Back after some time away, Jazzy Pop Funksters Picnic are gearing up to claim their rightful place in 2020 as one of the hottest acts around. Damian Robinson caught up with Picnic’ster Eddie Scott to find out more about this year’s plans.
It’s great to have you back. We can see from your socials that there’s loads coming out of the Picnic camp including a gig at the Riverside in early March. What’s it like to be back and what can be expect from the Riverside show?
Thank you! Feels a bit weird to say that we’re “back” cos it’s not like we went anywhere, but having spent so much time focusing on industry stuff it’s great to be back gigging again. This Riverside show is probably the first one we’ve been nervous for in about 3 years, it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever attempted. I’d say expect a lot of fun and a few surprises! Everything has been built around the audience experience.
Did you always plan to return with a live show?
We’ve always been a band that built everything around live shows, they’ve always came first so it made sense that this time would be no different. This show has been in the works for a few months now, we just had to wait for the right time to set a date.
You may have been quiet but it looks like there’s been plenty of work behind the scenes. Is there new material out soon, and if so what can you tell us about it?
“Behind the scenes” has been pretty fucking manic these past few months. We’ve went through a lot of changes (hopefully all positive) that really tested us as a band and a group of mates. Yes, there will be new music coming out very soon, we’ve recorded a couple of singles and are scheduled to hit the studio again in the summer. By this point I think we’re just happy that we like how the tunes have turned out, if anybody else does that’s fantastic but we love what we do regardless.
Will you be playing the new material at the Riverside show?
Yes we will, finally! These new tunes are definitely the most “PICNIC” tunes we’ve ever wrote, which we’re loving. I went through a stage of trying to write what I thought people wanted to hear, which just resulted in a few tunes that we as a band just didn’t fully connect with. That way of thinking is dead now, the new songs are insanely fun to play so hopefully that authenticity translates.
Are there any other plans for 2020 you can let us in on?
The meetings we’ve had this year have all been centred around thinking as big and daft as possible. We’ve been doing this a while now and the attitude is kind of, “why not try something massive and mental, what’s the worst that could happen?!” We’re in a good place and I’m excited to see where this year goes.
Picnic play Newcastle Riverside on 14th March.