Ahead of a mini-tour in North-East England and Edinburgh centred around the spooky season, Rob grabbed some time with Daniel Lee Cox from the busiest three-piece in synthpop, Pensacola Mist.
Rob Dyson: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to Future Sounds, I appreciate how busy you all are! How have you been, the three of you?
Daniel Lee Cox: Life’s busier than ever! I’ve got two young children, Melissa’s getting married and Oliver’s got a long list of PS5 games to get through…
RD: Lol. Congratulations Melissa! And I can’t imagine the stress playing PS5 games must be on poor Oliver, ha. So I saw you for the first time (one of many I hope) at Hotline Bristol last year. You guys did not disappoint, and I was in awe of the light design, the sound, and the dedication to delivering those tracks in the best way you can as a three piece. How much goes into touring / gigging, and who is the mastermind? You clearly rehearse a lot!
DLC: The whole presentation of Pensacola Mist was quite organic, we don’t have a live drummer, so we introduced the lights to combat the lack of movement that typically comes from someone on the kit waving their arms about. Our theatrical backgrounds mean that we were always keen to bring a lot to the visuals of our shows.
Over the years we’ve really developed a vibe for the band – we usually dress in matching outfits, there are more and more lights – and our onstage dynamic is really solid.
People pay real hard-earned money to see us, and we never take that for granted. We always do our best to deliver a show that’s worthy of their time, money and energy!
We love bringing great quality merch with us too, which we pretty much sell at cost price, it’s all about replicating the experience of a much bigger show at whichever venue we’re playing.
Surprisingly, we don’t actually get much rehearsal time where we’re all together. Oliver and Melissa live an hour away from me, so we do most of our rehearsing separately. There have been gigs where we play new songs together for the first time in the soundcheck, but we have such a great bond and understanding of each other that we just click into place as soon as we take the stage!
RD: That’s pretty amazing that so much is done remotely. Your bond clearly pays off. Like me, you’re huge fans of Halloween, and play gigs every year where you cover big tunes associated with the season – and dress up. You’ve got a string of dates coming up which we’ll put at the end of the interview. Where has that love come from, and how much do you think synthwave is associated with that “horror” nostalgia (I’m thinking everything from John Carpenter’s use of synths, right up to Damien Leone’s heavy leaning in on synthwave in his ‘Terrifier’ movie series)?
DLC: We’re obviously very inspired by the music of the 80s, but I think that pop culture of the era plays just as an important role in shaping our sound and image.
Horror had such a boom in the 80s thanks to the introduction of VHS. Teenagers getting together to terrify themselves in front of the home TV was like a rite of passage for a generation, so it’s a fully integrated part of 80s culture.
It’s clear that synthesisers opened up so many opportunities for musicians to develop a unique sound at an affordable cost, which is totally echoed in films of the time. Suddenly you didn’t need to spend huge budgets on musicians for film scores – one man and his synth could create full soundtracks. What’s more, the ability to create such unique, unsettling sounds really worked for horror. There was such creativity, excitement and ‘can do’ energy surrounding horror in the 80s which we really admire. It’s also fun and camp as hell, which we can relate to.
[Photo courtesy of Roza Stevenson]
RD: Oh for sure, and I love how you go full force at this time of year. It feels like a nice tribute, and like I say, I can’t get enough of Halloween in October. I must also congratulate you on physical merch at last (I know it’s taken a while). You’ve got some CDs out, right? How good is it to have your music on physical, and is it a format you will always try and put out? Any love for the cassette fans like myself?
DLC: Our last album, ‘Lost In Love’ was released in 2022, but it’s only just made it out on CD, so it finally feels ‘real’!
There’s something about having our music on physical format that feels more like it’s solidifying our legacy. That’s probably over egging the pudding, but in an increasingly digital world, it’s so gratifying to have created something worth turning into a real-world item!
With regards to cassettes, we took a DIY approach when releasing our album ‘Want to Believe’ in 2021. We purchased some gorgeous pink blanks, got artwork and stickers professionally printed, then I individually copied the album to each cassette in real time – I even extended one or two of the tracks so each side would run to the exact length of the tape. So, yeh you could say we’re a fan of physical formats.
My dream is to see the album released on vinyl. Then I know it’s REALLY made it. (How do we start a petition to make that happen?)
RD: Well, we’re happy to spread the work, and I’ll speak to Enzo, ha. Let’s talk about your fans; you have some truly dedicated, and famous, fans who have done a lot to help get the word out – I’m thinking Lee of the ‘Teases and Dares’ blog, and his association with the Wilde family. How cool was that to see Ricky adorning a t-shirt recently at a festival broadcast on the actual telly?
DLC: Lee (Teases and Dares) and Ricky (Wilde) have done more for the band than they’ll ever know. As our lives get busier and busier, we find less time to spend on Pensacola Mist, and amongst a never-ending sea of contemporaries, progress as a musician in 2024 can seem very slow. The love and support we’ve felt from those two in particular have encouraged us to keep going.
It was incredible to see Ricky wearing his Pensacola Mist T shirt in front of over 30,000 fans at Radio 2 in the Park. Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids in America’ featured on the soundtrack to GTA: Vice City, and the radio stations on that game were one of the biggest inspirations to us in starting the band, so it’s a bizarre full circle moment to have the support and friendship of Ricky. Hopefully we’ll have more exciting news to share sometime soon. Stay tuned…
RD: Oooh almost an exclusive…! We’ll watch this space on that one. So, what’s next for Pensacola Mist? A larger tour in 2025, more music (singles, EPs, albums) maybe? And what are your hopes and ambitions for the band – around day jobs and life of course?
DLC: We’ve been working on new tracks over the last 2 years, and have dozens of complete (or almost complete) songs that we could release, but ‘Lost in Love’ is an album we’re so proud of and we want whatever comes next to be a real evolution of that record, and not a rehash (or even worse, a step backwards!). I think we’re a little stuck at the minute in finding a unified direction for the next album – plenty of the songs we’ve written will likely never see the light of day. I’ve always wanted to get away for a writing retreat – pack up the equipment and rent a log cabin for a week. Just the three of us. I’d love to see what we’d come up with in that environment.
We love playing gigs, in fact, we feel that’s where we’re strongest, but booking, planning and marketing shows can be so stressful and time consuming. I know that most people in the scene feel the same way, so I’m personally really keen on the idea of a travelling festival. 4 or 5 bands that play a week of shows across the country. I think that might be a great way to crossover audiences and reach as well as build some real excitement. The Synthwave community (musicians AND fans) are so lovely, supportive and fun, so that could be a great celebration of the UK scene. You mentioned Hotline Bristol earlier – I guess I’m proposing that format, but to take it on the road. I think HB’s organisers, Jack Dyson (SpaceJams) and Jonny Farmer (Steel City Collective) might take a little convincing to tackle that themselves, but I’m sure they would get some support. I’ll throw our names in the hat!
[Photo courtesy of Scott Robertson]
RD: I know the guys have huge ambition, so you never know…Before I let you go, I need to ask: where does that name come from?
DLC: Haha, unsurprisingly, we’ve been asked this quite a bit! Mist was quite an instinctive decision. I don’t remember even choosing it, it just was always there. It’s spooky and mysterious and evocative, but we knew that the band would be impossible to Google if ‘Mist’ was our name.
With our lifelong love of American pop culture, we thought that we’d combine it with a place name from the USA. Oli and I are huge wrestling fans, so we started cycling through hometowns of wrestlers, before settling on Pensacola – the hometown of The Rock’s cousin Roman Reigns. It had a nice flow to it, and the second we said it out loud we knew it was right.
Looking back, perhaps it would have been more helpful to pick a name with fewer syllables…
RD: Well we think it’s unusual, and got a real ring to it! It doesn’t sound like a standard synthwave name, so it is memorable.
Dan, thanks so much for your time – I’ll let you get back to the family. Best of luck with the upcoming Halloween Tour. Have a scream!
The Pensacola Mist Halloween Special VI gigs are: 25th October at The Globe in Newcastle, 26th October at The Barrels in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, and 27th October at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh. Tickets are just £10, and available at www.pensacolamist.com/gigs