BIO:

Alex - Bass / Kip - Guitar + Vocals / Kurt - Drums / Peggy - Keyboard + Vocals

Imagine if The Ramones traded in their leather jackets for anoraks, or Stephen Pastel actually threw Aggi off the bridge and married Black Tambourine’s Pam Berry and had three babies that formed a pop band in 2007.

Meet The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a New York four-piece who plays dreamy, noisy POP with boy/girl vocals, blissful melodies and blistering drums.

Here are some bands The Pains of Being Pure at Heart really like (but maybe don’t sound quite like): The Pastels, The Exploding Hearts, Black Tambourine, The Vaselines, The Ramones, Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Rocketship.

Here are our friends bands that we think you’ll like: The Crystal Stilts, The Depreciation Guild, Pants Yell!, Zaza, The Manhattan Love Suicides, The Vivian Girls, Aa, My Teenage Stride, Titus Andronicus, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, The Lil’ Hospital, The Besties.

Contact@thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com

Here are some nice reviews:

Indie-Mp3 - on Searching For the Now Vol. 4 (7″ split single w/ Summer Cats)

Part four sees in my opinion two of the best indie pop bands in the world right now coming together. When it comes to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart I certainly do not remain impartial and on Come Saturday the band yet again deliver another fuzzed up moment to cherish. It’s joyous in the extreme.

The Big Takeover

It’s been far too long since I’ve heard a record that’s made such a visceral impression on me as this unassuming, self-released jewel. The Pains’ opening salvo, “This Love is Fucking Right,” immediately jostles the senses with a flurry of jangle–laden riffs that pleasingly drill their way into your cranium, and won’t stop from there. The closest and most direct comparison would be that of the late ’80 Brit indie band Close Lobsters, as well as more recognizable names from the C-86 movement, such as Wedding Present and Mighty Lemon Drops. Even Ride’s first noisy batch of EPs that helped kick off the whole dreampop era weren’t as unremittingly intense and hook-savvy as this beauty. The band’s metronome perfect percussion (a drum machine?) and a full, rich mix abets Pains’ luscious proceedings that much more. I’m already dying to hear more from these New York whiz kids!

Stereogum: Band to Watch

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s dreamy self-titled debut EP contains less than 15 minutes of music — more than enough to steal our pure hearts. (Admittedly, they had us from the go by titling the out-of-the-gates opening track “This Love is Fucking Right!”)…

[The New York] trio mix sugary boy/girl vocals, Jesus & Mary Chain’s rain clouds and Darklands drum machine minus the face-melting noise, sneaker-gazing a la Black Tambourine (or, hey hey, rifle through the rest of the Slumberland back catalog to namedrop something with a bit more jangle) and punky Comet Gain(s) into addictive pop gold that locates a place beyond the band’s well-chosen influences. That said, if you’re in the mood for the brothers Reid check out the amply titled “Doing All the Things That Wouldn’t Make Your Parents Proud.” Want a little more Verve? Drift straight for the title track.

The L Magazine - Top 8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear

Drowned in Sound - Live Review 2.25.08 Nottingham, UK

Despite only having been together for the best part of a year, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are fast becoming the most name-dropped band in underground circles on both sides of the Atlantic, and only seconds into jaunty opener ’Hey Paul’ (think The Pastels, The Razorcuts or indeed any pre-Madchester bands before indie became part of the mainstream first time around) it’s blatantly obvious to see why. While they make no bones about where their hearts and inspirations lie, it would be churlish to call them mere revivalists, particularly with the way singing/guitarist and humble storyteller Kip engages in almost constant interplay throughout their 25-minute set with perma-smiling keyboard player and co-vocalist Peggy. Hell, their new single is even called ’Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan’ yet it sounds like Lazy-era My Bloody Valentine exchanging sweat glands with a pre-major label Soup Dragons in a sixth form common room. What’s more, it’s utterly ace like the rest of their set and turns the whole of the Red Room into spring-loaded coils of unbridled excitement.

Rolling Stone (Germany) - 4 Stars

New York Press Feature [ click to read the full article].

Skatterbrain
“The songs on the self-titled debut are brilliant pop gems, every last one of them. The catchy boy/gurl harmonies of Kip and Peggy are cast upon a background of simple driving basslines, mechanical drums, keyboards and of course, a wash of ringing guitar distortion, creating a sound not too far off from 90s indiepop heroes, Black Tambourine or early MBV. Long sentences aside, this really is a fantastic EP, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are becoming one of my favorite US indiepop bands out there right now.”

Fire Escape Talking
The basic impulse of bubblegum pop played fast, dirty and gleefully just like the Ramones; it’s the way the Modern Lovers took the good bits of the Velvet Underground (the elated, scuzzy rock’n’roll) and dispensed with the avant-garde trickery; it’s the same feeling as My Bloody Valentine flying close to the sun in 1987 with rapturous tunes and walls of feedback; and it brilliantly recalls how at their best Rocketship fused furious guitars with driving organ melodies.
Very few bands manage to transport their wild spirit and the legacy of their trailblazing heroes into something this special. At their best – which live was the entire set – they make you feel sixteen again. Or what being sixteen is meant to feel like…

Erasing Clouds
…a perfect approximation of the attitude of youth, when you think you’re invincible. This band has the youthful sound to match it: driving energy and a guitar-and-drum-machine cloud of noise surrounding catchy pop melodies. Youthful, but at the same time classic, in the indie-pop tradition. The bouncier, messier side of that tradition, that is – think of the Pastels maybe, or the most upbeat songs by bands like the Field Mice, 14 Iced Bears or the Razorcuts. Or don’t think at all; just listen and enjoy.

Electric Sailor
Athens Popfest 2007 Highlights: …when I came back I was stepping into the middle of another band’s set that I fucking loved. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart…bear a passing resemblance to My Favorite, a band (recently split up) whose two albums have been permanently stuck in my CD wallet for a couple years now. Both, at least, seem to have an affinity for British New Wave, while reworking their idols into the landscape of modern pop. TPOBPAH, as I shall smoothly call them, have just released a too-brief EP, five songs with killer hooks.

Indie MP3
“I first heard NYC’s the The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart when I picked up their recent This Love is Fucking Right single on Cloudberry Records. And what a feast of noisy angst indie pop it was too. Jangling guitars, girl/boy vocals. catchy and melodic songs which come from the same mould as My Bloody Valentines Paint A Rainbow. Orchard Of My Eye is, pardon my French, the dog’s bollocks. Excellent stuff!”

It Covers the Hillsides
“Remember that time that girl you got all stupid nervous around in high school asked for a ride home one day, and then surprisingly kissed you before running into her house? Remember the ride home listening to some fuzzy-dreamy-pop song, taking the long way home on purpose? No? Oh wait, that was me….but that’s how their music feels…like an all fuzzed-out euphoria.

Lyrics

Contender

Look what you’ve done, what do you have now?
things that never come, another year in a dirty room,
is it time to come down?

At the back of a crowded scene,
you saw the boys in white sing “I’m a Pretender”–
but you never were a contender

Heard your same old tune, singing city sins like you were the first one
gave up books for film, gave up film for time now that you’ve got none

At the back of a crowded scene,
you saw the boys in white sing “I’m a Pretender”–
but you never were a contender

Come Saturday

I can’t stand to see your picture
on the dresser where I left you
another sunny day
and you’re 80 miles away, Tuesday

but come Saturday, you’ll come to stay
you’ll come to sway in my arms,
who cares if there’s a party somewhere
we’re gonna stay in

come Saturday, you’ll come to say
maybe there’s no harm
in a wasted summer with no drummer,
we’re gonna stay in

I could stand to be a fixture
in a faded family picture,
but I can’t see into the sunset
all I know is that you’re perfect right now

but come Saturday, you’ll come to stay
you’ll come to sway in my arms
who cares if there’s a party somewhere
we’re gonna stay in

come Saturday, you’ll come to say
maybe there’s no harm
in a wasted summer with no drummer,
we’re gonna stay in

You don’t have to write at all,
you don’t have to make a call
I know that you will come again and again
you don’t have to dress to please
perhaps undress for me
I know that when you come we’ll be staying in

Young Adult Friction

Between the stacks in the library,
not like anyone stopped to see,
we came they went, our bodies spent
among the dust and the microfiche

Dark winters wear you down,
up again to see the dawn
in your worn sweatshirt and mother’s old skirt,
it’s enough to turn my studies down

Now that you feel
you say it’s not real

I never thought I’d come of age,
let alone on a moldy page
put your back to the spines and said it was fine,
if there’s nothing really left to say

Taking toffee with your vicodin,
something sweet to forget about him
if you go your own way, I’ll go my own way
and we’ll never speak of it again

Now that you feel
you say it’s not real

don’t check me out

This Love is Fucking Right!

Sweet sister can’t you find the words to say?
your mister, he don’t hurt you the right way,

In a dark room I can see you shining bright
you don’t have to tell me twice, it’s alright
in a dark room we will do just as we like
you’re my sister, and this love is fucking right

Can you go home, look your best friend in the eye?
no you can’t go home after where you slept last night

The Tenure Itch

His indiscretions, you don’t mind,
he says your thoughts need form,
but your form’s not hard to find

These late night sessions, he’s master still
another lesson leaves you twisting to his will

Every night he come and goes again

He makes corrections, you shut the blind
you’re talking less and less,
but the words aren’t hard to find

His last suggestion, it makes you ill,
still one more lesson leaves you twisting to his will

Every night he comes and goes again.

Stay Alive

Come on down, the furthest reaches of your nowhere town
they suck you in, the black hole kids won’t let you free again

But don’t you try to shoot up the sky
tonight we’ll stay alive

When it’s gone, just sit and stare until the golden dawn
Oh can’t you see? His arms are a hell and you won’t ever leave?

Everything With You

Start off ’sometimes’, now it’s our time,
are you with me?

Strange teenager waiting for death at 19
are you with me?

I’m with you, and there’s nothing left to do,
tell me it’s true
I’m with you, and the stars are crashing through
tell me it’s true, I want everything with you

Now your someone says you’re no one,
are you with me?
Strange teenager, you’ll never know death at 19
are you with me?

I’m with you, and there’s nothing left to do,
tell me it’s true
I’m with you, and the stars are crashing through
tell me it’s true, i want everything with you

Ramona

Nothing to do and nothing to be done,
So you go and stole your mother’s medicine,

But I don’t need time, I don’t need time
I just need you

Tell me a story I’ve never heard,
With your pristine hand writing dirty words

But I don’t need time, I don’t need time
I just need you

To wake me on a Tuesday morning
and tell me there’ll be peace in our time,
I can’t take another warning
like the night we should have just left behind

Now you say you just can’t drive away
In the back of your heart a bright white chevrolet.

But I don’t need time, I don’t need time
I just need you

A Teenager in Love
Now you go unseen,
perfect, you’ll stay hidden
and I can dream of things you’ll never see

Allie please– if you are braver than the rest,
there’s little left that could dispute your claim

And when you’d finally gone,
he tells me you were dead all along,
He was wrong– he hadn’t lived a day
the way you lived your final days
a teenager in love with Christ and heroin

Now you feel ashamed,
but he feels nothing of the kind
and talks of things he wouldn’t mind to try sometime
but you’ve got little left to give,
his touch is not a thing you’ll ever miss

and when you’d finally gone,
he tells me you were dead all along
he was wrong– he hadn’t lived a day
the way you lived your final days
a teenager in love with christ and heroin

and if you made a stand, i would stand with you ’til the end
but you don’t need a friend when you’re a teenager in love with Christ and heroin

Hey Paul

You say you’ve been waiting, waiting for someone,
waiting for some song, waiting since when you were born

for a moment when everything’s alright,
and everything’s all white, and i just can’t wait anymore

Hey Paul where have you gone?
I wanna come along,
Hey Paul what went so wrong?

Have you gone away or been left behind?
You know that i don’t mind, you know that you’re my kind
Cuz when i hear ‘Church Bells’ or when i see “Fireflies”
You know that i can’t lie, one of these days we’ll belong

Gentle Sons

If you shut out the sun, then the day will never come
If you turn on your side, then this night won’t come undone

Oh no, you say you need a friend,
we can’t live again

Monday morning comes to fast, you stumble down the diamond path
and every step will be your last

The sunken eyes I justs can’t see, remind me how you’ll never leave
and every breath could be your last

Now you stand in the rain saying nothing has changed at all,
save the lines by your eyes that remind me of summer’s fall

Oh no, you say you need a friend,
but we can’t live again