tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233593671926048732024-03-20T04:51:13.681-07:00nightseminar - music interviewsmusic/band interviews: Justin K. Broadrick (Jesu/Godflesh/Final), Steve Von Till (Neurosis), Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), Arlie Carstens (Juno/Ghost Wars), Will Brooks (Dälek), Alex John Hall (Grails), Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo, Mothlite, Miasma, Aethenor, Grumblin' Fur). Upcoming interviews: 31knots, Trevor de Brauw, Laurent Lebec (Pelican), Gared O'Donnell, Mike Ricketts, Chuck French, Neil Keener (Planes Mistaken For Stars), Jelle De Cremer, Jan Matthé (White Circle Crime Club) and many more.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-88563073130786880192015-04-19T05:41:00.003-07:002015-04-22T08:17:12.975-07:00Interview with Gared O'Donnell, Planes Mistaken For Stars, August 2006<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I recently visited a <a href="http://wovenhandband.com/" target="_blank">Wovenhand</a> concert and met Chuck French and Neil Keener who currently form 50% of Wovenhand, beside their involvement in their own band, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GitSomeBand" target="_blank">Git Some</a> and their past with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planes_Mistaken_for_Stars" target="_blank">Planes Mistaken For Stars</a>. I was glad to meet them because it also reminded me of the fact that I still have an interview with Gared, the singer, in the vaults somewhere that needs to be published in written form. That interview is pretty old by now. I made it in August 2006, made the radio show and forgot about it. Many things have happened since then. Planes Mistaken For Stars released Mercy, their last album, before breaking up in 2008. But Chuck and Neil told me that Planes Mistaken For Stars are back together, re-releasing Mercy on Deathwish and working on a new album and tour. Good news, all around and about time I write down that interview, so here we go.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVFGi1bRc1HfetrShbwoQ_83AF19xLDaO-agka90kcS1QCCSYlGE9Uo9NWWPv62Cu2UEwu81MVLazhX99DMKXpZ67dAcmfDtK9FPbfsDyV6bdn3fV0AYyA6EDAZhaUFcWvMKQdLUBQjU/s1600/pmfs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVFGi1bRc1HfetrShbwoQ_83AF19xLDaO-agka90kcS1QCCSYlGE9Uo9NWWPv62Cu2UEwu81MVLazhX99DMKXpZ67dAcmfDtK9FPbfsDyV6bdn3fV0AYyA6EDAZhaUFcWvMKQdLUBQjU/s1600/pmfs.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From l.t.r.: Gared O'Donnell,
Mike Ricketts, me, Chuck French and Neil Keener, August 12., 2006<br />(Photo: S.R.)</span></i></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
R.:<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuX_ujiMeIc&list=PLEFA34C5BB61DD718" target="_blank">Up In ThemGuts</a> had a real good flow as an album. What can we expect from Mercy?</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell: I think the
new album has a pretty good flow to it. It’s got more songs that stand on their
own than Up In Them Guts. Up In Them Guts really was…a piece…from start to
finish. The new record is like that in some respects but in another respects it
kind of has songs that you could remove from the record and put on a 7”. I
think it’s a nice balance between Up In Them Guts and some of the older stuff.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: You were
supposed to tour with <a href="http://convergecult.com/" target="_blank">Converge</a> but that didn’t happen. What happened?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: There was just a bunch of stuff happening. Chuck’s daughter was being born, so
he wasn’t going to be able to do the tour. We called up </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jamie Drier - our old bass
player - to fill in. It was going to be nice because we never really had much
closure – there wasn’t a last tour with him. So when we went to get him we got
a call from his mother that his dad was dying. Obviously we scrapped the tour.
We had to cancel the tour because of births and deaths… [laughter] The two
biggest reasons you could possibly have. We were gutted… no, we’re gutted about
it now because at that time we didn’t think about the tour too much. We got
our own stuff to deal with. But it’s a bummer because Converge are old friends
of ours and they were one of the first bands that took us out on tour. Right
when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck_with_Fire" target="_blank">Fuck With Fire</a> came out. It was us, Converge, American Nightmare and Hope
Conspiracy. It was a great time. I wouldn’t rule it out. We’re probably going
to be here with them next time or in the near future. We are very like-minded.
We’re not the same sonically but I think that our approach is very similar, our
attitude about what we do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Did deaths and births influence the new record then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: Every
record that we write is like a time capsule. It is supposed to be a document of
that time, of the surroundings. I strife to just be as honest as possible. For
prosperity’s sake. The records are supposed to be kind of like a journal for a
period in our life. <i>Up In Them Guts</i> was about the three years between <i>Fuck With
Fire</i> and<i> Up In Them Guts</i> and now <i>Mercy</i> is about that time period between <i>Up In
Them Guts</i> and now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Could you
tell me something about your process of writing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: It’s a
mixed bag. Sometime we’ll have the song first and then we tailor the lyrics
around it. I always have a ton of stuff written. Until I hear the song the
lyrics aren’t finished. I think it is very important – and I think not many
people try to do this anymore – to tailor a song around a mood or a feeling. I
think it is very important that the lyrics fit with more sonic aspects. We all
just come to the table with what we have and it kind of falls together.
Sometimes it doesn’t fall together. Sometimes it’s an uphill battle to get the
song right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: So what influences you as a band while writing an album?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell: Just Life, living,
Whiskey, Sex... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mike Ricketts: Whatever I
listen to or am into at that time I try to draw from it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">...humility, humanity.</span>.. The whole process of breathing. [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: So what
were you listening to in the tour bus today?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chuck French: We were
listening to Marvin Gaye today. And...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell: ...Thin Lizzy.
Neil Young. Curtis Mayfield.... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chuck French: ...New Model Army. Jesus Lizard.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell:</span> Mostly old
stuff. There’s not a whole lot of new stuff that we collectively listen to. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mike Ricketts: A few
things here and there but…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell: Few and far
between. I just
don’t know what it is...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Neil Keener: They
don’t make Rock’n’Roll like they used to. [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared O'Donnell: Yeah. That's what it is. [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: In a lot of
interviews I heard that bands that play loud or heavy music just like to relax
in the tour bus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: The general
feeling that I get these days is that all the bands that we listen to were
their own entity. They didn’t come from the same cookie cutter. I think a lot
of contemporary music <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- whether it’s
punk rock, or hardcore, or whether it’s pop music - people instead of doing
their own thing and trying to be inspirational and trying to be inspired they
are trying to be successful. The main goal of older bands and bands that we
really respect and love was that they didn’t want to play music they have to.
And that is where we’re coming from. Their goal was to be creative and to have
that catharsis, to exorcise those demons. If success came along with that, then
that’s even better. That’s great. I would love to make a living doing this. But
I’m not gonna fucking compromise. If we wanted to sound like – you name it – we
probably could. Mikey’s an amazing drummer. There’s nobody better than Mikey in
my eyes. The hard thing is to do your own thing. Sometimes it is frustrating
‘cause you see so many people who have achieved certain levels of success. And
you’re like: “Why?” They sound just like… whatever band. You pick it. How many
bands do we need that sound exactly like… well I’m not gonna name names…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Please do! [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: No. But you
see what I’m saying. The stuff that we listen to are people that stood alone
and did their own thing. Like The Jesus Lizard, for example. Name a band that
sounds like the Jesus Lizard. Besides the Birthday Party. Jesus Lizard sounds
like The Birthday Party. But that’s a different story. That’s me being a record
geek. I could go on. [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Do you all
live in the same city? Is it easy making music together?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: Yeah, yeah.
It’s not hard and it’s not necessarily easy because we all have families. When
we’re at home we all do our own things but we also hang out. You kind of have
to remove yourself from that not becoming your identity. Or you just end up
being a creep. [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Do you see
yourselves in a certain genre?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: We’re a
Rock’n’Roll band. Just a Rock’n’Roll band. It’s just Rock. Why limit yourself
to a genre? Especially if you’re talking about Punkrock and Hardcore it’s such
a limited and limiting genre. You only have so much of a window to work with
and if you’re straight out of that window you’re not Punkrock, you’re not Hardcore.
With those things it has a lot more to do with style than substance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mike Ricketts: It
goes back to those bands that are rehashing what’s already been done. If you
try to tailor yourself to a certain genre, or try to be a certain style, then
you’re not being true to yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
me, music should be as honest as possible. You shouldn’t try to limit yourself
by genres. It’s really hard being inside a band and trying to label yourself
because it kind of defeats the purpose, you know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: If you
want, make a wish for a song to be played on my show.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gared: I
would say, play Gentleman by Afghan Wigs. That’s a great song.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chuck: I’d
say, Bad Reputation by Thin Lizzy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.: Why?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chuck:
Because it fucking rips! [laughter]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Neil: I
would say Cortez the Killer by Neil Young.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mike:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first song off Deep Purple in Rock. It’s
one of the best songs ever. And Two Headed-Dog by Roky Erickson and the Aliens.</span><br />
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<br />R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-58470070634668419852012-09-30T12:09:00.001-07:002012-10-01T04:37:36.873-07:00Interview with Felix from Murmuüre, September 2012<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://murmuure.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Murmuüre </a>is the name chosen for an album that was based on an one hour guitar improvisation recorded in November 2006. The distorted guitars buried in this album make it prone to be categorized as Black Metal. However, with a much more organic sound than any traditional Black Metal band this album is a multilayered cinematic experience that resists being easily categorized. Felix, the man behind Murmuüre reveals how the sound of a 500 year old astronomical clock made it onto the album and tells us about the instinctive process of making it. Finally, he also revealed some good news for people eagerly awaiting more music from him...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5DZ4rCaSs6Y5HBiQvqZMz8UFp_Tvh5AxutsSvEMUxDyXyVjq86613MxuXegD2nJO_Z1eStW1HFtWQQ8BHBnpdBG2GZhnDMs_ulO_wbNdk3esq6tlZVCB9lwwtvza_b31zVIpXAiWCF8/s1600/felix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5DZ4rCaSs6Y5HBiQvqZMz8UFp_Tvh5AxutsSvEMUxDyXyVjq86613MxuXegD2nJO_Z1eStW1HFtWQQ8BHBnpdBG2GZhnDMs_ulO_wbNdk3esq6tlZVCB9lwwtvza_b31zVIpXAiWCF8/s640/felix.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Felix from Murmuüre</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">(photo: unknown</span><span style="font-style: italic;">)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
R.: First of I wanted to ask you
something about your personal background. Where are you from? Did you
have a particular musical upbringing?<br />
<br />
Felix: I don't feel yet like I belong anywhere at all, but I've spent most of my life in the south-west of France.<br />
The only "musical upbringing" I can remember is learning how to play "Seek
And Destroy" on guitar, haha, so that sums it up to nothing. I'm
self-taught and don't know much about music theory, I'm learning things
in that field, but very slowly.<br />
<br />
R.: What was the initial idea behind Murmuüre? What’s the history behind this record and what are the core ideas behind the music?<br />
<br />
<br />
Felix: In the early 2000's I played in a hardcore punk band (doesn't matter
which one), it was fine until I got aural damage on tour in Germany and
grew utterly disgusted and bored with the scene and genre, even with the
whole guitar/bass/drums thing. From then on I tried doing strictly
electronic music (in a field close to what was once labelled "glitch"
music and has since faded away), but eventually it ended up being pretty
boring and sterile as well. So Murmuüre was almost an instinctive,
animalistic reaction, a return to some sorts of "roots". The whole
guitar improvisation the record is based on must carry some of these
years of musical frustration, breaking free from it. The original idea
was to make something suffocatingly organic, that would literally feel
like having your mouth full of earth ; I think the desire emerged after I
watched that movie, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fadhsuINHfk" target="_blank">Begotten</a>". Then the thing evolved and I added more
colors, more coldness and more structure. I played around a lot of
ideas: the cycle of seasons, the cycle of life, the earliest archetypal
gods, etc… and did all sorts of experimental sorcery inside and around
the record. It's a mess, I don't want to stick too much definitions or
restrictive concepts on it, you have to figure it out for yourself.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Murmuüre cover artwork</span></div>
<br />
R.: Where does the name Murmuüre come from?<br />
<br />
Felix: In the "Goetia" book of demonology there's a demon called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_%28demon%29" target="_blank">murmur, or murmuur</a>. Since I thought there were probably 15 metal bands with that
name already, I added an "e" (murmure is french for whisper) and an
optional umlaut just to make sure, and to annoy people (I smile whenever
I see that someone bothered typing the umlaut). That's a stupid and
uninteresting story ; I guess every metal band should have one attached
to its name though.<br />
<br />
R.: What is the meaning of the phrase "Que les masques tombent" in the context of the album?<br />
<br />
Felix: To make it short, it means nothing in the context of the album, and everything in terms of life in general.<br />
<br />
R.:<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469593" style="background-color: red;"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469592"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469591"><span style="background-color: white;">Could you please elaborate on that? What do you think it means in terms of life in general?</span></span></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469592" style="font-weight: bold;"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469591" style="font-style: italic;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
Felix: I think everybody is living and behaving like a robot ; our thoughts,
tastes and reactions are not our own, they are dictated by bad habits
and emotions who themselves are almost always useless perturbations. We
have no chance of reaching reality and seeing it for what it is, without
an immense effort by proven means. What I call "masks" is all the lies
we've created to keep feeling comfortable despite our constant
contradictions and destructive behaviour. The phrase also applied to the
rulers and propaganda of the western world, but I have no illusion left
on that part : people get exactly what they want and what they deserve.<br />
<br />
R.: I don't think that your album is connected to any
particular genre. Others would categorize it as ambient black metal or something like
that. What do you think? Does it belong to Black Metal?<br />
<br />
Felix: In my opinion it does somehow ; if I didn't want to be associated with
that genre I wouldn't have used distorted guitars and that kind of
things at all. More than that, doing black metal or at least my own
version of it was the only purpose of Murmuure. At the time I was also
into a lot of non-metal bands that played with that neo-romantic,
pseudo-"anti-modern" aesthetic ; I thought there was something to be
done there, that could carry more sunlight, colors and "tradition" than
the usual nordic, corpse-paint panoply. It ended up being more deep and
personal than just a crossbreed of genres or whatever, I suppose.<br />
<br />
R.: <span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469608"><span style="background-color: white;"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469607"><span id="yui_3_2_0_1_1349024789469606">Do
you think that traditional, Nordic Black Metal bands failed to "grow
up"? In a sense many artists who started within this genre that
presented something new ended up repeating a formula.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
Felix: <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="yiv362069811Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">It's hard to talk about this subject without falling into pointless rants… </span></span>A
"grown up black metal" probably wouldn't be black metal at all anymore…
I think naïvety is a good thing, the whole worship of nature and
pre-christian things, the almost expressionist aesthetic, all things
borrowed to DIY punk, the references to krautrock (Tangerine Dream,
Klaus Schulze, etc) that were there "from the beginning" in Norway, all
of those things allow many possibilities. But I guess most musicians in
any sub-genre of rock are alienated somehow, they always resurrect the
same awful formulas, codes and uniforms. There's something militaristic
and fascist about shitty music…Most people are content with that kind of
things because it's comfortable. They want to stay forever in a loop,
in what seems to me like the groovy soundtrack to a capitalist
nightmare… Always repeating the past without ever taking any risk,
always following the same mental habits and patterns, this is
regressive.<br />
<br />
R.: On your blog you described yourself as an “ex-punk”. What kind of
music do you listen to and what bands or albums do you consider as an
influence?<br />
<br />
Felix: The only band that I still listen to since 1993 or 1994, and will always
influence me, is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Ra2bxZsGk" target="_blank">Coil</a>. Other than that, I don't know, things that I
like come and pass. Maybe there's also the David Bowie / Brian Eno thing
; whenever I do something that vaguely reminds me of the b-side of
"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9YX4t-t3i4" target="_blank">Low</a>" (their 1977 album), I think "ok, this is good". Someday I would
really like to go past all reference to occidental pop/rock though, but
I'm not sure it's very realistic.<br />
<br />
R.: From the samples that you incorporated on the album I have recognized
the opening from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRV9vLNs8Zs" target="_blank">Carmina Burana</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-w5O1Zcqp0" target="_blank">the final song by Paul Giovanni from the Wicker Man soundtrack</a>. What other outside sources have made it
into the album? What was the reason you decided to use these?<br />
<br />
Felix: You're the first person that I know of to recognize "The Wicker Man"
extract. One other sample is the bell melody at the very end of "<a href="http://murmuure.bandcamp.com/track/ladieu-au-soleil" target="_blank">L'Adieu Au Soleil</a>". It comes from a french movie called "L'horloger de
Saint-Paul" ; I don't know why I included this one, but the strange
thing is that shortly after the album was released, I randomly visited a
church in Lyon and the same melody started ringing as I entered. It
actually comes from a unique, 500 years old astronomical clock - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLOiE0x6pkg" target="_blank">the very same one that was featured in the film</a>. Aside of that, the reasons
for using samples are multiple: symbolic cannibalism, "historical"
reference, transmission of images and ideas, and it also has to do with
the desire to make a "naive, mentally 12 years old, metal demo tape" -
in that state of mind, using recognizable samples was ok. I wouldn't do
it the same way in another context.<br />
<br />
R.: What do you think of the record today, two years after its release?
Since you stated that there won’t be a sophomore album by Murmuüre, do
you consider it as a reference point of your state of mind and interests
at that time?<br />
<br />
Felix: Well, I never felt truly fulfilled by this project, since I always
viewed black metal as a quite nerdy and teenager thing, but after I
completed it I realized it's the best and most sincere music I've ever
done. It opened a lot of doors in my head, encouraged me to be more free
and spontaneous, more "spiritual", and to get rid of musical irony and
musical trends as a mask. If I ever decide to release something else
with Murmuüre, it should be more straightforward and closer to a real
metal sound than the selftitled, and feature a few cover songs. Time
will tell if it's worth it - I change my mind everyday about it,
depending on my mood.<br />
<br />
R.: Are you involved in any other musical projects now or will you be in the future?<br />
<br />
Felix: I'm working on a one-hour long album since a year or so, in-between
problems in my life which is a mess. Hopefully it should carry
everything I've been trying to achieve musically since 15 years. It
won't have any distorted guitars or metal/hardcore influences in it, and
will be released under another moniker. Murmuüre was only an appetizer. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://murmuure.bandcamp.com/">http://murmuure.bandcamp.com</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://murmuure.blogspot.com/">http://murmuure.blogspot.com</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://murmuure.org/">http://murmuure.org</a></div>
</div>
R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-72561831271263971312012-03-30T02:32:00.016-07:002012-04-04T02:30:03.828-07:00Interview with Matt Elliott, March 2012<span style="font-family:arial;">Matt Elliott is a musician from Bristol who lives in Nancy. After making music with Flying Saucer Attack and his electronic music project The Third Eye Foundation he began releasing records under his birth name. His music is strongly influenced by Eastern European folk music. Yet, limiting the description to this influence would underestimate the emotional strength and beauty Elliott carries with his voice and music. 2012 saw the release of his latest album 'The Broken Man' (mixed by Yann Tiersen), a record that explores one mans descent reflecting the frustrations and sadness experienced in his own life. The profound result is a record that is bound to touch us all.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9V5Wgx48aareJzlEtxNshmecSzWBNO2pACw5UE1i24xjAYuLREIAO-C8WwGpcL85FwmoD1mRaAjACrfvXcn3M_sOLNQJYNgM-0hqBnttpESKCJI1GCpnv2u1rhvOkKlqnJJe6SvVzDk/s1600/mattphoto3.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9V5Wgx48aareJzlEtxNshmecSzWBNO2pACw5UE1i24xjAYuLREIAO-C8WwGpcL85FwmoD1mRaAjACrfvXcn3M_sOLNQJYNgM-0hqBnttpESKCJI1GCpnv2u1rhvOkKlqnJJe6SvVzDk/s400/mattphoto3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727473599525214130" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Matt Elliott</span><br style="font-style: italic;"></div><br />R.: Your latest album 'The Broken Man' has been pre-released by Ici d'ailleurs as a 2 Euro digital download as a means to prevent it to be leaked early. Whose idea was this and how did it work out?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Well it was largely my idea, I think mp3 downloads are far too expensive and it is why many people download illegally. In fact the reaction was very positive from outside the industry, most responses from within the industry said it would make no difference, in fact it did, I had a release date for the first time in years, the album wasn't leaked illegally for days if not weeks and the fucker that uploaded it was a fucking journalist. For me you have to offer people a choice, most people, myself included can't afford to spend so much money on music and an mp3 album is only exchanging information, you simply cannot charge the same for information as you can for a piece of vinyl or a CD which is a physical thing. But the vinyl editions also had a very positive response, Ici d'ailleurs were pretty forward thinking with their approach.<br /><br /><br />R.: I agree with you that digital downloads are too expensive and I believe that the way you did it fits more with the way people listen to and buy music today. However, with the ongoing conflict between the music industry and illegal downloaders in mind - what's your opinion on all this?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Yes, well there is a realisation that the music industry largely doesn't like, that you cannot dictate how people buy and listen to music. Perhaps it is too little too late but at least we realise that people listen to music how they want and if you don't give them the music how they want to consume it, they can get it easily for free and in a way it is a good thing, generally the internet is a good and bad thing for musicians. It's good in that my music is all over the world, most people with a computer and a connection to the internet can hear my music. Ultimately music is a form of expression, something you wish to share so in that respect it has never been easier to communicate with so many people. The downside is obviously my label gets fucked, they are the ones that pay for the recordings (which are expensive even when we are not too extravagant) and it is one of my greatest fears because I love working with my label, they do a great job and with the best of intentions, that said if we continue to keep thinking about how best to keep everyone happy, as far as how they want to actually get the music then hopefully we can survive. The internet has also forced musicians to work harder which is a good thing, you have to perform well and do a show that will impress people and again that is healthy but frankly it is getting harder and harder to survive and it's not so much for me that I worry but for younger people, I'm glad and lucky that I started music when I did, I would hate to be a struggling young musician these days...<br />I don't mind that people download my music illegally so much but I don't like the fashionable attitude that it is quite fine to download everything illegally, that in a way you are owed entertainment for free and that musicians should be happy to be musicians. I don't like to complain because my job is largely wonderful and I'm very lucky and privileged to be able to do what I do but it is also a lot of work. Touring for example is exhausting and stressful, a lot of time and effort and of course money goes into writing and recording the music, so someone has to pay for it. My attitude is that if you enjoy listening to music you should pay what you can afford towards at least some artists, because without money the more interesting music will slip by and we'll be left only with what is financially viable to make, in a word x factor karaoke re hashings of old songs.<br /><br /><br />R.: You could be described as a “true European”: your music has Eastern European and Southern European influences, you were born in Great Britain, yet you live in France. What does Europe mean to you?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Well my attitude to all countries is that nationality means very little, it's where your parents fucked (as Bill Hicks said) and that is all. In my opinion all countries are shit for different reasons, all countries are run by corrupt businessmen with a police force ready to turn on their people in the blink of an eye, all countries see their citizens as potential criminals and it is a damning indictment on the modern political model, there are good and bad people of all nationalities and patriotism and nationalism is such a backward way of thinking that it is quite meaningless to me as a concept. That said of course I'm lucky to spend my time travelling Europe. It is quite unique because it is where many cultures meet which makes its cultural history very interesting and you can travel 100 km and the language and everything else is completely different. There is such a wealth of culture here that it would take many lifetimes to absorb just the last few centuries.<br /><br /><br />R.: To me, the 'Song' trilogy sounds very much influenced by Eastern European music and you already mentioned in different interviews that you love e.g., traditional Romanian music. What do you find fascinating about such music?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Well after a lifetime of the standard song formula found in 90% of music released in the west in the second half of the last century, hearing songs based on different scales and structures is of course like a world opening up. Folk music from around the world tends to be more expressive and in a way pure because it is generally music made with the best of intentions, to tell a story or to share an emotion or just to get people dancing. I'm fascinated by all music that has emotional content, it is what separates good and bad music for me.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VWRdCSomWgqEOF8yInBXaN9_b7UuCIjZnm1F9A2KizyAbArOcDqVZ6hU_NT2FUwybzGCOLf2GxEEK649tgmgoFnRpS4nOCCYThyphenhyphenYp2-oPeul3yYlhAsfSdnwgaFquE4WkEV2G15k1rA/s1600/ourweightinoil.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VWRdCSomWgqEOF8yInBXaN9_b7UuCIjZnm1F9A2KizyAbArOcDqVZ6hU_NT2FUwybzGCOLf2GxEEK649tgmgoFnRpS4nOCCYThyphenhyphenYp2-oPeul3yYlhAsfSdnwgaFquE4WkEV2G15k1rA/s400/ourweightinoil.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725650718756845874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Lyrics to the Song 'Our Weight In Oil'</span><br style="font-style: italic;"></div><br />R.: Revolts all over Europe and the Arab world are still going on, the financial crisis is still not overcome and governments are cutting people’s rights more and more every day. Do you still see a chance of a real change of the current situation?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Yes because I believe we are fast approaching breaking point, the point at which ordinary people will say 'enough is enough' people as you've pointed out are already doing it in different ways all over the world, and our politicians are too short term thinking to see that at any point in history where there was such a gap between rich and poor there has been a revolt. Now we have access to a lot of information, anyone can check their information, anyone can join the dots and see the facts as they are, that democracy is a farce, little more than theatre to indulge us. It makes very little difference which of the central parties we 'vote' in because they all work for the same people with the same agenda. Democracy is more than just a vote every 4 or 5 years, it should be the right to free lifelong education and free information, democracy can only work when people are informed. On the bright side more and more people everyday are starting to realise that this system is a con to rob us of our time and resources.<br /><br /><br />R.: In an interview from 2011 you said that this year would probably bring some interesting changes. What did you mean by that? Do you see these changes happening?<br /><br />Matt Elliott: Well yes as I mentioned there are plenty of changes going on and this summer will be even more interesting. People are finding it harder and harder just to exist even though they are working harder and harder. This has a terrible affect on people and as I said before it won't be long until people start to break under the pressure. Last year we saw full blown revolutions, myriad protests from spontaneous riots in England, to the ongoing protests in Greece, peaceful demonstrations all over the US, what can only be described as Police Brutality in Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, of course Greece in fact all over the world. These protests won't go away, they will build more and more, many tactics will be used from peaceful and not so peaceful, in a way it has to happen, the conglomerate that runs this world or corporatocracy has taken the piss too much.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-10133733943224240472010-01-16T17:53:00.000-08:002010-01-16T19:52:38.691-08:00Interview with Dana Schechter from Bee and Flower, January 2010<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/beeandflower">Bee and Flower</a>'s Dana Schechter is an ever busy person. Between writing songs for the new album and working as a freelance animation artist she luckily found some time to do an interview for this blog. In the following detailed interview Dana Schechter took a personal look on the first two albums, the similarities and differences between Berlin and NYC, the upcoming third album and more. Read on... </span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUBrRPdKtj5E_9ox6thKNDWczZzeXMgye4hDV3xE5MJKHukY2ymbdn565H4qzo9i1qGFx3wwdyprmyXYeRJpDlkEaB8K6cPTmZMlnF9HwtbWuGPCYVQVY3y4hJkjDrO95aiy0DB4nK9M/s1600-h/Dana_Schechter_Bee_and_Flower.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUBrRPdKtj5E_9ox6thKNDWczZzeXMgye4hDV3xE5MJKHukY2ymbdn565H4qzo9i1qGFx3wwdyprmyXYeRJpDlkEaB8K6cPTmZMlnF9HwtbWuGPCYVQVY3y4hJkjDrO95aiy0DB4nK9M/s400/Dana_Schechter_Bee_and_Flower.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427529605632208738" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Dana Schechter</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(photo by </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Waldemar Brzezinski)</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">R.: First off, I wanted to ask you about Bee & Flower’s band members, which have changed from the first album <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000084T2Y?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">“What’s Mine Is Yours”</a>, to your second album <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000M05UOO?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">“Last Sight of Land”</a>. I guess that was also due to your move to Berlin. Can you maybe tell me something about what motivated your relocation to Berlin and who was and is involved in the band?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: The move to Berlin wasn't intended to be permanent. Before that plan came up, things had changed; after making <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000084T2Y?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"What's Mine Is Yours"</a> our original drummer (Ani Cordero, who I started the band with) left to pursue her own band; and over time the group somewhat dissolved due to bandmembers being unavailable for long time stretches due to other commitments, because in New York everyone is in at least 2 or 3 bands. This became increasingly frustrating to me - we were at a standstill - but now I can see that going through that instilled in me the idea that you can't stop, even if those you used to rely on are not around. And since then, Bee and Flower have worked with so many musicians...the only one who has remained constant is Roderick Miller (keyboards).<br />The idea to work in Berlin came from Toby Dammit. We had played together (drums and bass, respectively) in several projects (<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:j9fwxq9jldke">Angels of Light</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3ifrxqljldke">Bertrand Burgalat</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hvftxqrjldfe">April March</a>) and enjoyed working together. The first collaboration was his remix/edit/tracking (vibes, percssion, etc) for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toENaCy_u1I">"I Know Your Name"</a>, for the video by Josh Graham, and I liked how he worked.<br />Toby had been working in Berlin with Ingo Krauss (engineer) and had a whole plan envisioned; I told him that if he produced the record, I'd go for his idea. At that point he hadn't produced much beyond his own projects, which were amazing; and I felt that Toby was (and is) one of the most pure talents, so inspired...just brilliant. I had all the songs written but I was creatively stuck due to the recent 'breaking' of the original band and I was ready for something totally different. I really had nothing to lose and everything to gain.<br />The plan was to record for 3 months, with the core band (myself, Roderick Miller, and Toby Dammit), plus Thomas Wydler (from Nick Cave/Bad Seeds) on drums. The basic tracking went fairly quickly, but once beyond that, it was clear it'd take longer - we were still writing and planning the accompanying music to the songs I'd written. The idea was very ambitious, which I credit in very large part to Toby, to make a record that broke our normal "band" mold, to make something bizarre, beautiful, and completely different from our first album (<a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000084T2Y?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">What's Mine Is Yours</a>)...heavily orchestrated and non conformist. One reason it took a year to complete was that we did everything DIY to keep costs down. There was no budget, just self-funded. Over time it grew. Besides the four of us, the other contributing players were friends or people we sought out for specific parts, and I loved having all these talented and special people involved in the record. In all I believe there were at least 20 musicians involved.<br /><br />R.: “What’s Mine Is Yours” is quite an atmospherically dark, brooding album, whereas <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000M05UOO?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">“Last Sight of Land”</a> sounds lighter to me. Is this change in sound in your opinion connected to the cities in which each respectable album was recorded? Apart from the change in personnel – how much has the relocation to Berlin changed Bee & Flower’s sound and lyrics?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: In actuality my writing didn't change much, though I suppose it did grow up a bit in the years between <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000084T2Y?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"What's Mine Is Yours"</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000M05UOO?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"Last Sight of Land"</a>. You can take any song and perform or record it in a wide variety of ways. Make a country song into metal, make a blues song into surf-pop...<br />In any case, as I said before, the "new" sound was largely attributed to Toby Dammit's role as producer and the directions he navigated the recordings through. He and I didn't always agree but it was a leap of faith on my part. His background is in orchestral arrangements and symphonic percussion, and that was a huge part of the sound.<br />I do think that the feeling we all had of a new lease on life, musically, socially, environmentally - NYC and Berlin being very different worlds - attributed to the difference. But I definitely wouldn't say Berlin made me feel lighter. Berlin is a very dark place, though it doesn't bother or disturb me. It just radiates that. Like a hologram. And consciously or unconsciously, who can forget the city's history? It was always in the back of my mind. My family background is Jewish and I knew that my grandparents would've been very disturbed that I went there by choice. I never felt afraid but I could feel the ghosts on every street corner, despite the warmth that the people there showed me.<br /><br />R.: The design on the <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000M05UOO?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">“Last Sight of Land”</a> CD has stamps from what seems to be a flight ticket and boarding pass on and in the booklet. Can you explain the meaning behind this? Is this somehow connected to the lyrics that have to do with parting or is it just a way of connecting the two albums in different towns?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: Parting, yes, but more so: passage. Passage to a new life, a new reality. The whole making of the album and our departure from NY and becoming ex-pats was ultimately about passage, and by chance, most the songs were about passage from one realm of life to another. Keep in mind that I'd written all those songs before there was any idea to leave NY. We didn't realize this thread until we were thinking about album artwork, and it hit us that there was a theme that'd practically created itself. I had found a very old photo of an ocean in a Berlin Trödelmarkt for 1 euro, and I was captivated by the image, and that became the album cover. The flight ticket stamps are scanned from our initial plane flight to Berlin. The CD gatefold was a photo by NY photographer Josh Wertheimer, whose photos have a timeless quality. The ideas just fell in together very naturally.<br /><br />R.: How would you compare the two Bee & Flower albums?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: The first album is clearly darker, more brooding, and simpler. It featured just the band members, and nobody else. At the time that was what I wanted to express; it was my first effort at leading my own project and that definitely had some pitfalls along the way, I think I could be a real pain in the ass. I was idealistic about how to approach the music and probably lost the chance to broaden it at times.<br />I wanted it to be bare and sparse, and my original idea was that there would be no guitar - I only wanted piano, bass, drums, and pedal steel - but after I met Lynn Wright (guitarist) I bent on that idea. Over time the band as a unit developed and it became more of a collaboration, though I was always the primary songwriter. But the other members (Jon Petrow, violin; Roderick Miller, keyboards; Lynn Wright, guitars; and drummers Ani Cordero and Jeff Conaway) all had special charms and when I listen to that record I can still hear them in it.<br />The second album is lighter, yes. It was made with much less of a focus on guitar, and that's one reason. I've already talked a lot about the sound of the 2nd record so I won't go into it again here.<br /><br />R.: What is your favorite art form - beside music?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: Visual art, painting, drawing, film. And animation. I have a long-standing second career as a freelance 2D animator for film and TV, using Adobe After Effects. It's not cel animation...in my field it's called Motion Graphics. The program works like moving Photoshop, layering images, footage, graphics. I really love doing it, it's amazingly diverse. And I don't mean cutesy animation, there are some really intense, scary, beautiful animation pieces out there. I used to be a painter but I don't have time now. But I do draw; I have a solo art show this Fall near Tabor in the Czech Republic (at <a href="http://www.prachenskemuzeum.cz/">Prácheňské muzeum v Písku</a>). I've done some album covers and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/lancashiresomerset">a book collaboration</a> with <a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2009/08/interview-with-pete-simonelli-from.html">Pete Simonelli (of Enablers)</a>. I'm always dreaming about ways to combine my music with my visual work - I have about 20 different ideas for music videos - but I know how much work and time it would take to pull it off, not to mention money, and so for now it's a dream, but I won't give up. Ideally we'd have a visual element to go with live shows, but if it can't be really, really good, I won't do it at all. Call me a perfectionist.<br /><br />R.: What were your reasons to move back to the states? What did you like best when living in Berlin? Or even: Why do you think so many artists are drawn by Berlin?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: Moving back to NYC was not an entirely easy decision but it needed to be done. I loved living in Berlin - the city, my bandmates, my friends, living in Europe - but after 4 years I felt stagnant there, like I was living in a bubble. The music scene was very limited for the type of music Bee and Flower makes, and artists need a sense of community or being part of something, or they get lost. I also had no work there - animation work - I'd been going back and forth to NYC a few times a year to do my freelance work and I realized that if I wanted to keep my chops I'd have to stay working to keep up with it, and since I can do music anywhere, moving back was the only choice. I also had a strong love interest in the US which was a big influence in my decision. So now I have a long - distance relationship with my band, but we're managing.<br />I think Berlin has a cache of being a place that anything can happen; if you want to start fresh it's perfect. A perfect place to restart your life, as an adult. It's quiet there, so you can concentrate. As an American, you can get by with minimal German. And it's cheap, there's lots to do, so many ways to lose yourself. But there's a sense of isolation that seeps into you when you live in Berlin for a while. It also seems that many people who move there end up leaving, either they can't find work or the dream wears off after a while. In some ways it's similar to NYC in that way; you either make it, or you are forced out. The grind and hustle in NY can be exhausting but the opportunities are more abundant; and the lack of those things in Berlin makes people feel displaced and unmoored. Personally, I am more productive with a fire under my ass.<br /><br />R.: "Dust & Sparks" has been an excellent release that I really liked. Not only the song itself (which I think is one of the best Bee & Flower tracks) but also the fact that it’s released on a limited 7”. Are there any similar releases planned for the future?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: That was the result of meeting Jozef Moors from Morningrise Recordings in Belgium, who was a big fan. I knew I wanted Nicole Boitos to do the artwork, she's such a stellar visual artist. The track "Dust & Sparks" was an unreleased extra from the <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000084T2Y?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"What's Mine Is Yours"</a> sessions, and Jozef wanted to release something but we didn't have a budget to record, so the song came out from the vaults. I hope we can do more vinyl, maybe for the new record.<br /><br />R.: Can you reveal something about the upcoming album?<br /><br />Dana Schechter: Yes, the band just came over from Berlin in November and we recorded with Martin Bisi, who recorded our first album. We finished the basics for 6 new songs. We had 4 songs already done from sessions with Ingo Krauss in Berlin that we'd completed over the last year. The album's theme hasn't revealed itself yet, but I can say that sonically it's more similar to the first album. The production will be less orchestrated than the last record, and the writing is darker. I suppose it will sound somewhere between the first and second records, having learned a lot from both of those experiences, as a writer, and as the de facto producer. We also worked with some of the original NY-based band for the newest NY sessions, Lynn Wright on guitar and Jon Petrow on Violin. It's been a pleasure to work with them closely again. The guitarist who has been in the Berlin band for several years and recorded on the most recent Berlin sessions, Jonathan Heine, wasn't free to come to NY, so I asked Lynn, and he helped me flush out the new songs before the others (Roderick Miller, and drummer Thomas Fietz) arrived. I'm about to start recording vocals for the album this week and after that we'll get some guests on there, Toby Dammit, Martin Wenk of <a href="http://www.casadecalexico.com/">Calexico</a> has already done some work, and I'm hoping to pull in bits and pieces from all the talented friends in my musical community to add the last glints and sheen before mixing. We don't have a label anymore, but we aim to have it released by Summer 2010, and if not, we will do our own release via <a href="http://www.beeandflower.com/">our website</a>, in which case I want to make all handmade covers, limited edition...something beautiful, a little gift for each person who wants to have one of their own.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.beeandflower.com/">http://www.beeandflower.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/beeandflower">http://www.myspace.com/beeandflower</a><br /></div></div>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-4521339387639473962009-09-24T09:36:00.000-07:002009-09-30T02:53:34.539-07:00Interview with Nathan Hall, U. S. Christmas, September 2009<span style="font-family:arial;">I first heard of <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0016XR5QM?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">U.S. Christmas</a> on the day I <a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2008/09/interview-with-steve-von-till-friday.html">interviewed Steve Von Till, from Neurosis</a>, for this blog. He told me that Neurot Recordings was going to release this band that "</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-family:arial;">just play really dark, dirgy, very spaced out Rock music." It is the perfect description for U.S. Christmas. They really blew me away at this year's Roadburn Festival and therefore I was very happy when Nathan Hall, U.S. Christmas' lead singer agreed to do an interview. Apart from the good news for vinyl enthusiasts, he had something to tell about the Southern influence on the lyrics, musical influences, news on new releases and many other things.<br /><br /></span><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmv0GjP0XsVnNjiUO5DxABq_Ej3_o5UkD3E7oiWlJC2WZFDuGb0Q8blRibBarM7XqbwdncTHDbp_8rGKiwQ_GWNr0DzdmMuOUY165h0F2zGrDNTJiaouPrjjTk3baEKGNG1ulktuq90Ec/s1600-h/P1050396.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmv0GjP0XsVnNjiUO5DxABq_Ej3_o5UkD3E7oiWlJC2WZFDuGb0Q8blRibBarM7XqbwdncTHDbp_8rGKiwQ_GWNr0DzdmMuOUY165h0F2zGrDNTJiaouPrjjTk3baEKGNG1ulktuq90Ec/s400/P1050396.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385077261842893234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Nathan Hall</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">R.: Could you summarize U.S. Christmas‘ history? How did you guys get together in the first place? Did you know each other beforehand? Did you live in the same town?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: We have been a band for about eight years, Matt [Johnson (Theremin, Synth)] and I both live in Marion. Some new people are in the band now: Josh [Holt (Bass, Guitar)] and BJ [Graves (Drums)] live in Knoxville Tennessee, Justin [Whitlow (Drums, Synth)] lives in Asheville, and Chris [Thomas (Bass, Guitar)] lives in my hometown Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Like I said, the band has been around a long time, everything is sort of a blur at this point. This is the only band I haver ever been involved with. Our town, Marion, is a small town in western North Carolina.<br /><br />R.: Recently, there have been some changes in the band <a href="http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=132667188&blogId=499815613">that has been hinted at on your Myspace blog</a>. Could you talk about what has changed for U.S. Christmas and why?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: That is a reasonable question, but we are not going to discuss that publicly.<br /><br />R.: Eat The Low Dogs is already your fourth album, with former releases on a Russian and American label, plus one self released album. From your standpoint, what has changed for the band since Neurot Recordings released the latest album? Are the three former albums still available?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: Things change constantly in this band, but I think that is universal. But to answer your question, Neurot opened a lot of doors, it is hard to imagine where we would be without them and without Neurosis. We've opened for Neurosis several times, once with them and Mastodon. We've played big festivals with them in the US and overseas. To some degree, we are known all over the world now. The guys in Neurosis have been our mentors in a lot of ways, and that is a huge honor. We have been dealing with them for years now and it is hard for me to remember how it was before. As for cds, I think <a href="http://www.raig.ru/uschristmas.asp#R020">RAIG might still have some cd copies of Salt The Wound left</a>, and <a href="http://www.imbetterthaneveryonerecords.com/">I'm Better Than Everyone Records</a> is going to release it on vinyl soon. The vinyl won't have <a href="http://avantshop.ru/usertemplate/1473/uschristmas-stw.jpg">the awesome red dog artwork</a> that the Russian artist Victor Pushkin did, but it looks like a really good artist is going to do the vinyl design, and if it works out then the cd and LP will each have their own unique artwork. Keep an eye out for that. Of course, <a href="http://www.neurotrecordings.com/detail.aspx?ID=163">Eat The Low Dogs</a> is still in print, and <a href="http://www.imbetterthaneveryonerecords.com/">I'm Better Than Everyone</a> is going to release the vinyl version as well very soon. The self released stuff is out of print, no plans to re-release it.<br /><br />R.: From the few printed lyrics in the Eat The Low Dogs booklet, I had the feeling to be reading an excerpt from a Southern novel, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner">William Faulkner</a> or <a href="http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/">Cormac McCarthy</a>. What kind of influences did you have writing the lyrics to the album?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: That is a huge compliment, and Cormac McCarthy - particularly his novel <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0679728759?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Blood Meridian</a> - was a huge influence on that album. I have read William Faulkner for years, many other southern writers as well. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O%27Connor">Flannery O'Connor</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dickey">James Dickey</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Penn_Warren">Robert Penn Warren</a> are other favorites. I am an avid writer and reader, I am actually in grad school studying literature. You hit it right on the head actually, I am a southern person and very much influenced by the literary history of the south. But at the same time, I never set out to do anything, it just sort of happens and I go with it. A lot of it is a mystery to me.<br /><br />R.: From the lyrics that I can understand on Eat The Low Dogs, it almost seems like a story told in different parts with a concept behind. What kind of themes does Eat The Low Dogs cover?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: Right again, there is always a concept or theme that emerges when we write an album. Not necessarily a story - but a clear idea that develops as we write. For Eat The Low Dogs I would say as a whole it involves: cycles of violence, sadness, loss, some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee">Cherokee</a> mythology, and human darkness. And the idea that living things become vicious in chaotic and stressful situations. We turn on ourselves.<br /><br />R.: You have mentioned several times that a USX live show can be very chaotic, yet it accomplishes to capture that raw energy that the music evokes. What is the difference between recording and playing a show for you? Do you have any “guidelines” before going on stage to play a live show?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: We never have any guidelines live, and crazy things happen sometimes. I don't even like to have set lists if I can help it. But recently we've been focusing on getting the best live sounds we can. We have put a lot of thought into our rigs and everyone sounds really good as a result. We are a band full of gear hounds. Having the best gear ensures that you get a good sound. That's why I never hassle sound guys for "more guitar". I just turn up my amps. Recording is different of course, but we are very open during that process as well. Lots of things happen that we could never anticipate. But I wouldn't want to know the future in advance.<br /><br />R.: It is known that the band name comes from a <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001DX9G2Q?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Sam Peckinpah movie</a> and in <a href="http://www.deafsparrow.com/US-Christmas-Interview.htm">another interview</a> that I have read you said to be inspired by bands like Neurosis, Melvins, Neil Young and Hawkwind, to name a few. What other bands and movies to you consider to be an inspiration? What has caught your attention recently?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: <a href="http://www.causticresin.com/">Caustic Resin</a> is possibly the biggest influence on me as a guitar player. Brett Netson, the guitar player and songwriter in that band, has been a constant source of inspiration for the last decade. He has the best big, warm, trippy tone. <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000B4KZZA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</a> were a big influence on the album we just recorded with <a href="http://www.thesoundofminsk.com/spsplash.html">Sanford Parker</a>, it is called Run Thick In The Night. <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000024QPM?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Townes Van Zandt</a> was also a catalyst. As for recently, we play with so many great bands. I guess I could name a few, but I'm sure to leave someone out. But here goes: <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001VROVJW?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Minsk</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002GAK46C?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">OM</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001BN1VJE?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Wolves in the Throne Room</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001OBBR5Q?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Kylesa</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0029TQSVK?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">YOB</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/interarmametal">Inter Arma</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000T28FSI?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Generation of Vipers</a> (our rhythm section now), <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001R3YJ1K?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Pontiak</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000Y9NQLM?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Saviours</a>, <a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-alex-john-hall-grails.html">Grails</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0028WCN6W?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Dark Castle</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000GW8Q4E?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Across Tundras</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002MXA7P6?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Baroness</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000621NU8?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">RWAKE</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000SFJWQ0?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Weedeater </a>have all left an impression.<br /><br />R.: What happened to uschristmas.net? The last time I checked it was offline.<br /><br />Nathan Hall: It was a pain in the ass so we abandoned it.<br /><br />R.: What is next in line for the band? Can we expect a new album?<br /><br />Nathan Hall: New album is done. More on that later. We also have a <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002JCMYY2?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Hawkwind</a> tribute project that is complete, Minsk and Harvestman (Steve Von Till) are on that as well. And we have a live LP coming out on I'm Better Than Everyone Records. And a tour with Baroness this fall.<br /><br />R.: The last words belong to you:<br /><br />Nathan Hall: There are several people who have supported us and made our custom gear: Brent Monson/<a href="http://www.monsonguitars.com/">Monson Guitars</a> has hooked me up with two excellent instruments, <a href="http://www.earcandycabs.com/">Ear Candy Cabinets</a> has built gear for both Matt and myself, <a href="http://www.emperorcabs.com/">Emperor Custom Cabs</a> made my two excellent 2x12 cabs, and our friend/guitar tech Robert English in Marion NC has kept our gear solid and running for the last eight years. Thanks to all of them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8v7QwYlRjUhPxpWBBjcFhhU_JOW8HO2ObIAreVxkrWQujqS9sV8k5QyAw5-FbYctotXbcbRBFmd89B4OuKJF2mnQjxoy2ut7Yw7OZiK76m9X9Bjq49flxaKs2J7YuHCz0Eye-iyOn9A4/s1600-h/P1050183.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8v7QwYlRjUhPxpWBBjcFhhU_JOW8HO2ObIAreVxkrWQujqS9sV8k5QyAw5-FbYctotXbcbRBFmd89B4OuKJF2mnQjxoy2ut7Yw7OZiK76m9X9Bjq49flxaKs2J7YuHCz0Eye-iyOn9A4/s400/P1050183.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385088943596057042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Nathan Hall, USX</span></div><br /><br /></div></div>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-32420537096650238182009-08-29T04:27:00.000-07:002009-08-30T10:15:30.377-07:00Interview with Pete Simonelli from Enablers, August 2009<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/petesimonelli">Pete Simonelli</a> is a writer and poet, who not only creates powerful words on paper but transforms them on stage with the rest of the band that is <a href="http://www.myspace.com/enablers">Enablers</a>: currently Joe Goldring, Kevin Thomson and Doug Scharin. With Simonelli being an <a href="http://neurotrecordings.com/artists/enablers/index.aspx">"underground literary veteran"</a> and the rest of the band being musical veterans they created three albums up until the latest piece called <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001LU0OEA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1638&creative=19454&creativeASIN=B001LU0OEA"><span style="font-style: italic;">Tundra</span></a>. From intimate confessions to powerful, raging words, Enablers have it all and this makes them a band not to be missed. Pete Simonelli took his time to answer some questions on the transformative process on stage and on the albums, the roots of Enablers, the necessity to move on stage and much more in the following interview.<br /><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkVODzDotFCPmMc5hFTFz_GrDFzG_dnV3YeAFB9jZXmcjhEXKhTD1aLltJqC8bGDo3IL8rdlwn1UwNkfB34fKp0a7Pl_OLLe3avp9mUuqeqVIEWJgcM4z9quYO6Tw9Hzt6hBKuKE6RXE/s1600-h/Pete++-39.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkVODzDotFCPmMc5hFTFz_GrDFzG_dnV3YeAFB9jZXmcjhEXKhTD1aLltJqC8bGDo3IL8rdlwn1UwNkfB34fKp0a7Pl_OLLe3avp9mUuqeqVIEWJgcM4z9quYO6Tw9Hzt6hBKuKE6RXE/s320/Pete++-39.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375488585790349330" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: italic;">Pete Simonelli</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: How was your recent tour? Which places did you enjoy and what did you experience on tour?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: It was great--- as they all are, really--- but this time was a little different. We had a new drummer, Doug Scharin, and because we didn't book this one I think we were exposed to a few places we ordinarily would not have played. Andreas Kohl (<a href="http://www.southern.com/southern/">Southern Germany</a> and <a href="http://www.mainstreamrecords.de/">Exile On Mainstream</a>) re-released <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001LU0OEA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1638&creative=19454&creativeASIN=B001LU0OEA">"Tundra" </a><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001LU0OEA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1638&creative=19454&creativeASIN=B001LU0OEA">in a limited edition box set</a> and handled the booking and the tour for us. His main territory is Germany, which we had never toured much of, so we covered a fair amount of ground there. He definitely opened some doors for us and has broadened our future intineraries for sure. Poland, for one, was great, and we also played Prague for the first time and had a great show there. In all, I think this tour proved to be a more expansive one, musically (because of what Doug brings to the band) and in a motivational sense as well. Touring will do that; it gives you a sharp sense of focus and can tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are. This one did that, and now we're ready to record some more damn songs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: How did Enablers get together in the first place?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: I approached Kevin Thomson about a book project I had in mind. Neither of us expected a band to emerge from it at all. He was playing with Goldring (and still does) in a band called <a href="http://www.myspace.com/touchedbyajanitor">Touched by a Janitor</a>, and I was--and remain--- a very big fan of them. Kevin and I were working at a bar together at the time, so I eventually asked him if he, and possibly Janitor, would be interested in providing some music for this project. Basically I wanted to read some poems over good, challenging music and use the recording as an accompanying CD to a book I was going to put out myself. Nothing new or novel about that--- we both knew it--- but we were opposed to the usual and obvious "backdrop sound" that so often says very little for the music and leaves most of the ear time to whomever is doing the speaking. I turned over a few poems to Kevin and within a short amount of time Goldring became a part of it. Joe Byrnes, on drums, was added a little later on. Songs were being developed at a pretty steady clip once we had everybody there. But it was Byrnes who essentially initiated the band. He said that in order to record, he'd have to play the songs live a couple of times. Shows pretty much just kept coming from there on out. And we were already recording what would become <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0001XLWHQ?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">End Note </a>by that time anyway. Those few local shows turned into a small European tour and, almost on a whim, Goldring gave <a href="http://neurotrecordings.com/">Neurot</a> a demo and they decided to put it out. The "project" pretty much fell by the wayside at that point and we started to get more serious as a band.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: How do you write songs? Do you already have the lyrics (or poems) before the music is created?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US">For the most part, yes. <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0001XLWHQ?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">End Note</a> was all old stuff---even then. I'd written most of those poems years before, which more or less prompted my wanting to record them as part of that initial project I'd approached Kevin about. By the time <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000EQ466E?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Output Negative Space</a> was being recorded, we'd toured two or three times already and many of the poems on that record were written specifically for that release. I still had some old ones around, like <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=7811237">"For Jack"</a>, but that record is primarily taken from what were then new poems. I only mention all of this because we were essentially becoming more and more serious and devoted to the band by that time. As a result of that, we were also becoming hungrier for newer material, which created, and still does create, broader or different approaches to how the songs are written. We're all constantly working on something anyway, and now that I'm living on the east coast, we've gone the way of audio files and whatnot. They have riffs and ideas, they send them along; I just keep writing, but I hear, and write, a lot more musically now, for better or worse.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Was it clear from the beginning that you’d perform your poems to the songs? What is the difference between the three albums – musically and lyrically – for you?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> No, it was never clear. In fact, it was the<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>last thing I wanted to do. But as I mentioned above, it was just something that transpired out of a need, for Byrnes especially, to get a better feel for the songs. The irony is that most of the poems I now write are intended for the band--- to be perfomed, that is. Not all of them make it and that's perfectly fine. As a writer, I need my own stable of material anyway. The same can be said for the others in terms of music. We've always recognized that there is Enablers material, and there are things that are distinctly not Enablers material. Which sort of carries over to the latter half of your question. The main difference between all three albums is growth, really. Music gets developed by one's involvement with it. If you like the sounds and noises you're making with other people--- fantastic; you keep moving along and growing one big ear together. That's where we are now, especially with the addition of Scharin on drums. He brings an intensity of focus and musicianship that I wouldn't say was necessarily lacking, but it drives the rest of us into newer territories because we have this renewed or invigorated presence in the band. We're more inclined to take risks without the fear of failing. I hear that in the course, or arc, of the three records. Lyrically, the writing has become more focused on sound, which created a lot more editing. On <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001LU0OEA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"Tundra"</a> for instance, the poems' words are slightly different than the lyrics to the songs. "Carriage" is a perfect example of that. It's a permutable piece of writing. As a poem, taken on its own and away from the music, it reads differently than what you'll find on the lyric sheet. In short, there's a lyric version and a poem version that exist independently of each other, but they have the same title. As another, but different, example, "The Achivement" started out as a story (and was recorded as such) and then was cropped down to fit a certain shorter arrangement. Weird? Maybe. But it's a definite indication of how we're all willing to shift our roles to the desired effect of the songs or situation.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Was it easy transforming your poems into spoken song lyrics?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US">I suppose I sort of answered that already--- getting ahead of myself again. Sorry about that. Sometimes it is easy, other times not. </span><span style="" lang="EN-US">The idea, or the aim, is to retain the integrity of each element--- the writing and the music--- so that they can work together and independently of each other. </span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> But I think under the crux of the harder times you can really see the limitations or the possibilities of the lyrics. There have certainly been times when I'll have to call a break, sit down and get to work all over again--- sometimes right then and there, in the studio. "Transforming" is the perfect word for the process, though, because there are times when the song's arrangement will dictate how a line comes across; it will heighten or lessen segments where I haven't necessarily seen it coming and I'll have to adapt a line, or a break in a line, to the direction of the music. Again, this is one definitive way the whole approach has changed over the years. The push and pull has sort of shifted. Where they once felt the need to accommodate the words, I now feel the responsibility to accommodate the music. I have to adapt more now, and I think that only helps. We're much more at the mercy of the song and the arrangement now. Not always, but a lot more than before. You have to reconcile space (voice) and sound (music) accordingly and do it in a way that still makes sense to you, the listener and, hopefully, to the whole and eventual combination of the poem and the music. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Your words in your poems have sometimes an intimate quality to them so that I could imagine that it could be difficult performing them. Do you see that as a challenge?<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> A challenge, yes, but a welcome one. It's really just about feeling your way through the process of combining these two separate things. Mistakes are often very helpful because you can step away from one approach and see another developing. We're trying to record everything now--- the practice, that is--- to see where the possibilities lie, and to what advantage they can best be used. Intimacy comes out of that. I can't really come in and say, "Ok, it's gotta be really quiet here," or, "Dial it down here because I gotta get sexy with it; I gotta get this line across." None of that shit. The intimacy will reveal itself as you get more familiar with the song. I mean, I first thought that the poem <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001LU0OEA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">"Tundra"</a> would get a sort of quiet or mild treatment. Then Kevin introduced this really great southern fried, ZZ riff and I got such a resounding hard-on about it that the aggressive delivery kind of took over. And then it got even more raging when they told me it had to be delivered harder, dirtier. That movie,<a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0007KNWZI?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21"> "Downfall"</a>, had just come out; we all really loved it, and I can remember Kevin telling me to basically imitate <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkUzfAfwP1A">Bruno Ganz as Hitler raving in the bunker</a>--- the ebb and flow of it. That was an intimate performance to me so I ran with it. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHBG0IrcDZY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2F">Performed live</a>, I love turning into an absolute fucking lunatic with it...with some hearts and flowers thrown in for nuance of course.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: How do you perceive yourself on stage during a performance?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> I try not to perceive myself. That's troubling. I do some things in a performance and wake up the next day wincing out of physical pain or sheer, psychic embarassment. Other times everything's ok. From a techical standpoint, I'll think, alright, I hit my marks, the voice felt good, the delivery seemed good; I fell ass over heels over the monitor, but that's cool; it got a laugh--- all of that. I guess I'm still trying to figure it all out, faults and all. I don't worry about movement, though; I know that'll always be there because those guys make truly compelling music that forces me to move and respond to it. Who wants to see a "poet" or "singer" just standing there as this provocative music pours around him? I wouldn't, so I suppose I react against that kind of perceived performance. Ultimately, it's rock music, and there's an inherent demand on a performance. You should come out with the intent on delivering something people can take away with them.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Could you elaborate a bit on what some of the lyrics/poems mean to you?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> They all have a special meaning. I wouldn't have written them if they didn't have some kind of initial curiosity or emotional weight. Other than that, I really don't care to elaborate on what they "mean" or how they come about. I will say that their origins may not indicate the outcome. I just don't believe in breaking down the meaning to any poem, and as I progress as a writer I think the writing and thus the point/meaning/gist becomes clearer. As a favorite poet of mine, August Kleinzahler, said, a poem is just another form of entertainment. If people accept a poet or a poem deeply into their lives and it somehow gives them succor or meaning--- great. But I wouldn't set out to specifically do that; that would make for some startlingly <span style="font-style: italic;">BAD </span>work. But I will say that poems like "<a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002632B0G?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Mediterranean</a>" and "<a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Enablers/_/A+Blues">A Blues</a>" are definite points of pride, and for various reasons.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">R.: Do you have any writers/poets or stories/poems that you like very much?<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Pete Simonelli: Sure, there are many of them that over the years have proven to be really influential or just things that have made a strong impression. Over the last dozen years or so I've been reading almost everything <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kleinzahler">August Kleinzahler</a> has put out in that time. The first time I saw him read I thought, "Alright, now I know what I want to do, and, more importantly, what I have to do." I was reminded of Celine a little bit, because Kleinzahler has a great technique, style, and approach to how he writes: he combines everyday spoken language with a sort of elevated language that rarely loses the reader. He can write poems with his feet firmly on the ground and yet he can also launch a poem into these great, expansive territories of memory, history, or even science. He's a poet and writer with a lot of curiosity, instinct, and humor, and he just seems to be very comfortable doing what he does with language. He contorts it without becoming too vague, and at the same time will sort of retreat into a given character's (he writes a lot about people in his neighborhood, friends, acquaintances, strangers past and present) way of speech, which takes a very refined ear to pull off successfully. He's also a hugely tasteful music buff and critic, and has written pretty extensively about Jazz, old R&B, early Rock, Blues, and even the occasional Classical piece.<br />Another favorite of mine is a guy named <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1275">Jack Gilbert</a>. I came across him after an old friend of mine turned me on to one of his books, "<a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/0679747672?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0679747672&adid=1DZEDAMTHCBZEQWW7W5T&">The Great Fires</a>." I've been hooked ever since. He's led a pretty interesting life. Grew up in Pittsburgh when it was still an Iron Town with a largely working-class population; a city based almost exclusively on heavy industry. He went to Yale, eventually winning a very distinguished award (The Yale Younger Poets Prize) and then fucked off to Europe and drifted around for the next 20 odd years before settling in some obscure part of Greece for many years more. His poems read like dispatches from acute points of pain, loss (his wife died at a young age), and the resolve that comes out of those emotions. A really strong, white-haired, white-bearded poet that believes in telling it like it is. He looks like a grounded demi-god that sort of wanders the Earth recalling things about a life lived with misfortune, fortune, and risk. I just re-read a poem of his called "A Kind of Courage" (from his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/037571085X?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=037571085X&adid=1463CFV7KB1JST0E9TF8&"><span style="font-style: italic;">Refusing Heaven</span></a>) last night, and that's about as good as any poem can get. What he can do in a minimal amount of lines is by turns shocking and enviable. I've read some of his stuff over the years and thought to myself, "Forget it, man....Drop the pen and go do something else."<br /><br />R.: Do you have any other favorite stories/poems not of yours where you could talk about what they mean to you?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Pete Simonelli: Well there's that Gilbert poem I mentioned above, but a lot of poems and stories come and go in terms of how they "hit" you. Something that blew you away ten years ago may now say nothing more to you than a simple "huh." Some stick with you, though. There's a poem by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/7">Elizabeth Bishop</a> called "<a href="http://www.caterina.net/crusoe.html">Crusoe in England</a>," which comes to mind. That one I go back to and read time and again. It's a poem that reads like a short story and, in a technical sense, commands the reader with its transitional mastery, how it gets from point to point so fluidly and keeps its tension as she goes from point to point. And the ending of it breaks your heart. Dog lovers beware.<br />Aside from these, there are a lot of poems I come across in online journals and small print journals that are great. A guy named <a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/0977639541?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0977639541&adid=0B1V6GSWZYMM1YMMYDNB&">Matthew Dickman</a> comes to mind. <a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/0393327094?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0393327094&adid=16AHKZNKKP58CSZ3NJET&">Kim Addonizio</a> is another really good one. A couple of friends of mine write great stuff: Peter Funk and Mark Terril. <a href="http://rainer-maria-rilke.de/110001elegie.html">Rilke's Duino Elegy #1</a> <a href="http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/duino.html">(translated by Stephen Mitchell)</a> is an important one to me: "For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us." Not bad, eh? Bukowski had one that used to kill me, "Claws of Paradise" from <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/0876854382?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0876854382&adid=0FGYDCVBXGENAP8X8YY0&">Play the Piano like a Percussion Instrument until the Fingers Begin to Bleed</a>.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span>There's a line in there about toothpaste caps getting lost down the sink drain--- another stupid reason why relationships fail. I remember that poem having a lot of relevance at one time. Another old friend of mine, Jack Hayes, wrote some great stuff, namely "<a href="http://www.fiveanddimejazz.com/Mexican_Xmas.html">Sam Peckinpah Mexican Xmas</a>" which I've read at readings a couple of times now. Jack (who is the person addressed in one of our songs "For Jack: A Philippic" on <a href="http://www.amazon.de/dp/B000EQ466E?tag=nachtseminar-21&camp=2906&creative=19474&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000EQ466E&adid=1KAN5BJRKQ8TPAPNB3YM&"><span style="font-style: italic;">Output Negative Space</span></a>) is a surrealist poet weaned on all those French guys (Breton notably) who brings a lot of 50s and 60s American Pulp and Noir into play in his poems. Great, vivid images and references to people like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Wynette">Tammy Wynette</a> shake hands in the same line; it's often hilarious and loaded with overtones of pills, booze, deserts, Ecclesiastes--- all sorts of rabid and livewire kind of shit. Makes for a tasty stew.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: What were the last few bands/albums that you enjoyed?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Pete Simonelli: </span> I've recently come across <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001EOQUAA?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">The Grails' last record </a>and have been enjoying that. What a great band they are. Last night my girlfriend was playing something called <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001494RIW?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Ballroom Dance is Dead</a>, which is a New Orleans/New York collaboration involving a friend of ours named Lynn Wright. Really, really great. One of those things you hear and your ears just instantly perk up: " <span style="font-style: italic;">what's this??<span style="font-style: italic;">" </span></span>Then I realized that I'd actually heard it before but hadn't remembered it, which is basically the same as hearing it for the first time. And then there's always Delta Blues stuff, which I'll always love and admire, because 50, 60, even 70 years on now (in most cases) that stuff still comes across to my ears more sincerely than any other form of music I can think of--- just watch, or listen to, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00012ML86?ie=UTF8&tag=nachtseminar-21">Son House</a>. Man.<br /></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-7678285272411940292009-03-14T16:14:00.000-07:002009-08-30T05:09:20.002-07:00Interview with Emil Amos from Holy Sons, Grails and Om, March 2008<span style="font-family:arial;">Emil Amos is not only the fantastic drummer for the magnificent <a href="http://www.grailsongs.com/">Grails</a> and <a href="http://www.omvibratory.com/">Om</a> but also the mastermind behind the one-man folk-inspired soulstrip called <a href="http://holysons.com/">Holy Sons</a>. Recently Emil joined Om and replaced the original drummer and since Grails have also turned some stones with their recent album it is high time for some praise for Holy Sons. The following interview is going to shed some light on Holy Sons as well as touch themes like conformity and the demise of the Western civilization. For completeness sake I would also recommend reading <a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-alex-john-hall-grails.html">the earlier interview with Grails' Alex John Hall</a>. But now, sit back, turn on your favorite obscure 70' record and enjoy reading the following interview with Emil Amos.<br /><br /></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIcgoPvm9qkhloQySxqsuNjF1L_NnSlCV00tWJmiNtce2m9w0uJQ56tRB4-J8ORoTBLSiC32MQK94bC462PoO5CAEN01DrSQsGmVtjU4_LM_jktFaS74MeAQuKxTbJWAmRC7xgZ1lNkE/s1600-h/1501572-R1-050-23A.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIcgoPvm9qkhloQySxqsuNjF1L_NnSlCV00tWJmiNtce2m9w0uJQ56tRB4-J8ORoTBLSiC32MQK94bC462PoO5CAEN01DrSQsGmVtjU4_LM_jktFaS74MeAQuKxTbJWAmRC7xgZ1lNkE/s400/1501572-R1-050-23A.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313193891166505426" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Emil Amos</span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span>R.: Please tell me about the circumstances of how and when you started Holy Sons.<br /><br />Emil Amos: Sometime in 1992 I went from being obsessed with hardcore to someone who focused only on lo-fi music in a matter of months and ignored everything else developing in music at the time. To me that was just the clear path that underground/punk music was following ...I didn't see the other bands and styles going on at that time as something able to satisfy the specific intelligence I was looking for in music. Like most obsessive underground music listeners I could only really listen to artists that I felt I could totally 'trust'; which is a sort of militant mindset reserved for extremists... it felt kind of analogous to the early 60's folk movement where the listeners were hypersensitive about how truly legitimate and pure a singer's motivations were. I'm saying this while realizing that most people would've and still do disagree with a lot about my perspective. But it's the perspective that made me who I am and the records I make now and I don't feel like I had a lot of control over this development.<br /><br /><br />R.: As far as I understand Holy Sons is a solo project of yours - you play all the instruments, you sing and compose all the songs. Is this a "living room" project that you do in your free time?<br /><br />Emil Amos: It used to be just my waking state of being. When I woke up each day I recorded... and, as a kid, I wasn't super interested in much else going on out in the world besides the few fringe things that I found to be of value. But now I've found newer interests in the world, more external issues that I feel strongly about; so the music has become a little less of a diary and more about my relationship to the world. Playing all the instruments alone was always part of the philosophy because it gave me more power to create a total immersion into the world of 1 person instead of watering it down with the common democracies and ambitions of a 'band' mindset.<br /><br /><br />R.: Apart from Holy Sons you play drums in Grails and Om. How do you handle three musical projects at the same time?<br /><br />E.A.: I'm just barely pulling it off. When I was younger I wouldn't have had the mental discipline to emotionally compartmentalize these projects and leave my ego behind. Everyday I have to drop whatever record I'm artistically engaged in to switch to a different band or go practice for a tour. Last year I created a nexus of responsibilities for myself that was borderline physically impossible, so this year I'm slowing the flow of releases and traveling so I can try to enjoy what I'm doing. Remembering to enjoy things has become the central issue for me lately. That seems to be the irony of ambitiousness... that the more you attempt to accomplish, the more bullshit you inevitably fill your daily existence up with to get it all done; but simultaneously it's getting in your way. So efficiency has sort of become everything.<br /><br /><br />R.: Do Grails, Om and Holy Sons complement each other in terms of ideas for songs or do you treat them separately?<br /><br />E.A.: Yeah, HolySons and Grails have been trading more instrumental songs lately to give the albums more stylistic variation. Each band's sound generates from a certain mood and you generally know what kind of melodies and instruments will fit into that mold. But because the material comes from the same melodic wellsprings inside of you there's always a common thread between the bands.<br /><br /><br />R.: The cover of your records have an outstanding iconography of collages with images from Eastern, Western and ancient vanished civilizations. What do you try to "express" with these covers?<br /><br />E.A.: I was heavily influenced by skateboard art growing up... it was kind of cartoonish and surreal but really loud and extreme. Otherwise, I just gravitated towards various strange or disperate aesthestics as a kid and they became a part of my skewed worldview. For example, the first time I remember liking Eastern music was when I was obsessed with a martial arts arcade game called '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o5wGzbJzKQ">Kicker</a>' from around 1986 that had really catchy songs that ran through a lot of Asian scales really fast; we've been talking about trying to cover that video game song recently. I've had a lot of phases of being really into obscure cults and secret organizations that are all somehow connected by the sense that they are hidden behind a sort of psychic curtain; things that you have to uncover or are part of a world behind the world that is sold or taught to you. The name 'Holy Sons' is supposed to be indicative of a secret cult in this way.<br /><br /><br />R.: "<a href="http://store.partisanrecords.com/prodpics/holysons1.jpg">Decline Of The West</a>" is a peculiar title of the last Holy Sons record. What is the meaning behind choosing this title and how does it fit with the themes on the album itself? Do you believe that Western culture is doomed?<br /><br />E.A.: Yeah, it will eventually die like everything does but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing so much as it's inevitable. Songs like 'Satanic Androids' and 'Slave Morality' are trying to paint a picture similar to Dostoevsky's '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Inquisitor">Grand Inquisitor</a>' in that Western consumer culture has gone unchecked for so long, without any sense of self-critique or conscience, that the only pursuit it seems to exalt is the escape of oneself or one's dissolving into 'the crowd'. If you look at something like the state of Hollywood today I think you'll see a reflection of a declining spiritual state; the art of film has winded down this long sophisticated path that experienced very profound peaks to arrive at a bankrupt dead end where art can't really enter into it's equation. I feel like this dynamic is occuring throughout most areas of popular culture... but I guess there's no reason to think that the spiritual errosion of a culture dominated by conformity is any sort of new phenomenon.<br /><br /><br />R.: Do you see any differences in the way this 'conformity' reveals itself throughout the Western culture? I ask this because to me it seems that in the US it is not so much regarded as a 'shame' to be well adapted to society because this adaption is to a 'free', extraordinary society. On the other hand conformity in Europe is a more problematic notion although it reveals itself in the European view to be more multifaceted than the US. But exactly this view again attests conformity through arrogance. In simplified terms one could say that this is a complicated behaviour based on an ancient tribe vs. tribe demeanor.<br /><br />E.A.: I think you're on to something; I just can't really weigh in on a cultural comparison because I don't have enough experience with living in Europe. On the other hand, although I don't think it's a totally safe scientific assumption to make, I think it's fair to assume that the impulse to conform has to be pretty evenly spread across the world. The rewards would be different in various cultures but the urge to dissolve oneself into a mass is ancient. Companionship with the like-minded blob, relief of individual responsibilities, and the pressure to join, in most societies, seem to be too hard to avoid for many people... maybe for a lack of imagination or bravery... or the need for inclusion as a simulation of real love. It's hard to underestimate people's need to feel liked by others. What fascinates me about conformism is how subtle and convoluted it can be... it finds it's way into every facet of life... I think conformism is my favorite subject.<br /><br /><br />R.: Would you say that Holy Sons songs are personal in the sense that they reveal something about yourself? Do you see them as some kind of therapy?<br /><br />E.A.: Yeah, that was basically the whole dogmatic birth of HolySons in that the whole purpose and DNA of the expression was that it was almost a type of radical therapeutic practice... an environment where I could just be myself, whoever that was, and study that thing with no interrupting social awareness, no moral plane, nothing but a room where I could behave in anyway I was moved to and document it. Obviously that's not really something with an audience or the world of music marketing in mind. At the time I thought that was something people might be able to get into... and over time I felt proved wrong... and, as a lover of music, a sense of disappointment in me grew as I felt like I watched underground music snake further and further out into areas I really found useless and impersonal. I carried the sense that I would never be able to really have a dialogue with an audience at all as it seemed to contradict the wish to just be true to myself. In the last couple years that kind of bile-tasting/morbid view has begun to soften in me a little bit... but ironically a new brand of pseudo-honesty has recently been concocted and succesfully sold to the public and that has contributed further to muddying up the arena of defining what 'honesty' and 'rawness' are.<br /><br /><br />R.: When I play records that I believe to be emotionally 'raw' and 'honest' to other people I often get the response from them that it is too 'dark' and 'depressing'. The misconception of what is 'depressing' owes this undoubtedly to what has been sold to the public over the years as being 'raw' and 'honest'. What do you think? Could you tell me a bit more about what this 'new brand of pseudo-honesty' is and what it contributed to?<br /><br />E.A.: Are people conditioned to want processed simulations of reality?... yes,,, Do they enjoy the fake versions even more anyway?... maybe... I think Jandek is a good example of something that's so raw and direct that most people's ears can't even identify what it is or how one would digest it. I suppose anyone has the right to say... "this is too raw, process this for me so I can enjoy it"... you'd just hope that everything in their life wasn't pre-processed without their knowing what reality actually tastes like.<br />After an industry was created around 'underground music' it began to pay to be 'sincere'... so then we got this new phenomenon of bands who are aware of 'the sound of sincerity' and completely aware that there is a reward for that 'sound' ...or perhaps, more innocently, some are mimicking what they listened to and felt was sincere but have nothing to add to the previously covered dialogue.<br />It kind of reminds me of that movie '<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/">A Beautiful Mind</a>'... in that the focus of the movie's phenomenon was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russel_crowe">the leading multi-millionaire/model actor</a> playing the schizophrenic genius and getting best picture,... rather than the reality of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash">the actual schizophrenic guy</a> the movie is based on that most people in the audience would step over on the sidewalk while walking out of the movie.<br /><br /><br />R.: What can be expected from the upcoming Holy Sons record? When will it be released?<br /><br />E.A.: The next one, "Drifter's Sympathy", was an attempt to create some sonic contrast between the HolySons records. It's heavily influenced by the experimental German records made in the 70's that had less songs but drew out their ideas into longer genre experiments. Their records created an odd kind of fantasy world but somehow remained very personal sounding; sort of pre-new-age, post-acid, bummer/contemplative records... the songwriting could employ any instrumentation or style that could illustrate the overall meditative/explorative mood.<br />I always found myself, in ways, drawn to the less cohesive records bands made, while popular thought seems to always vote for a smoother, less jarring presentation. If you really love a band, their b-side collections and private demos can often thrill you more than their big/glossy major label presentations. Neil Young is one of the most obvious writers that sometimes disregarded how an album is 'supposed to flow'... and not always to great results. But what if you flipped that dynamic and consciously made records that didn't have an expected sonic cohesion to create more contrast and give each song more weight? You might find that more in outsider stuff like <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kpfuxqw5ldde">R.Stevie Moore</a>, maybe Kramer's '<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3nfyxqlgldse">Guilt Trip</a>' or more well-known with <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:f9fexqy5ldse">Sebadoh III</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3ifwxqehldae">Bee Thousand</a> but it still seems like there's a lot more to be done to upset the expected formulas.<br /><br />R.: What have you been listening to lately? What's the last record you bought or 'got into'?<br /><br />E.A.: I've been in a 70's Italian soundtrack phase for awhile now. I constantly move through genres and just listen to things that are new to me to expand my understanding of production even if I don't necessarily like the music. I've always really liked film, music or imagery that make you feel slightly uncomfortable... and, somewhat inadvertently, I often end up making uncomfortable imagery or music; it's not my intention so much as it's what I like. I like some aspect of a piece of art to be a completely catchy hit,... very colorful, melodically saturated and in the pocket... and then I like another aspect of the art to be simultaneously awkward and wrong; that seems to open up the ceiling for creative and unexpected choices to be made. Within both of those areas lies a sort of honesty that rides a balance for me.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-6298483864247126872008-12-17T10:34:00.000-08:002009-08-30T05:10:08.067-07:00Interview with Arlie John Carstens, Ghost Wars, December 2008<span style="font-family:arial;">Back in June 2003 I made an interview with Arlie John Carstens, the the former singer/guitarist in <a href="http://www.myspace.com/junomusic">Juno</a> which can be read </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2008/09/interview-with-arlie-carstens-juno-june.html">here</a></span><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Shortly after that interview Juno announced their break up. Myself and assumedly a lot of other fans of Juno were devastated by that. That was enough a reason for me to ask Arlie Carstens again for an interview which he was so kind to accept. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">His new project is called </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/ghostwarsmusic">Ghost Wars</a> in which he and Eric Fisher arrange music with an assortment of excellent musicians. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Below are his answers that do not only shed some light on Juno's closure but deliver also some interesting insight on his new project Ghost Wars and the upcoming <a href="http://www.junodoc.com/">Juno documentary</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3qP9lFqcr82ZSyhY81B5ZgVFC1vnEDFQUFbc_qXKcPcK4ClyRoMBM6g5UV6sFMcjM05ySCtGKsxg4qhi8aYd5yQZejQGcqOjwBEqOAJnP40AjmGQqmqGsRNxRBBKPOX6HO1L8N7gm-A/s1600-h/ajc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3qP9lFqcr82ZSyhY81B5ZgVFC1vnEDFQUFbc_qXKcPcK4ClyRoMBM6g5UV6sFMcjM05ySCtGKsxg4qhi8aYd5yQZejQGcqOjwBEqOAJnP40AjmGQqmqGsRNxRBBKPOX6HO1L8N7gm-A/s400/ajc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280846745326310978" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Arlie John Carstens</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(photo by Michelle Pullman)</span><br /><br /></div><br />R.: The last time I wrote to you was more than 5 years ago. Although you pretty much explained everything that needed to be said about Juno’s breakup in the statement on your website I wanted to ask what you think ultimately lead to the end of Juno from your viewpoint today. Could you talk a bit about that?<br /><br />Arlie John Carstens: Some of us wanted to write new music, record another album and tour. These were the activities we had built our lives on and believed in, but after nine years of constant song writing, touring and rehearsing, a couple of people in the band weren’t sure what they wanted to do in any aspect of their lives. They just knew they didn’t want to say yes to touring or yes to starting a new album. Fair enough. Being in a band for a long time, especially the way we chose to do it, could be very hard on a person. Accordingly, rehearsing became difficult for us to contend with; we had always previously been a very dynamic, driven group of people. It was a sad, dark time… until eventually I said, “Well, if we cannot make progress, then it is time for me to do other things.” A few months later I moved to Los Angeles and began the long collaborative project that is <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ghostwarsmusic">Ghost Wars</a>.<br /><br />R.: Do you miss Juno?<br /><br />AJC: In some ways I miss Juno, yes. Mainly I miss touring; I miss seeing new places with band mates and meeting new friends through our active music life together. And I miss certain parts of songs. But in general, my life is healthier, happier and filled with a greater diversity of people and experiences, so I cannot be too caught up in missing the past. Juno was a nine-year labor of love. I am still very proud of our time together—our tours, friendships, songs and live shows were a wonderful thing to be a part of. We had a very specific vision of who we were and how we did things.<br />We had an ideology; we had an ethos that defined how and why we were together. We wanted to make progressive music and create art-in-motion. We wanted to play shows that were dynamic, confrontational and unique. And above all, we hoped to make albums that could have lives of their own long after we were gone. We strived to build community, see new places and learn new things. It was a beautiful, worthwhile struggle almost every day. Most everything we did, we did because it felt right at the time. When it began to feel wrong internally, the right thing to do was to let it go. If you want to strive for happiness your whole life long, then you must believe that life is what you make of it in the present, not dwell too much on what it was at some point in the past.<br /><br />R.: What have you been up to since then?<br /><br />AJC: I moved from Seattle four, maybe five years ago? I’m not really sure. In that time I’ve done a lot of travel journalism, music writing, photography, skateboarding, community and arts activism, and I’ve had many strange jobs. Other than that, I’ve been writing and recording Ghost Wars songs with close friends from all over the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles, New York and Boston, etc… We maintain a rehearsal/recording space in downtown Los Angeles and I occasionally fly up to Seattle to record and visit.<br /><br />R.: What motivated this relocation? What is it like to live in L.A.?<br /><br />AJC: Due to the chronic pain <a href="http://bosski.com/juno/updatenews/updatenews1.asp">associated with my spinal cord injury</a> (<a href="http://bosski.com/juno/photos/photoimages/053.jpg">among other injuries</a>) I wanted to be warmer. It was really that simple. Other than that, I wanted to get out from under Seattle’s grey, miserable weather, and I wanted to be on the West Coast so that I could easily visit my family and friends.<br />I enjoy living in Los Angeles, I really do. From all the years Juno was actively touring, I have many friends here. As well, several friends have moved down from Seattle and Portland, and from New York, Chicago, and Austin. So the transition was not difficult at all. I live in the woods in Elysian Heights, in a house built on pylons overlooking a forest of trees. Coyotes, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, wild dogs and opossums run around on my porch, birds chirp day and night, and hawks circle the sky. It is not the Los Angeles that shows up on television. It is quiet here in the woods. My life is filled with creative people, most of who are engaged in worthwhile, creative pursuits. As well, I frequently travel for the different kinds of work I do, which is nice. And I always look forward to coming home.<br /><br />R.: Last time we talked you said that you have chronic pain and will most likely need to have additional surgeries. How is your health situation now?<br /><br />AJC: My mental health is much better for having moved out of Seattle. As far as my physical health is concerned, I’ll battle with chronic pain for the rest of my life. My body is falling apart. It just is the way it is. But I can put a fork to my mouth and walk, so I am grateful every day. After breaking my neck it all could have been so different. I recognize how fortunate I am; I appreciate life and I do not fear death.<br /><br />R.: What do the other members of Juno do now? Are they in new bands?<br /><br />AJC: Gabe [Carter] and I are like brothers. He’s one of the collaborators in <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ghostwarsmusic">Ghost Wars</a>, so we speak often. As well, he works at <a href="http://www.subpop.com/">Sub Pop</a> doing International Distribution for the label, and he writes and records music with a few people up in Seattle. And his son Aubrey (a/k/a Baby Hercules) is the joy of Gabe and Jen’s lives. They are wonderful people and great parents. Jason Lajeunesse is co-owner of a music venue called <a href="http://www.neumos.com/">Neumo’</a><a href="http://www.neumos.com/">s</a> in Seattle, and he occasionally still plays music. For a while, Lajeunesse and Gabe were in a band together called <a href="http://www.myspace.com/hinthint">Hint Hint</a> with Pete [Quirk] from <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thecavesingers">the Cave Singers</a>. As for [Jason] Guyer and [Greg] Ferguson, I run into them occasionally when in Seattle. Both are brilliant musicians, I hope they are playing music.<br /><br />R.: How much are you involved in <a href="http://www.junodoc.com/">the Juno documentary project</a>? Do you know when it will be finished?<br /><br />AJC: About 1.5-years ago, Juno <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4-IKdNLvSk">reunited</a> to play benefit shows for the community radio station <a href="http://www.kexp.org/">KEXP</a> in Seattle. At that time, the documentary director Jon Mount came out with his film crew to shoot the performances, since then he’s been busy compiling additional archival footage and live tracks, and interviewing people familiar with the band. Jon Mount and the writer Sebastian Sterling came to Los Angeles this past weekend to again interview myself and a few other people. In February 2009 I think they plan to return to Seattle to again interview Juno members and others who were familiar with our band during those years.<br /><br />R.: <a href="http://nightseminar.blogspot.com/2008/09/interview-with-arlie-carstens-juno-june.html">Last time</a> I talked to you, you said that you had plans to write songs for a 5-song EP and were beginning to write new Juno songs. I also talked to one guy responsible for the Juno documentary project and he said that there were some song fragments (or even songs) that were never finished. If this is the case, is there a chance that we hear these songs someday?<br /><br />AJC: I’m not sure you’ll ever hear those Juno song fragments. It is all just rehearsal space recordings, recorded with two room mics to 2-tracks on a stereo cassette deck. A few of the songs still amaze me. Some of the most interesting work we’d ever done. The straight parts were more precise, the angular parts were more complicated, and oceanic parts were more enormous in their sheer sonic capacity. The work was definitely more “otherworldly” than anything we’d done prior. Though we have hundreds of hours of these tapes, the compositions are incomplete, and the vocals are muffled-to-non-existent. Because we only used room mics, the recording quality is good, but not great. Nevertheless, it would be nice to one day digitally remaster these analog cassettes for some sort of weird, low-fi instrumental album. But what label would put that out? And would there be an audience for it? Would anyone enjoy something like that? I have no idea.<br /><br />R.: Was it clear from the time that Juno finished that you needed to start another musical project?<br /><br />AJC: All of the years we were in Juno I wanted to start another musical project. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always planned to do something that was more about collaborative experiments than a “band” experience. However, because we were so focused on Juno, I did not make the time to live musically outside the band.<br /><br />R.: Who has been involved in Ghost Wars until now?<br /><br />AJC: Eric Fisher, Arlie Carstens, Nate Mendel, Fasil Debeb, Rosie Thomas, David Lee, Jay Clarke, Cory Murchy, Morgan Henderson, Eric Akre, Josh Myers, Gabe Carter, Eric Kinder, Goth Joel, Drew O'Doherty, Todd Ussery, Ben Lapennga, David Broecker, Jason McGerr, Andrew Rudd, Justin & Jerrod Hopfer (The Twins), David Scott Stone, Derrick Fudesco, Ben Verellen, Damon Way, Jonathan Hischke, and uh….<br /><br />R.: I read on myspace that you had a lot of misfortunes with the recorded material for Ghost Wars: one hard drive with the unmastered songs broke and the second one got stolen (correct me on that if I’m wrong). How did you cope with that since then?<br /><br />AJC: We’re still dealing with it. Thirty-three songs all trapped in a broken hard drive… the only thing we have left are unmixed, unmastered rough mixes burned to cdr’s and mp3s. This is an unfortunate circumstance, but we’ll figure it out eventually. We must.<br /><br />R.: Will there eventually be a Ghost Wars album that can be bought regularly?<br /><br />AJC: Yes. In the meantime, you can hear a few rough mixes <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ghostwarsmusic">on myspace</a>.<br /><br />R.: What bands did you enjoy recently/what’s the last album you bought?<br /><br />AJC: Black Merda. Low’s Guns and Drums. Max Richter. Six Organs of Admittance. Ignition. Pissed Jeans. Amon Duul II. Thrones. Hauschka. Spectrum. Neil Young. Throbbing Gristle. Siouxie and The Banshees. Zach Hill. Constantines. The Great Lake Swimmers. The Raveonettes. Pylon. Nina Simone. Wire. South Pacific. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Talk Talk. Lungfish. Gang Gang Dance. Fridge. Boris. Red Fang. Prince. Destroyer’s Trouble In Dreams. Ali Farka Toure. Neu! Bo Diddley’s Black Gladiator. Other than that, I’ve lately been revisiting John Cale’s Paris 1919 and The Academy In Peril. Oh, and Damian from Fucked Up recently turned me onto an 80s dark wave band from Canada named Ceramic Hello, which is incredible.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-18611251260318553242008-11-14T10:00:00.000-08:002009-08-30T05:11:07.893-07:00Interview with Daniel O'Sullivan, Guapo, November 2008<span style="font-family:arial;">Daniel O'Sullivan is a multi-talented musician from London who is involved in countless musical projects and activities. Reading the list of musicians he was and is involved with is like reading a map of who is who in today's alternative and avant garde music scene. I wrote him an email and he immediately responded with some very interesting insights into Guapo, Mothlite and even more.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPUqWfSE6AN0zbr_bI_pKEfNjlTua3Cmhsc_Vduv9de0VBlfdDXGdjXGB2FsfQ0vaPyLZAVfCzMFiyZEL3gzF8f2MUa3MHELOWaGEbj9xPe-t6T1jfp2nUUl4I0pno7ydlft6tm0Y4ZQ/s1600-h/DOS_Press.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 393px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPUqWfSE6AN0zbr_bI_pKEfNjlTua3Cmhsc_Vduv9de0VBlfdDXGdjXGB2FsfQ0vaPyLZAVfCzMFiyZEL3gzF8f2MUa3MHELOWaGEbj9xPe-t6T1jfp2nUUl4I0pno7ydlft6tm0Y4ZQ/s400/DOS_Press.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268595135044527378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Daniel O'Sullivan</span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">R.: </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">You seem to be a really busy person. Can you tell me in which bands/projects you have been are and will be involved?</span><br /><br />Daniel O'Sullivan: I play in <a href="http://www.mothlite.com/">Mothlite</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.guapo.co.uk">Guapo</a>, <a href="http://www.headlesshorses.co.uk/">Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses</a>, <a href="http://www.aethenor.com/">Æthenor</a>, <a href="http://www.aurora-b.com/">Grumbling Fur</a> and Being. I also play with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/alexanderdtucker">Alexander Tucker</a>, <a href="http://www.ideologic.org/">Sunn O)))</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/chromehoof">Chrome Hoof </a>and <a href="http://www.jester-records.com/ulver/">Ulver</a> when I’m needed.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Can you make a living with being a musician? What job do you have?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> I make ends meet through musical means, but these projects don’t accumulate enough money to make a decent living. Making music for film, TV and the occasional royalty cheque pays the bills (most of the time).</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: Matt Thompson, the former bassist of Guapo is not present on the latest Guapo release "Elixirs". Why did he leave the band?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">You would have to ask him for a more detailed response, but I would say he left mainly because of artistic disparities.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: The last three Guapo records are referred to as a trilogy. Can you talk a bit about what categorizes them as a trilogy?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">All three records are trussed by tradition. I would say mythology, but that term might be derogatory, as it could be perceived as something untrue. They are all the results of dead belief systems, one overshadowing the existence of an entire civilisation, one that exists perennially through folklore, and one that exists through solitude in a more clandestine realm. The magnifying glass moving closer in all the time. All of these things mirror the uncertainties and problems with designing a musical system that we are searching for. To “believe” in what you are doing simply because it is what you do naturally, no matter how oblique, is what these three records represent… I think?</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: What connect s the last three Guapo records? What separates them?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Well apart from the overarching concept, I would say the presence of a core instrumentation of Drums, Bass and Fender Rhodes binds the three records, although perhaps less so on Elixirs, which is a lot more varied. Also the fact that Matt had little to no involvement in the last record changed the outlook quite dramatically. The logical thing would’ve been another large-scale extended composition, but I think fragmenting the pieces definitely reciprocated how we were feeling as a band at that point.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: The song "<a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Guapo/_/Arthur,+Elsie+And+Frances">Arthur, Elsie and Frances</a>" on "Elixirs" has an organic, ambient-sounding ending. It is beautiful yet surprising to be found on a Guapo record. Can you tell me the "story" of this song (in terms of ideas/title/meaning)?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yes, the <a href="http://www.klaus-schulze.com/">Klaus Schulze</a> ending. It felt very un-Guapo as we were recording it, which is exactly why we pursued it in a way. I think there will be much more analogue synth orchestration and polyrhythmic sequences on the next record. The story behind that piece refers to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle">Arthur Conan Doyle</a> being duped by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies">Cottingley Fairies hoaxers Elsie and Frances Griffiths</a>.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: Moreover, can you tell me where the song names on "Elixirs" come from?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">They’re all based on outsider ideologies. <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Guapo/_/Jeweled+Turtle">Jeweled Turtle</a> is taken from “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_rebours">Against Nature</a>” by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joris_Karl_Huysmans">Joris Karl Huysmans</a>. The central character encrusts the shell of a turtle in jewels in order to create an asymmetrical myriad of colour against his Persian carpet. He creates a universe entirely based on his own sensory associations and perceptions. <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/search?m=all&q=The+Twisted+Stems">The Twisted Stems</a> pieces are based on the enneachordal theory of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher">Athanasius Kircher</a>, who was one of the last great polymaths. He believed that certain plants respond to frequencies transmitted by interplanetary activity, the radiant harmony of the sun and the dissonance of the moon. <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Guapo/_/The+Planks">The Planks</a> comes from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Veles">Book of Veles</a>, which is a hoaxed text of ancient Slavic religion and history written on wooden planks. It’s still used as a sort of bible for many Slavic neo-pagans. <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Guapo/_/King+Lindorm">King Lindorm</a> refers to dragon hunters in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm%C3%A5land">Småland</a>, which is an island off the coast of Sweden.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: This year also saw the release of "<a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Mothlite/The+Flax+Of+Reverie">The Flax Of Reverie</a>" from Mothlite, the project from you and <a href="http://www.discogs.com/artist/Antti+Uusimaki">Antti Uusimaki</a>. When did you first think about making music with him?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Pretty much as soon as I met him… A profound soul engrossed in machines.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: I have to say that "The Flax Of Reverie" is already my favourite release of 2008. Not only do the beautiful cinematic soundscapes remind me of more than one of my all time favourite artists (e.g. Talk Talk), the music also evokes dreamlike pictures and a remembrance of mysteries from my childhood.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Can you tell me something about the development of the album and also about the meaning behind each song for you personally?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Thank you. I’m pleased it conjures those feelings for you. A big inspiration for that album comes from a similar state of mind. Each song has it’s own story, but they all belong to the sense of being overwhelmingly protected and vulnerable at the same time. Riverside and The One in the Water are kind of twin sisters. They both refer to the whale that found itself lost in the river Thames a couple of years ago and subsequently died. It was an avatar for me. The wilderness of life made itself visible, and you forgot about all of the triviality and emptiness of living in a city like London. As for the others, well the lyrics are there. It gets a little dull if all you hear is my side of the story.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Is there a concept behind "The Flax Of Reverie"? What is the story/intention behind it?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">There is no one resolute concept behind the record. It’s just how I perceive certain things.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: What influences did you have when you created "The Flax Of Reverie"?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Musical influences trickle in unknowingly. There was never a point where we attempted to emulate anything else. Although I must say Talk Talk were a major paradigm shift for us. I was listening to either Spirit of Eden or Laughing Stock almost every day for a good two-year period. The only reason I don’t listen to them as frequently is because I like to be astonished by them all over again. There are many other influences… Numinous dreams, Rishikesh sunsets, The Singing Ringing Tree, etc.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: You played with </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Æthenor</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> on the last Roadburn Festival and Kristoffer Rygg (from Ulver) joined you live on stage and also contributed some vocals for the last</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Æthenor</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> album. How did this collaboration come to terms?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">We’re friends. We met on myspace, ha! It’s the mutual appreciation society coming to fruition.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: I tried really hard and listened to the last Aethenor album to figure out the position at which Kristoffer Rygg sung. I couldn't find. Would you reveal where that is?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">On these recordings he wanted to be inside the room, like a shadow. He’s actually all over that record, contrary to some reviews I’ve read. There is a lot of acousmatic non-vocal like sounds. It’s Æthenor after all, not Ulver.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: Tell me something about your work in Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses. When and how did you form this band?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I formed that band a long long time ago. I think it was 98 when we started. The original line-up was myself, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw">James Blackshaw</a> (who has gone on to make several solo records) and Francesca Bury. We were very young when we started that band actually. It wasn’t until I recruited Dave (Guapo drummer) and Orlando that it became a bit more active.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: I read that you are part of Grumbling' Fur. What can we expect of the upcoming album? How will it sound and when can we listen to some songs?</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yes, that’s an interesting project. Improvisations involving Alexander Tucker and myself at the core, which are then heavily edited and post-produced with Antti Uusimaki. This recording which is about to come out (Feb 09 I think) on Aurora Borealis features Jussi from Circle and Dave Smith. It’s very psyche.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: You have been invited to play with Guapo at next years Roadburn Festival. Will you also perform with Mothlite there?</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">We haven’t been invited as Mothlite, so probably not. We were personally invited by Neurosis to perform there as part of the day they are curating.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: Although you are involved in many musical projects I guess that one can always kind of recognize your "handwriting" in the music. Tell me something about your influences: Which artists/movies/art/etc. inspires you or what do you consider a contribution to your artistic vision?</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">It changes all the time. Do you mind if I don’t answer this question too extensively? It’s simply because I find it hard to contextualise my own work. I listen to a lot of music, and I love the multifarious nature of music and I love connecting the dots.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Name some of the records/albums that recently got your attention (and what were the last records you bought)?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I’ve just been obsessing over Beatles for the last year or so. I still can’t believe the miracle of Beatles; how they achieved so much beautiful music in such a short lifespan. They were magical beings put here to change the world and they did. Who else can you think of with that amount of energy? I’ve also been dipping back into Low (Bowie) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Cafe_Orchestra">Penguin Café Orchestra</a>. Lots of Indian classical on rotation too… <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Shiv+Kumar+Sharma">Shivkumar Sharma</a>, <a href="http://www.the-south-asian.com/April2005/Pandit_Ram_Narayan_sarangi.htm">Pandit Ram Narayan</a>, etc. </span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: I already said that I used to host a radio show where I asked a band in an interview to select songs (from other bands) which I then played on the show. Although I won't play them - please select some songs you like.</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS:: </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">How many do I get? I’ll give you 6.<br /></span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ32e5vuWCc"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Beatles – Blue Jay Way</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5A2IAgyQEg"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Beatles – Julia</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.the-drift.net/"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Scott Walker – Jolson & Jones</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjbbc1qmZiQ"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Beach Boys – Feel Flows</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZTkqNiVfTc"><span style="font-family:georgia;">David Bowie – Subterraneans</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Penguin+Cafe+Orchestra/_/The+Sound+Of+Someone+You+Love+Who%27s+Going+Away+And+It+Doesn%27t+Matter"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Penguin Café Orchestra – The Sound Of Someone You Love Who's Going Away And It Doesn't Matter</span> </a> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: What is next in line for Guapo and Mothlite? Have you made plans for new albums yet?</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">We’re halfway through Mothlite’s “pop” album. We’re laying foundations for Guapo’s “afrobeat” album.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />R.: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions. The last words belong to you.</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />D::OS::</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I’ll give them to someone else…</span><br /><br />"There is never any end. There are always new sounds to imagine; new feelings to get at. And always, there is the need to keep purifying these feelings and sounds so that we can really see what we've discovered in its pure state. So that we can see more and more clearly what we are. In that way, we can give to those who listen the essence, the best of what we are. But to do that at each stage, we have to keep on cleaning the mirror."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br />John Coltrane</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The following is a list of recent releases from Daniel O'Sullivan:</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">MOTHLITE<br />"THE FLAX OF REVERIE" 2LP/CD<br />OUT NOW: SOUTHERN RECORDS<br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.southern.net">www.southern.net </a><br /><a href="http://www.mothlite.com/">www.mothlite.com </a><br /><br />AETHENOR<br />"FAKING GOLD & MURDER" LP/CD<br />JAN 09: VHF RECORDS<br /><a href="http://www.vhfrecords.com/">www.vhfrecords.com </a><br /><a href="http://www.aethenor.com/">www.aethenor.com</a><br /><br />GRUMBLING FUR<br />"FURRIER" LP/CD<br />JAN 09: AURORA BOREALIS<br /><a href="http://www.aurora-b.com/">www.aurora-b.com</a><br /><br />GUAPO<br />"ELIXIRS" CD<br />OUT NOW: NEUROT RECORDINGS<br /><a href="http://www.neurotrecordings.com/">www.neurotrecordings.com </a><br /><a href="http://www.guapo.co.uk/">www.guapo.co.uk</a><br /><br />AETHENOR<br />"BETIMES BLACK CLOUDMASSES" LP/CD<br />OUT NOW: VHF RECORDS<br /><a href="http://www.vhfrecords.com/">www.vhfrecords.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.aethenor.com/">www.aethenor.com</a><br /><br />MIASMA & THE CAROUSEL OF HEADLESS HORSES<br />"MANFAUNA" LP/CD<br />OUT NOW: SOUTHERN RECORDS<br /><a href="http://www.southern.net/latitudes">www.southern.net/latitudes</a><br /><a href="http://www.headlesshorses.co.uk/">www.headlesshorses.co.uk</a> </span></span>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-80225897249686853872008-10-06T01:46:00.000-07:002009-08-30T05:12:26.797-07:00Interview with Alex John Hall, Grails, Thursday October 2nd, 2008<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://neurotrecordings.com/artists/grails/index.aspx">"Instrumental music is total music."</a> This quote from the Neurot recordings page about Portland's <a href="http://www.grailsongs.com/">Grails</a> pretty much sums up what they are about. The lack of a singer in their music only compels the listener to concentrate on the music itself and allows him to make his own sense of the emotions the music evokes. From their <a href="http://neurotrecordings.com/detail.aspx?ID=48">very first record</a> up to their latest record entitled <a href="http://www.temporaryresidence.com/descriptions/trr144.php">'Doomsdayer's Holiday' </a>they never fail to amaze with their music that changed from an early violinist supported sound to an oriental-psychedelic outfit it is today. And while this description may not be enough to describe the wonderful music Grails have created I will rather let their guitarist Alex John Hall talk about Grails in his own words.<br /><br /></span><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="EC_MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjn7o4PMex6NbUZhnbVp4hWcAFbjFFTEp8xcbHzOjABBtlxnAPaof0UZVDeDQlGlHknCxQ1fuIUsXrF3nNaSZtpcCgILmzkzGw364tnDB1BJQJNRBWDeTz7Jrt9IBJq8JB2C0qahBSJP0/s1600-h/grails.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjn7o4PMex6NbUZhnbVp4hWcAFbjFFTEp8xcbHzOjABBtlxnAPaof0UZVDeDQlGlHknCxQ1fuIUsXrF3nNaSZtpcCgILmzkzGw364tnDB1BJQJNRBWDeTz7Jrt9IBJq8JB2C0qahBSJP0/s400/grails.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253983583202207298" border="0" /></a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">l.t.r.: Sophie, Alex John Hall, William Slater, Rover, Emil Amos, William Zakary Riles</span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Grails have undergone some changes concerning the band members over the years. Could you sum up as far as you can who was in the band and why they left? Who are the current band members?<br /><br />Alex Hall: The core of the band has been the same four people for the last 7 years.<span style=""> </span>We did have a violinist at one time, but he left in 2004. And sometimes our good friend Ben<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>[Nugent] joins us for tours and recording. But that's the extent of the lineup changes.</span><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Are there any recordings from Laurel Canyon the project that you and Emil Amos initially started with? How did Laurel Canyon sound?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: The early Laurel Canyon stuff sounded like the awkward first attempts of a band trying to figure out how to play together. Which is pretty typical, I guess. It was total confusion - 5 people with very different ideas about music, without a clear idea of what it was they were trying to create.<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: I guess if I understand you correctly then you wouldn’t allow anyone to listen to Laurel Canyon even if any recordings existed.</span> </p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Alex Hall: It's not that we'd be horrified if anyone heard it, there's just no reason for us to work on making it available... </span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: On most of your albums (“The Burden of Hope”, “Redlight”, “Interpretations…” and “Take Refuge in Clean Living”) you included cover songs from more or less unknown artists. Do you look for these songs on purpose or are those part of your record collection anyway?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">Alex Hall: </span>I'm not sure that I'd classify The Ventures, The Byrds, Richard Thompson, or Sun City Girls as 'unknown'....but yeah, the cover songs are opportunities for us to pay our respects to the greats. The covers are fun for us to work on, hopefully also reminders that instrumental rock music existed long before 'post-rock.'<br /></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">R.: <span lang="EN-US">With the first two albums your sound was different than it is now. One could maybe say that on “The Burden Of Hope” and “Redlight” you sound like a really heavy version of <a href="http://www.myspace.com/dirtythree">Dirty Three</a>. After that the sound changed into something different. You incorporated psychedelic and oriental influences. How did it come to that?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: The first two Grails albums were recorded at about the same time, but spaced out by a year for release. Those records are basically just live recordings in a studio; there's very little in the way of over-dubbing or post-production. It wasn't until we got into home recording that we were able to delve into production and real experimentation. And with that came the freedom to start incorporating anything we liked, connecting the dots between A and Z. Call it the Faust-ian method....<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Could you elaborate a bit further on that? What do you mean by “Faust-ian method”?</span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Alex Hall: I just mean that we were inspired by bands like <a href="http://www.myspace.com/faustpages">Faust</a> that rejected boundaries and approached music with a genuine sense of adventure.</span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Do you feel that you created something new with this sound or do you see connections to certain genres/bands?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: There are always points of reference no matter what you do. But the goal has never been to develop some specific NEW sound, rather to develop a creative process that can be inclusive of ALL sounds.<br /></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">R.: <span lang="EN-US">With Emil Amos now being the second part of <a href="http://www.omvibratory.com/">Om</a> – does change something for Grails?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: No, not really. We just have to plan stuff farther in advance.<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: The new record starts with what seems to be spine-chilling screams from a woman and galloping horses. It reminded me somehow of Italian horror flicks of the seventies. What’s the intention behind this?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: <span lang="EN-US"></span> <span lang="EN-US">To reference Italian horror flicks of the seventies.<br /></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Was it intentional to record such a “heavy” album?</span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: In a way. We work on new songs haphazardly - pull a track off the shelf, work on it for a while, put it back up on the shelf, pull up another, etc.... So a lot of the material had been kicking around for a long time, just waiting to find the right home.<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Where and how was it recorded?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Alex Hall: It was recorded in what is now our usual method -- basic tracking in a 'real' studio, endless editing and sampling and post-production in our home studios, mixing by our friend Jeff [Saltzman], mastering by our friend Carl [Saff].</span><br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Why are there two different covers?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: The label was concerned that some of the bigger stores would have a problem with the more explicit cover. So we agreed to create an alternate cover that they could use for some outlets. But the dual album cover thing was also something we hadn't done before, made the whole project more special for us.<br /></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Who created the cover images?</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="EC_MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Alex Hall: Better for that to remain a mystery.</span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Can you live off your music right now?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: No, we all have jobs. I work as a chemist, Bill [Slater]'s a bartender, Emil [Amos] works at a homeless shelter, Zak [Riles] is a bodyguard.<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: Neurosis will curate next years Roadburn festival in the Netherlands. Have you already been invited?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" face="georgia">Alex Hall: Yes, we were very lucky to receive an invitation. Still trying to work out whether we'll be able to do it..<br /></p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:georgia;"></span> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: If this helps: Scott Kelly has addressed the Roadburn festival as the best festival in the world and he was right in every aspect....</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="EC_MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Alex Hall: Yes, I've also heard this about Roadburn. It's an honor to be invited, but it's also challenging to manage everyone's personal schedules. Hopefully it'll work out.</span></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" face="georgia"><span lang="EN-US">R.: If you were to curate such a festival, which bands would you invite?</span></p><span style="font-family:georgia;">Alex Hall: Just Neurosis, but they'd only be allowed to play <a href="http://www.myspace.com/styxtheband">Styx</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_%28band%29">Queen</a> covers.</span><br /><p class="EC_MsoNormal" face="georgia"><span lang="EN-US">R.: What are you listening to at the moment? What were the last records you bought / that got your attention?</span><br /></p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Alex Hall: I just watched the short film series, <a href="http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=769427891">True Norwegian Black Metal</a>, and I liked it so much that I bought the last <a href="http://www.myspace.com/gorgoroth">Gorgoroth</a> record....not bad!<br /></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">R.: What is the next step for Grails?</span></p> <p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;">Alex Hall: There's a dvd project being finished now, to be released in spring '09. Beyond that....Grails exists to make records, so....recording and mixing and recording and mixing.....</p><p class="EC_MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">R.: Would you reveal what treasures the DVD will contain? </span> </p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="EC_MsoNormal">Alex Hall: It's been a year-long video editing project for Emil. It has a bunch of <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user370387">his "music videos"</a>, lots of live footage, and a half-hour long film from the first two Grails European tours.</p>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-65356063358026014672008-09-30T07:18:00.000-07:002008-09-30T08:23:32.331-07:00Interview with Arlie Carstens, Juno, June 2003<a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bosski.com/juno/">Juno</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> were a band who (simply put) made independent Rock music. Yet for so many fans including me their music meant much more. They released two magnificent albums: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Juno/This+Is+the+Way+It+Goes+and+Goes+and+Goes">This Is The Way It Goes And Goes</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> in 1999 and </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Juno/A+Future+Lived+in+Past+Tense">A Future Lived In Past Tense</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> in 2001. You can listen to both full albums at last.fm. Shortly before their breakup I had the chance to interview Arlie Carstens, the singer in 2003. He now resides in Los Angeles and is currently writing music for his new project </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.myspace.com/ghostwarsmusic">Ghost Wars</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br />R.: I think, so far not many people here in Europe, especially in Germany are paying attention to Juno's music. Do you have a bigger "fanbase" in the U.S., or is Juno still the "little punk band"?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens: I don’t really know. We probably have more listeners in the U.S. We’ve toured Europe twice. We’ve had great shows all over the continent and the UK. Given the kind of music we make, Juno doesn’t really fit in with much of the music made in the indie/punk/hardcore/ambient scenes. We sort of touch on all of those elements but Juno tends to sort of exist in a world of our own. Maybe we’re the “little punk band,” or maybe we’re not. We really have no idea.<br /><br />R.: You just recently toured Japan. How did it come to that and how was the experience?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens: I’d always wanted to tour Japan so I made it my personal mission to get us there. Fortunate for Juno, a few years ago we played in Denton, Texas with a Japanese noise-rock band named Aspera Bay. We liked Aspera Bay’s music and they liked ours. Shuko (bass) and Ari (Aspera Bay’s roadie, now the singer/guitarist in Blasstwolicks) kept in touch with me via email. We’d send each other packages of music, candy and funny little toys. We’d occasionally talk about trying to get Juno over to Japan. But it always seemed impossible. Then one day about a year ago I received an email from a promoter in Nagoya named Hiroshi. He asked if he could bring us over. I put Hiroshi in touch with Shuko and Ari. And then two larger promoters, Takuya (at the Stiff Slack label in Nagoya) and Katoman (at the dotlinecircle label in Tokyo) also became involved. We spent the next ten months working out the details. We played most of our shows with Ari’s band, Blasstwolicks, and his friends in the band, Balloons. Though getting it set up was difficult work, Japan was the best tour of our lives. Japan is full of very wonderful, kind people. The shows were amazing. The food was delicious. The country is beautiful and the culture is fascinating. And the bands are so good! Great bands!<br /><br />R.: Juno's first record "This is the way it goes and goes.." is - if you want to label it that way kind of an epic Indie record. There are a lot of songs on it which had a playtime from 6 to 9 minutes. The second album "A Future Lived in Past Tense" was more worked-out, it had punk rock-influenced songs like "Covered with Hair" and again some wonderful epic songs like "The french Letter" on it. For me, it was a perfect album, with wonderful songs and lyrics that seem to be very close to life. Have you already started composing/recording the next album? What is the next step after these two wonderful albums?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens: We’re trying to sort out what the next step will be. Since coming home from Japan we’ve been playing a lot of shows. It would be nice to be in a recording studio or touring right now, but songwriting has always been a very slow process for Juno. Many of our songs take an extended time to compose. We frequently write for three guitar players and often compose our parts in different tunings from one another. I make lots of field recordings and 4-track experiments. And then once we’re in the studio, we enjoy finding ways to add our friends and their strange instruments to our songs. I think the plan is to write songs for a 5-song EP, and then a new full-length. We’ve only recently begun working on new material.<br /><br />R.: You aren't singing very traditional, your lyrics are more like you are telling a story. How do you write them? More over, how does Juno compose a song?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens: You’re right, it is more like I’m telling stories. The standard way that most people write verses and choruses doesn’t really work within the context of Juno. We’re not writing conventional pop songs, country music, or emo-nursery rhymes. It’s more like we’re writing stories set to music… or music set to stories. The way our songs come out seems very natural to me. We don’t really try to write with any specific formula or audience in mind. It’s a difficult but very organic process, the songs become whatever they need to become. As far as lyrics are concerned, I’m as interested in writing fiction and non-fiction as I am in writing music,. I often write about real people and events. I want to ask questions about life, love, death, science, sex, religion and the universe. Through music I want to find answers… sometimes I find the right ones… sometimes the wrong ones. Like chapters in a novel, we hope to take listeners on a journey through many different lives, events, ideas, and sounds… Within an hour-long album, creating a world that starts here… ends there.<br />As for the music, I often write the lyrics first, and then usually myself, Gabe or Jason will come in with rough guitar parts. We’ll deconstruct that guitar part as it fits (or doesn’t) with the lyrics and then we’ll repair the guitar part, or tear it down, and then reconstruct it five times over again- adding additional guitars and bass, drums, piano, etc… whatever the music and the story seem to be asking for. It can be a very long but rewarding process. Usually fun. Sometimes frustrating.<br /><br />R.: Not many know that you had an accident while snowboarding a time ago where you broke your neck and had to go through countless surgeries. Have you recovered fully yet from that?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens: Given the nature of the injury (as well as the many injuries I had before I broke my neck) I’ll never really be fully recovered. I’ve got titanium plates behind my throat, fusing my cervical spine. But I can walk, sing, skateboard, write, play music, feed myself, shower and make sweet love… so, in general I suppose I’m doing well enough. I have chronic pain and will most likely need to have additional surgeries as I go through life. But I’m very fortunate to be walking. I could very easily have been paralyzed from my chin to my feet. My life could be much different right now.<br /><br />R.: I know that more than one time you stated Punk Rock as an influence to your music. But what are the other musical influences? What are your actual and all time favourite records/bands?<br /><br />Arlie Carstens:<br /><ul><li>Talk Talk- Spirit of Eden, The Laughing Stock</li><li>Lungfish- Rainbows From Atoms, Indivisible, Necrophones, The Unanimous Hour, et al.</li><li>Mark Hollis- eponymous</li><li>Bad Brains- Rock For Light, ROIR Sessions</li><li>Elvis Costello- Too albums many to list, everything!</li><li>Rites Of Spring- eponymous</li><li>One Last Wish- eponymous</li><li>Happy-Go-Licky- eponymous</li><li>Soulside- Less Deep Inside Keeps Becoming More To Become Nothing, Trigger, Hot Body Gram</li><li>Minor Threat- Out of Step</li><li>Beyond Possession- Is Beyond Possession</li><li>Red House Painters- Ocean Beaches</li><li>Afghan Whigs- Up In It, Gentlemen</li><li>Mark Lanagen- Winding Sheet, Whiskey For The Holy Ghost</li><li>David Bowie- Space Oddity, Sound + Vision</li><li>Idaho- Hearts of Palm, Three Sheets To The Wind</li><li>Iggy and The Stooges- Funhouse</li><li>Jeff Buckley- Grace </li><li>Radio Birdman- Radios Appear</li><li>Shudder To Think- Ten Spot, Funeral At The Movies</li><li>The Clash- London Calling, Sandinista</li><li>Nina Simone- The Essential Nina Simone</li><li>Husker Du- Flip Your Wig, Zen Arcade</li><li>Nice Strong Arm- Stress City</li><li>Cat Power- Moon Pix</li><li>Prefab Sprout- Swoon, Two Wheels Good</li><li>Slint- Spiderland</li><li>Come- Eleven:Eleven</li><li>Chavez- Ride The Fader, Gone Glimmering</li><li>Squirrelbait- Scag Heaven</li><li>Quincy Jones- (in his capacity as a conductor)</li><li>Charlie Parker- anything I can get my hands on</li><li>Fugazi- *(everything): Particularly Steady Diet of Nothing, and 13 Songs, End Hits</li><li>Joy Division- Closer, Substance</li><li>Descendents- Milo Goes To College</li></ul>R.: We already talked about a forthcoming tour in Germany. Will it be a headliner tour, or could you also imagine touring with a band like "...and you will know us by the Trail of Dead" as a Co-Headliner?<br /><br />Arlie: We’ve toured through Germany twice, both times headlining small venues. But you’re right, doing it with another band would be fun. It’d be nice to play with our friends in …Trail of Dead, Les Savy Fav, or Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Maybe doing it with Arab Strap, or Mogwai would be a good time. I’m not exactly sure when we’ll be back in Europe, most likely soon after we finish our next recording. That would be nice.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A few months after the interview Juno announced their split up on their official website. Given that, some of the questions seem futile seen from today. I never had the chance to ask what happened to the material they already had been working on for the new record before breaking up. It would be interesting to do another interview. I will try to do that. Make sure and stop by <a href="http://www.junodoc.com/">this website</a>. Supposedly a documentary about Juno will someday be released.</span>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-34292278571177372042008-09-24T09:34:00.000-07:002009-08-30T05:14:23.141-07:00Interview with Justin K. Broadrick, Jesu, Saturday May 20th, 2006<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/ostinatospace">Ostinato</a>, <a href="http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk/finalmain.html">Final</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/officialjesu">Jesu</a>: How could I have resisted such a great lineup for a concert? I booked a train ticket to Berlin, asked Jesu for an interview and called up a good friend of mine for a place to crash. She agreed and even accompanied me to the concert (at the <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/venue/8780351">Bastard</a>) and the interview. Below I will refer to her as W. Shortly after Justin Broadrick arrived at the venue he introduced me to the rest of the band and after that we (meaning me and my friend W.) sat down with Justin Broadrick and Diarmuid Dalton for over half an hour of insights into Godflesh, Final, Jesu, being a celebrity and more.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVG0y4nDHf6KhUWskfZI2hxxC4pDXLhOpOZf13TgDBFE-r0x8aXyATGKHt7HcU9BnIZefJ4H90EOpMAiEIDMfPZayK_Z2sabdSell5ABm9hFXv3zkqP9M6HyvRDX2O0QvIUKlH5bw-v4/s1600-h/ralphandjustin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVG0y4nDHf6KhUWskfZI2hxxC4pDXLhOpOZf13TgDBFE-r0x8aXyATGKHt7HcU9BnIZefJ4H90EOpMAiEIDMfPZayK_Z2sabdSell5ABm9hFXv3zkqP9M6HyvRDX2O0QvIUKlH5bw-v4/s400/ralphandjustin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249657011604445490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Left to right: R., Justin K. Broadrick</span></div><br /><br />R.: I wanted to start by going back in time a bit. Could you maybe sum up how and when it was that you ended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godflesh">Godflesh</a> and started <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesu_%28band%29">Jesu</a>?<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Basically Godflesh finished in 2002 and I started already writing and recording bits of Jesu around 2001. It was just on my own, like private recordings of which I felt I wanted maybe to expand that side of the Godflesh sound. I was quite obsessed with… the fact that… [laughs and points at the recording device] I’m quite self conscious with that… [laughs] I have to try and… ignore that it’s there. [laughs]<br />I started writing stuff privately in 2001 which I knew was gonna be another group. But I wasn’t shure if this group was gonna replace Godflesh or just be a project. I already had the name for it as Jesu as well. I just started privately inside my own studio just recording things, really primitive bits. Two of these songs became songs on the first album, <a href="http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk/jesu_debut_2.html">the self-titled album</a>. One was <a href="http://www.purevolume.com/jesu">“Tired Of Me”</a> and the other one “Your Path To Divinity” which were pretty much the two first songs that I wrote. What occurred to me after some time was listening back to these demos that I was doing was that I preferred it to Godflesh. And I was thinking that this is it now with Godflesh, I think. I’ve worn the idea thin, you know. I didn’t want to go any further pursuing that sort of attacking brutal sound. I also had enough of screaming as well.<br /><br />R.: Did the other members of Godflesh instantly agree with you?<br /><br />No. [laughs] Not at all. I mean Godflesh took a real big change. The original bass player left just after we recorded the last Godflesh album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymns_%28Godflesh_album%29">“Hymns”</a>. He left just before we were about to do a tour with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Factory">Fear Factory</a>. We got a replacement with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Raven">Paul Raven</a> who played in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prong_%28band%29">Prong</a> with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/tedparsons">Ted</a> [Parsons , drummer for Godflesh and Jesu] actually and he plays in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Joke">Killing Joke</a>. He joined the band and Godflesh didn’t feel right. It felt completely different. He joined for a live tour and it just didn’t feel… it sort of solidified my feelings of the fact that I don’t think Godflesh should exist anymore, that I needed to replace it with something new and something where I was doing exactly what I wanted to do. Basically toward the end of Godflesh I wanted to pursue a sound which has turned into Jesu – something concentrated on melody and melancholy. Godflesh was very brutal and attacking. I think I’d grown tired of attacking and screaming my head off all the time. Godflesh existed almost 14 years. I felt I’d spent 14 years screaming my head off - banging my head against the wall. That was the feeling of this. Now I felt like I couldn’t care for the attack any more.<br /><br />R.: I read an interview with you where you said that were Godflesh was clinical and cold the new intent with Jesu was to be frail and emotional.<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, some Godflesh reached those moments but they were never focused enough. Godflesh by design was obviously very brutal, a very cold, machinelike brutal sound. I clearly wanted to go the other way with Jesu. It’s all about songwriting, melodies. Some of these things were touched upon with Godflesh but they were just never developed. For Jesu I really wanted to develop this side of the songs that was there sometimes where I’d sing, it was slower and the melodies were much more depressing, very emotional, and very melancholic. It was something that was always touched upon with Godflesh but never developed enough. Initially the intention was these songs we sometimes did with Godflesh – I wanted to make a whole band of these songs. I wanted to make music which just consisted of these miserable, emotional songs which really touched me. I wanted to develop this much further.<br /><br />W.: Was this a change in your personality that expressed itself in the music or was it something that you always wanted to get out?<br /><br />J.B.: It was definitely always there. But only touched upon with Godflesh. On each Godflesh album there are maybe one or two songs that have these peaks – very emotionally intense, singing with clean vocals. Every time we recorded something like this I always felt in the back of my mind I’d love to just do everything like that. But because Godflesh had this self-imposed limitation which we imposed to keep it disciplined I couldn’t step outside. The great thing with terminating Godflesh - which was obviously a big thing to do in my life because I’d established a living with it and so and so – was that I couldn’t be true to myself anymore. A lot of groups continue purely for financial reasons which we could have done with Godflesh but that was worthless to me towards the end. I couldn’t express what I wanted and obviously I am a lot older now. When I started Godflesh and recorded the album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcleaner">Streetcleaner</a> - which is the album everyone still talks about - I was 19. Do you know what I mean? And people still say to me “Oh, if you’d only do Streetcleaner again…” and all this shit… I’m 36 now. I don’t feel the need to do this anymore. When I was in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm_death">Napalm Death</a>, when I was 15 or 16 – then I did just want to rage – I went from being anarchistic to complete nihilism. And now it’s just beyond it all. There is this cheesy element of maturity. I don’t think I ever wanted to be a 40 year old guy standing there and screaming my head off.<br /><br />R.: Do you feel that Godflesh got the attention it deserved?<br /><br />J.B.: To some extent yes - and really surprisingly so - and sometimes… maybe not a little. I think Godflesh influenced so much music but it wasn’t very apparent for many years and suddenly you saw how many things Godflesh affected and how many groups it influenced and stuff. It took a long time for this to be clear. I think it’s probably because we’re an English band from the middle of nowhere. I think if we were American then Godflesh would have been a lot bigger band. I think that’s pretty much a fact.<br /><br />R.: The thing is that you started this kind of music with Godflesh but other bands that followed like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails">Nine Inch Nails</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_%28band%29">Ministry</a> got so much more attention and really hit off in terms of audience numbers and stadium rock and stuff but Godflesh remained this underground thing…<br /><br />J.B.: Exactly.<br /><br />R.: …appreciated by many but the success… I don’t know…<br /><br />J.B.: By own standards Godflesh did really well. When I first formed Godflesh I thought it would sell a couple of thousand records if we were lucky. But within a couple of years we just blew up… out of all proportion. But obviously we never filled stadiums. I don’t think any music I’m ever involved in will ever fill in stadiums. Once you get past the ambition of wanting to be a star or whatever – then you can make music. The ambition thing existed when I was younger. Now it doesn’t exist at all. If you only aspire to make great music and not aspire to be a superstar then you’ve got the right focus. Godflesh never did anything to make itself a bigger band. Many times we were offered millions of tours around America all the time and move to America because that’s were the biggest market is and all this stuff but we’re not good at…<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: …being celebrities.<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Exactly. All this shit – playing that celebrity game and being a star and all that stuff. It’s just not who we are and not what we do. And Jesu is obviously the same. Even more so I think. Jesu is becoming very popular in America and we haven’t even toured there yet. [laughs]<br /><br />R.: Maybe thanks to <a href="http://hydrahead.tortugarecordings.com/v3/">Hydrahead</a>.<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah but I think our record is really helping Hydrahead as well because the Jesu record is reaching wider audiences in America and is reaching mainstream music press. Hydrahead are saying none of their groups in America have done that yet. For us it’s the first but our step in stone. A two folded step in stone - my reputation from Godflesh and Hydrahead being quite a trendy label. These two things put together have made quite something that people are noticing. It’s interesting to see. With Jesu I expected a lot less than Godflesh because it’s really something which I felt only I could really relate to and all the people I work with like Diarmuid [Dalton] and Ted [Parsons] and the people around me. I didn’t think there would really be seriously an audience for this music but there is. [laughs] It’s a pleasant surprise.<br /><br />R.: Godflesh and Jesu are both names that carry a spiritual or religious meaning with them. Are you a spiritual person?<br /><br />J.B.: I’m totally a spiritual person. I’m absolutely obsessed with any form of spirituality.<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: …and spirits…<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Spirits, yeah! Particularly Vodka... [laughs]<br />Yeah I’ve always been obsessed with everything esoteric and everything to do with spiritual cultism. All these things absolutely fascinate me. Belief systems are really fascinating. It was the same thing with Godflesh. It’s all questions, you know? Jesu is all questions and Godflesh is all questions. I’m not smart enough to have answers. I’m the same questioning person that we all are. For me everything is a question. I think I’m on the same stupid or cheesy spiritual quest that a lot of people are in but without the need of any form of dictated religion. Obviously we’re totally anti organized religion. When I say anti organized religion Satanism is pretty much in the same bracket. But religious iconography is something I’m really obsessed with. The imagery of religion, the feeling of like when you walk into a cathedral, the huge feeling of intimidation that you get from Christian religion – everything to do with religion I find totally obsessive.<br /><br />R.: So is it more the atmosphere of spirituality that you want to carry in the music?<br /><br />J.B.: To some extent, yes. I think it’s trying to create a similar spiritual feeling. The closest I can ever get to any form of God is through art. So it’s either music or great books or great films. But for me music… and films I think… it’s close but music for me is ultimately the thing where I personally can get emotions that I can’t even articulate. They’re illiterate emotions. With Jesu we’re definitely trying to create music which evokes that same atmosphere where the peaks of the emotion is so intense that you can’t really put your finger on exactly what it is. Those are moments in music I really enjoy. It’s like a blind emotion – absolutely inarticulate, illiterate, where words have no meaning anymore. Religion obviously evokes the same feeling of belief in people where it’s like a blind belief. It’s fascinating that people can just put their whole body and soul into something… But I can see this in myself. I can see how it is possible to be absolutely absorbed by feelings of pure love or pure faith. It’s something I’m really intrigued by. I’m intrigued by what’s beyond this shit… what’s past the skin and past the mind and everything.<br /><br />R.: Can you tell me something about Final? Is this an extension to Jesu or a project or…?<br /><br />J.B.: It’s a separate project. The album on <a href="http://www.neurotrecordings.com/">Neurot</a> is somewhat similar to Jesu in mood but obviously it’s… ambient. Which is a word I fucking hate. But it’s appropriate because it hasn’t any beats I guess. But Final was the first music I ever made. It’s been a project that ran now from 1983. That was the first time I ever made music with Final. I was 13 years old. Back then it was just pure noise influenced by old electronics like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throbbing_Gristle">Throbbing Gristle</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehouse_%28band%29">Whitehouse</a> and a lot of really early sort of hardcore electronics without beats. Psychedelic noise. I first started making music using short wave radio and my stepfather had some equipment and I used some of his stuff - really primitive noise recordings. I had a cassette label. Eventually I sort of got bored with that whole scene and ended up joining Napalm Death. Then it all changed. I formed Godflesh. After about three years with Godflesh I felt the need to resurrect the project again because I had a fresh set of influences and I felt I wanted to make music without beats again. The project Final started 1983 but the first CD was released in 1991 and a few more in the 90’S. In the late 90’s I started working on an album which is basically <a href="http://neurotrecordings.com/detail.aspx?ID=109">Final 3</a> on Neurot. It took me years because I split Godflesh during this period and formed Jesu. So I recorded Final as a sort of relaxation thing to some extent. It was a thing to explore the moods.<br /><br />R.: Listening to the album I actually got the impression that it was relaxing but some songs could be Jesu songs if they were…<br /><br />J.B.: …developed with a full rock instrumentation. Exactly, yeah. There are actually a couple of Jesu songs that have come from Final tracks. And there are a couple of Jesu songs which I wrote and scrapped and have turned into Final tracks. Whereas when Godflesh and Final existed at the same time they were quite far apart to some extent. A lot of experimentation went on in Godflesh but not quite as developed as it was with Final outside of it. But Jesu and Final are a lot closer. Diarmuid [Dalton] works with Final as well. He’s on Final 3 and he’s the bass player with Jesu so it’s pretty incestuous. It’s gonna have a lot of similarities.<br /><br />W.: Is it possible then that Jesu grew on the grounds of Final?<br /><br />J.B.: It comes from Godflesh and Final. Jesu definitely comes from both with a whole set of other influences as well which maybe would never had existed in either music. I couldn’t really put these into music then but I can now.<br /><br />R.: You’ve been involved in a lot of bands. Is that still the case?<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah, it’s a whole host of music. The things I’m involved in or have been involved in is pretty vast. But it’s very focused for the last couple of years. I don’t do so many projects any more. I’ve refined everything… with age. [laughs]<br /><br />R.: Were you guys satisfied with the reactions to the Silver E.P.?<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah, very much so. At first it was a few surprises. Some people were really surprised with the song <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/music/Jesu/_/Star">Star</a> – which was good. When people first heard it they were like “Whoa, shit!” and now we’re hearing “Oh, it’s my favorite song ever by Jesu, blablablabla”. It’s really weird. It threw us off quite a bit because of some people when they first heard that song and the reference points they were using were groups we’ve never even heard of. I was like: “Who are these bands?” I read things like: “It sounds just like Simple Plan”. And I was like: “Who’s <a href="http://www.myspace.com/simpleplan">Simple Plan</a>?” So I was checking this band out and it sounded just like…<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: …<a href="http://www.myspace.com/blink182">Blink 182</a>.<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: …Blink 182. Exactly. [laughter] It’s funny, isn’t it?<br /><br />R.: I think it makes you vulnerable. I know a lot of people were like “What the fuck is this?!” when they heard Star because they were really surprised to hear a pop song from you. But I think it’s great. It’s positive but still hard.<br /><br />J.B.: Exactly! Exactly! That’s the point really. With Silver that was pretty much the intention: to make a pop record. But a Jesu pop record where it’s still really heavy, it’s still low-tuned and quite weird and somewhat surreal. But it’s a pop record. That was the intention. I love pop music. I’m totally addicted and always have been to all forms of pop music: electronic pop, guitar pop, indie pop – all of this stuff. I’ve always been a big fan of all these sorts of music. I wanted to start to bridge some sort of a gap between this brutal, heavy, low-tuned and melancholic sound and pop music.<br /><br />R.: When I first listened to the self-titled album it made me think of <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mybloodyvalentine">My Bloody Valentine</a>…<br /><br />J.B.: Totally.<br /><br />R. …because of all the dynamics, everything layered on top of each other...<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah, wall of sound, layers of sound. My Bloody Valentine is a massive influence on Jesu, definitely a huge influence. Not as a carbon copy but there’s just so many influences. Probably the biggest bands that influenced Jesu are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_House_Painters">Red House Painters</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine_%28band%29">Codeine</a>. Codeine is almost like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swans_%28band%29">Swans</a> without the distortion playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slint">Slint</a>. Really ultra slow. If you hear Codeine you’ll be like “Ah! I can see quite a bit of Jesu there.” They made a couple of amazing albums. And Red House Painters is a huge influence.<br /><br />R.: It’s funny because my next question would have been what the best description for Jesu would be.<br /><br />J.B.: I don’t know what to say to that stuff. I’m seeing funny descriptions all the time. I keep seeing things like Doom-Shoegazer, Doom-Pop and I like some of them actually, they’re quite funny. We don’t think of music on them sort of terms at all. I’ve never made music were I thought this is… well I have made electronic music but with rock music we never do feel we’re trying to fit somewhere.<br /><br />R.: Doom-Shoegazer fits quite well…<br /><br />J.B.: Yeah, yeah, yeah.<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: They try to pigeonhole it again.<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Yeah, that’s it. That was the thing with Godflesh, you know? Everyone said we’re Industrial Metal. As if we created this genre. It was a complete accident. We never thought “This is Industrial Metal” or “We wanna form this genre”. It’s strange because I can’t put anything to it. I don’t know what it is.<br /><br />R.: So what did you guys listen to in the tour bus today?<br /><br />J.B.: We listened to Bill Hicks today. [laughs] That was today but that’s also been a stable diet for many years.<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: Dub.<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Dub. Reggae. And today was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kozelek">Mark Kozelek</a>, the guy in Red House Painters. Some of their stuff is so slow, so doomy. But there’s no distorted guitars, there’s all clean guitars, beautifully sung vocals. Some of it is quite folky, quite country-like. In the bus we’re listening to stuff that’s really mellow mostly. The shows are enough noise so we listen to pretty quiet music most of the time.<br />[to Diarmuid Dalton] I think we listen to pretty quiet music most of the time anyway.<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: Yeah.<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: We listened to Drum’n’Bass. We listen to a lot of electronic music, electronic dance music, minimal techno, glitch, clicks and cuts. Jazz, Avantgarde stuff. We barely listen to any rock music. I think about probably 5% of our listening is rock bands. In terms of modern rock music there’s very little we like.<br /><br />Diarmuid Dalton: Meshuggah<br /><br />Justin Broadrick: Yeah. Metal records. The last Meshuggah album is cool. I like a lot of black metal.<br /><br />R.: Ulver?<br /><br />J.B.: It’s ok. I’m not so mad on that. Craft is good. Craft’s album Fuck The Universe.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">From this point on we couldn’t continue with the interview because of the noise Ostinato were making at their sound check. We went to a room somewhere quiet and I asked Justin which songs I should play on the show I was going to make about Jesu. He thought a lot of time about that and finally came up with <a href="http://www.4ad.com/redhousepainters/video/24-long-version-file/">24</a> from the Red House Painters but couldn’t remember a song from Codeine which he wanted to be played. The only thing he remembered was that it was a song on Codeine’s album <a href="http://www.subpop.com/releases/codeine/eps/barely_real">Barely Real</a>. After more than half an hour we finished the interview which at that time had become more of a conversation about bands among mutual music fanatics. Justin Broadrick is not only a great musician but one of the nicest guys I ever had the chance to interview.</span>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-59255809348079152852008-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:002009-09-01T01:43:21.167-07:00Interview with Will Brooks, Dälek, Tuesday August 26th, 2008<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.deadverse.com/">Dälek</a> have been called "the most innovative hip-hop crew on Earth" by the music magazine <a href="http://www.xlr8r.com/">XLR8R</a>. After an amazing and hellishly loud concert at the Schocken in Stuttgart I met with Will Brooks, aka MC Dälek for a few words on Hip Hop, Fans, the state America is in and the new album.</span><br /><br />R.: Hip Hop artists historically let all kinds of music influence their stuff. Nevertheless it’s quite unusual for a Rap band to say that <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mybloodyvalentine">My Bloody Valentine</a> is one of their main influences. Was this a natural development?<br /><br />Will Brooks: No, I mean natural in the sense of growing as a person and growing as a music fan. When you first start out – especially when you are 13 or 14 years old – you’re going to have more narrow ideas of what music you like. I think when you are that age music is more than just the music. It dictates who your friends are going to be, it dictates how you’re going to dress, it dictates a lot of things for an adolescent. But I think as you grow… you know just because I grew up in Hip Hop culture doesn’t mean I can’t listen to Metal or I can’t listen to Jazz or I can’t listen to Salsa and so forth. By the time I got to college I was listening to a lot of Classic Rock and Jazz along with Hip Hop and along with Salsa and Merengue a little bit. I met Octopus [second band member and Producer of Dälek] while we were in College and he was recording this band called <a href="http://www.myspace.com/allnaturallemonamplimeflavors">All Natural Lemon And Lime Flavors</a> who were very influential in where our sound went. They were fans of My Bloody Valentine as well and they were the ones that introduced me into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegaze">Shoegazer</a> world. I just had not heard anything like that before. I bought their records and My Bloody Valentine’s. When I heard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveless_%28album%29">Loveless</a> – that was it. That was… wow. Just the idea of vocals being buried in the mix rather than being so upfront which is a very big part of what Hip Hop is… It’s not that I’m trying to bury the meaning of my lyrics. I just feel that it’s more important to write a complete song than it is to have a beat and lyrics. I want to have a song that has good lyrics, you know what I mean? I want a good song that has good lyrics. That is the process really. And again – as you grow – I am 33 now - taste changes, taste evolves. You listen to more things, you listen to different things. Some of the things I used to love when I was 14 they don’t really move me the way they used to. That’s a process of growing as a person and as a musician. It’s natural in that sense. I understand that not every Hip Hop group claims My Bloody Valentine as an influence but it’s more about the mindset of Hip Hop. Hip Hop has always been influenced by different types of music. It’s the whole DJ mentality, the whole DJ culture that Hip Hop is based on. That is what we really hold true to more than anything. We obviously have the drums that “Boom, Bam”, the bass lines, the Hip Hop lyrics. And then everything else around it is obviously different than what you hear in mainstream but that’s the beauty of Hip Hop. If you listen to <a href="http://www.atribecalledquest.com/">A Tribe Called Quest </a>they did that and added Jazz to their equation. If you listen to <a href="http://www.publicenemy.com/">Public Enemy</a> they added more of a noise factor mixed with James Brown and Funk. That is the beauty of Hip Hop. You can have all these different types of it. I don’t think that what we do should be the only kind of sound. I just think it’s one of many possibilities.<br /><br />R.: When I first heard your sound it reminded me of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godflesh">Godflesh</a>.<br /><br />W.B.: I think that’s absolutely fine. The fact that it’s Hip Hop only matters to me. It’s how it’s created. It’s what my culture is. It’s how this music was made. Honestly, I don’t really care what anyone calls it. I don’t care if the most dedicated Hip Hop head thinks that we’re not. He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know where I grew up, he doesn’t know what I’ve been through. He doesn’t know my influences. He doesn’t know the fact that I started DJing when I was 13 years old, that I’ve been in Hip Hop since then. I started rhyming at 15. Hip Hop is my culture. It’s in my blood. It’s in everything I do. I’ve always said: I don’t care if I pick up a Banjo – what I do is gonna be Hip Hop because that’s what I am. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s gonna sound like anything recognizable. That’s the starting point, the core of me. As a 33 year old man I would hope that my views and my tastes are broader than this box that is become what Hip Hop is or isn’t. Which is a funny thing when you think about it: Hip Hop was always about breaking the boundaries and always about being original. Originality is a big part of Hip Hop culture like expressing yourself and doing your thing. It is funny that now - 30 years later – Hip Hop has been placed into this box. And now it’s like if you’re outside of this box or on the fringes people are like “Oh no, that’s not Hip Hop.” But again, honestly, there is no other judge other than me. I decide what this is ‘cause it’s my music. People can call it what they want. Like you said you heard the Godflesh angle and I think that’s beautiful. The beauty of music is the fact that I created something 3000 miles away in Newark, New Jersey and I meet people in Germany, I meet people in France, I meet people in Japan that are connecting with it for whatever reason. I don’t necessarily know that we are connecting on every level. It doesn’t work that way. But the beauty of music is that there are these things that you hear in it that all of us could connect with it just as humanity. And I think that’s the beautiful thing in music. Man, when I started I’d never thought that I’s be here in Stuttgart sitting outside doing an interview with a kid rockin’ a shirt that we made, you know what I mean? [laughs] It’s definitely humbling. It’s a very humbling thing.<br /><br />R.: So is it more about connecting with people all over the world than gaining some odd kind of credibility in the Hip Hop community?<br /><br />W.B.: I got the respect from the people that matter to me. I got the respect from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool_DJ_Herc">Kool Herc</a>, I got the respect from <a href="http://www.myspace.com/princepaulofficialmyspacepage">Prince Paul</a>, I got the respect from <a href="http://www.myspace.com/delasoul">De La Soul</a>, I got the respect from <a href="http://www.myspace.com/templeofhiphop">KRS</a> and I got the respect from my peers such as <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mikeladd">Mike Ladd</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/airbornaudio">Airborn Audio</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mrballbeamakabeans">Beans</a> – and all these cats that we’ve played shows together and where there’s this mutual respect. That’s all that matters. I’m definitely humbled by the fact that people that I consider legends have embraced us and said “Damn, you’re doing something that is different and pushing the envelope!” And that’s what it’s about. Music can’t stay stagnant. Yeah, I could listen to whatever is on the radio right now and what people consider the most Hip Hop, whatever the fuck that means and I could emulate that. I could write a song that sounds just like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly">Nelly</a> or whatever. But does that make me more credible because you’re a carbon copy of what’s popular right now? I’d rather be an outcast, an outsider and be doing something that 15, 20, 30 years down the line people are still gonna be like “Damn, those kids where doing that?” and then “In ’98, in 2000, they dropped that record in 2005?” We did. When nobody… all these little trends and subgenres come and go and everyone tries to put us into “Oh, they’re Glitch Hop, oh they’re Trip Hop, oh they’re… Post Hop.” I don’t give a fuck what you call us. You know what? We’ve been here for ten years and we’re still doing records and we’re still touring. All those fake genres have come and gone. All those trends have come and gone and us – we’re still here and we’re still making records that – honestly – I’m very, very proud of and very happy with. That’s what is most important. The bottom line is that I just want to keep making good, good music. The day when I feel I’m making good music that’s the day I’ll stop.<br /><br />R.: Is that also what you were talking about in “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absence_%28album%29">Culture For Dollars</a>”?<br /><br />W.B.: Yeah, pretty much. But people misunderstand that I don’t like mainstream Hip Hop, I do. I just feel that there is good mainstream Hip Hop and there’s bad mainstream Hip Hop just as there’s good underground Hip Hop and there’s terrible underground Hip Hop. My problem is that all the attention only gets shined on mainstream Hip Hop because there’s so much money behind it and there’s such a huge industry. But like I said, if you listen to A Tribe Called Quest and Public Enemy they don’t really sound anything like each other. If you listen to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.W.A.">N.W.A.</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Starr">Gang Starr</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mobbdeep">Mobb Deep</a> – there’s like all these different styles of Hip Hop and that’s what I loved about it when it started that you had the possibility to have all these different types of sound. And I feel like the sounds are still here, there’s a mad different types of groups but the only ones that get the attention are the mainstream acts. For better or for worse I think an artist like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay-Z">Jay-Z</a> when he puts his mind to it he makes some unbelievable records. I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Album_%28Jay-Z_album%29">The Black Album</a> is probably one of the best albums I heard in a long time. I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland">Timbaland</a> is an unbelievable producer. I really like the work that he does and that’s mainstream as hell. What I was talking about in Culture For Dollars is that you need to know what you are. In my eyes you shouldn’t try to do something just for the money of it. If Timbaland is making beats because he really loves the way that shit sounds which I think he does and he can make a million Dollars or whatever per track – God bless him. That’s the way it should be. But I feel that I’m not gonna change my sound to try to make more money but my sound evolves naturally the way it has on its trajectory. And if by chance for one of my songs someone wants to pay me million Dollars, shit, I’m gonna take it. I hate that when motherfuckers in the underground are like “oh no, fuck that!” Man, yeah it’s about the love but let’s get realistic about this: We all gotta eat and we all try to survive. There’s nothing wrong with making money. But there is something wrong with changing your sound just to make the money. If you’re doing what you’re doing and people dig it and they want to buy it, shit - good! Why not? Culture For Dollars is more about that side of it – people selling their culture for Dollars. If you keep your culture and you make Dollars that’s fine.<br /><br />R.: There is this story about his German band <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thenotwistnow">The Notwist</a> – I don’t know if you heard of them…<br /><br />W.B.: I know them.<br /><br />R.: …and they were offered <a href="http://www.intro.de/kuenstler/interviews/23048093?current_page=4">a pile of money by a phone company in Germany</a> who wanted to use one of their songs for an advertisement. The Notwist declined but the company kept calling back raising the offer but the band still declined. To this day they still don’t want to make a big fuzz about it.<br /><br />W.B.: If they are already in a financial position where they don’t need the money - cool. If someone approached me and offered me half a mill. – I’d take it. Honestly. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to take care of your family, wanting to take care of your bills. We’re artists and it’s a rough business. You make the money when you can make it. It’s like a sports career. Very narrow window, you know what I mean? [laughs] So again, if they are in a position they felt they didn’t want the song being used for whatever commercial – it’s their song. There’s nothing wrong with saying yes or saying no. I think it’s cool that they don’t feel like they need to talk more about it ‘cause that is their decision, period.<br /><br />R.: That was my point. It’s not important that they said yes or no, it’s just important that they said it was their decision.<br /><br />W.B.: Exactly. It’s your music. You should be able to do what you want to do with it.<br /><br />R.: Can you live off your music right now?<br /><br />W.B.: Yeah. Lately it’s been better than it’s been. I don’t have an escalator and I don’t have a mansion. But I’m paying my bills. The money comes when it comes and sometimes it’s a fucking dry spell where there’s nothing. It’s just something that you got to know how to manage your money. I try not to buy bottles of <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courvoisier_%28Cognac%29">Courvoisier</a> [laughs] …or whatever. I know better. I don’t need gold chains, I need a roof over my head. What’s more important to me is paying my rent. [laughs] But I understand how lucky I am to even be in this position. There’s a million musicians out there. Just the fact that we’ve got into this level means a lot. There’s a million motherfuckers that would love to trade positions with me. I never take any of this for granted. There’s days when you don’t want to go on stage. There’s day when it’s like any other job. Maybe you don’t feel good, maybe you’re sick, maybe whatever - but you know what? The people that pay to come see you they don’t give a shit about that. They want to see you put on a good show. So you just suck it up and you do it. You gotta keep in mind that maybe you don’t feel like doing this but there’s a lot of motherfuckers that are starving and would love to do this shit. That’s always a motivating factor and that is always in the back of my head.<br /><br />R.: Do you see a difference between the audience in Europe and the States? Here it’s more like 99% white males from colleges…<br /><br />W.B.: I think that is just Hip Hop audiences anyway at this point. It’s white male college kids that are buyin’ records all over the world. That is the audience. It doesn’t make me happy and it doesn’t make me sad. I’m just happy anyone wants to listen. Would I like to see a more diverse audience? Sure! Of course I would but I think it’s a matter of economics. Who has the disposable income to be able to pay an extra amount of money to buy a record or come to a show? There is a difference because we’ve tended to play with more of a variety of groups in America so we’ve done a lot of tours with classic Hip Hop groups. We toured with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/princepaulofficialmyspacepage">Prince Paul</a>. We did some shows with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thefatherofhiphop">Kool Herc</a>. We toured with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thepharcyde">The Pharcyde</a>, we toured with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/delasoul">De La Soul</a>. We did a couple of shows with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/templeofhiphop">KRS</a>. But again we played with KRS and it was in Vermont and I’d say 85% of the audience was white males. It’s not just a phenomenon because we have noisy guitars. Obviously that’s a factor. But it’s weird: I know a ridiculous amount of kids in the hood that are straight Hip Hop heads. I play ‘em the shit that we do and these kids they are lovin’ it, they are feelin’ it. But to them it’s more important… the roof over your head is more important than buying a record or going to a show. Sometimes that isn’t a possibility unless you’re playing a free show. I think that is just beyond music. I think that is a matter of economics.<br /><br />R.: Because you also touch politics in your lyrics… what do you think about the current state of the U.S. or what do you think about the upcoming elections?<br /><br />W.B.: I’m going to vote for Obama. I think he has a good chance of winning. I think he’ll be a thousand times better than Bush. And I think that that will change things about 3%. The person in power is not the problem - it’s the system. We got a democratic order republic and it’s big industry and business that have their claws in the government. And it’s what they want that gets done. It’s just designed for the rich not the poor. I think it’s a wonderful thing that we’ll have an African-American President, if that happens. That is a beautiful, amazing thing. More than anything – besides the whole race issue – I’m just going to be happy to have a president that’s eloquent. I won’t have to be embarrassed every time a president opens his mouth. At least I know that he’ll be able to talk to people correctly. [laughs] Not like Bush that we had for the last 8 years who sounds like a fucking redneck. On that side of things I think things will change a little bit for the better. Enough to placate the masses. To make them feel like things are going to get better. But at this point it’s like trying to turn around a fucking Ocean liner ship. The guy’s only get 4 years to try to correct what’s been done in the last 8, you know what I mean? And a lot’s been fucked up… Things are going to change a little bit but you can’t correct everything in 4 years. It’s utterly impossible. But it’s Baby steps. But again… it’s a system designed for the rich. It’s not like Obama is coming from the hood. I’m not saying the man hasn’t struggled and hasn’t achieved a lot in his life because he has. That is definitely an amazing, commendable thing but the more he stays in Washington is his concern really going to be the impoverished family in South Central L.A. or in Harlem or in Kansas? Or is it going to become more of a political thing where he wants to keep his job and keep everyone happy and make decisions that may end up hurting people? He’s in a rough spot, I wouldn’t want his job. But I prefer him over Hillary Clinton and I definitely prefer either one of them over McCain or over what we’ve had which has been a fucking debacle. I think it’ll be good on the surface level. And the world needs it. For everything that Bush did how Americans are viewed around the world – I think it’d be nice to have a person of eloquence, a person that can speak to be our leader. We’ll see what happens. I try not to be pessimistic, I try to be realistic. I don’t expect rainbows and sunshine just because he gets elected. [laughs] I don’t think it works like that.<br /><br />R.: What can we expect from your next album? I heard Octopus talking earlier about including stuff from your childhood or something…<br /><br />W.B.: It’s probably one of the heaviest albums we’ve done. The childhood reference is just ‘cause it sounds a lot like us doing - and this is very abstract, not to be taken literally – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sabbath">Black Sabbath</a> mixed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throbbing_Gristle">Throbbing Gristle</a> and obviously still some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Starr">Gang Starr</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobb_Deep">Mobb Deep</a>. But it’s ill man. It’s by far one of my favorite albums. But I think that every time we make a new one.<br /><br />R.: What’s it called?<br /><br />W.B.: It’s going to be called “Gutter Tactics”. The record's finished, we’re just waiting on the artwork. We have some mastering decisions to make with some of the versions we’re not exactly happy yet but everything should be resolved soon and it should be out on schedule January ’09. It’ll be good.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-76597509170935725172008-09-07T06:25:00.000-07:002009-08-30T05:15:12.738-07:00Interview with Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai, Tuesday September 5th, 2006<span style="font-family:arial;">On this Tuesday Mogwai were about to play at the Röhre in Stuttgart. The venue is kind of a tunnel with a backstage room that looks like some kind of a grotto. There I met Stuart Braithwaite for a short chat.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FGvYmWhY8M9nC0VQArvmnQt0pddHMJooyN0xE2q67bDyQjza9iaxHLkpWPmU3LuSpHpY6y0pSzfEqY7KpulzTBNVeHGkQOzLe48B4dF2ZLWbLQw66iLkQgVk38BKsiGOkp0ApHn3980/s1600-h/mogwai.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FGvYmWhY8M9nC0VQArvmnQt0pddHMJooyN0xE2q67bDyQjza9iaxHLkpWPmU3LuSpHpY6y0pSzfEqY7KpulzTBNVeHGkQOzLe48B4dF2ZLWbLQw66iLkQgVk38BKsiGOkp0ApHn3980/s400/mogwai.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243272524897184146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">l.t.r.: Stuart Braithwaite, R.</span><br /><br /></div><br />R.: On your new album ‘Mr. Beast‘ you did a song called ‘Glasgow Mega Snake‘ that is quite loud and aggressive for a Mogwai song. How did it come to that?<br /><br />Stuart Braithwaite: I think we just wanted to do something different. We hadn’t - as you said – done a song with that kind of structure before so I think we just thought it would be good fun to try it.<br /><br />R.: Does it maybe account for the fact that you played with Isis this year?<br /><br />S.B.: I don’t know, it’s probably faster than Isis, actually. Maybe some of the riffs are kind of influenced by those bands and kind of a lot by old things that we like, like Black Sabbath and The God Machine and all these kind of things.<br /><br />R.: Although your music changed over the years the people who criticize Post Rock say that all the bands sound the same. What's your reply to that?<br /><br />S.B.: I think that our music’s changed over the years definitely and I think that the different records have different moods to them and stuff but it depends who into that kind of music you are I suppose. If you’re not really a big fan of that type of music then it would all sound the same I suppose.<br /><br />R.: You have a very specific sound that people that know you instantly recognize. They also expect a certain kind of sound from a Mogwai record. Do you think that’s a limitation for you?<br /><br />S.B.: No. I mean, you’re right we do have a certain sound but the fact of the matter is it’s quite a natural sound that comes to us when we all play together and we write music together. So rather than a limitation I think it’s... it’s just how we are and how it comes about. I don’t think we’d be very good at making different kinds of music [laughs] …but that’s just my opinion.<br /><br />R.: Can you think of things that all in the band like?<br /><br />S.B.: Yeah. There’s lots of things that we all like. None of them have particularly to do with Mogwai. We all like ‘The Life Of Brian’, the Monthy Python film and me and Dominic like Batman comics. Musically there’s bands that we all like too like Sonic Youth or Funcadelic or Joy Division and Black Sabbath. There’s a few bands that we all like.<br /><br />R.: What did you listen to in the tour bus today?<br /><br />S.B.: Today I was listening to an old playlist that I think I must have made a few months ago when I was having a bath or something. I just have like Bob Dylan and The Cramps and just random things: Townes Van Zandt and Roky Ericson and lots of different things.<br /><br />R.: Your concerts are always pretty loud. Do you want to become the loudest band ever?<br /><br />S.B.: We were kind of obsessed with that for a while but that was quite a few years ago. I think we kind of realized that that’s pretty childish and we understood that that gave people sore ears. I mean it’s important to be quite loud but I think the most important thing for us is to be loud enough that people can kind of feel the music as well as just hear it. But as for being the loudest band ever I think it’s a bit dumb, really.<br /><br />R.: What is your next step? Do you plan something like that? Is there something you still want to achieve with Mogwai?<br /><br />S.B.: Not really, to be honest. I think that most of the developments have been quite natural. We always wanted to do some music for some films and we’ve done that. That was probably the main thing that we wanted to do that we hadn’t done. Everything’s been quite natural.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523359367192604873.post-183553403316902182008-09-06T05:32:00.000-07:002009-08-30T05:23:05.400-07:00Interview with Steve Von Till, Neurosis, Friday April 20th, 2007<span style="font-family:arial;">Just one day before Steve Von Till performed with the glorious Neurosis at the Roadburn Festival 2007, I was lucky enough to meet the man backstage for an interview for my Radio show called Nightseminar. What you are about to read is a transcript of this interview.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8cEy_MrsYMhLt0MHxIZbGr-st2D_bBTG8kSJ0zdXTXuV8v02jwrnHOBp7vl7Ohhwt1nQuXUKs82NqEw-pOd24wKUFMCe9bJyuFY9EED_45UhQa3BTXkZ2FwwtUJAPtiVJVwjrrVXhhSI/s1600-h/2507803675_4fc95a5ca9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8cEy_MrsYMhLt0MHxIZbGr-st2D_bBTG8kSJ0zdXTXuV8v02jwrnHOBp7vl7Ohhwt1nQuXUKs82NqEw-pOd24wKUFMCe9bJyuFY9EED_45UhQa3BTXkZ2FwwtUJAPtiVJVwjrrVXhhSI/s400/2507803675_4fc95a5ca9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375731183477682226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Steve Von Till</span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: 21 years have passed since you started Neurosis. What is the most rewarding thing you remember?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Steve Von Till: I don’t think it’s a specific thing. I think what’s most rewarding about it is that we’ve had the good fortune to meet each other and to share our entire adult lives with each other. We’ve been together since we were all teenagers and we were lucky enough to tap into this spirit and this music that drives what Neurosis is and it’s meant everything in our lives and completely dominated our lives. To be able to find something that original and that emotionally intense that keeps our brotherhood together, to find people that really put music first and soul first – that’s the reward. And that’s infinite that we’ll keep giving and giving as long as we surrender to it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: In the beginning your sound was more Punk influenced and now it’s calmer, more introspective. How did the sound of Neurosis change over the years in your opinion?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: You’ve heard the new record, right? [Given To The Rising]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Yeah.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: It never feels calm. [laughs] Even like the last record, The Eye Of Every Storm which people think it’s calm – it doesn’t feel calm when it’s coming up to your body. Like you said if it’s not aggressive it’s introspective and it’s… but it’s also very glorious. I don’t know why… You know the only reason why it would have changed from the time until now is one that we’re committed, completely evolving. We never want to stagnate. We never want to do the same thing twice. Never. When we started our vision was way ahead of our abilities. We didn’t even know how to play our instruments really. We did what we could with what we had. You can hear seeds even in the early records. You hear seeds of what’s to come, you know. At one point we kinda stumbled across like whoa… I don’t know how it happened, it’s all kinda unexplainable but our sound kinda crystallized and then from there we’ve really been expanding it. Every time we push our own boundaries, push our own limits, attack our own weaknesses. We never want to the easy thing. It just keeps changing, pushing and evolving. It’s important for us that it stays vital and inspiring. The only reason we do this is for ourselves. This is our love and our passion. It’s not our job. It’s not what we make our money from. It’s what we do because we have to. We feel driven to do this. So it has to remain vital. It has to remain… a fire. Otherwise there’s no reason to do it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Do you think the search for new boundaries in the music of Neurosis is possible because you all have other bands where you explore a different, calmer sound?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: I think Neurosis would do what it does whether we did these other projects or not. The other projects are necessary because when you truly find that creative spirit, that thing that drives original music and art it makes you restless. There’s not enough time to get it all out and to get it all done. Our time with Neurosis is limited and special and Neurosis is a very focused project. As much as we’re willing to push boundaries – it’s a Rock band. Its loud guitars, drums, bass and the core will always be a Rock band. Tribes Of Neurot has allowed us to kind of throw away the whole idea of structure. That’s more improvising but not even necessarily with music – with just sound. Scott and I have been exploring songwriting with solo projects and other things. The spirit that ties them all together is the idea of emotion and sound. I am sure they all reflect on each other. I know Scott and I doing solo projects allowed us to confront our fears about singing and become more comfortable with our voices and doing different things. That’s reflected in Neurosis at times.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: With Neurosis you touched lyrical themes such as personal purification and self-transformation but never any political themes. Are you affected in any way by the political climate in the world?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: I don’t think it really affects Neurosis because we look at the world and history in cycles. Of course politics affect our lives. I mean, we live in the world, right? The games politicians play with people runs down the line. We’re working people and so it affects us. We’re raising families and that affects us but we don’t get involved with politics. We try to get involved in the emotions behind all that. What is the core human emotion? A common question lately has been “You make this music because of the political climate in America?” How is it any different than it has ever been? Cause there’s a war? When’s there not been a war? We grew up in the seventies and we were all born in the Vietnam era. Our grandparents were in World War II and Korea. It’s always been crazy. Humanity is a crazy thing. So, when you look at the cycles of Humanity… For us it is about looking at the way it all spirals out from the center and the emotional core behind it and what it’s like to be a thinking, feeling person amidst the human experience and all the dark and all the light throughout time. And relating that to our own personal journeys through life without ever giving it away. We try to transcend all that stuff. When you get to the realm of spirit politics has no place in it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: In terms of the relation between the music and the musician – this may sound a bit strange – are you just a vessel for the music?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: It feels that way sometimes. We don’t take a lot of ownership personally for creating it. Ideas might originate from individuals at times – and I’m sure all artists or writers or painters or musicians – probably all feel this way. When you really find <span style="font-style: italic;">it</span>, it feels like it comes from someplace else, it just comes. It is the magic of us being together that makes that happen and sometimes it’s unexplainable, you don’t know where it comes from. It comes from… the great well. It takes all of us to create that well. At many times it does seem that we’re just kind of a… and each time it seems like we get closer and closer. In the beginning it felt like it was definitely coming from… we were trying to get it to come from the heart and the gut. We knew that was what had to happen but there was a pollution of the mind interfering. Every time we get closer and closer to having it just come pure. I don’t know if we’ll ever get it 100% but that’s the search, the journey. What’s the pure emotion? With no interference.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: I was asking this question because some musicians claim that the sound comes from them and that they are in no way a vessel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: That’s too bad. [laughs] Because that’s when it’s best. When you’re completely lost in it. That’s when it’s best. It doesn’t always happen but that’s when it’s glorious. That’s when… you are just sound.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: A lot of bands were influenced by Neurosis or even tried to copy your sound. Which of these bands attracted your attention?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: As far as inspiring other bands I always just hope that the fact that anybody thinks that our music is important enough to reference or if our music was important enough in anybody’s life to make them want to pick up a guitar or start up a band then that’s awesome. Because we had those bands for us that inspired us to make us wanna do what we do. So if anyone feels that our music is important enough to reference us as an influence that’s a great honor. We definitely hope that the way in which we inspire people is to find their own road, to find their own sound and create their own true… to follow their true passion. To get out of their head and get into their heart. And get into the gut and soul of the music. To not have it pretty conceived because that’s not where our music comes from. Some people like that – the cerebral music and that’s fine. That has its own place too. But that’s not what our legacy should be. Our legacy should be that it was honest and full of spirit. And that’s what I think we took from our influences. We didn’t copy anybody’s sound. We struggled to find our own.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Can you live of your music right now?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: We never have. We all work fulltime jobs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: What jobs do you have?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: Well, everybody has their own. I teach elementary school.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: You don’t have such a huge commercial success but you are very well critically acclaimed and you lead a label. But it doesn’t pay that much, does it?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: Music ‘s an expensive hobby. [laughs] The only times we were able to survive off it – and not that that was ever a goal – is when we were touring full time and you had to be gone every single day of your life. And that’s not a worthwhile life. We like to be productive people and you can only be productive for one and a half hours a day and the rest of the day you are in a room worse than this just sitting, not being able to raise your children, write music or anything. It’s all not worth it. We’re well over the thousand show threshold and that’s when enough is enough. Let’s go home and just play the shows we wanna play, when we wanna play, when it makes sense with our life so we have balance to do this because this has to have balance, this has to be important. It can’t be something that can be compromised by ever chasing a Dollar. Anybody thinking they can make a living off of independent music I think is fooling themselves anyway. Some people can if they keep it small and stripped down and they really struggle and they’re willing to go out there and do it but very few people can – it should never be expected. It’s ridiculous to think.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: Is Neurot like an extension of your family?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: We <span style="font-style: italic;">are</span> a family.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">R.: What are you listening to at the moment?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">S.V.T.: I just got a box in the mail before I left home. The new record from a band called Ghost from Japan. It’s kinda psychedelic music. Alasdair Roberts is a Scottish songwriter that writes music that seems like it comes from another time. This band that we are going to be releasing on Neurot called US Christmas – very unknown underground band from the east coast, U.S. that just play really dark, dirgy, very spaced out Rock music. Really cool stuff. I’m listening to that a lot. I recently revisited my Motörhead box set which I have to do every once in a while just to check in with it and I’ve been listening to a lot of Skullflower.</span>R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05495416277457091890noreply@blogger.com0