Mini Mansions will be playing live at District in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle next week, we caught up with keyboardist and co-writer Tyler Parkford, who has recently finished touring with Arctic Monkeys.
Formed in Los Angeles in 2009, Mini Mansions also includes Michael Shuman, from Queens Of The Stone Age, and Zach Dawes from The Last Shadow Puppets.
The American psychedelic trio announced their forthcoming third studio album Guy Walks Into A Bar… in February and will be released on 26th July.
When discussing the album’s [GA1] creative process, Parkford alluded specific details (reciting the old saying about a magician and their secrets), but instead explained that a lot of the material was pre-written by either Michael Shuman or himself before finalizing the songs with the rest of the band in the studio.
“In affect there’s this strange sense of intimate isolation that we created in the music, which I think wouldn’t have been possible under any other circumstances.”
Parkford also revealed that they would be joined by fellow Queens Of The Stone Age member, Jon Theodore, who he described as a “monstrous machine”.
Combining catchy melodies with spacey keyboards and groovy basslines, the single “Gummy Bear” tells of a more introspective element to the group’s [GA2] newer work.
But despite being known as a psych-pop band, the Mini Mansions have managed to steer [GA3] clear of cliché so far and refuse to be confined to just one genre.
Parkford explained further that since the fall of the big business record stores, he believes the function of the psych-pop description had become obsolete.
“Even that said, whatever we end up writing just naturally becomes a more evolved version of the previous material with every year that we take into ourselves. So I don’t think it’s a conscious game plan for us to one-up the previous level, we just write, and it happens.”
Mini Mansions are all set up for next week and looking forward to returning to the city and putting on a memorable show. What can we expect to see?: “I’d say to expect the unknown again but that sounds like there’s a possibility we won’t even be there. So, I’d say expect to see us (plus our new monstrous machine Jon Theodore) and we’ll handle the rest of the experience.
When asked what he knew about Liverpool, Parkford answered: “The shape of the city does not, despite public here[GA4] say even closely resemble a human liver but in fact looks much more like the liver of a middle aged German shepherd or a Brazilian labradoodle. Also it has the least amount of pools than any other major city in the UK. Who’da thought!
Mini Mansions play District Monday 27th May. Get your tickets HERE.
