The Pleasure Dome share new single ‘Your Fucking Smile’
The Pleasure Dome | Photo credit: Joshua Wood
Previous praise for The Pleasure Dome:
“Breakneck post-punk that thrills with its consistency...” - CLASH
“The Pleasure Dome bring 100% pure punk energy” - The Line Of Best Fit
“It feels empoweringly furious, as if driven by equal doses of adrenaline and umbrage” - Louder Than War
“A perfect balance of personal tales and generous dose of relatability, offering us a heartfelt glimpse inside the minds of this eclectic act.” - The Most Radicalist
Today The Pleasure Dome share their new single ‘Your Fucking Smile’, towards their forthcoming Liminal Space EP. This single follows from the success of their acclaimed debut album Equinox and recent single from the ‘The Duke Part II Friends & Enemies’. As of today, Liminal Space is now available to pre-order on vinyl.
The single is an angry, dissonant, raucous entry from the band, returning to a sound familiar to their debut record, but turned up to 11. Speaking on the single vocalist Bobby Spender said, "After the album, I wanted to make something that was really melodic, which became the first single The Duke. I then realised wanted to see info could go heavier than the album, which is what Your Fucking Smile became."
Spender continues, "I was really into Bernard Herrmann, who composed the score to the film, Psycho, the murder scene in particular. It uses tritones, the devil's intonation, very dissonant sounding – so that with 210bpm I was set."
The lyrics come from a poem about someone I dated who has the best smile you ever saw, but she had a lot of insecurities and drove the relationship into the ground, so I had to walk away. Some people make you feel terrible about yourself when all you want is to share love.
It seems like these things quickly become about sex and having your confidence shattered because you're not deserving. As I say in the chorus, yeah right."
Listen to ‘Your Fucking Smile’ here
A liminal space is representative of a transitional setting, a period between point A and point B, a well-suited title for a body of work to succeed the release of the band's debut album Equinox and proceed a future project. This title however is about more than just the transition between first album and second, but captures a particularly difficult moment in time for the band. Directly after a successful tour, and a strongly received album came the departure of both the band's drummer and the band's bassist. Adding insult to injury, the remaining member of the band, songwriter, vocalist and guitar player Bobby Spender then had a romantic relationship come to an end, finally the nail in the coffin was getting evicted from his home, all within the space of a few months.
Instead of losing himself in thoughts of what could have been, Spender wasted no time in putting his emotions into his craft, creating a selection of songs illustrative of this particularly torturous time in life. "The songs on the EP felt like they belonged together. It didn't feel right to save them for our next album" says Spender, and hence Liminal Space was born.
The band was reformed with a fresh line-up, recruiting Loz Fancourt (bass and backing vocals) and Harry Flowers (Drums) and hit the studio in January 2024 bringing the therapeutic creation to life. Wanting to build on the foundations of the first record while still intending to make something challenging and new, the band recorded this EP with former collaborator, and producer of their debut record Equinox; James Trevascus. Trevascus' former credentials include Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Billy Nomates, Beak>, RVG, and The KVB. Combining Trevascus' wealth of experience with a repertoire formed of the most burdensome of confessions, The Pleasure Dome have created what could be their most emotive and ambitious project to date.
Hear ‘Your Fucking Smile’ on streaming here, and pre order the EP here.
‘Your Fucking Smile’ music video, you can also watch the clean version here
Speaking on the music video for ‘Your Fucking Smile’ frontman of the band Bobby said this, "The video is an edit of found footage, comprising of a documentary on UK goths in 1984, a soviet propaganda cartoon, an American instructional video on how to date from 1950s, and a burlesque dancer. It feels like it matches the energy of the song. Both videos are slightly different and in the 18+ version we put in a sneak preview of the next song on the EP Sugar, just as a tease."
More about The Pleasure Dome:
The Pleasure Dome are a three-piece band formed in Bristol, UK in July 2019. Known for their high-intensity live set, they mix a lively punk sound with grunge and indie rock. In the lyrics, Bobby Spender discusses themes of love, drug addiction and recovery, his struggles with mental health, therapy and issues in society such as austerity and social media. “We’re three friends who love to play music really. I write these songs about moments in life, things I’ve learned or don’t understand. We’re loud but we also like the delicate moments too, the calm and the thunder."
The band name came in a dream to frontman Bobby Spender, “I had a dream of this enormous amusements arcade in the future, and above its doors in neon lights ‘The Pleasure Dome’ was written. The next day I learnt romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the first person to speak of a pleasure dome in his opium-induced poem Kubla Khan. The name stuck”.
The band have enjoyed a busy live schedule, playing multiple festivals around the UK, these include dates with the likes of DITZ, The Magic Gang, Frauds, CLT DRP, Yawners, multiple headline tours in France, Belgium The Netherlands and numerous festival appearances across Europe.
The band’s previous work has already netted them a host of fans in UK press, with a solid bundle of radio airplay at BBC R1 (Jack Saunders' Rock Show, BBC Introducing), BBC 6Music (Lauren Laverne, Tom Robinson, Craig Charles), BBC Radio Wales (Adam Walton), and BBC Bristol (Introducing).
The Pleasure Dome have their foot to the floor, and show zero signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Download the band's biography here.
The Pleasure Dome - Liminal Space tracklisting
1. The Duke Part I
2. The Duke Part II (Friends & Enemies)
3. Your Fucking Smile
4. Sugar
5. Shoulder To Cry On
6. Suicide
7. The Duke Part I and Part II (Friends & Enemies) (Digital only)
8. Your Perfect Smile (Clean Version) (Digital only)
