Interview: Public Service Broadcasting —informing and entertaining.

1979, Pink Floyd releases their music video exposing the rigid schooling in the UK as a story to their number one hit ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. School children are seen lined up like factory workers of the Dickens times, stuck in-between the school walls. This is an example of when the seeds were first planted for music and history to collaborate. Now we have Londoners, J Willgoose, esq along with his drummer under the name of ‘Wriggleworth' bringing music and history together in a more modern way. We welcome, Public Service Broadcasting.

J Willgoose, Esq. and Wriggleworth (credit: unknown)

Without a single vocal coming out from them on stage, the duo performed using a combination of electronic music and archive videos of World War Two history as their theme in follow up to their 2015 album ‘Race For Space’, topping no.1 in the UK Indie chart the first week of release.

South Londoner Willgoose, began making music solo nine years ago. He explains how the idea came around combining music and history in his work. 'The historical side wasn’t really deliberate. It was more when I first started I heard a British Film Institute film had been released which I liked and thought there was a few good samples in there which I could sprinkle onto of some songs, to give it a bit of character. As it grew got more serious people started to genuinely like it and that's when the historical side was the front and centre as opposed to having it as a texture on the record.'

Public Service Broadcasting's tour collaborated with the British Film Institute with WW2 theme you see footage of The Blitz it included in the track ‘London Can Take It’, a theme where the audience witness real life families preparing themselves for another evening of the London bombs, footage of the streets after a night of attacks, and then ending with men preparing to go to war.

With electric guitar being the forefront of Willgoose's talent, he jokes 'the reason behind it is that I am not a good singer, so its not really in anyone's interest, least of all mine to try and ruin it anymore than what I already have done!.'

All jokes aside on Willgoose's terrible voice he tells more on the ‘no vocals’ subject.

'I think people can really get stuck into the ‘do you sing don’t you sing as it if it is the only genuinely emotional way of only expressing yourself in music, that it begins with words and singing. If you look at broader music in general, classical music or orchestral music I’m sure if you went up to a composer he would say the same thing. There are other ways of getting emotion and sincerity and emotional depth into music then just being a singer and going on about how you are heartbroken etc.'

With the coverage of the blitz, and the story of Apollo 8, their lips are sealed on what other ideas will be coming coming up on their next tour. On the subject of where their ideas stem from we will not be seeing any familiarities with Pink Floyd’s exposure on the 70’s UK schooling. Willgoose explains 'Pink Floyd music certainly gives a impression of great seriousness and importance. I don’t think we would ever do that, I think that we have got too much self-effacement really and we would sort of undercut any portentousness really with a bit of humour. We take what we do very seriously but we don’t take ourselves very seriously at all.'

Willgoose grew up with Radiohead and Massive Attack as his main playlist which he said are the influences to his work now, but mentions how he has been influenced through all parts go the world. 'The biggest influences on me is just growing up you know, I leant to play a guitar and learnt to put it together electronically, I listened to stuff like Radiohead, and Massive Attack, a Belgium band called Dallas and Moby as well. Then in my twenties I started getting into more electronic music and music from all over the world all sorts.'

Apart from an insight into WW2 history, Public Service Broadcasting teaches us we can be informed and entertained though history archive and electro combined together, something unusual to see at Brixton Academy. Willgoose replies 'It’s not intended to be for all that tongue and check ‘formative entertain’ nonsense, it’s not a history lesson it’s never meant to be. If I wanted them to take anything away when they come its, it’s the feeling similar to when I saw Flaming Lips about 13 years ago and I just remember looking at the audience and thinking everybody who I am looking at has a massive smile on your face and everybody is slightly in wonder and slightly enjoyed and sort of staring at the stage and having a great time. Somebody said to me at the gig in Brixton everybody on the way out just had massive smiles on their faces and that’s just a lovely feeling you know, that’s the feeling I would like as opposed to having more crisis and more depressive tendencies towards music I think it would be nice to have more optimism and hope.'

Public Service Broadcasting are currently on their UK tour.