Pink Kink tell us about the origins of "Bubblebutt" ahead of Simple Things Festival

We had a chat with the quintet ahead of the Bristol fest (they play The Sportsmans at 13:30pm) to find out more about the band, the single, and what comes next.

BEST FIT: Can you give us Pink Kink's origin story please?
Pink Kink: Pink Kink originated in 2014 when Inés met Bridget on her first night out in Liverpool. Then Amanda joined and we jammed and wrote songs together in private for a year. At the beginning of it all we were five girls but different members came and went until Nina and Sam joined a year later to play our debut gig at the Kazimier and that's what we all consider the start of the band.

"Bubblebutt" is a pretty big statement for your first track - why did you choose this one?
Pink Kink: When we first wrote the song, there was a feeling of 'this is the single'... not that we were going to release it in any time soon but we just knew it. It all happened quite spontaneously which is always a good indicator. It was the first time all of us where singing/shouting all together on a track and the first time we got political with our music. It was also the shortest song we had and we always heard singles are supposed to be short?

How did it come together?
Pink Kink: "Bubblebutt" is a song that we used to call "The Troll Song" because everytime Amanda and Bridget would jam the verse in rehearsals Inés always hated it, she thought it sounded like a troll walking and farting. One day Bridget and Inés were feeling very high on inspiration on Inés' bedroom and somehow the idea of a 'bubble butt' popped, which after endless and nonsense repetition, we realised fit perfectly with "The Troll Song"'s rhythm. So then we wrote the lyrics instantly, added a bassline and recorded it on a phone. The next day we brought the crappy recording to rehearsal and everyone was like 'wtf is this', but somehow it pasted all together eventually and with Sam's creepy vocals it all made sense. It also became one of our favourite songs to play and perform live.

Can you tell us what it's about?
Pink Kink: For us it's a very important feminist statement, a song that makes us feel empowered onstage and we hope that other women and victims of street harassment can share the same attitude about it: to take action against it while taking the piss out of the gross person that's harassing. We need to stop letting cat callers get away with their words and actions. We need to fight them back if we want this problem to stop happening, reclaim our streets, make them safe for ourselves and everyone else that’s vulnerable in the patriarchal system that exists within this society we live in.

NEXT GIGGGSSS this SATURDAY 21st double trouble at: Bristol Simple Things Festival ~ & ~ Cardiff @swnissound festival 27/10 Leeds Halloweed Party @belgravemusichall IT$FR€£ 4/11 Liverpool Music Week Closing Party @invisiblewindfactory plus a very special announcement coming tomorrow...

A post shared by pink kink (@pinkkinkstink) on Oct 17, 2017 at 10:26am PDT

Is it representative of other material you have?
Pink Kink: Since we wrote that song we started to feel like we could express our political agenda way more freely in our music, so it influenced a lot the way our songwriting derived. We have a few other political songs or songs where we shout in a gang but mostly it's all about expressing what it feels to be like at this stage of our lives and to express all the dimensions that so far we've experienced as human beings at this moment in society.

Why should people come catch you at Simple Things? What should we expect?
Pink Kink: We've only played Bristol once before in June and it was our favourite (new!) city from our mini tour. We love the vibe in there and all the art in the streets - so expect a very exciting version of our psycho-tropical experience...

Who else do you recommend we see at the festival?
Pink Kink: HMLTD, John Maus, Diet Cig, Alex G, Traams, and Downtown Boys are bands that we would die to see but super sadly we gotta leave after our set to play another gig in Cardiff the same day!

What are you working on now/next?
Pink Kink: We just got back from our first UK tour and at the moment we’re working on the video for "Bubblebutt" which hopefully will be out soon. We also just got our baby vinyl which has our second upcoming single that we are getting ready to release very soon! Definitely exciting times but we can't wait to have a moment for ourselves and write some new stuff.

What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Pink Kink: The best is yet to come…