Freshly Pressed – Pizza Crunch “Wilting Youth”

Glasgow-based Pizza Crunch have a sound that blends 80s post-punk with modern alt rock, boasting memorable guitar riffs and thought-provoking lyrics. They’ve just released their new single, “Wilting Youth” – a song about fading adolescence, and coming to terms with the fact that the “good ol’ days” have passed. We caught up with Pizza Crunch to talk about the new song, how they got their name (because we know you were wondering), and their musical influences.

From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “Wilting Youth”.

Pizza Crunch: So we write songs in a variety of different ways. This one kind of started more typically, I wrote the words first and then sat with an acoustic to figure out the chord pattern. Once I done that we took it to the studio and built up the parts. I guess it’s just about entering a stage of life that you aren’t as comfortable with as the last.

FTS: This may not be the most hard-hitting question, but as a self-described Pizza Expert, I’ve gotta ask – where did the band name come from?

Pizza Crunch:  We had a gig booked and needed a name. I think our idea was to try and sound like we aren’t overly serious. Some days I regret the name and other days I’m just like, the name is meaningless it’s about the tunes. Hopefully not too many people are put off by it haha.

FTS: What are some under-the-radar Glasgow bands you’re listening to, that you’d like to share with our readers?

Pizza Crunch: Parliamo’s latest stuff has been great. I feel like they aren’t following any rules which is always refreshing. Pleasure Heads are great too.

FTS: All artists (save for the exceptionally lucky ones) experience writer’s block from time to time. How do you battle through a block when songwriting?

Pizza Crunch: Yeah I guess I just tend to focus on another aspect of writing. If I’m not coming up with anything on the guitar I’ll move to the keys or a drum sample, and if that isn’t happening I’ll just try and write some lyrics. You can get an endless amount of sounds on Logic so I use that as a starting point if I’m struggling.

FTS: Who were your musical influences growing up, and how do they differ from your current ones?

Pizza Crunch:  When I first started playing guitar properly I was listening to a lot of folk music: Dylan, Nick Drake etc. I was always quite into Tom Waits as well. I still love those artists but got a lot more into indie-rock type stuff in my later teenage years. I’d say Arctic Monkeys have always been a mainstay as well. Over the last few years I’ve gotten into listening to a lot of dreamy film soundtracks as well which is hopefully going to be a little more involved in the upcoming Pizza Crunch tunes.

Check out “Wilting Youth”, the new single from Pizza Crunch!