Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with Hovercraft

Hovercraft - On The Rocks

If "Shaken Not Stirred" represented sophisticated cocktail culture and elegant introductions, "On The Rocks" navigates difficult terrain - the experimental, the raw, the unresolved. This 12-track album showcases the darker, more alternative side of Charlie Pepper's songwriting, featuring re-imagined versions of tracks from the first album alongside previously unreleased material that pushes boundaries.

"This album goes deeper into the psychological complexity that made Hovercraft special," explains Marsden. "Charlie could write about addiction, mental health, and loss with both brutal honesty and sophisticated artistry. 'On The Rocks' honours that darkness without sugarcoating it."

"Anytime" - Driving guitar riffs and an infectious disco back-beat clash brilliantly with lyrics confessing cognitive dysfunction and disorientation. This reinvention proves that dark subject matter and dance-floor energy aren't mutually exclusive, delivering a track that's simultaneously unsettling and irresistibly catchy.

"Bob Bob Bob" - Devastating portrait of suicide, addiction, and small debts that outlive us. Four pounds fifty for a David Bowie record becomes symbol of connections too late to repair. Treats tragedy with dignity and compassion. Content Warning: Addresses suicide explicitly.

"My Own Little World" - An intimate indie folk devotional that builds from sparse, atmospheric piano and breathy vocals into a hypnotic meditation on love as sanctuary, and shimmering electric guitar countermelodies.

"Indie Kid" - A raw, high-energy punk rock track that nails the bittersweet tension between youthful rebellion and the inevitable disillusionment that comes with "knowing the score."

"Keep It Together" - A haunting indie pop meditation on regret and self-sabotage, featuring intimate, breathy vocals over sparse, shimmering guitar arpeggios that create an achingly vulnerable sonic space.

"Sweet Thing" - Disheveled intimacy and hopeful vulnerability in its messy, imperfect form. A melancholic indie-rock anthem that wraps universal feelings of inadequacy and hope in intimate, character-driven details, building from vulnerable verses to a cathartic reminder that time heals all wounds.

"White Limousine" - A darkly cinematic indie blues rock track that pairs atmospheric guitar textures with driving rhythms, building toward a haunting refrain about escape and disillusionment.

"Baby Blue" - A hypnotic, genre-blending journey featuring ragtime piano, country-inflected female vocals, and alternative dance rhythms that build from intimate storytelling to cinematic intensity. The result evokes a a female Jim Morrison leading The Doors through a landscape where jazz, soul, and Americana collide in service of a timeless narrative about escape and redemption.

Interview with Hovercraft

(º)> Can you explain the concept behind your AI reconstruction trilogy and how it reshapes Hovercraft’s 1996 catalog?

Ron: I don’t think there was a grand plan; we initially just wanted to hear the songs again. Gol had started the process of digitising the tapes years ago, but the quality of some of the audio was pretty scrappy to say the least.

With the advent of AI and specifically Suno, we saw an opportunity to recreate Hovercraft’s songs by inputting the lyrics and allowing AI to do its thing. The eureka moment came when we realised we could upload the original audio.

From there, the idea emerged that not only could we resurrect the songs for our own enjoymen,t but we could create the albums we’d always wanted to make and set them free. Everybody could then have their own personal Hovercraft!

(º)> How did the band approach transforming Charlie Pepper’s original songs while keeping their 1990s indie roots intact?

Ron: Hovercraft always had a collaborative ethos. Pepper brought the ideas, and we created the songs together. I think we’re keeping that spirit alive. We’ve never had any intention of “transforming” Pepper’s songs. Our intent was and is to make the songs accessible, retain the core feel, and reveal Pepper’s songwriting genius.

(º)> What makes “On The Rocks” darker and more experimental than “Shaken Not Stirred”?

Ron: Shaken Not Stirred sits quite firmly in the soundscapes of Jazz, Soul, and R&B. On The Rocks introduces a broader set of Hovercraft’s musical influences and ideas. It gets heavy, man!

Gol: On The Rocks has a much more contemporary indie sound to my ears, and the album acts as a bridge between Shaken Not Stirred and Blown Away. The direction of travel is from the past to the future, from light to dark.

(º)> How has the international press response shaped your approach to this release?

Ron: I don’t think it has.

Gol: Most of the work on this album was completed before we released Shaken Not Stirred. So it hasn't changed our musical approach at all. The whole music promotion stuff is completely new to us. The response is encouraging and did help me to think more about how and when to release the rest of the songs we have.

(º)> Can you describe the technical process of using AI to reconstruct the original recordings?

Gol: In the beginning, it was a matter of transcribing lyrics we'd never listened to and could barely hear from thirty-year-old dusty analog tape recordings (some of which are backwards and at half-speed), copying them into Suno and hoping for the best. The AI had maybe a 1% success record of creating something listenable (to our ears). Now we can actually upload our original songs, it still requires a lot of technical work to get them to this stage - converting analog to digital is painstakingly slow and cumbersome. Likewise, downloading and editing individual stems and then reuploading, mixing, and mastering takes time and skill, although it's much quicker and easier with the tools available now. The AI itself is getting more and more advanced and capable. We're getting better at using it - it's like learning to play a new instrument or how to get the best out of a mixing desk. But it's full of surprises and magic. Sometimes, the more you look for a certain sound or musical result, the harder it is to find. Sometimes the less you put in, the more you get out. It's art, not science!

(º)> How do you balance authenticity with modern production while staying true to the original songwriting?

Ron: You remain authentic by staying true to the original songwriting, which is what I believe we’ve done. AI, as a production tool, has allowed us to create beautiful soundscapes that would have been unattainable without having a massive budget and access to a high-end recording studio.

(º)> Which track on “On The Rocks” do you feel best captures the emotional core of the AI reconstruction project?

Ron: Sweet Thing

Gol: My Own Little World

(º)> How has fan engagement, like the 16.9% save rate, influenced your promotion or creative decisions?

Ron: I don’t think we’re influenced by much outside of our desire to release Hovercraft’s music and keep Pepper’s spirit alive. I don’t even know what a 16.9% save rate is. Is that a good thing?

Gol: 16.9% save rate is insane. Where did you get that from?!

(º)> Can you share any challenges or surprises encountered while resurrecting Charlie Pepper’s music?

Ron: Pepper has always surprised, enthralled, and challenged me.

Gol: The hardest part was getting his lyrics right. He always wanted the music front and centre. I always thought he had a great, soulful voice, but I think maybe he wasn't so confident about it. We have some of his original lyric sheets still, but like his hero Bob Dylan, he often sang different words. Another challenge was getting his vocal phrasing right. Very Dylanesque, and I often had to rewrite lyrics phonetically and in the form of a poem so the AI would get it right. The biggest surprises were hearing how amazing the songs sound in different musical styles and loving them, reading Pepper's heartbreaking lyrics for the first time, hearing his wit and wisdom, his little jokes, and wondering if we could have done more if only we'd heard all of this thirty years ago.

(º)> Where do you see the trilogy culminating with “Blown Away,” and what can listeners expect from the final chapter?

Ron: Well, answering that question would be forcing a closure, and I don’t want to be a spoiler! The real “Final Chapter” would be finding Pepper; that’s the real story.

Gol: Originally, I thought Blown Away would be an album of cast-offs, out-takes, and off-cuts that were too dark, too explicit, too raw for public consumption. But the truth is, the songs are too good to keep to ourselves. They're very emotional. And the AI has somehow captured it all and created something really beautiful. It's definitely something to look forward to.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out Hovercraft on the Pigeon Spins Playlist