UK dance artist Shurk spent some time with his "One Last Night With You" collaborator Pink Noise to do a candid interview about working together on the single. The conversation touches on topics ranging from their origins, how the song came to be, and whether they would prefer to be a sweet or salty pretzel. Enjoy the banter below!
Shurk: Who are you?
Pink Noise: Pink Noise is just the way I’m expressing myself musically, in terms of how it’s coming out. So I am just Gabe, but Pink Noise is the way that Gabe is expressing music… I think. It’s a way of not disassociating but just kind of putting a persona on top of my performance.
Shurk: So do you think you’ll develop other personas in the future?
Pink Noise: Quite probably. It’s kinda like a character, the way David Bowie did the Thin White Duke. Like I love David Bowie. It’s kind of a way of me stepping out of Gabe’s shoes, who’s not exactly reserved, but I’m not as big a personality as Pink Noise is (laughs). Who is Shurk?
Shurk: Shurk is the undead wanderer of the cosmos mate. It’s a character that I’ve created but in a fictional world. It’s a guy who, long story short, died, was brought back to life by the mask, now he doesn’t know why he’s been brought back, so his whole purpose is to find out why he’s there.
Pink Noise: Has that always been the Shurk thing?
Shurk: I mean it’s deeper than that, but that’s always been there from the beginning. Right, now here’s a good question for you. Why should people listen to our track, "One Last Night With You"?
Pink Noise: Because it’s a banger! (laughs) Like, you sent me that beat, and I couldn’t breathe. I was like, “This is sick!” And then I wrote the lyrics in like 20 minutes – they just absolutely fell out. Then we went to record it and it just worked. It just banged. We mixed it and we played it ot people and they would go, “What is this? This is sick!”
Shurk: Yeah, I had loads of people wanting downloads of that track. Random people at uni especially – it’s been a big hit with my Bulgarian friends for sure (laughs). So hopefully it blows up and we become millionaires, am I right?
Pink Noise: I mean, that would be great. Do you think people are going to see Shurk differently after hearing OLNWY?
Shurk: I hope so. I hope people will see the project in a more commercial light, so far as its appeal will be more universal. Somebody sign me please (laughs). How do you deal with crippling student debt?
Pink Noise: (chuckles ironically) Ha! I don’t! I work a lot. That’s how I eat. Everything else is on this house. I eat because I work, that’s kind of it. And if I didn’t eat, I’d die. f you could work with any artist, alive or dead, who would it be? Would you say Kendrick?
Shurk: (Sharp intake of breath) I’d love to sit down with Kendrick but my first thought was Flying Lotus just because of what I could learn from him from a production standpoint. But… oh man this is tough! It’s gonna be a toss up between Kendrick, D’Angelo and Flying Lotus.
Pink Noise: I feel like D’Angelo would dominate a room. Like if you’re in the same room as D’Angelo, he’s in charge. Even with Flying Lotus and Kendrick there, D’Angelo’s the man.
Shurk: Who would you work with?
Pink Noise: I’m gonna say Lady Gaga, solely because for the whole of my life, being influenced by music, she’s always been the one I’ve looked up to as THE performer. Like nobody who is alive now is performing the way that Lady Gaga does, and I think that would almost be like a life lesson for me. She’s be more like a teacher. That’s the level I wanna be at.
Shurk: One final important question: If you were a pretzel, would you be a salty boi or a sweet man?
Pink Noise: (deliberates intensely) You see, I only like salted pretzels, but I think I would be a sweet pretzel, solely because I like to bring positive vibes of love.
Shurk: Maybe a sweet pretzel with a salty aftertaste?
Pink Noise: Yeah if I could be salty and sweet, that would be great! It works way better than people assume it does. I think you would be a sweet pretzel – you can’t be salty.
Shurk: (turning introspective) It just depends what salty means, man.
Pink Noise: Even if salty is not negative, I still think you’d be a sweet pretzel. Personally I think I’m a salty pretzel to look at. I think I look way more intimidating than I actually am. I think the bleached hair…
Shurk: And the fact that when you wear heels you’re like 6”8… (laughs) You’re going to be so fucking large on stage, I’ll have to get a pedestal when we perform together otherwise it’ll look like David and Goliath!
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