Freezing toilets, fun and FOMO: Life on the road with PVRIS’ Lyndsey Gunnulfsen

PVRIS are great. But if you’ve never seen them live before, then you’re missing Lyndsey Gunnulfsen “doing something stupid onstage pretty much every night”…

“It used to be my laptop, but now I’ve moved over to my iPad. I use it to plan on, organise on, to be productive on, research, use the internet, to stream shows and movies… I can even make music on it. There’s some limitations, but that makes it more fun and creative.”

“We had some shows opening for a certain artist – who I will not mention – and several of our crew flew from overseas and then everybody else and myself flew across America for a rehearsal. On the first day of the rehearsal, we were informed that this artist would no longer have us or any of the other openers on the shows. The reasoning I will not state but it was… interesting, to put it kindly.”

“When we performed on an American military base in Okinawa, Japan a couple of years ago. It was strange, but not necessarily in a bad way. I don’t think anybody knew why we were there and vice-versa, but everybody was enjoying it. It was interesting and strange, but it was pleasant.”

“Resting when you can is ideal, especially on show days. Also, embracing the quiet moments throughout the day because you don’t get a lot of them – anything you can do to de-stress and nourish your brain creatively. On off-days, we try to sightsee or shop, walk around the cities that we’re in, but sometimes you’re really tired and you just want to rest. However, I get major FOMO, so I always spend our off-days out in the cities walking around, which is really fun.”

“First I’ll start with every toilet in the UK and Europe. They’re always freezing. Not as in the toilet seat itself, but the room it is actually in – it’s always freezing cold and that’s never fun! Secondly, any type of toilet where you have to squat low to the ground or pay to use, I’m not a fan of that.”

“In the U.S. it’s Sheetz. There’s debate around whether Sheetz or Wawa are better, but I’m a big Sheetz fan. They have a great variety of snacks and you can custom order sandwiches, salads and wraps. We’ve been to some really beautiful ones in Germany and Sweden that are clean and have really healthy food options. And they have giant windows which make it feel like you’re in a hotel lobby and not a service station.”

“Just like a sports locker room. It reminded me of my ice hockey days, but they were warm and not smelling of feet. Supporting Fall Out Boy there in 2016 was great, and terrifying as well. At that point in our career everything was happening really fast, at a pace that I personally didn’t feel ready for, but that being said, it was great.”

“The last three or four songs. I don’t mean that as in I don’t like playing live, but by then you’re warmed up, and everybody is locked in onstage and offstage. It does feel like those last moments of celebrating, and then you know you get to relax and not be stressed for the last 15 or 20 minutes. It’s a good celebration before you say goodbye. I don’t know if that sounds bad, but I definitely love that moment because by then my adrenaline is down and I’m not as terrified to be on the stage as much, and everything is really warmed up.”

“Last night? Literally every night I say something stupid (laughs). The other night I accidentally implied that being 40 was an ancient age, so that was a good one. I also mentioned shaving my legs during our London show. And I keep saying ‘yee-haw’ – I can’t be stopped doing that. One night I followed up that ‘yee-haw’ by walking onto the stage like The Grinch. So yeah, pretty much every night something stupid comes out of my mouth or my body.”

PVRIS play Slam Dunk Festival this weekend. This article originally appeared in the spring issue of the magazine.

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