The Pleasure Dome

“Unrelenting noise, serving a signature blend of punk rock with thrash metal moments” - CLASH
“A burning effigy of resolve that has no intention of going out quite yet” - So Young Magazine
“Newcomers on the punk scene, but brimming with potential” - The Line of Best Fit
"An insane piece of alt rock music" - Jack Saunders, BBC R1
“Snarling post-punk...this rowdy lot have got the goods” - DIY
“A forthright Bristolian blast” - Louder Than War

Bristol grunge-rock/punk trio The Pleasure Dome are proud to announce that they will release their long-awaited debut album EQUINOX on 22nd September 2023 via new label home Hound Gawd! Records.

Recorded in Wales in February 2023 at the secluded Mwnci Studios over a week, EQUINOX was produced by friend of the band Tom Smith, mixed by James Trevascus (Beak, Billy Nomates) and mastered by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney).

On the themes behind the album and its title, frontman Bobby Spender says: “The Equinox happens twice a year when the day and night are exactly the same length. It’s the day when winter becomes spring and summer becomes autumn. Pagans celebrate this day and call it Mabon. The song ‘At Dawn’ is where the writing for this album really began—I watched the sunset of the equinox up Glastonbury Tor with an ex and unbeknownst to us when we said goodbye at dawn it would be the last we would see each other as we soon broke up. The life that followed makes up the majority and overall feel of the album. Five songs have been carried through from before that point, but that moment felt like a turning point for me. The idea of duality is found in the title; the dark going turning into the light, all or nothing, rough and smooth, love and heartbreak, the calm and the thunder.”

Alongside the album news, the band are revealing a video for lead single ‘Down The Alley’ which is released on 15th August 2023.

“This one is about something that happened to me when I was a child,” says Spender. “I got kicked out, pushed over in an alley, a five pound note thrown in my face, and told to f*ck off. I ended up sleeping rough for a bit. Recently I was sitting on a bed thinking about it with a guitar in my hand and the song came through.”

“The song felt like a rhythm of emotion that flowed through me, this repetition of a moment, a mantra of upset, a cry of defiance; it just has this verse that grows with every pass, a word gets added to the melody every round. Like I had the story unfold in this repetitive way. A memory repeating over and over. It feels powerful to play, sometimes painful. But I am proud of it. It’s cheap therapy really, me healing by taking control of pain, exposing these vulnerabilities.”

The artwork for the new single is a similarly brave gesture from Spender, who chose to share an intimate self-portrait which echoes the vulnerability of the track.

“It’s like me literally baring all,” explains Spender. “I was looking through my pictures for something to use for the artwork and I had this photo I took recently in a hostel in Paris for someone I was dating. Seeing it in the context of the song felt so emotional—many moments I’ve spent depressed in the shower, everything feeling black and white, alone. I do like the picture. For me it’s emotionally liberating to share this song, it’s so personal, so to expose vulnerability through nudity, it felt like another layer I could add to the music. Honestly sharing this moment in my life feels way more intimate than a shadowy picture of me in the shower anyway. If I’m honest, I try not to think about it. This song is one of my favourites on the album—we’re all playing great on the recording. It’s all live, no click, raw and honest, in every way.”

Previously released AA-side lead single ‘Love Is Dead’/’Insane’ is out now on all good streaming services and picked up radio support from Jack Saunders at BBC R1, with a 7” vinyl release also on sale now.

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A three piece rock band from Bristol, UK, Bobby Spender (vocals and guitar) Loz Fancourt (bass and backing vocals), and Alex ‘Bert’ Elvin (drums) formed The Pleasure Dome in July 2019. They have already toured extensively across Europe and the UK, notably headlining Supersonic in Paris earlier this year with a capacity audience queuing around the block to experience their live show.

The band’s name came to front man Bobby Spender in a fever dream about an enormous futuristic amusement arcade. “Above its doors in neon lights was written ‘The Pleasure Dome’,” he explains. “The next day I learnt that the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the first person to coin the phrase pleasure dome in his opium-induced poem Kubla Khan. The name stuck!”

“We’re just three friends who love to play music, really,” says Spender. “I write these songs about moments in life, things I’ve learned or don’t understand, and together we work them out. We’re loud, but we also like the delicate moments too, the calm and the thunder.”

In part influenced and inspired by the rapid success of homegrown UK talents King Krule, Wet Leg, IDLES, and Katy J Pearson, the band pull their musical direction from a wide range of artists and sounds. “The Beatles are my favourite band,” enthuses Spender. “As a songwriter, for me, it’s all there in that songbook. Nirvana are of course a huge inspiration, but I listen to all sorts of music really.”

The band’s previous standalone singles and EP releases have already netted them a host of fans at UK press, with a solid bundle of radio airplay at BBC R1 (Jack Saunders Rock Show, BBC Introducing), BBC 6Music (Lauren Laverne, Tom Robinson, Craig Charles), BBC Radio Wales (Adam Walton), and BBC Bristol (Introducing).