Deep Dive: West Echo Three – Pigeon Party

Manchester’s West Echo Three bring an electronic and digital dimension to post-punk on Pigeon Party. As polemical as it is powerful, we caught up with John (JM) and Charlotte (CW) to learn more about the creative process behind the song.

Inspiration for the song

JM: We looked out of our kitchen window one day and on the roof opposite were loads of pigeons. They were bobbing away, and it looked like they were partying. Or it’s a scathing commentary on the state of political parties. I’ll let you decide.

The lyrics

CW: The lyrics are super simple – Almost like a chant, or a slogan. I had actually considered writing a lot more but couldn’t find the right hook for the verses and it was John who suggested just leaving it as just the chorus. Perfect! It says everything we wanted to say already. Plus, there’s a pretty killer synth melody running through the verse that is too cool to be drowned out with singing.

Recording Pigeon Party

CW: We didn’t manage to get a room full of pigeons and vodka, BUT there was one solitary pigeon sat in the tree outside, watching us whilst we put the basic tracks down. They know what’s up! The whole process was super easy, because we’d written most of the track during a jam in the rehearsal room – It started with a bass riff and basic beat on a Roland T-8 drum machine and evolved from there, so we were already quite well drilled and comfortable with our parts before we started.

Even the vocal tracks – that I usually agonise over forever- went down really well. It helped that I used my stage vocal FX rig and dialled in a specific patch for the song, which really added to the live vibe. The icing on the cake was using a vintage DX-7 to play the ramping tone at the start. There’s something about the slightly imperfect old tech that really sits nicely with the punky attitude of the track.

What is up next for West Echo Three?

CW: Gigs, mainly. We’re playing shows in Stoke, Derby, York and Liverpool with St.Lucifer in Nov/ Dec. We’re also working on sorting something out for early December in Manchester, and then we’ve already got our first show for 2024 in the diary – they’re all on our Songkick, so check it out.

And in between the gigs, I think it’d be nice to release an album. Sort of consolidating all of the releases we’ve put out so far, plus the rest of the live set in one release. And then, y’know: world domination and private planes and whatnot.

For news on those upcoming live dates and for announcements on new music, be sure to follow West Echo Three on Instagram and Facebook. Pigeon Party can be downloaded on Bandcamp, while you can hear more music from the duo on Apple Music and Spotify.