Lead singer of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Jack McEwan, is a psych-rock star on the rise. Coming off a bumper year in 2019 where his band had great success touring the world with their latest album And Now For The Whatchamacallit and currently with over 400,000 monthly Spotify listens things are looking promising for the Perth band.

Now with new single “Mr. Prism” and a new album in the works, McEwan reflected on his fantastic year of touring and what’s in store for Psychedelic Porn Crumpets in a post-Covid world.

Being on the road touring for months on end can be gruelling, what with all the partying and driving to multiple locations. McEwan hit a rough patch medically towards the end of 2019 which inspired their latest single.

“Mr. Prism is like a letter to myself to stop getting so drunk when I’m crook. Basically, we were playing in like four degrees and I was jumping around and getting sweaty, drinking beer and managed to get pneumonia somewhere along the line and it was death. I had a voice like a lawnmower, it was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. But you’re at a festival so there were a bunch of other bands and it’s like you’ve got to have a beer with these people. I can’t not say hello, so… It was sort of my outgoing nature as well, it’s like bad decision making just put me on my knees. So, I got back to Perth and called the doctors where he told me I had pneumonia and I was like ‘oh man, what are you doing?’ So I felt like I needed to write something down like ‘listen mate, you need to calm down a bit and pull yourself together.’ So basically, I just got so f*cked up on coke that it ruined my whole immune system. And at the end of the track it’s like “nobody fears the nose beers” which is like you’re never too sick for a line of coke. And that’s Mr. Prism.”

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets started recording in 2014 and did their first show in 2015 and all the bands members have remained since inception. After a couple of albums, the success of Whatchamacallit in 2019 allowed for their first real international stint in Europe.

“We were on the road for like four months going from Europe, then going to America, then we went back to Europe to do a headline run and then we went to Japan to do Summer Sonic. So yeah, we hadn’t been home in about four months. And then we were home for about six weeks before we went back to Europe to do a tour with Royal Blood and then another run in America so it was, like, fantastic going to all these destinations and things.”

Now with all international touring put on hold or cancelled due to Covid-19, McEwan is fond of the memories made on the road.

“We got to experience that all at the height of the world’s ‘gluttonest’ best. Some places were amazing like driving through the Alps, and in some places it was starting to get a bit scary. Because there were all the riots in Barcelona, they were burning cars on the freeway and we were driving from France to Barcelona so it would have been a two hour drive to the venue we were doing in Barcelona. But because all the motorways were shut we had to take the Pyrenees mountain ranges which was insane driving through these mountains. You feel like Gandalf and we were listening to Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes and the sunset on top of the Pyrenees mountains when we knew we were about to head into riotville in the middle of Barcelona. So yeah, it was nuts. We had to go from Norway to Scotland in 2 days, that was criminal. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.”

Hailing from Perth, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are fortunate to be in WA which hasn’t been as affected as other states by Covid and will even be doing a state tour in the coming months.

“Well it’s actually lucky the way the venues are being set up. We’ve got about two weeks before venues can be at full capacity again. And we’ve got this unique opportunity because we’ve got all these big bands like Pond, Tame Impala who are going to be stuck here as well and I think Methyl Ethyl are here as well and they’ve got all this touring equipment so why don’t we hire out some of their bits and do a road trip up to Broome and all the sort of regional places that never get people in.”

“And there are lots of venues where you could still have like 500-600 people. For example, the Matso brewery you can do an outside gig, you just build your own stage and if you bring up four or five bands you could put on a mini festival. The restrictions were supposed to be lifted on July 18 but then Victoria went into lockdown so the premier, Mark McGowan, said we have to wait and see if the other cases spike in Perth. So now we’re sort of waiting and he’s given us a date of August 18.”

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets also have a tour with Ocean Alley on the horizon in 2021. With some of the dates sold out already, it will be one not to miss. But international touring is just a tease at the moment.

“There’s all this stuff coming in at the moment, getting all these offers for American festivals but I’m not going to get my hopes up. It’s like this would be incredible if we could play this, so people are obviously planning. It would be late 2021 by the time they expect touring bands to be back into the country but you’d have to be pretty optimistic to see that happening at the moment, especially with the way America’s going and Mexico, for instance.”

It will most likely be 2021 before there are any tours in the rest of Australia at this stage too.

“Even if we wanted to perform in the east we have to do two weeks quarantine over there and then two weeks quarantine when we get back, it’s a lot of time.”

Despite the touring hiatus, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have been busy and already have their follow up album ready to go, of which “Mr. Prism” is the first track.

“We’re just mastering it now. That’s the thing, it’s like tell a musician to isolate with a recording studio, it’s like I’m in heaven, man. Oh my god, they’re telling me to work. So I’ve had the most creative year of my life, really, since leaving uni and obviously having that time to procrastinate and all the timeframes and deadlines have been lifted, so rather than the label saying like you’ve got a month to finish this, you’ve got free reign to keep tinkering away. And I don’t know if it’s overthinking it or making it better, but I’ve definitely thought of it more and had longer time to work on a record.”

So compared to the last album, what can we expect? If first single “Mr. Prism” is any indication it will be quite energetic and bouncy.

“When we started writing the record in early February, just after Laneway at the height of summer, I’d walk down to the bottle shop, get a six pack and I was still coming down from being sick and it was the first time of getting out since November so I had a bit of jazz in my step. And I think that’s why it just flowed with that sort of energetic bounce. I wanted it to sound almost like a T-Rex record and with Nevermind and Sgt. Pepper was the gist of it. It’s the songs that fit on those records that will go on the album, so we’ve gone a bit concept-y about it, and it goes for forty minutes… I wanted it to sound like a line of coke. It’s gonna be like BAH! And then maybe wait for the next one. Kings of Leon were also one of the inspirations. Just old school rock’n’roll.”

Songs they listened to on the road and with the artists they toured with made it’s way into the latest album.

“Because when we were on tour, it gets to a point where you’re hanging around with these people more than you’re seeing your family or your girlfriend or whatever so it’s hard to keep showing each other new music. The first couple of tours it’s like here listen to this new band, listen to this new band, but after a while it all got a bit predictable. To make it fun we were going back to some of the old school bands like ELO or T-Rex or Elton John. Sort of the classics but maybe the albums we hadn’t heard. So, we would put these on and just see what was going on. And it was so much fun, driving around America and Europe cranking all these weird 70s songs and these almost B-sides. That then translates to almost a carefree rock.”

The live performances and touring also had an influence over what went on the new album.

“When we were touring Whatchamacallit when we went and played festivals or we were headlining obviously the old songs go down really well, but when we do a festival now it’s more ‘Bill’s Mandolin’, ‘Keen for the Kick Ons’ and ‘Hymn for a Droid’ so it felt like a turn of the chapter and it a lot more fun to play that. I think if we aimed to be like where is this song going to sound its best and if that’s a festival then I think that going to be a winner as well.”

“All happy and upbeat rather than being like taking them on a journey and trying to f*ck with them too much with time changes and key changes. Let’s just keep it, like, natural.”

And when can we expect the new album to come out? McEwan couldn’t confirm a date, but it is in the post-production stage.

“We’ll probably release another single at the end of the year. Obviously with Covid there have been restrictions on not just people and venues but also with vinyl manufacturing and production, I think it’s taking like five months now to get your record done. We were supposed to have it released in June and we had America, Europe and Australia in November all booked in and I was even going to go to South America for the first time so it was going to be almost like not a break out year. I think today we would have been at a festival in Europe with Bjork, I just don’t want to think about it.”

Many bands and music lovers are looking forward to having a semblance of normality back, even the things that could be annoying about packed venues are now a thing of the past and almost missed. As Jack puts it:

“I saw someone say that they can’t wait to have their pint knocked all over them.”

It’s unclear if we’ll be there soon, but Psychedlic Porn Crumpets will be supporting Ocean Alley on their 2021 Aussie tour. Get your tickets here.

Listen to “Mr. Prism” here.