There’s a relentlessly brooding power and bruised melodicism emanating from the Pack A.D.’s sixth full-length, Positive Thinking (Cadence), that belies the album’s cheery self-help title. Drummer Maya Miller admits that she and guitarist Becky Black intended a certain irony in the LP’s nomenclature. “It’s facetiously hopeful, which pretty much sums up our band.” says Miller. The Pack A.D. has always been foundationally blues based, with a detour into poppier territory on Do Not Engage. Over the past few albums, though, the band actively shifted toward psych rock, a major thread in the fabric of Positive Thinking. Miller will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our feature on the band.
Miller: I think my thrifting has become an obsession. I think I have made my bandmate, Becky, similarly obsessed. I have planned entire sections of tours around thrift-store stops. I have no regret about this, even when it means a constantly changing tetris pack in the van to accommodate all our gear and all the new-found treasures. Becky did impose a limit to my growing pile of VHS movies recently, as, admittedly, it did take up a lot more room then some other things, but I allowed that she wasn’t wrong. It’s not important whether I score something every time, because it’s ultimately the thrill of the hunt. I literally get butterflies in my stomach as we pull up to one. Plus, we all should be reducing, reusing, recycling. It’s the least we can do. Thrift stores are the future.
