Heavy Vegetable even has a head-crushing song about the Sith. Brilliant.
But not as brilliant as the repurposed video for "From Nothing to Nowhere" using the dance scene from the otherwise hard-to-watch John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. The song it replaces should never be named, but it is Karla Devito’s "We are Not Alone," for you Molly Ringwald fanboys in the house. Thanks to the rather expert editing of YouTube user Snosh, you can hardly tell the song doesn’t belong. Kind of like every character in the movie.
But back to music. Pinback is, as always, currently on tour. Right now, the duo is in Europe and will be back in America starting July 20. Check them out live, if you get the chance: Kevin Rose might think they’re chill, but in the flesh they go to 11 and speed up to 45. Meanwhile, Three Mile Pilot has officially ended its hiatus, but hasn’t been seen together since performing at Touch and Go’s 25th anniversary concert in 2006.
