The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Indie pop, noise pop, shoegazing, synthpop
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Slumberland, Fortuna Pop!, PIAS, Painbow
Associated acts	The Depreciation Guild, The Drums, Ice Choir, Ablebody, Fear of Men
Website	thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com
Members	Kip Berman
Past members	Peggy Wang Kurt Feldman Alex Naidus

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an American indie pop band from New York City, formed in 2007. The band currently centers around founding member and principal songwriter Kip Berman (vocals, guitar). Live he is joined by Christoph Hochheim (guitar), Jen Goma (keyboards, vocals), Jacob Sloan (bass) and Anton Hochheim (drums). Former members and contributors include Peggy Wang (keyboards, vocals),Connor Hanwick, Kurt Feldman and Alex Naidus.

Their first album was a self-released EP, released in 2007. The release was distributed by Painbow – a record label created by the band. Their debut self-titled full-length album was released on February 3, 2009 via Slumberland Records, a personal favorite label of the band's. Their name comes from an unpublished children's story of the same title. A friend of Kip Berman wrote the story, which revolves around "realising what matters most in life – things like friendship and having a good time". The group's self-titled album peaked at number nine on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. In 2009, they released Higher Than the Stars, their second EP. The band's second record, entitled Belong, was released in 2011.

The third Pains of Being Pure at Heart album, Days of Abandon, was released in May 2014.

Kip Berman, lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter grew up in Philadelphia, but moved to Portland, Oregon where he lived for several years. Berman played in numerous bands during that time. After finishing his college degree at Reed College, he moved to New York City. When working a job, he met Alex Naidus. The two bonded over their adoration for music, and their similar upbringing. Bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, The Field Mice, Black Tambourine, and Nirvana helped to establish the two as friends. Soon after, the trio played at the birthday party of friend and bandmate Peggy Wang. According to the musicians, they played "five songs in ten minutes, and the song names were longer than the songs". Using a backing track as a drummer, half of this setlist helped formulate the debut album.