“If I ever conform to that, please shoot me down.” PVRIS front-woman Lynn Gvnn isn’t interested in traditional Hollywood beauty standards. “I like to mix masculine and feminine together with everything I do. I don’t want to be too masculine or too feminine; I like to be right in the middle and have both elements of each kind of together whether it’s music video styles or just like dressing every day in general.” Speaking the day after PVRIS attended the Alternative Press Music Awards, it’s clear whatever Lynn’s doing, she’s onto something. “We got nominated for four awards and we performed at it, and we ended up winning Best Breakthrough Band. So last night was a pretty good night for us.”
Lynn met Alex Babinski and Brian MacDonald through her high school music scene. The three ultimately finalized the line up and formed PVRIS in 2012. They released a self-titled EP in the spring of 2013 and began to gain traction, earning a spot on Vans Warped Tour in the summer of 2013. They’d return to Warped as a supporting act in 2014 and secured their spot in 2015 as a headliner. “We did two weeks last summer because we won a little battle of the bands contest…we were on the smallest stage. Then this year we ended up getting permanently bumped up to main stage all summer, so it’s been a very crazy difference from this year to last!”
PVRIS released their debut full-length White Noise in November of 2014. The title track features a Poltergeist-inspired music video with a darker meaning than ghosts. “It’s very much focused on not being able to communicate your issues and being haunted by something that’s not tangible, but it’s something that’s clearly there and taking you down. We’re all super drawn to dark and spooky things, but I think it’s because it’s cathartic in a way, like if you put whatever story you have in real life into that kind of story, it helps you cope with it in a way.”
Most recently PVRIS hit number one on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart with their new video for “Fire.” Lynn says their videos aren’t stagnant, but all intertwined as part of a larger message for the viewer to make their own. “There’s a bunch of little hidden things here and there that we keep consistent and have an underlining story for everyone to kind of figure out the mystery. But ‘Fire’ is a very destructive song…basically the main concept behind it is just destructiveness and chaos and fire and lots of angst.”
PVRIS performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals this August and have a forthcoming U.S. tour in October, after which they’ll head overseas for more performances. As if Lynn isn’t enough of a force on her own, she recently covered “Talking Body” by fellow #GirlPower issue star Tove Lo. “She’s just like very real and raw and doesn’t give a fuck and she’s an amazing songwriter, which I always, always super respect…I’m all for girl power and just proving ourselves out there and just supporting other females doing whatever they want to do and being boss ass bitches.” In Lynn’s personal songwriting process, she’s a boss ass bitch in her own right. “I always get really inspired by sad and angry things, and scary and weird things…I feel like there’s no like formula for songwriting…ideas are things that come to you at times when they’re supposed to, and you have to really just embrace that time and really fully roll with it. Just like soak it in when you can.”
Interview and photography by Indira Cesarine for The Untitled Magazine #GirlPower Issue
Fashion Editor: Indira Cesarine
Make-up by Tina Echeverri
Hair by Matthew Monzon
Pick up a print edition of the #GirlPower Issue today!
This article originally appeared in The #GirlPower Issue of The Untitled Magazine (2015).
