Getting to Know… Plastic Barricades | Interview 🎤

For the 39th entry in ‘Getting to Know…’, Brent Faulkner gets the scoop from Dan Kert, half of London alt indie duo, Plastic Barricades.

After several months’ hiatus, The Musical Hype returned to its interview game – Getting to Know… style! October 2019 saw yours truly (Brent Faulkner), release the 38^th interview in the series, getting ‘the low down’ from a Montreal pop punk collective, These Fast Times.  Now, in November 2019, I am at it again, getting the scoop from Plastic Barricades, a London, alt indie duo, which actually began some years ago in Tallinn, Estonia – go figure!

“We write whatever comes to our worried minds and embrace who we are without trying to be cool or fashionable.” You can’t knock that, right? Providing us with that and plenty more juice is none other than singer, guitarist Dan Kert.  Given that Plastic Barricades is a duo, well, he’s totally half of it… yep.  The other half of PB is drummer Paul Love. Without any further ado, The Musical Hype presents Getting to Know… Plastic Barricades, Interview #39!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with Plastic Barricades, what would you say makes the duo distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Dan Kert, Plastic Barricades (DK): Well, I guess we just always managed to evade trends and invoke self-reflection in our audiences. We write whatever comes to our worried minds and embrace who we are without trying to be cool or fashionable. On a side note: our fans don’t wear socks – they prefer to be barefooted.

BF: Barefooted fans – rock on! Moving on, Let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Plastic Barricades form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had early on?

DK: Plastic Barricades became a thing way back in 2008 in Tallinn, the capital of tiny but proud Estonia. The vision was to write songs and sing our hearts out, although no one had any clue how things are usually done (we still don’t). After several EPs and profound line-up changes, in autumn 2012, we relocated to London to write more songs and play gigs and melt hearts.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

DK: The main goal is still the same today – better ourselves daily and find true beauty in the mundane. Writing songs is a natural way for me to understand and document the world around me, I am not doing this for fame and glory, I just like writing songs, recording them for posterity and playing them on stage, living in the present moment. There are other goals, of course: touring the world is definitely high on the agenda. This stems from being excited about a song and then this unstoppable need to share the excitement with as many people as possible. I like to think that a song might help someone somewhere on a tough day, at least this is how sincere and heartfelt music is affecting my life daily.

BF: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

DK: You are right, we are all amalgamations of all these little streams, that join our life river. I grew up being obsessed with Nirvana, because I’ve never heard any other band that was so real and raw and powerful. I still cherish that kind of honesty, although, I must say, it is extremely rare in the world of likes and followers and tweets. But I’ve found it later on in the likes of Snow Patrol, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro. Those guys are my heroes.

BF: Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

DK: There were plenty of crazy stuff during our first UK tour in 2014. We played a gig in Nottingham and came off stage and outside via the backdoor, that closed shut behind us. After a short breather, we tried to go back into the venue through the front door, but the security wasn’t having any of it. “You are wearing sneakers (I was wearing Converse) so I cannot let you in.” He was being rude and aggressive. That almost ended in a fight. Thankfully, the manager came to the rescue.

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

DK: Oh man, this is difficult. Honestly, they are all special in their own way. For me, they are all diary entries, so I cannot say which entry I like best. But if I am being honest, my favourite song is always the one that is not written yet, I love the mystery of it all and still find songwriting an absolutely magical in every sense of the word. On our debut album, Mechanics of Life, there is a song called “Half of your Soul” that I still find quite appealing and poetic. I am quite proud of our upcoming second LP, Self-Theories, because it has the diversity and honesty that we were seeking for so long.

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

DK: After a strenuous process with the first album back in 2017, we decided to do the second one on our own, just the two of us. All 12 songs were written, recorded and mixed in a backyard 4×2 shed, that became our sanctuary for the last 12 months. It has been very rewarding to let the song be what they are, without obsessing about miniscule details or going crazy about something being “perfect.” I encourage any other bands to make an album like this at some point in their careers, because that always leads to many new exiting discoveries about who you are and what your unique voice sounds like.

BF: Cool.  Closing this thing out, what is Plastic Barricades currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

DK: Plastic Barricades’ new single, “One for the Road,” is out NOW!

Imagine this: Open window, open road, open heart… The air smells new and fresh, wind playing in your hair. You can feel the tempo of the modern world slowing down and the skies smiling at you. Your friends are with you in the van. You don’t run away from your daily routine, you just learn to absorb and recharge, to appreciate the world around you and to be present in the moment, letting go of fears and worries, even just for a day or two. Let’s spend our lives on stories! Money disappears all too easily, but stories last millennia.

“One for the Road” facts:

• Written, recorded and mixed in a backyard Shed Studio in North-West London, mastering at Metropolis Studios in London
• Inspired by On the Road novel by Jack Kerouac (1957)
• Music video for the single, created by band’s art-director Elina Pasok, uses amateur footage, filmed in the late 1950s around America by families with their brand-new cutting-edge handheld cameras
• You can hear Plastic Barricades’ trusty old Ford Transit’s happy growl in the first few seconds of the song
• Artwork for the single uses a model of a Packard Patrician, first released in 1956
• Self-Theories LP preliminary release set for early 2020

Connect with Plastic Barricades: Website • Facebook • Instagram • Soundcloud

Photo Credits: Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, Plastic Barricades