Even though it decided to embark on a U.S. tour, Pendulum never thought that it would find many fans in America, where the band’s style of drum and bass music has yet to hit the mainstream charts.
“Nothing could have prepared us for the American reception,” said Gareth McGrillen, bassist, DJ and founding member of Pendulum. “Even a nowhere nightclub in Detroit was completely packed and going mental. We always expected L.A. to be the big one; I can’t wait for that.”
Pendulum’s 2005 debut album, “Hold Your Colour,” has become a cult classic for dance music aficionados in Europe. With upbeat, catchy hits like “Slam,” “Tarantula” and, more recently, “Granite,” the band found a legion of fans in European clubs that pushed its rise in popularity.
“Drum and bass has always been quite underground,” McGrillen said. “Our variety of drum and bass is a bit for wider audiences. We’ve got a little bit of everybody: emo kids, punk kids and metal kids, as well as people who listen to dance music.”
As with most drum and bass groups, Pendulum’s bass-heavy rhythms and energetic melodies have been fundamental to its success. Often, science fiction-themed sounds appear in its music, creating a futuristic mood. Other tracks feature reggae-style vocal sampling ““ very appropriate for the dance floor.
“It definitely starts with rapid sounds that can trigger an entire tune,” McGrillen said. “That’s the beauty of our kind of music ““ you can draw inspiration kind of randomly. You could be on a plane and be really drunk trying to get yourself to sleep, and you’ll get an idea and pull out your laptop right there.”
But, instead of finding himself immersed in dance music while growing up in Perth, Australia, McGrillen found himself drawn to the punk and metal-music scene, listening to everyone from The Shadows to Rage Against the Machine to Led Zeppelin. Despite the vastly differing sounds of rock and dance music, McGrillen found the evolution to drum and bass a natural move.
“It was the only kind of music that had the same kind of aggression that punk and metal and rock had,” McGrillen said. “That’s what really attracted us to it, and that’s why we blended rock and metal into it.”
This fusion of rock and drum and bass was featured prominently on Pendulum’s latest album, “In Silico,” which moved the group into new musical territory.
“Where we were at with “˜Hold Your Colour’ was strictly dance music,” McGrillen said. “We were holding back our rock and metal influences from our past. Instead of doing another “˜Hold Your Colour’ and repeating ourselves, we thought we would just let the music evolve by itself naturally.”
While some older fans have been disappointed with the move to a more rock-based sound, Pendulum has found more mainstream success with “In Silico,” peaking at No. 9 on the U.K. Singles Chart.
“Within reason, there’s elements of all kinds of music within all styles,” McGrillen said. “The thing about drum and bass is that it’s really just a tempo. It can be classical music, metal, punk, or it can be purely techno.”
The band started out in 2002 as a collaboration between friends Rob Swire and McGrillen, who decided they wanted to create a record label named Pendulum on which they would release their music. The two both attended the University of Western Australia in Perth. While Swire pursued a degree in sound design, McGrillen attempted a degree in computer science. Not knowing how to DJ at the time, they enlisted the help of Paul “El Hornet” Harding. Later, the band members realized they’d rather write and produce their own music than run their own label.
“It’s always a producing project, but we also perform in the band,” McGrillen said. “We literally drew the name out of a hat. We’ll just let people decide and bring their own meaning to our name.”
However, the band members’ success motivated them to drop out of school ““ despite the fact that McGrillen only had one class left to finish his degree.
“I guess you kind of hope and dream in your head that it will come true, but you never really think it will. But we work so hard that when something good happens, we’re like, “˜Finally!’ We’ve literally gone to hell and back when we write the music, so we’re supposed to get the good stuff.”
While the dance-music scene has been stereotyped for recreational drug use, the band has always insisted that music, not drugs, should be the main attraction at its shows.
“We’re not into making music for the purpose of taking drugs,” McGrillen said. “We make music for us, not the kids to get messed up on. Our audience has changed so much that it’s not really a drug crowd anymore ““ punk kids’ and emo kids’ and dance kids’ music. Our audience is into getting high on the music rather than the whole candy (rave) scene.”
Already looking forward and working on its third album while on tour, Pendulum hopes to release its next album late next year or early 2010. With its musical style changing on each album, it’s hard to predict which direction it will go.
“We always seem to do the antidote to what we did last, so it can completely go in the opposite direction,” McGrillen said. “The way that we produce tracks and the way that Rob works his magic in the studio, the tunes always end up sounding like Pendulum. No matter what direction we go in, whether it’s more drum and bass or more rock or more sample-based, it’s always going to sound like Pendulum.”