March 20, 2021: The New Colossus Sessions

 

Setlist:

• Why Don't You Come Out Anymore?
• New Year's Night
• New Moon
• Sylvia, The Cup Of Youth
• Ramona

The Natvral:

• Kip Berman

Other Bands:

• Charles Watson

A session played on a Brooklyn rooftop and interspersed with interview segments on the New Colossus Festival Instagram and Youtube pages. Filmed by Art Boonparn, director of countless Pains and Natvral videos.

Media:

Full session video

Sylvia, The Cup Of Youth

RELEASED
Tethers, 2021 (Kanine/Dirty Bingo)

PLAYED LIVE
2019, 2021

FACTS
A song from the debut Natvral album, Tethers. Unlike many of the songs written and recorded in 2018 and 2019, it was not previewed on social media. Instead, it made its live debut at shows in the fall of 2019 before the studio version emerged on the album.

September 21, 2019: Rituals, Baltimore, MD

  

Setlist

• Tears Of Gold
• Why Don't You Come Out Anymore?
• New Moon
• Stay In The Country
• New Year's Night
• Sylvia, The Cup Of Youth
• Sun Blisters
• Alone In London
  
  

The Natvral:

• Kip Berman

Other Bands:

• Laura Carbone (Headliner)
• Joseph & The Beasts

Comments:

A show at RITUALS in Baltimore on a short East Coast tour supporting German artist Laura Carbone, who had opened for Pains in Europe.  The Natvral on this night was just Kip on vocals and guitar, and he played first, before a local opener and Laura. While Kip and Laura rehearsed their collaborative single The Flowers Beneath Your Feet at soundcheck as a possible encore for Laura's set, it wasn't played. Perhaps they did play it the next night at the tour-closing show in New York.

Having recently completed the recording of Tethers but not announced it yet, Kip played only those songs and did not feature any of the material from Know Me More.

August 11, 2007: Athens Popfest, Athens, GA

 Setlist (Incomplete):

• A Teenager In Love
• Fight On

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart:

• Kip Berman
• Peggy Wang
• Alex Nadius
• An iPod Nano

Comments:

The earliest known Pains Of Being Pure At Heart Show other than the legendary debut at Peggy's birthday party, and the earliest with evidence on YouTube. The band was still made up of Kip, Alex and Peggy, with an iPod Nano playing the beats.

Reviews:

"The electro-melancholy trio The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were part Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, part John Hughes soundtrack, and as the lead singer's t-shirt suggested, part-Belle and Sebastian. Their songs nervously charmed with shy boy distain for encounters of the interpersonal ilk and the midi beats harkening to the bedroom pop they likely pulled influence. The delicate combo was quite delightful."

-Three Imaginary Girls

Video:

A Teenager In Love

Fight On

Belong (Album)

RELEASED
March 28, 2011, Slumberland (USA)
2011, Dine Alone (Canada)
2011, PIAS (Europe)
March 28, 2011, Fortuna Pop! (UK)
March 16, 2011, Yoshimoto (Japan)
March 28, 2011 Love Da Records (Asia)

SONGS
Belong
Heaven's Gonna Happen Now
Heart In Your Heartbreak
The Body
Anne With An E
Even In Dreams
My Terrible Friend
Girl Of 1,000 Dreams
Too Tough
Strange

BONUS TRACKS

The One (Japan Ed.)
I Wanna Go All The Way (Japan Ed.)
Steel Daughter (Japan Ed.)
Tomorrow Dies Today (Japan Ed.)

PERSONNEL

Kip Berman - Guitar, vocals

Alex Nadius - Bass

Peggy Wang - Keyboards, vocals

Kurt Feldman, Drums
Christoph Hochheim - Guitar

Flood - Production, recording
Alan Moulder - Mixing
Emily Lazar - Mastering
Joe Laporta - Mastering
James Brown - Engineering, Co-production on "Strange"
Catherine Marks - Mix Engineering
Darren Lawson - Engineer
Drew Smith - Studio Assistant
John Catlin - Studio Assistant
Adam Tilzer - Studio Assistant
Atsuo Matsumoto - Studio Assistant
Asif Ahmed - A&R
Paul Sommerstein - Legal Representation

Winston Chmielinski - Art

Pavla Kopecna - Photography
Michael Schulman - Layout

Recorded in New York and London, summer 2010.
Engineered at Stratosphere Studios.
Engineered and mixed at Assault & Battery Studios.
Mastered at The Lodge.

NOTES
(Coming soon)

QUOTES
(Coming soon)

Say No To Love (Single)

RELEASED
2010, Slumberland (US)
2010, Fortuna Pop! (Europe)
2010, Lost & Lonesome (Australia)

SONGS
Say No To Love
Lost Saint

BONUS TRACKS

I Wanna Go All The Way (Australia CD)

PERSONNEL

Kip Berman - Vocals, Guitar

Alex Nadius - Bass

Peggy Wang, - Keyboards, Vocals

Kurt Feldman - Drums

Christoph Hochheim - Additional Guitar

James Brown - Production, Engineering, Mixing
John Chaikin - Mastering
Winston Chmielinski - Artwork

Recorded Spring 2010 at Stratosphere Sound Recording Studio, New York, NY
Mastered at Non Stop Sound

NOTES
A single from the year between the self-titled album and Belong. The summer of 2010, the Summer Of Say No To Love, was a time of continued touring from Pains,during which they added new songs to their live shows. Interestingly, the B-side of Say No To Love, Lost Saint, was seemingly not played. The A-side was retired when the band began the Days Of Abandon tour in 2014.

The Say No To Love 7", released digitally in many territories and as a 3-track CD in Australia, named Christoph Hochheim as an additional guitarist in its credits. Christoph toured with the band from 2009-2011 and has joined again from 2014-present, sometimes just as a live player and other times, such as on these two tracks, in the studio as well.

One territory which didn't get the Say No To Love single was Japan. The two songs were released as bonus tracks on the self-titled album there instead of appearing on their own.

LISTEN

Higher Than The Stars EP

RELEASED

Sept. 2009, Slumberland (U.S.)

Oct. 6, 2009, Fortuna Pop! (Europe)

Jan. 20, 2010, Fastcut (Japan)

SONGS (12" Version)
Higher Than The Stars
103
Falling Over
Twins

REMIXES

Higher Than The Stars (Saint Etienne Vists Lord Spank Remix)

Higher Than The Stars (Others In Conversation Remix)

Falling Over (DJ Downfall Sprechenbann Mix)

BONUS TRACKS

Kurt Cobain's Cardigan

Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud

Orchard Of My Eye

Side Ponytail

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

PERSONNEL

Kip Berman - Vocals, Guitar

Alex Nadius - Bass

Peggy Wang - Keyboards, Vocals

Kurt Feldman - Drums

Danny Taylor - Production, Engineering

Archie Moore - Mixing

Rob Kirwan - Additional Mixing

Jon Chaikin - Mastering

Kendra Rutledge - Photography

Recorded Spring 2009 at Fortune Factory Studios, Brooklyn.

Mixed at Clean Cuts, Washington, D.C.

Mastered at Nonstop Sound.

NOTES

An EP released in several versions, each with a different assortment of B-sides and remixes. released in the same calendar year as the debut album, this EP includes 103 - a very early song - alongside newer compositions.

The recordings were recorded by Danny Taylor, a name familiar from the pre-Pains band Jackie. Though the band would immediately go on to work with big-name producers, Kip has spoken in interviews about how Taylor's production worked well for the band and allowed them to craft a successful, lasting track in Higher Than The Stars.

That title track has remained in the band's set after 2009, and may be considered one of Pains' low-key masterpieces. The other songs on the single were played for shorter spans and retired after the Belong era and introduction of the new flexible band lineup.

QUOTES

Kip to Von Ruhm: "A song that always gives me goosebumps when we do it live is a song from an EP between our first and second albums called Higher Than The Stars. And even though the recording of it isn't that great, the song itself gives me chills when we still play it, and I think about it."

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Album)

RELEASED
Jan 26, 2009, Slumberland (US)
Feb 2009, Fortuna Pop! (Europe)
2009, Fastcut (Japan)
2009, Lost & Lonesome (Australia)
2009, High Note (Taiwan)
2012, Yoshimoto (Japan re-release)

SONGS
Contender
Come Saturday
Young Adult Friction
This Love is Fucking Right!
The Tenure Itch
Stay Alive
Everything With You
A Teenager In Love
Hey Paul
Gentle Sons

BONUS TRACKS

Side Ponytail (Europe Limited Ed., Second Japan Ed.)
Ramona (Europe Limited Ed., Taiwan, Second Japan Ed.)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Europe Limited Ed., Taiwan, Second Japan Ed.)

Gothenburg Handshake (First Japan Ed.)
I Wanna Go All The Way (First Japan Ed.)

Higher Than The Stars (Second Japan Ed.)
103 (Second Japan Ed.)
Falling Over (Second Japan Ed.)
Twins (Second Japan Ed.)
Say No To Love (Second Japan Ed.)
Lost Saint (Second Japan Ed.)

PERSONNEL

Kip Berman - Guitar, vocals

Alex Nadius - Bass

Peggy Wang - Keyboards, vocals

Kurt Feldman, Drums

Jon Chaikin - Mastering

Archie Moore - Mixing

Kendra Elise - Front cover photography

Pavla Kopecna - Back cover photography

Recorded at Honeyland Studios, mixed at Clean Cuts, mastered at Nonstop Sound

NOTES
In some ways, this is a humble debut album - short, heavy with reverb, containing several songs that had been released in other forms leading up to it. In others, it's one of the key documents of Brooklyn indie rock as the 2000s became the 2010s. This album, released on legendary indiepop label Slumberland records, was what brought Pains to the attention of general listeners and industry tastemakers with positive reviews appearing in Pitchfork (8.4, Best New Music) and the other online publications that focused on guitar music in the blog era.

To this day, Kip responds to such praise by suggesting that listeners who like the album track down the bands that inspired its creation - in 2019, he named Velocity Girl, The Pastels, Rocketship, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Black Tambourine, Heavenly, The Vaselines, The Exploding Hearts and My Favorite.

The album was assembled from songs that had become rather old by the time the disc was released in early 2009. Due to the process of actively writing and stockpiling new material, Kip had already made progress on many of the songs that would make up 2011's follow-up Belong.

Interestingly, no one is credited as producer in the album's credits. Things would change soon, with Belong bringing on superproducer Flood and Days Of Abandon beginning a long-running alliance with Andy Savours. While the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP was recorded with no live drums, Kurt Feldman had joined the band by the time of the LP sessions and plays drums on all tracks. Though Christoph Hocheim served as a live guitarist during 2009, he is not credited on the album and seemingly didn't participate in the sessions.

As for the songs that make up the album, Hey Paul and This Love Is Fucking Right! had appeared on the band's debut EP, while Come Saturday had featured on a split single in an early version (appended as a bonus track to the deluxe Europe edition of the album). Three vinyl singles were taken from the LP: Everything With You, Young Adult Friction and Come Saturday. All three became long-standing live staples, as did non-album B-side and would-be title track The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

The band toured the album through early 2009, coming back in the fall to support the follow-up Higher Than The Stars EP. In addition to the three singles, This Love Is Fucking Right! and A Teenager In Love remained live staples in the years to come, through at least 2018.

QUOTES
"Listening to the album in 2019, when things are deeply fucked in a different way, it feels borderline magical to spend 35 minutes in a teenage world full of power pop bangers and dusty old books, a place where hearts break and dreams fade but there’s always another weekend on the horizon." - Patrick D. McDermott for Stereogum

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP

RELEASED

Cloudberry, 2007 (Three-track version)

Painbow, August 2007 (Five-track version)

SONGS

This Love Is Fucking Right!
Orchard Of My Eye

Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud

Hey Paul
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

PERSONNEL

Kip Berman - Guitar and vocals

Alex Nadius - Bass

Peggy Wang - Keyboards and vocals

Recorded May and June 2007, Honey Land Studios, Brooklyn, NY

FACTS

This early Pains recorded was released in two versions. Cloudberry Records put out a mini CD EP with three songs - This Love Is Fucking Right!, Orchard Of My Eye and Doing All The Things THat Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud. This EP was limited to 100 hand-numbered copies. 

A five-track version with Hey Paul and the band's self-titled song emerged in August 2007. The CD was put out by Painbow Records as Painbow 01. Considering the fact that much later releases by the band itself were credited to Painbow, it seems fair to assume that this was basically a self-release.

While CD copies of the EP, in either version, can command high resale prices, the songs are not rare. These early recordings are still available for sale on major digital music marketplaces, as of 2019. These versions of This Love Is Fucking Right!, Hey Paul and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are different from the later versions that appeared in 2008 and 2009 on the self-titled album and Everything With You single. The other two songs were not re-released later and can only be found on this release.

This EP was created before Kurt Feldman joined Pains on drums, meaning the band was still a trio, with an iPod Nano playing drum beats serving as the live fourth member. Since no Drummer is credited on the CD, it appears all the beats on the record are digitally generated.

3 Songs EP

RELEASED

2017, self-released (recorded 1999)

SONGS

Let's Not Smile
A Trivial Pursuit
Queen Of Sandcastles

PERSONNEL

Nicole - Guitar, Vocals

Constance - Keys

Kyle - Drums

Kip - Guitar, Vocals

Curt Kentner - Special Thanks

FACTS

Before The Starve and Jackie, there was an even older pre-Pains band: The Sporting Life. Named after a brand of shirt, the band formed at Reed College and played acoustic indiepop. The Pacific Northwest scene at the time included institutions such as the Magic Marker Records house, which hosted shows. The Sporting Life was formed to join this scene and open for Dear Nora, the beloved and recently reactivated project led by Katy Davidson. Having achieved those aims, the band broke up, seemingly with only three recordings to its name. 

The songs emerged on Bandcamp in 2017. One of the three, Queen of Sandcastles, had previously appeared on a compilation issued by Curt Kentner of Magic Marker. That song is on streaming services such as Spotify - the other two remain Bandcamp-exclusive and have never appeared on a physical record.

QUOTES

"When I was a teenager, I had a band with the only goal of opening for Dear Nora in the ping pong room at Reed College and maybe getting good enough to play a show at the Magic Marker house. We achieved those goals, and that was it. " - Kip on the Sporting Life Bandcamp

Saturday Night EP

RELEASED
Self-released, 2001

SONGS
Saturday Night
Show You How
Backseat
You And I Will Never Die

PERSONNEL

Kip "Manchester" - Guitar, vocals

Jennifer Fang - Farfisa organ

Jeannine Haynes - Tambourine, vocals

Travis Bonilla - Bass

Mike Rinaldo - Drums

John Manchester - Background vocals

Jeremy Brown - Engineer

Danny Taylor - Design

FACTS

The second The Starve EP, released in the same year as the first EP (2001). On this record, the band moved from no-fi to lo-fi sound quality and re-recorded two songs from the first release. The version of Saturday Night that lingers on the band's old Myspace page is presumably from this EP. As with the first EP, this record was reviewed on Allmusic Guide. The text of the review was positive, but the starred rating was only 2.5/5, a score as inexplicable as Allmusic reviewing a self-released EP in 2001 in the first place.

QUOTES

"In short, this is another quality dose of high-octane, low-budget rock & roll from a band who obviously knows how, and in a world where the Strokes, the Hives, and the White Stripes can become potential superstars, the Starve at least deserve a late-model tour van, a deal with a decent indie label, and a supply of PBR that never runs dry." - Allmusic Guide

The Starve EP

RELEASED
Self-released, 2001

SONGS
Boys In The Band, Pt. 1
Hostage Of Love
Pretty Lines
Saturday Night
Backseat
Boys In The Band, Pt. 2

PERSONNEL

Kip "Manchester" - Guitar, vocals

Jennifer Fang - Farfisa organ

Jeannine Haynes - Tambourine, vocals

Travis Bonilla - Bass

Mike Rinaldo - Drums

FACTS

Released in a very DIY fashion, in packaging made from re-used beer cases, this debut six-track EP appears to have been the first release from The Starve, a pre-Pains band from Potland, with Kip on guitar and vocals. The 16-minute CD managed to earn a review from Allmusic, which is the main reminder that it ever existed - it's not for sale digitally, and the CD is rare. Pretty Lines can be heard on The Starve's Mypsace page, along with a version of Saturday Night which may be a re-recording from the band's follow-up EP.

QUOTES

"There are thousands of bands that do what the Starve do on this EP, but no more than a handful manage to do it quite so well; it's smart, fun, street-level rock & roll from five kids with great ideas and the will to put 'em on plastic, and when THAT stops being the future of rock & roll, we're all in a lot of trouble." - Allmusic Guide

Jackie EP

RELEASED
Binder Records, 2004

SONGS
Honey
April Comes
Colorful

PERSONNEL

Travis Bonilla - Vocals

Kip Berman - Guitar

Jen Fang - Organ, Synthesizer

Christopher Dehererra - Bass

Danny Taylor - Drums

Anna Bond - Artwork Layout

Danny Taylor - Design

Trevor Kapmann - Mastering

Joesph Dixon - Photography

Larry Crane - Recording

Recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio, Portland, OR

FACTS

The second release by Jackie, a pre-Pains band featuring Kip on guitar. While the previous record was available only as a 7" single (Goes Electric), this three-song EP apparently only came out on CD. Some of the songs remain available on the band's Myspace page, though media players on that site seem to be inoperable at the moment. Per Discogs, there are only two releases on Binder Records. This is the first, APB01. APB02 is a CD single by The Isles. The Jackie EP was released in 2004, and by some point in 2005, the band had split, after the release of one more song (The Guest).

QUOTES
 "The nervous rock of the Modern Lovers coupled with the nervous twitch of modern pharmaceuticals." - Portland Mercury, per promotional sticker on EP