01Profile
A P.E. Photo
P.E.
Musicians — Brooklyn
03Interview
Photo by Andrew Jensen
Name, where are you from?
Veronica Torres, Brooklyn, NY.
Jonathan Schenke, Brooklyn, NY.
Describe your style in three words?
V: Thrifty, mismatched, nostalgic.
J: Black with accents.
Whatʼs the best gig youʼve ever been to?
J: Moogfest 2014 - it was an incredible lineup (Kraftwerk, Chic, MIA, Factory Floor, et al) and the last year the festival was held in Asheville (where the Moog factory is located). Bob and I were on the lineup with our other group Eaters, and being able to perform and hang with musical innovators & fellow synth nerds was indescribably fun. Watching Kraftwerk in 3D while eating popcorn with Bob after playing a packed set the night before was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. R.I.P Florian.
If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
V: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine is maybe my favourite album start to finish of all time.
J: Kate Bush - fearless & innovative, sheʼs not only a beautiful weirdo but would be the perfect way to round out a NIN/P.E. bill
Which subcultures have influenced you?
V: I think I'm just a sentimental twee kid at heart that went to a lot of noise and punk shows. Somewhere along the way it all went into the wash together.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
J: Brian Eno has been massively inspiring for me as a producer, musician, and creative/thinker. Iʼd love to spend some time with Eno, or King Sawai Jai Singh II, who built the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, India in the 1700s… a truly astounding place.
Of all the venues youʼve been to or played, which is your favourite?
V: It's going to be a toss-up between any DIY basement show for the sense of community, or Le Botanique in Brussels because it's located within a beautiful botanical garden. Greenhouse and maze vibes.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
J: Hiroaki Nishijima, the inventor of the Korg MS-20 synthesizer. I play one live with P.E. and itʼs such an idiosyncratic instrument, capable of so many surprising sounds and prone to happy accidents. Check out Mr. Oizoʼs album Analog Worms Attack for some awesome MS-madness.
Listen, purchase or stream P.E.'s latest track for Wharf Cat Records 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' via ffm.to/pill-eaters.
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
V: I think I was about 5 and I would replay 'Leader Of The Pack' by the Shangri-Las over and over, feeling all of the feels of losing your high school boyfriend in a tragic accident after you broke up with him. It feels brutal even now.
A song that defines the teenage you?
J: The Beatles undoubtedly shaped my musical life more than anyone else. I poured over every record of theirs in my familyʼs collection, and theirs was the first music I bought with my own money. Their sense of imagination and exploration defined what a recording “could” and “should” sound like to me.
One record you would keep forever?
V: 'Nancy & Lee' by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. There's some kind of strange magic and loneliness in the recordings of 'Some Velvet Morning' and 'Summer Wine'. Don't know if it's as perfect as Pretty Hate Machine start to finish, but it does something to me.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
V: Hm, I love Jenny Hval - she's such a brilliant songwriter and poet. I often get the line from 'The Great Undressing' stuck in my head. "Like Capitalism, it works like unrequited love that way it never rests.” Woof, it guts me and makes me feel exposed because I'm part of it - another participant in society's pressure to produce enough to be loved. It's an incomplete ouroboros though; a dog chasing its tail.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
V: 'Everyone's A Winner' by Hot Chocolate. You want more of that little riff and they're all like, "SURE, HERE IT IS AGAIN!"
A song you wished you had written?
J: Arthur Russellʼs songs are so wonderfully unique, Iʼm immediately transported into an entirely different world any time I hear them. I hope that one day the songs I make could have that effect on a listener.
Best song to turn up loud?
J: One of my favourite things to do during downtime in recording sessions is to blast other peopleʼs songs (i.e. songs youʼre not actively working on) in a really nice listening environment. 'Still D.R.E.' by Dr. Dre never disappoints.
A song people wouldnʼt expect you to like?
V: If you know me - know me, then you know that I'm a Belle and Sebastian fan girl. Some people seemed shocked by this? There will be a special place in my heart for their first four LP's and all of the early EP's. I'd blast 'Expectations' on repeat in my high school art studio. Awe, I love how songs are kind of like scent and can really take me back to different times and places.
Best song to end an all-nighter on?
J: 'Sunday Morning' by The Velvet Underground always goes through my head whenever Iʼm out at weird hours.
Any new music you are listening to right now?
V: 'Microsong' by Iceblink. Lynn Avery from Minneapolis, Minnesota released Carpet Cocoon in early 2020. The entire record makes me feel like I'm in some 1970s psychedelic coming of age film. Good music to listen to while drawing, taking a bath, and sunbathing in the nude.
'BBI' by Clear Channel. Bad Bitch International is an anthem and seeing them live is a must!! This track is off of their debut record, Hell, that just dropped in March of this year.
'Bright Blue Light' by Loud Sun. New release! Sweet Pit is the latest record by Andrew Jansen (full transparency, this is my cutie and partner in crime). This psych pop album washes over you like dappled light in the shade of a tree - nostalgic and bittersweet/warm and cool. A good soundtrack for our current quarantined lives.
J: 'Los Angeles' by Dougie Poole. I avoided hyping other artists Iʼve worked with for the rest of this interview (Pottery! Public Practice!) but Dougieʼs music is so singular and smart, I couldnʼt resist including him here. 'Los Angeles' is my favourite song from a record we made together called 'The Freelancerʼs Blues', which is out June 12 on P.E.ʼs label home Wharf Cat Records.
03Interview
Photo by Andrew Jensen
Name, where are you from?
Veronica Torres, Brooklyn, NY.
Jonathan Schenke, Brooklyn, NY.
Describe your style in three words?
V: Thrifty, mismatched, nostalgic.
J: Black with accents.
Whatʼs the best gig youʼve ever been to?
J: Moogfest 2014 - it was an incredible lineup (Kraftwerk, Chic, MIA, Factory Floor, et al) and the last year the festival was held in Asheville (where the Moog factory is located). Bob and I were on the lineup with our other group Eaters, and being able to perform and hang with musical innovators & fellow synth nerds was indescribably fun. Watching Kraftwerk in 3D while eating popcorn with Bob after playing a packed set the night before was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. R.I.P Florian.
If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
V: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine is maybe my favourite album start to finish of all time.
J: Kate Bush - fearless & innovative, sheʼs not only a beautiful weirdo but would be the perfect way to round out a NIN/P.E. bill
Which subcultures have influenced you?
V: I think I'm just a sentimental twee kid at heart that went to a lot of noise and punk shows. Somewhere along the way it all went into the wash together.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
J: Brian Eno has been massively inspiring for me as a producer, musician, and creative/thinker. Iʼd love to spend some time with Eno, or King Sawai Jai Singh II, who built the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, India in the 1700s… a truly astounding place.
Of all the venues youʼve been to or played, which is your favourite?
V: It's going to be a toss-up between any DIY basement show for the sense of community, or Le Botanique in Brussels because it's located within a beautiful botanical garden. Greenhouse and maze vibes.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
J: Hiroaki Nishijima, the inventor of the Korg MS-20 synthesizer. I play one live with P.E. and itʼs such an idiosyncratic instrument, capable of so many surprising sounds and prone to happy accidents. Check out Mr. Oizoʼs album Analog Worms Attack for some awesome MS-madness.
Listen, purchase or stream P.E.'s latest track for Wharf Cat Records 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' via ffm.to/pill-eaters.
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
V: I think I was about 5 and I would replay 'Leader Of The Pack' by the Shangri-Las over and over, feeling all of the feels of losing your high school boyfriend in a tragic accident after you broke up with him. It feels brutal even now.
A song that defines the teenage you?
J: The Beatles undoubtedly shaped my musical life more than anyone else. I poured over every record of theirs in my familyʼs collection, and theirs was the first music I bought with my own money. Their sense of imagination and exploration defined what a recording “could” and “should” sound like to me.
One record you would keep forever?
V: 'Nancy & Lee' by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. There's some kind of strange magic and loneliness in the recordings of 'Some Velvet Morning' and 'Summer Wine'. Don't know if it's as perfect as Pretty Hate Machine start to finish, but it does something to me.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
V: Hm, I love Jenny Hval - she's such a brilliant songwriter and poet. I often get the line from 'The Great Undressing' stuck in my head. "Like Capitalism, it works like unrequited love that way it never rests.” Woof, it guts me and makes me feel exposed because I'm part of it - another participant in society's pressure to produce enough to be loved. It's an incomplete ouroboros though; a dog chasing its tail.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
V: 'Everyone's A Winner' by Hot Chocolate. You want more of that little riff and they're all like, "SURE, HERE IT IS AGAIN!"
A song you wished you had written?
J: Arthur Russellʼs songs are so wonderfully unique, Iʼm immediately transported into an entirely different world any time I hear them. I hope that one day the songs I make could have that effect on a listener.
Best song to turn up loud?
J: One of my favourite things to do during downtime in recording sessions is to blast other peopleʼs songs (i.e. songs youʼre not actively working on) in a really nice listening environment. 'Still D.R.E.' by Dr. Dre never disappoints.
A song people wouldnʼt expect you to like?
V: If you know me - know me, then you know that I'm a Belle and Sebastian fan girl. Some people seemed shocked by this? There will be a special place in my heart for their first four LP's and all of the early EP's. I'd blast 'Expectations' on repeat in my high school art studio. Awe, I love how songs are kind of like scent and can really take me back to different times and places.
Best song to end an all-nighter on?
J: 'Sunday Morning' by The Velvet Underground always goes through my head whenever Iʼm out at weird hours.
Any new music you are listening to right now?
V: 'Microsong' by Iceblink. Lynn Avery from Minneapolis, Minnesota released Carpet Cocoon in early 2020. The entire record makes me feel like I'm in some 1970s psychedelic coming of age film. Good music to listen to while drawing, taking a bath, and sunbathing in the nude.
'BBI' by Clear Channel. Bad Bitch International is an anthem and seeing them live is a must!! This track is off of their debut record, Hell, that just dropped in March of this year.
'Bright Blue Light' by Loud Sun. New release! Sweet Pit is the latest record by Andrew Jansen (full transparency, this is my cutie and partner in crime). This psych pop album washes over you like dappled light in the shade of a tree - nostalgic and bittersweet/warm and cool. A good soundtrack for our current quarantined lives.
J: 'Los Angeles' by Dougie Poole. I avoided hyping other artists Iʼve worked with for the rest of this interview (Pottery! Public Practice!) but Dougieʼs music is so singular and smart, I couldnʼt resist including him here. 'Los Angeles' is my favourite song from a record we made together called 'The Freelancerʼs Blues', which is out June 12 on P.E.ʼs label home Wharf Cat Records.
P.E. | I Wanna Be Your Dog (2020)
P.E. | Pink Shiver (2020)
P.E. | Soft Dance (2020)
P.E. | Top Ticket (2019)