Graffiti Island’s punk macabre lurches out in sewer-crawling bass throbs and desert drums, Conan Roberts and Cherise Payne forming a stark, lo-fi void where the imaginings of freak-obsessed frontman Pete D are free to swell.

NPIP: What have you been doing with yourself today?
Pete: I just had huevos rancheros. I’m in LA right now but I’m leaving for the airport to go back to London in a couple of hours.

You eat a lot of Mexican food? What’s going on in LA?
I try and eat as much as I can. It’s pretty quiet here right now – there’s a man outside with a leaf blower and I’ve got a sty on my eye.

What took you to LA in the first place? The same thing that got you that sty?
I’m here visiting family; I think I may have got the sty from some weird cats I was touching.

What was weird about them?
The owner said they were a breed called Devon Rex. They were hanging out on the beach acting odd, digging holes and humping.

They’re an English breed apparently, so… Brits abroad. How come most of your songs are about freaks and monsters?
I’m not sure… I’d like to write more love songs.

Are you in love?
I’m in love with Grant Miller.

Who isn’t? He’s a blogosphere darling lost in his own low-budget daydream.
Very true.

So why lo-fi surf-punk rather than Eurodisco jams like Grant’s?
We could have easily started making Italo instead, but then we would have needed all the fancy shoes and suits and make up and hair products and animals. It would have been pretty expensive.

I guess so. Maybe build your careers towards that. Any label men sniffing around at the moment?
We’re waiting for the bidding war to begin any time now.

Who do you think will score the most $$$ out of you guys, PENS and Male Bonding?
Male Bonding, they’re the cutest boy band out there right now.

Cuter than Grant Miller? What about Hype Williams?
Cuter than the both of them.

How come the guy from Hype Williams doesn’t play with you any more?
He quit ages ago. We didn’t really share the same vision so he started his own band.

OK. What is your vision for Graffiti Island going into 2009? Any plans/resolutions/releases on the cards?
We’ll be releasing our first seven inch through House Anxiety Records in February, which will be followed by another seven inch that’s gonna be put out by Sex Is Disgusting. Our goal for 2009 is to make T-shirts.

Good luck.

KEV, NO PAIN IN POP

Graffiti Island - “Demonic Cat”

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