Living up to the vibrant name, Pizzagirl makes infectious, off-kilter pop that feels like the soundtrack to a forgotten John Hughes movie. The creative alias of Liam Brown, he offers a kaleidoscopic, effervescent sonic universe to dive into, from the instantly-nostalgic and endearingly-cheesy ‘ball’s gonna keep on rolling’ – you can almost picture the decadent 80s montage – to the emotive balladry of ‘yesterday’, or the emo-tinged grooves of ‘dennis’.
It’s an undeniably infectious, jubilant listen and exactly the kind of shimmering pop goodness we need to transport us away from a grey and rainy winter.
Ahead of his European tour, with a stopover in Berlin, we invited Pizzagirl to give us an insight into the tracks that have inspired him and contributed to the existence of his fantastic debut album, first timer.
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MICHAEL JACKSON – MAN IN THE MIRROR
I think this is a pretty obvious reference for ‘library’ in my mind [laughs]. It’s a big, chunky pop ballad that makes me want to change the world for five minutes, so instead of changing the world, I made a song about falling in love in a library – fitting!
ARIEL PINK – FEELS LIKE HEAVEN
Ariel Pink had been playing on my Spotify a lot around the time of making ‘daytrip’, especially the really cute, ‘Feels Like Heaven’. It’s a really simple song, and it makes me feel sad when I heard it, so I wanted to transfer that into my own music with a big, sickly-sweet chorus to match too 🙂
KELLY CLARKSON – SINCE U BEEN GONE
It couldn’t be my debut album if I didn’t slip a pop-punk ripper in there! Drum machine, overdrive on the guitar and emo lyrics are big references I used on ‘thispartysux’, and yet again another big soppy chorus to make you feel angry!
HOME – RESONANCE
Another one of those songs that makes me feel instantly sad. I found a synth that made me feel the same instant sadness and because of that, it also made me very happy. I played some chords which I can’t remember and kept the arrangement simple, like in ‘Resonance’, and I felt like I’d made my own little slice of sad, on ‘goodnight.! Plus, the vocals from Aseul make me want to cry!
GRIMES – KILL V. MAIM
I’ve loved Grimes forever and, as I was making ‘cut and paste’, I was thinking about the energy in her music, and ‘Kill V. Maim’ is one that is full of that energy! It’s a crazy direct song and I wanted to scream on a track – so I thought this would be the one to try it out on.
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Pizzagirl will be supporting Trudy And The Romance at Zukunft am Ostkreuz on 21st November, tickets here.
More tour dates below:
23rd November – Le Pop-Up du Label, Paris, France
24th November – Upstairs at Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
26th November – The Shacklewell Arms, London, United Kingdom
27th November – Yes (Basement), Manchester, United Kingdom
28th November – Phase One, Liverpool, United Kingdom
30th November – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, United Kingdom
