Interviews | The Audio Perv - Part 4
Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category
18 Oct
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Future Islands

By drainu182 , Tags :

By Ace Ubas

Vocalist Samuel Herring, bassist William Cashion, and keyboardist Gerrit Welmers have make up one of the more underrated bands today in Future Islands. They describe their music as ‘post-wave,’ a sound that blends post-punk with new wave. They’ve carried that sound through two albums and on their new third album On the Water (released on October 11th via Thrill Jockey).

At FYF Fest, they played at the small Splinter’s Den where they unfortunately played only 30 minutes. But they made most of their short time by putting on one of the best performances of the whole festival. They even played a post-FYF show on the following Monday with Dan Deacon at Echo Park’s intimate Pehrspace.

But before their set at FYF, I had the chance to talk to the band:

Nature plays a big part in your music such albums titles In Evening Air, On the Water, using sounds of waves crashing, and recording on a water front. Do you tend to wrap your music around nature?

Samuel Herring: I guess I never really thought about it, but I feel like that is part of the romantic nature of our music. I think I actually read a review about the elements in our work and I was like ‘oh, that’s an interesting thought.’ I don’t think it’s anything we go for, but water is a big part of growing up for me and Gerrit.

William Cashion: A lot of electronic music is very cold and detached. There are some bands that do that that I really like a lot. But I think what we try to do is make electronic sounds more organic and make it more real in a way, if that makes sense; more human. And maybe adding these sounds give it more of a reference point and grounds it to the human experience.

On the Water is your third album. Did you approach it any differently from your previous albums or was it the same approach?

SH: We maybe took some certain steps we hadn’t taken before. But we didn’t approach the album any differently, other than in the recording process. We wrote three songs from scratch in the studio during the recording process. That wasn’t the first time we’d done that, but that was the first time we mindfully went down there and we were like ‘we’re going to try and write some songs in the studio.’ I mean, we’ve always gone into recording with the idea that some other ideas would come out. I don’t know, maybe it’s not that different. Wave Like Home, our first LP, we wrote Old Friends, Little Dreamer and Wave Like Home all during the session. Although, Wave Like Home and Old Friends had beginnings. I was living across the state and these guys had some ideas for the songs, but there weren’t any lyrics. Little Dreamer was written during that process.

With this one, it was like we were all in a room, sat down and we just started playing with different sounds, and three songs emerged from that. With Tybee Island, it was kind of a backwards process where I had an idea for a song, but I had no idea to translate how my vision for what the music would be like to these guys. I can’t think like that. I don’t play an instrument so it’s hard for me to be like ‘just play do-do-do-do’ (laughs). Instead, I recorded the vocals on the beach and got that environmental sound. It was just the vocals, no click track or anything. Just me with my own internal metronome, singing these songs and then went back. These guys took that track and created sound to go along with that. We’d never done anything like that before so it was a fun experience.

On the track The Great Fire (on the upcoming album), you have Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak as a guest vocalist. How did that collaboration come about?

SH: We’d written that song at the beginning of the year. The first song we wrote that would be part of the album was On the Water. And then Before the Bridge and The Great Fire came along in a pair. It was really one of those things where I was working on the words and the music was pretty much pinned down. We performed it once or twice, and I started to think about the story. The words didn’t change, but I was like ‘if we bring in a female perspective into this, I think it makes it a stronger story.’ Instead of one guy being ‘I wish I hadn’t said what I said/if I could take it back/if you were here again, I’d have a chance,’ for two verses, I thought it would be really interesting to bring in a female perspective. But it was more about the voice. I was like ‘how can a female voice make this track shine?’

I contacted Jenn and I talked to these guys about bringing her in. We’ve become friends with Wye Oak from the road. Jenn has a beautiful voice, so I knew she could really kill it. I started speaking with her and started talking to her about what the song was for me. I actually like it where it’s two people in their own separate rooms, or their own zones, singing the same sentiment and feeling like that person won’t be there for them, when they don’t realize that that same person is wanting the same thing they want. It was actually her idea to intertwine the vocals. My original idea for the chorus was just to have her sing along with me. And she’s like ‘what if we do a row-row-row-the boat round, where it’s like you sing, I sing, you sing, I sing’ and I was like ‘that’s brilliant!’ It was really just a matter of knowing that she could kill it and having it come together, which was beautiful. Her voice is amazing. So there’s one good vocal track on this album (laughs).

Are there any more collaborations or guest vocalists in the future?

WC: Duets album down the line.

SH: I would love to write this album! (laughs)

Anyone in mind?

WC: Brian Eno.

SH: (laughs) I’d love to do a duet with Eno.

WC: Ed Schrader.

SH: Ed Schrader? I don’t know if you heard of a band called Virgin Prunes. They were like a goth band from the early 80s. But the funny thing is that Gavin Friday, the lead singer, him and one of the guys from the Virgin Prunes went to primary school with Bono and The Edge. So U2 formed and became this huge thing and the Virgin Prunes formed. They formed at the same time getting out of high school and went in totally different directions. But in the early 90s, the Virgin Prunes were done. But Gavin Friday and U2 wrote an album together and did duets. They won Grammys and stuff for these duets. It’s just kind of interesting that these two male duets getting back together.

You guys don’t play with a live drummer. What are some of the benefits of doing this?

WC: We’re really portable. Highly portable. We can tour in a pretty small vehicle if we need to. We’re getting ready to add more amps and expand what we do just to give it more breathing room. But for now, very minimal gear.

SH: There’s also a lot more control not having a drummer.

WC: But that’s also one of the downfalls that there’s no room for improvisation live, which is something that I miss being able to do when we had a drummer. We try to find ways to do that in our own way.

On the new album, you’re working with Chester Gwazda for the third time. What makes him the perfect choice to capture your sound?

SH: Part of it is the fact we’ve worked with him so much. Chester’s always had a good ear for what we’ve done. We were still young when Future Islands first started – around 22 years old. We worked with some producers in our first band. Older guys who would take us into the studio and they would always mess with our sound, like do all these studio tricks and completely change our songs – like overproducing us. Chester’s always found a way to let us use our elements. Working with electronic music, it’s hard to make it sound natural as it does on stage. We’ve always been strong as a live band and bringing that energy. Early on, it’s really hard to capture that kind of energy on our recording.

Chester just has a good ear, to not necessarily do that, but to shift the attention somewhere else – showing some kind of beauty to the songs. He’s into dirty recording, but he can make it clean. He can make clean recording dirty. We’ve known Chester since he was probably 19 and we were like 20, 21. He was in a band, Nuclear Power Pants, that are still around and he toured with them forever ago through our town, and that’s how we first met. He was doing a recording project for his senior year of college and that was the first time we recorded. It just kind of opened up the doors and we would do Wave Like Home. Then we were in Baltimore and he was in Baltimore, so we did In Evening Air. And then it was just a natural decision to go back and keep expanding the sound. He really just keeps getting better and better. He’s got a great ear.

In your live shows, you’re known for being in-your-face with the crowd. Do you try to emphasize crowd interaction with each show?

SH: It’s not necessarily crowd interaction that I’m going after, but it’s just trying to grab something of people, like shake them up or make them feel something. A lot of my performance is translating that message to show that this passion is real.

Do you think bands should be interactive like that?

SH: I don’t think bands should do anything to go after something. They should just be the most honest humans on stage that they are and show us what it is about their music. That’s all I could really ask. But we just do it the way we do it and we hope that people get something from that.

-

If you missed Future Islands at FYF Fest, they’ll be on the road from the end of October until December, promoting their latest release On the Water.

10/25 Washington, DC, Black Cat *^
10/26 Millvale, PA, Mr. Small’s Theatre *^
10/27 Cleveland, OH, Beachland Tavern *^
10/28 Detroit, MI, Magic Stick Lounge *^
10/29 Kalamazoo, MI, The Strutt *^
10/30 Chicago, IL, Lincoln Hall *^
11/01 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry^
11/02 Omaha, NE, The Waiting Room^
11/03 Lawrence, KS, Jackpot Saloon^
11/04 Norman, OK, The Opolis^
11/05 Austin, TX, Fun Fun Fun Fest^
11/07 Marfa, TX, Padre’s^
11/08 Santa Fe, NM, VFW^
11/09 Denver, CO, Larimer Lounge^!
11/10 Salt Lake City, UT, Kilby Court^
11/11 Boise, ID, Neurolux^
11/12 Seattle, WA, The Vera Project^
11/13 Portland, OR, Mississippi Studios^
11/15 San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill^
11/16 Santa Barbara, CA, Muddy Waters^
11/17 Los Angeles, CA The Echo^
11/18 Long Beach, CA, Alex’s Bar^
11/19 San Diego, CA, The Casbah ^
11/20 Phoenix, AZ, Rhythm Room^
11/23 New Orleans, LA, Circle Bar ^
11/25 Birmingham, AL, The Bottletree^
11/26 Atlanta, GA, The Earl^
11/27 Carrboro, NC, Cat’s Cradle^
11/28 Wilmington, NC, The Soapbox^
12/01 New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom^
12/02 Philadelphia, PA, Kung Fu Necktie^
12/03 Baltimore, MD, Ottobar^

* w/Javelin
^ w/ Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
! w/ Pictureplane

Future Islands – Give Us the Wind from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

http://future-islands.com/
http://www.myspace.com/futureislands
http://www.thrilljockey.com/

18 Oct
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Primus’s Les Claypool

By drainu182 , Tags : ,

By Kevin Seaman

Yesterday afternoon, Primus front man Les Claypool took a break from touring to sit down with me to discuss the new album Green Naugahyde, festivals, the fans, and other Colonel Claypool endeavors including his own private wine label. Primus is at the tail end of their North American tour in promotion of Green Naugahyde with dates coming up in Arizona and California.

KS: Just last month you guys released your first studio album in 11 years, Green Naugahyde. I’ve listened to the album a few times now, its awesome. Can you tell me a bit about the recording process, the album, and how it felt to be back in the studio?

LC: Well we recorded it up at my house as we generally do. My house is basically Rancho Relaxo Studio. It’s a couple of out buildings on my property that are full of old vintage gear. I brought the fellas up there, and stuck J-sky in a room, and we stuck Me and Lar in another room, and away we went. Started layin’ it down to some 16-track 2 inch through an old API console, and basically just went all mad scientist on it.

KS: You’re pretty much on the home stretch of the Green Naugahyde tour. How’s it been touring with all this new material, and what type of response has it gotten from your fans?

LC: Well, we’ve been doing 2 sets, so the first set is different every night. It’s a mixture of classic primus tunes, and then the second set is Green Naugahyde in its entirety from start to finish. It’s been great. It’s been going really really well actually.

KS: This tour has been almost exclusively a theater and ballroom tour. Have you had the chance to play the new stuff for the festival crowd yet?

LC: We did some festival stuff this last summer where we played some of the new material. We played a lot of the new material in Europe. We haven’t done the full set in a festival environment yet though.

KS: Do you typically find that your audience varies from theater shows to festivals?

LC: Ya know it sort of depends. It depends on the festival, it depends on the theater and where the theater is. There’s a lot of variables. But for the most part, Primus fans tend to be those people that are turning over rocks, looking over for new and unique things. That being said, some festivals …..we played the All Good Festival this past year, and it was unbelievable. The whole crowd was lit up with glow sticks and these giant glowing jelly fish, and this dragon going through the crowd that was all lit up. It was a very festive environment. So it sort of depends on the environment and the festival.

KS: Do you have a preference when it comes to playing for a theater crowd as opposed to a festival crowd?

LC: I like both. There are pros and cons of each. I tend to- when I’m doing my own stuff, like to be in theaters because theaters are designed for performance, not smacking around a hockey puck or whatever. They tend to feel good and sound good. That’s where my heart generally lies, but I do like a lot of these festivals because it’s a chance to interact with other musicians and artists and what not.

KS: Primus is a perfect weapon for the festival circuit. You guys transform totally average and typical festivals into festivals of a completely different caliber. Do you ever see yourself tiring of the festival circuit, or is this a lifetime commitment for Les Claypool & Primus?

LC: Ya know, I never really thought about it to tell you the truth. A good gig is a good gig no matter what it is. Sometimes you don’t know whether it’s a good gig until after its over. I’ve pretty much played at every festival but Lillith at this point. I enjoy them for the most part. Some of them are hit or miss. For the most part they’re usually very very enjoyable experiences as long as the wind doesn’t blow your stage over or some shit, and we’ve had some of that.

KS: How long before the shows do you typically put together the setlists?

LC: I Usually put the set lists together about an hour or two before the show. The venue does make a difference. If it’s a seated venue, I’ll tend to put spacier songs in there. If its an old theater, I try to get the vibe off the theater. That’s pretty much it. It depends on how we’re feeling that day, and the setlist on the whole definitely reflects our state of mind. Or at least my state of mind.

KS: What was the most enjoyable side project you’ve been a part of over the years?

LC: Well I tend to cringe at the term side project because realistically, for the past 10 years Primus was a side project. When I’m doing a project, that’s my full focus. I look at it like- I have this stove, and there’s all these pots on the stove, and whichever one gets pulled to the front burner, that’s what I’m focused on. Right now I’m focused on Primus. I have no intention of not doing any of my other projects just because Primus is working again.

KS: Did Electric Apricot make it to Burning Man this year?

LC: Very funny…As an entity or a film? They’ve shown Apricot at burning man a bunch of times before, but I’m not sure if they did it again this year.

KS: You don’t HAVE to answer this, but would you say was your most profound hallucinogenic experience in life?

LC: This phone conversation! I feel like I’m on acid man, were both hearing every other word, we should get some smoke signals going or something!

KS: I thought it would be awesome to hear this from you yourself- so what’s your all time favorite Floyd album? What about Zappa?

LC: To be honest I haven’t really listened to a lot of Zappa, so I couldn’t really name a favorite. I don’t really like to play favorites, but as far as Floyd goes, I’d have to say Animals. In fact, Frog Brigade did animals in its entirety back in the day, and we toured it and recorded it, so I have a very big soft spot for animals. And that was also the first Floyd record that I purchased.

KS: Tell me about some of the most incredible moments for you as a musician.

LC: I mean obviously I’ve had some pretty amazing interactions with some really incredible musicians. Being on stage with Bernie Worrell, and being in the studio with Tom Waits were really just surreal experiences.

KS: Over all, how has the experience of making this album with Jay and Larry, and then touring as Primus been? Does it bring up a lot of nostalgia, or is this an entirely new incarnation of Primus?

LC: It’s a little bit of both. I’m used to touring and working with Jay, and its always a pleasant experience because he’s a good friend, and he’s an amazing person to make music with. With Larry, it’s a little more nostalgic, but there is definitely a new element here. It feels fresh and reinvigorated, it feels great!

KS: Primus is in it’s 28th year. Can you see yourself still making records in another 20?

LC: I have no idea! Who knows what the hell they’re doing in 20 years. You never know. For all I know I’ll be making pancakes in 20 years. Claypool’s Waffle Factory or something.

KS: How about your favorite film director and favorite horror movie?

LC: Well I have favorite directors- Frank Capra, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leoni, The Coen Bros, I like Jared Hess as far as new guys. Favorite horror movie- Evil Dead 2.

KS: Finally, I just wanted to hear a little about Claypool Cellars, your own personal brand of Sonoma County Vino.

LC: Its just a little boutique thing to keep me off the streets, and to keep me from smoking a bunch of weed. It’s something for my family to do. My wife’s very involved, and it’s a great reason for me to throw all these parties around my area. We make great wine too, its Russian River Pino. It’s really top notch. If you haven’t had it, you better get on it cuz it goes quick. We already sold out ’08 and were just now releasing ’09.

17 Oct
2011

CMJ Spotlight (and Interview): The Static Jacks

By drainu182 , Tags : ,

Throughout the last year, we’ve noticed that many of the shows we’ve been to happened to have this really cool band playing support for the headliners though we’re pretty sure that they should have been closing out the night. This band, The Static Jacks are about to hit the road next week with the famous British rock band The Wombats. Before the tour, however, The Static Jacks will be playing the CMJ Music Festival, more importantly our day party on Wednesday.

Our writer Kathryn Nasto had a few minutes on Friday to speak with the band’s frontman Henry Kaye. Check out the interview below:

Kathryn: So your album came out in August, and I am a huge fan. I really love it. It’s really refreshing to hear that sound in a young band, it’s great.

Henry: Thank you. That means a lot.

K: What fascinates me the most is the album art. It has a fantastic connection to Pop Art and I was wondering what inspired you to use that.

H: It’s a good thing I’m doing this interview then! I created that artwork, I drew it. It’s just the way that I’ve always been drawing. I’ve just been drawing – for the past year, I’ve been doing these drawings of people that I’ve seen or just friends, or whatever. I take just one solid color marker and I do the line drawings around it. But yeah, at the time I was just kind of drawing various women and I was keeping them together on my computer. I thought it looked really cool and I showed the rest of the guys like “here is something that I did,” and they were the ones that saw it as the album art. I wasn’t even thinking about it at the time but they suggested that we should use it.

K: Oh wow. That’s really cool. What are your art influences, if you have any? ‘Cause I see a lot of 1960′s Pop Art and Andy Warhol, so are you inspired by any particular artist?

H: Definitely the Pop Art and also a lot of it is comic book inspired. I always read, well not really read comic books growing up but, I was always drawing since I was a little baby, haha. I always had these comic books around the house that I would get because of the images in them. So a lot of it is comic book related, like Mad Magazine, and animated movies.

K: How long were you in the studio recording the album before it was finished?

H: It was actually a pretty brief time. We were in the studio for three and a half weeks, which I guess is a pretty limited amount of time to make an album. But we had no struggle with it. We had been writing the album for about a year beforehand. We didn’t really have plans to make an album when we started writing. But we put out an EP in 2009 and once that came out we continued writing as much as we could. Then Fearless Records got involved and pushed us to make an album right away.

K: What’s your favorite song off the album?

H: Uhmmm, I’d have to say “Drano-Ears,” the last track. It’s one of the ones that still stands out to me as really – the way the aesthetic of that recording came out I’m most pleased with.

K: I’d have to say that my favorite is “This Is Me Dancing.”

H: Really?! Cool!

K: Yeah, do you not get that a lot?

H: That’s awesome. That was the last one we actually wrote for the album. We had about 25 songs to choose from and it was about two weeks before we had to record. That song kind of jut happened. So, it’s weird to think about. It’s always hard to remove myself from it and hard to consider certain things real.

K: It’s the fastest song you’ve ever written and put together?

H: Yeah! It really kind of just came together in a day. It was so immediate. It was so shocking to have that happen and then immediately go into the studio to record it – and then it was done, complete. But I love that song. It’s so different from how we usually write or the feeling of the songs.

K: So what did you learn recording this album that you want to bring with you the next time you go into the studio?

H: Oh wow. Let me think about that! We did it in a very limited amount of time, so there wasn’t that space to overanalyze things and meticulously focus on minute details. Which I really liked, because it didn’t allow ourselves to kill the energy that we were trying to achieve. The whole point of the album that wanted was to live up to, or have the same impact as, our live show because we’re so aggressive and loud on stage.

K: Oh yeah. I’ve seen you live and there’s such a strong energy that you have.

H: Really?! Where did you see us?

K: I think it was September of 2010 when you opened for Biffy Clyro. Were you fans of them before they asked you to play with them?

H: Yeah, that album – the newest one. I’m blanking on the title.

K: Oh, Only Revolutions.

H: Yeah! A lot of my friends had it and I was hearing it through them. I wasn’t really familiar with their earlier stuff, but I’d always known the name. We had just come off a tour with The Futureheads, and they’re kind of buddies I think. So I was hearing about them a lot, but just before we got that I was just getting to the album. It was pretty unbelievable.

K: You’ve opened for Biffy and now you’ll be touring with The Wombats, so you have this interesting connection to the UK music scene. Do you have a really strong fan-base in the UK? WIll you be heading over there soon?

H: I don’t know if we do at this point, we have yet to go over there. But I’m so desperate to get there because I think that the music scene for what we’re doing is, unfortunately, a lot stronger over there than it is here. We toured with Young The Giant for a little bit and that was the first tour we ever did where one of the bands wasn’t from the UK. Every other tour we’ve been on has had one haha! We toured with We Were Promised Jetpacks and they’re Scottish. We weren’t even trying for that but it was perfect cause we love all these bands! I’ve never been to the England in the first place so just to go to London, I can’t wait.

K: Your CMJ shows are coming up, which is super exciting. I love that festival. Have you ever been?

H: We played it last year, we did a number of shows. But it’s always tough because, for the most part, we all turned 21 this year. And New York is so primarily 21+ shows, so up until this year I haven’t really been able to get in anywhere. Like last year, there were a number of shows we played at CMJ that once we finished our set, security was like “alright you guys have to leave now.” I was like “are you kidding? This is our show!” So that was a bummer. But this year we’re playing two shows and then immediately have to run off to The Wombats tour, but hopefully the days that we’re there we can enjoy it and try to catch some other stuff.

K: What bands have you been listening to lately? Do you have a favorite album of 2011?

H: Favorite album….I love that Smith Westerns album that came out earlier this year, Dye It Blonde. I’m still playing that since it came out. The Arctic Monkeys album, Suck It And See. They’re one of my favorite bands, so I couldn’t deny anything from them. But yeah those two albums. There’s an album that came out last week by this band Future Islands that’s really good so far. I’m trying to save it. I got it last week and I’ve listened to it a few times and I think it will make a really good road album. So I’m trying not to kill it before we leave.

K: Do you have a playlist that you take with you on the road? Any particular songs you listen to when you tour?

H: It changes tour to tour. This last week we just got back from doing a two week run with Tapes N’ Tapes and there was a lot of Kiss being played in the van that may or may not have been my doing haha. Usually the music that we play in the van for all to hear is very different from the music that we listen to individually on headphones. We kind of keep the van music light and entertaining to keep everyone happy and on good terms. There’s a lot of Kiss and disco tracks going on. A lot of 80′s David Bowie, the Labyrinth Soundtrack is always being played.

K: I love the Labyrinth Soundtrack!

H: It’s incredible! “As The World Falls Down” is one of the best songs! We’ve actually been walking out on stage to “Magic Dance,” and we’ll be doing that at the CMJ shows!

K: That is brilliant intro music!

H: It’s great haha.

K: Well, I wish you the best. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. Best of luck on your tour and your CMJ showcases especially.

H: Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Take care.

Catch The Static Jacks at CMJ at the shows below:

Wednesday October 19th
4PM – The Audio Perv and Some Kind of Awesome’s Unofficial CMJ Day Party @ The Delancey
Along with Sleeper Agent, Cassettes Won’t Listen, Viva Brother, A Lull, TAB The Band

Thursday October 20th
7PM – 10 Years of Fenway Recordings Presents: Sessions at CMJ @ Studio at Webster Hall
Along with We Are Scientists, Recover, The Damn Personals, Waters

11 Oct
2011

Pepper 9/29 Stubb’s Austin Photos + Interview with Yesod Williams

By drainu182 , Tags :

Pepper is currently on a national headlining tour. The Hawaiian reggae rock band played Stubb’s in Austin. In addition to taking some great photos from the show, our photographer Phil DeSimone (FromThePhotoPit.com) spoke to Pepper’s drummer Yesod Williams (you call call him “Ye” if you’re cool). Check out the interview as well as photos from the show below and find out upcoming tour dates at pepperlive.com

25 Sep
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: YACHT

By drainu182 , Tags :

By Ace Ubas

YACHT is not merely a band. Rather, the duo of Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans call YACHT a multimedia project – a project that delves equally into music, video, and performance art.

Their concerts can be described using a wide range of adjectives. But one thing it’s not is predictable. With various video projections and different methods of crowd interaction such as question and answer segments, you never know what’s going to happen at their show.

Before their set at FYF Fest, I had a chance to sit and talk to them for an interview:

Both of you call YACHT a multimedia project. Why do you choose music to be at the forefront?

Jona Bechtolt: We don’t. We let people decide what’s at the forefront. It just happens that we’re best known for music.

Claire Evans: The thing is though, is that music is a very good way of transmitting a lot of other things. With music comes design. And with music comes music videos. And with music comes text and lyrics. All of those things are a big part of what we do. It’s an easy way to roll in. Music is a good key. Pop music and dance music, which is what we make, has this lizard-brain, mantra-esque quality. Pop songs get stuck in your head forever and ever. Sometimes if they’re good, the lyrics end up etching themselves into your brain until the day you die, and that is a very rich platform, which messages and ideas can communicate directly into people’s brains. Music is useful in that way and leads the curve for us.

The new album, Shangri-La, was recorded with a proper producer and engineer. What are the advantages and disadvantages of recording on your own?

JB: For one, we’re deep control freaks. From every single aspect of design to the music itself, we have to be in control or we sort of freak out. Being that way, we don’t actually know if there is an advantage or disadvantage because we’ve never worked any other way. We’ve only made everything on our own, by ourselves.

CE: I can’t even think of an advantage (of recording with a producer) unless it’s Rick Rubin or something. It would have to be someone that we would really have to bequeath power to because we trust their vision. Most of the time, we’re just too focused on what we want to do and what our output is, and we have the tools.

JB: That could be a disadvantage, we don’t know. Maybe we’re doing it all wrong. (laughs).

When you go into the studio, you don’t go in prepared. You record on the spot, like documenting the writing process.

JB: Definitely.

CE: It may help you think about it this way: for us, writing a song or recording a song is the same thing. In the same way a painter doesn’t go up to the canvas with a painting already in his head. I mean, you have an idea of what you want to do, but you’re not like ‘OK, a face is going to be over here.’ You do it while you’re doing it and it happens. And that’s the finished piece is the process. For us, it’s the same thing. We don’t really see any other way of making songs.

JB: And for me, it’s sort of like the same way we start e-mails. You just pop into a window and start it.

CE: (laughs)

JB: There isn’t much of a block between doing and thinking for us. We’ve learned the tools so well that we feel like we could dive right into it and start it.

That method of recording seems to be more efficient than the traditional way.

JB: It could be, yeah.

CE: It’s efficient. And it also ends up making things an authentic document of exactly where you’re at – physically, mentally, philosophically, and emotionally – at any given moment in time. The record, Shangri-La, we made over the course of four, five months in three cities in America. It comes from those places, it comes from the experiences we were having while living in those places, and the conversations we were having at that time. It’s very present.

You mentioned recording the album in three different cities. Does environment play a factor into the creative writing process?

CE: Absolutely. We recorded in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, and Marfa, Texas, which are three places that have a lot of importance for us as people and as a band. We met in L.A. in 2004, we both grew up in Portland, and Marfa is where we became a two-person band. Those are the places where we have felt the most connected to ourselves and to the world around us; the places where we have been the happiest. We wanted to make this record about utopias essentially. We wanted to go places where utopian sentiment was close at hand for us. It comes very much from our nostalgia with and also our relationship with those cities.

You call that trio of cities the Western American Utopian Triangle. Do you ever think about expanding to the East Coast?

JB: Sure, yeah. We’ll go where ever we can.

CE: Where ever the wind blows us. We’re very west coast people. But our notion is that utopia isn’t a physical place as much as it is a temporal place. It’s like a moment in time and it doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you’re experiencing it directly with the people that you love or you’re having an experience that moves you. Even though it’s only a few seconds long, it can be utopia. I think trying to make a physical place a utopia ends up in some kind of fascist state or disconnected reality. We don’t want that. You can be anywhere and we can be anywhere. That’s our philosophy.

For the new album, you did some outside research like going into libraries, looking at paintings, and even looking at architectural blueprints. Do you ever encounter any challenges with that method?

CE: We do what works for us. I personally really like having a lot of research under my belt before I take any project on. I feel like even if you have a really clear idea of what you want to do, it helps to be informed and have an idea of context, historically, and being able to draw from a wide range of influences. It doesn’t hurt you. You can always not use those things, but it certainly helps to have them. We try to be not encyclopedic, but thorough about what we do. We pick something to write a song about or an album about or anything to base our project around, we want to cover that subject in as broad a way as possible and really get the full spectrum of the experience.

JB: But that doesn’t mean it’s complete too. Just through talking to people and putting these ideas out publicly, it has been great to learn more and more.

What’s the most enlightening thing that you discovered through your research?

JB: Just the idea that utopia doesn’t exist as a physical space.

CE: We had naïve aspirations about the idea of utopia when we were making Shangri-La. And the more we read, the more we realized that there’s just never been a successful experiment. Every utopia from Jonestown to the Soviet Union has ended in fascism, death, murder, disillusion, chaos, spiritual heartbreak – it doesn’t work. Doing that, you separate yourself from the world and from change, from difference and ideas. You end up becoming myopic and eventually going blind. That was our biggest lesson and that came from within.

Claire, you have a background in prose writing and there’s a difference between writing prose and writing lyrics. Would you consider writing a concept album?

CE: I think all records are concept records. That’s what we always say. Whether or not you intend for them to be or not, you’re coming from a very specific point of view as an artist and you’ll always be making ‘concept’ records. We don’t really want to make narrative records, which is what I think you’re asking. We don’t want to make a story, unless it’s something that makes sense to us later.

JB: At this moment, we don’t.

CE: We make conceptual records, not concept records.

There’s a visual aspect that plays a huge part in your live shows. How do you create the visual aspect? Is it during the writing process of your music or after?

CE: It mostly comes after. We change it a lot. For us, we want to make the experience of seeing our band as visually complex as possible, giving people a lot to look at. In fact, we make too much to look at. The video always changes. It’s a way for us to remain spontaneous and remain engaged in what we do. We don’t want to be doing the same show over and over again, so we change as much as possible. Videos are really an easy way to do that. We make new video all the time. We’re always adapting it and changing it on the road and at home.

JB: We’re always taking up new ideas. Just the other day, I spent a couple of hours, via Google, researching Mylar balloon manufacturers, but I struck out. Two-dollars and ten cents each?! C’mon! (laughs)

On stage, you have a black-and-white motif in your fashion. Do you strive for duality, visually?

JB: We’re kind of obsessed with duality in all forms.

CE: We’re a creative duo. Everything we make comes from two very specific points of view. We’re very different as artists and people. But we’re different in the productive way. We’re like a yin-yang: opposing but complementary forces. That kind of duality exists in all aspects of reality, nature, and life. It ports real easily to visual presentation as well.

Your live show is very engaging with the audience that affects different senses (visually, audibly). How important is it to break that barrier between performer and audience?

CE: Crucial.

JB: For us, yeah. We want to make something that we would like to enjoy. We’re not really impressed or excited by bands that stand in rehearsed poses and play rehearsed music. And there’s nothing wrong with it, that’s fine. But it’s not what we want ourselves. We’re always just trying to make something we would enjoy ourselves.

CE: We want YACHT shows to feel like a temporary autonomous zone. We want it to be a lawless environment where people feel like they can do anything. I think a lot of concert experiences are very regimented. People hold themselves a certain way and interact with each other and the band in a certain way because they think they’re supposed to or that’s the way that it’s done. But really, there’s an endless amount of possibilities. There’s no reason for there to be any kind of structure or rules to the concert experience at all. It could be totally a whole new thing where the audience can contribute as much as possible.

JB: Bring your guns to the show (laughs).

CE: Well not your guns. Bring your spiritual guns.

I saw YACHT a couple of years ago open for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Fox Theater in Pomona, and on the video projection, you put up your house address in Portland. How was the reception to that?

JB: We were actually just talking about that 20 minutes ago. Maybe for a year straight, we had power point presentation that included our actual address and a Google map on how to get there. I think only one person ever showed up.

CE: We were on tour a lot to be fair. People maybe showed up when we were gone.

JB: Maybe they were buzzing, but we never heard it.

What’s next for the rest of the year?

CE: A lot of things are up in the air, but we’re going to try and play as many shows as possible and tour as much as possible. We’re on tour forever. We’re going make some new music videos, some new objects, some new texts, and some new kinds of performances. We’re always working.

YACHT’s latest album, Shangri-La, is out now via DFA Records. They are currently on the festival circuit, playing Treasure Island Music Fest in San Francisco, Moog Fest in Asheville, NC, and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX.

25 Sep
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Twin Sister

By drainu182 , Tags :

By Ace Ubas

Long Island’s Twin Sister has been generating a ton of buzz since their Color Your Life EP was released last year. Comprised of vocalist Andrea Estella, keyboardist Dev Gupta, bassist Gabe D’Amico, guitarist/vocalist Eric Cardona, and drummer Brian Ujueta, the quintet look to keep the momentum going with their debut album In Heaven (released on September 27 via Domino Records).

At FYF Fest, they were one of the first acts to start off the festival. After their set, I had a brief chat Dev Gupta:

With your debut album In Heaven coming out, how did you approach it differently from your two previous EP’s?

We got to spend most of our days together playing and writing. Before when we made these two EP’s, we lived far away from each other and had jobs, school, and things so we could only get together occasionally to write. For this record, we rented a house and lived there together; all of us were there. You could wake up everyday and make music.

The band recorded in the Hamptons right?

Most of it was recorded at the studio in Philly. We wrote a lot of it in the Hamptons and we did some overdubs in the Hamptons.

Did the Hamptons provide any creative inspiration?

It was kind of lonely, really. In the off-season, nobody is out there. Basically what happens in the summer, all the rich New Yorkers come out to the Hamptons then they all leave for the winter. The rent drops, there’s nothing out there, half the things there are closed, and it was just a little eerie.

Would you go back there to record?

I don’t know. It was kind of weird. I just want to not be in Long Island all the time.

You guys have some pretty interesting artwork.

That’s mostly Andrea (vocalist). You should talk to her about it. In many ways, she’s the visual part of the band.

Did she design the album cover?

For the new artwork, our friend Jonny Negron did. He and Andrea have been friends for a really long time. Andrea had a couple of ideas and Jonny basically brought them to life. He’s an amazing visual artist.

Does her artwork influence your music?

Yeah. Some of the songs we have are derived from stories that Andrea’s written; they’re almost in comic book format. Kimmi in a Rice Field on our new record is based on something that came from Andrea’s mind and so does Lady Daydream.

What do you bring with you to keep you sane on tour?

This tour, I’ve been listening to podcasts like Radiolab. Andrea has her sketchpad with her. We have a bunch of cassettes in the van. It’s hard to stay sane.

Twin Sister has remixed Blackbird Blackbird, How to Dress Well, and the Morning Benders. Is there an artist you would like to remix that you haven’t had a chance to?

Yeah, but it’s hard because the ones you really want to remix are really good so their songs don’t need to be touched or destroyed. I would love to do remixes of world music like folk artists from around the world. I think that would be really fun. I think taking something from Korean folk music or Indian folk music and remixing that would be kind of fun. But specific artists, I don’t know.

I read that worldly music plays an influence on your music.

A lot of the stuff that we listen to is definitely non-English speaking. Andrea’s been into Japanese music for years, all of us really like J-Pop, and we all love Yellow Magic Orchestra. I’m from India, so I grew up with a background of Indian pop music and film soundtracks.

It’s so nice to hear that change-of-environment affect how the sound goes. It’s really refreshing. Also the chords and melodies they use are a totally different sensibility. It puts you in a different mood and mindset. It’s so nice after hearing the same five chords over and over again.

It’s like Gang Gang Dance, who utilizes worldly music into their sound.

Oh man, yeah! I saw them at the Empty Bottle (in Chicago) for the first time a couple of months ago. It was amazing, totally blew my mind.

Going back to remixes, what artist would you like to see remix one of your songs?

I would like to see people who are involved in the dance music world get involved. It’d be amazing to get a remix from some of the dudes who are doing newer house stuff like Wolf + Lamb, those guys are great. I think a lot of the times we get offers from bands that are like us to remix us, and its like ‘well, you guys are going to do the same thing we would do.’ I would like someone to stretch things out, take things out.

Twin Sister is currently on tour with Explosions in the Sky. Later on in the year, they will open for Wild Beasts and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart before they head over to Europe at the end of the year.

23 Sep
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Kasabian’s Tom Meighan

By drainu182 , Tags :

By Michel R Dussack

Kasabian are an English rock band that dabbles in electronica and psychedelic music that formed in 1999 who have just released their 4th studio album, Velociraptor!, to a massive amount of positive critical reception. It’s been called their greatest album to date and an album destined to become a modern classic by some reviewers. The band has become known for their engaging live shows (they’ve been nominated for numerous ‘Best Live Band’ awards in the U.K.) and their outspoken attitude towards critics and rivals. Although they are largely unfamiliar in America, mainly due to lack of radio play and skipping out on touring America on their last album cycle’s tour, the band is determined to use this opportunity to break through on the back of this album. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with the lead singer, Tom Meighan, about the album as well as numerous other things. (Editor’s note: Be sure to check out the first video in a track by track analysis of Velociraptor! below the interview)

Q: For those in America unaware, how did the band come about the name Kasabian?

A: Well it’s just, I mean, it was a long time ago, the thing about Kasabian – it’s just a name ya know, it just popped up ya know? One of our guitarists Chris Karloff was reading something about Charles Manson and the name come up ‘Kasabian’ – it sounded good and it kinda stook. That’s pretty much, that’s really how it come about really mate to be honest.

Q: Is there any significance behind the new album being titled Velociraptor?

A: Velociraptor uhh, Velociraptor nah we just, we just, we never – the name Velociraptor just sounds good ya know? It’s just ya know, these fuckin’ dinosaurs that roamed the earth years ago and they were like a gang – they had a gang mentality so ya know. Yeah Velociraptor – it just sounds good, more than anything

Q. I know that as a band you’ve been outspoken about not being put in the ‘lad rock’ category. Is the new sound on this record a conscious effort to change that?

A: We did it on West Ryder man, we did it on the album before so that changed everything. Ya know we made our “Dark Side of the Moon” record before. Listen ‘lad rock’ really means popular ya know what I mean? It means popular music, it means it’s huge. Ya know the lad rock category we got tagged into it because when were like 21, 22 we gave interviews and we used to really be cunts. We did it on purpose to ya know get on the media’s nerves and piss the critics off and piss other rival bands off just for the fun of it – and that’s all we ever did it for mate to be honest. We just did it for a bit of fun. And we got…if people are confident in what they say people don’t like it so, but this was years ago man as well. But no – conscious decision man, we just make our music man ya know and that’s all we do really mate. I mean, we’ve come so far, in such a short space of time – yeah we’re always trying to be different from our last album, we’ll always be like that.

Q: Have you learned any lessons from previous recordings that you utilized while making the new album?

A: Yeah, I mean, of course I think we’re, while we’re good at recording in a studio, we’re a lot better than we used to be. We’ve learned that we can do it a lot more on our own than we used to do, but uh, it’s a hard one. We’ve never really had any bad experiences in the studio, or our records never come out and we heard it sounding ya know not sounding how we wanted it to sound everythings really been on cash ya know what I mean? So I suppose the lesson we learned is that we just got better at recording in the studio as a band.

Q: There’s a bit of a Beatle’s vibe on the new album, particularly on tracks like La Fee Verte – what influences would you say are on this record and what were you guys listening to while making it?

A: What did we listen to….we listened to a lot of Cannes, a lot of NOI, we listened to loads of Pink Floyd, a band called The Pretty Things, uh, just a collection of music of everything mate ya know. From any kind of music. We’re influenced by a lot of things. This record, the format we picked for this album was to go back to our old-fashioned song writing. Like the good old, the big, big songs – we’ve never had any album with massive, massive one after the other of really big songs, so that’s the way we approached this album.

Q: Given all your years of experience in the industry, how would you compare the music scene in the U.K. to the one in the U.S.?

A: Well the U.S. music scene is a monster ya know it’s like…well I don’t know really it’s probably the same vibe as in England ya know. The U.K. has got like ya know it’s just pop ya know – guitar music is pretty dead really let’s be honest. Too long been pop music and European shitty dance bands, but that’s how it is at the minute so I can’t, I don’t really know the comparison – I don’t even follow the American charts to be honest. But I don’t know how big rock bands are in America at the minute. How big are they? Is it a big thing now in America or is it just entirely different?

Q: Yeah it’s pretty much the same on the charts here, shitty pop bands

A: Wow really? Yeah lots of R&B and yeah….

Q: Yeah I mean I’m sure you can see it – look at the size of the venues you play in the U.K. – they’re much smaller here no?

A: Oh yeah definitely. In the states, we’re a cult band in the states, we’re a cult band and that’s all we are. But the thing is, I don’t think no English band has broke in America in a while, apart from Coldplay. But that’s the way it is – I think a lot of bands are struggling to, well not struggling just – there’s no point in going to a market where it’s dead ya know what I mean? And that’s how we feel ya know? But we’ve got unfinished business in America so ya know, we’re gonna set up our record and see what happens and go back out there and play again. And I miss America, and I love touring America, and I love the idea, and I love the romance of it as well so ya know hopefully….we’ll get to America probably next year which is great.

Q: Just out of curiosity…why did you guys decide to skip the U.S. on the tour for West Ryder?

A: Well it’s just no point ya know what I mean? If our record….ya know it’s all about people backing us, and there’s no point of us putting in a load of work and not getting anything back from it. It’s just ridiculous…we kinda lost…fell out of love with America for a while and that’s the way it is. We spent the first few years when we were first touring, we always went to America for a long time…we missed it. But it’s been on and on about English bands in America aren’t doing massive tours or anything like that. I mean, I love touring America and I love the fact that we did the west coast, we did the east coast. It’s like I said we’re a cult band in America but we’ll see what happens with this album – fingers crossed man something might change but I don’t know it depends – Listen it ain’t what it used to be man, never will be the same and ya know the Internet now, things, people treat music not as uhh whats the word…people just don’t treat it as they used to ya know? So I think, I don’t know, I don’t know what to think really mate, we’ll see, we’ll see what happens in America. It’ll be good to go out there and tour.

Q: What are some of your favorite albums of 2011 so far?

A: Uh The Kills, I love the Kills new record, I love the Horrors album. I love Beady Eye’s album…that’s some of the best records and Wu Tang Clan’s album’s amazing. There’s been some amazing albums come out.

Q: If you could collaborate with any artist or band, who would you pick?

A: Uh…collaborate with ANYONE!? That’s a good question mate…I can’t really say to be honest…that’s really good…who would I collaborate with…I don’t bloody know….well LL Cool J collaborated with us on one of our b-sides that was pretty cool so…I don’t really know – The Black Keys!!! The Black Keys are a good band there we go

Q: You guys are pretty friendly with Noel Gallagher, has he heard the album yet? What’s he think about it?

A: Yeah we know him pretty well, but he’s not heard it mate. There ya go that’s Noel Gallagher for ya

Q: Where do you see yourselves as a band heading next? Do you think you’ll go even more experimental or back towards your roots?

A: Yeah I mean, yeah I imagine we will go experimental ya know yeah. Probably will do. I don’t know what the future holds, but I reckon I’ll be speaking to you in 5 years and I’ll still be in a rock band and we’ll still be putting albums out and selling ‘em. Ya know we’re fuckin’ massive in England, we’re huge in Japan, we’re breaking Australia, just got through Europe, America’s the only part we’ve not really touched on really. But hey, it’s like I said, the market’s down and rock bands ain’t selling these big records anymore, are they like they used to be? Are they? It’s the way it is man, ya know it’s just the way it is unless we were U2 or Coldplay but that’s not gonna happen (laughs). But hey man listen we’ve got unfinished business in America and we’ll try to get there as soon as we can bloke.

Velociraptor! is out now on iTunes, Amazon MP3, CD

http://www.kasabian.co.uk

06 Sep
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Explosions In The Sky’s Chris Hrasky

By drainu182 , Tags : ,

By Ace Ubas

In 1999, Austin-based friends Munaf Rayani, Mark Smith, Michael James, and Chris Hrasky (originally from Illinois) formed instrumental rock band, Explosions In The Sky. Since then, they’ve become one of the most influential bands in the post-rock genre along the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros.

This year has been another big year for them. They released their sixth album entitled Take Care, Take Care, Take Care and have been touring the United States and Europe since the beginning of the year, with numerous festivals along the way.

Last Saturday, they returned to Los Angeles and played FYF Fest (read our review including Explosion In The Sky’s set here.) But before their set, I had a chance to sit down and chat with Chris Hrasky for an interview.

Have you guys checked out any other bands on the festival so far?

We watched Twin Sister at noon because they’re opening for us on this tour so we thought we’d go out and support them. But other than that we’ve just been sitting on the bus. We’ll definitely watch some bands tonight.

Explosions In The Sky recorded the new album (Take Care, Take Care, Take Care) at the legendary Sonic Ranch. How did that come about?

We were talking to our engineer, John Congleton, and asked him “where would you want to record the new record? Where do you think is a good place to record?” He was like “without question this (Sonic Ranch) is my favorite studio in the country. I think it would be perfect for you guys.” We just kinda trusted him on that. We looked at pictures on the website and it looked great. It was fairly close to home; eight hours I guess. It was incredible, so it was all because of John Congleton.

The band was only in the recording studio for two weeks from what I understand.

Yeah we recorded for two weeks and then we mixed it in Austin for a week.

For most bands, that’s a really short amount of time. For you guys, it was actually the longest.

That was, by far, the longest. We scheduled two weeks and actually finished a day early, and went home. It was really nice! We would start at noon everyday and record until about nine at night. Normally when we record, we could cram it all in five days where it’s like we’re up at seven in the morning and go until two in the morning, killing ourselves. This was really relaxed, it was nice.

If it only takes two weeks to record an album, how long does it take to write a song?

Months. One thing we’ve always done is when we go into a studio, we’ve always gone in with finished songs. It’s never like “well, we’ll come up with something in the studio.” That’s just not a good way for us to do things. I don’t think it would work out very well, so we were always well-prepared when we go in. We took two weeks this time because we could afford the time and also there’s just a lot more stuff on this record, as opposed to just us playing live. We never write in the studio, it would be horrible. It would be the worst album of all time.

Your latest album is entitled Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. The repetition gives it a sense of loss. How do you guys come up with a theme for each album?

I don’t know, they just sort of fall into our laps. We’ll always be throwing title ideas back-and-forth to each other, and most of the time they’re like “that doesn’t feel right.” And then Mark (Smith), one of the guitar players, said “how about Take Care, Take Care, Take Care.” For all four of us, it just sort of clicked. There’s no real analysis of it either. It’s mostly junk and then every once in awhile, someone will come up with something that we like.

In choosing song titles, is there a certain order? Do you write songs and then come up with the title or do you come up with a title and base the music off that?

We’ve had both. Some where we’ve had a title and written a song around it. I think most of the time we have a song done, we kind of struggle and search around for a title, which somehow seems increasingly more difficult as we’ve gone along.

Trembling Hands, the first released song off the new album, is pretty different in terms of what most fans expect. It’s around three minutes in length. Was it originally that short?

No, the first part of it was part of another song that was really long, but we ultimately were like ‘it’s kind of dumb.’ We threw it out but we liked that first guitar line. I think we specifically said ‘let’s see if we can write something that’s really short.’ From the beginning, it’s sort of frenetic from the start to the finish; there’s none of the typical lows and highs. We went into it with that mindset after that point, but we tried to make it at least feel that there’s a lot going on in a short amount of time.

There are also vocal loops in the beginning of the song. Where did that idea come from?

I had actually come up with it where we were doing a demo of it, and then I was like ‘I could imagine little voices going off here. We demoed it and it seemed pretty cool. We sort of looked at it as just another instrument that we could use. It’s weird because I’m not even totally sure how I feel about that particular area of the song (laughs).

With that being said, do you plan on incorporating more of that into your songs?

I don’t know it’s hard to say. I could see the next record where we try to incorporate a lot of things we haven’t done, in the sense that it doesn’t get boring – that’s the fear with instrumental stuff. We’ve really tried with this record to make it feel different from anything else we’ve done. Some people have been ‘man, it feels totally different,’ and some people have said that it sounds like every other song we’ve ever written.

It’s really hard for me to imagine us in a position where we would actually add lyrics or a traditional song structure. I would say that’s probably not going to happen, but I don’t know. We’re trying to keep this going for the long haul (laughs).

You had your first ever music video this year for Last Known Surroundings. What made it the ideal song to make a music video for?

It was because our friends who did the video approached us, saying ‘for this song, we could do this awesome video. We have this cool idea…’ We had never done one before and we were kind of hesitant. It wasn’t like our manager came up to us with a video team. It was good friends of ours who happen to be talented and proposed it to us. We actually have another one that’s going to come out in a few days that another friend of ours made for Be Comfortable, Creature.

Earlier in the year, I saw you play at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. How was the experience playing in that kind of setting?

It was pretty awesome. We were nervous before we got there because we were like, ‘people aren’t going to be standing on any graves are they? Surely families wouldn’t allow that,’ but they said, ‘no, there’s an empty field.’ We got there late the night before and they said we could leave the bus there overnight. So we slept on the bus and walked around the cemetery at one in the morning. It was really amazing, peaceful, beautiful, and sort of creepy for a second, but we calmed down. We would like to try and play more shows like that – just weird or unique places.

When you play your songs, what normally goes through your mind?

All sorts of things – sometimes it’s nervousness about ‘oh, am I going to screw this part up’ if it’s a song that I find hard to play. Or if the crowd is really awesome, you’re just thinking about ‘OK, play harder now’ because you kind of feed off that energy. And sometimes it’s just like ‘I have some movies I rented from iTunes. Which one will I watch on the bus tonight?’ (laughs). Undeniably, that sometimes comes up. Most of the time it’s kind of just being exhausted though and trying to get through it, and finding the energy to keep going.

Do you ever visualize your own narrative to your songs?

Definitely, but not so much when we’re playing live. There’s just too much other stuff going on. I never really visualize narratives, but I can have images and stuff. I know that’s something that a lot people can do with our music and adapt it to their own little story. I feel lucky that people feel that way or respond that way.

On your upcoming tour, you have Wye Oak, The Antlers, The Octopus Project, Twin Sister, and a couple of shows with Arcade Fire, all of whom are my favorite bands.

(laughs)

Who’s responsible for choosing those bands?

We are ultimately. We’ll get suggestions for openers, but it’ll be bands that we like. Octopus Project, they’re really good friends of ours who are from Austin as well. Wye Oak and The Antlers are just bands that we liked and thought would make for an interesting show. I know that Octopus Project is an instrumental band, but they’re pretty different than we are. It’s not depressing or anything, it’s like fun and exciting.

We wouldn’t want to have another epic, instrumental rock band because I just think it’s boring. We try to have bands that somehow make sense playing with us, but different enough from us.

So I’m guessing a band like Metallica might come up in the future? (laughs)

We always talk about what huge bands would ask us to open them and if we would do it. If Metallica asked us, would we do it? If it was 1988 maybe, I don’t know if I could anymore.

Who’s a band today that you’d like to open for that you haven’t had a chance to?

Radiohead is a pretty obvious choice. The other bands that we’ve talked about though, are Arcade Fire and Flaming Lips. We’ve been able to tour with them, which was insane.

If you could have someone sing on your songs, who would you choose?

That’s a tough one. There’s so many sings, it depends on what we’re going for. Thom Yorke would be an obvious. I think Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) voice would go well with something we did. Bjork…I don’t know. All of the big ones, all the famous ones (laughs).

I’d be curious to see Damian from Fucked Up, just a total hardcore type of thing. That could be kind of interesting, just totally screaming. We’ve played festivals with them and man, I love that band and their new record.

Explosions In The Sky will be embarking on another national tour until October with bands such as Twin Sister, Wye Oak, The Antlers, and a stop at San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival before they tour Europe that runs through the end of January.

Many thanks go out to Nasty Little Man and publicist Dana West for setting up the interview and providing me the opportunity for speaking to one of my favorite bands.

http://www.explosionsinthesky.com

26 Jul
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Motopony’s Daniel Blue

By drainu182 , Tags :

A Deep Discussion with Daniel Blue from Motopony

By Kristal Bailey

When you ask someone about how they came up with their band name, you don’t expect to get into a deep philosophical discussion about the state of the world and society’s path towards destruction. However, Daniel Blue from Motopony is not your normal band frontman.

Daniel started writing songs in 2008 and had been working with musicians on their own lyrics, giving them a poetic flair thanks to his writing background. Through his work with musicians, he met the guys who ended up being the Motopony piano player and producer. Through back and forth emails, they started writing the album together. After a while, they hooked up with Tiny Ogre last summer and things moved quickly; signed a deal by November and then re-released the record with an extra track not long after.

After learning about the history of the band, things took a turn for the serious with some great discussion on everything from music influences, live music as a religious experience, and where the name “Motopony” came from and how it serves as a reminder to humanity to respect the environment.

Who would you say your musical influences are?

I wasn’t allowed to listen to music growing up, so I used to pick through my friends my CDs. I feel I personally was influenced by classic rock like Cat Stevens, Neil Young, and Led Zeppelin. While people were listening to Blink 182 I was pretty heavy into 60s rock and roll. I was pretty heavy in to that, but I don’t know if that sound comes out in our music. You absorb so much that you’re not sure exactly what is coming out in your music.

Actually, I was heavily influenced by The Holy Ghost movement that was happening in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest; there was this idea of the spirit of God moving through these people. I was really taken somewhere, that was really trippy almost like drugs, by the music. I want to invite whatever that power was into my music. I think it’s out there and you can channel that regardless of your religion. It’s not just for the religious, I do believe there’s a trance or a presence when people come together for something. We called it worship, but it’s a participatory thing. I’ve seen it at Raves. I would go places where people were coming and moving together. We’re all here to take care of each other, with peace, love, and respect. There’s nothing like 5,000 people coming together in a warehouse for one cause.

You mentioned drug culture, do you have a history with that personally?

I have a level head about that, but I’ve seen that in some close friends and I’m not willing to lose control. When I started seeing that in the rave community when I was 18 or 19 years old, I realized I was not going to be a part of that. People were losing their minds. If you’re at a rave for drugs, then you’re missing the actual experience. I don’t want to generalize and stereotype, not all ravers do drugs and not all rockers do cocaine, but it’s out there.

How has your experience on tour been so far?

A humbling and thrilling experience. You can go from LA and 1,000 people watching you, to San Diego the next night and no one knows who you are. It can be a rollercoaster if you’re basing your success solely on the attendance. For us, we’re in the studio practicing every day. You get to a point that you’re so bored playing the songs for each other. But now that we’re touring and playing for others, it’s such an adventure and a thrill to play in a new place to 6 new faces even if that’s all you get. To go from being an audience member, to being a congregation member, to go from the guy hosting, it for me it’s wild and it’s such a rush in and of itself.

Do you have your next project in mind already?

We have so many song ideas already, with about 50 unrecorded songs right now. Neither of us have stopped writing and now we have a new guitar player named Mike Notter, and he writes as well. We don’t take breaks because we’re emotional creatures and we need to get that. We have enough for 3 more albums even if we stop right now. The real problem is whittling them down and grouping them together into something that will live up or even exceeed the first album.

Recording and touring are two different things and we love both of them. But they take a lot of time. We’re hoping to take December and January to boil it down and craft an album.

Where did the band name come from?

It comes from me spending a lot of time thinking about the crisis surrounding global warming. Our culture is abusive to the planet, how we love disposable things and how our phone and technology is obsolete in 3 years. I wanted to create an idea that helps people to consider the objects around them as being alive and therefore deserving of our respect. I started calling my motorcycle a pony, like a brave with his horse, so I called it a motopony. I give anything that I try to make alive the name of motopony: it’s become a sort of game to play with myself to help me remember that things around me are actually alive and are deserving of my kindness and consideration.

And to close out the interview, Daniel elaborated on his general philosophy on why live music just might change the world:

We see music as an event, not a product or a consumable. Technology is incredible, and the fact that we have the instant gratification of Spotify and iTunes where everything is available as soon as we demand it is wonderful. But I don’t want people to forget that there is a moment where the song is brought out in an instrument and that event is magical, especially if you’re there to hear it with a large group of people who are there to see it too. It’s as close as we get to the magic of our ancestors and it’s something we need to invest in and consider again because we’re losing it. And if we don’t, we’re going to forget it and get more isolated and if we don’t we’ll continue driving this planet to its doom. If we can remember that, we can start to turn this boat around to bring people together to remember this world.

This was some pretty heady discussion, but it just made me respect their creative process even more. Motopony definitely doesn’t seem like your average indie Los Angeles band!

Motopony will be playing at The Echo in Los Angeles on Friday, July 29 (tickets). Their track “King of Diamonds” is a great indie jam that is currently Starbuck’s Pick of the Week. Stop in to get a free download or listen to it right here:

01 Jul
2011

TAP Exclusive Interview: Eliza Rickman

By drainu182 , Tags :

By Ace Ubas

The lovely Los Angeles-based songstress Eliza Rickman literally sacrificed everything, like her apartment, job, and beloved kitten to pursue her career in music. In terms of style, both musically and visually, she is one of a kind. Where else can you find an artist that wears beautiful vintage Victorian dresses and plays toy instruments to create an elegant, yet fun live performance? Currently, she is on her first nationwide tour with a debut full-length almost completed. Before her set at the Make Music Pasadena festival, I had a chance to speak with the emerging singer-songwriter:

You’re currently on your first nationwide tour. How’s the experience been so far?

It has been wonderful mostly; varying degrees of good.

Any crazy experiences so far on tour?

Oh my…I should’ve written everything down as I’ve been going. I’ve definitely had more than enough guys come up to me and give me their “advice.” They see that I’m doing well, I think they can’t stand it.

What kind of advice?

Like telling me that my voice is really beautiful, but I should play more happy songs to get people to get their feet tapping. It’s totally a misogynist thing.

On your new album, you’re working with Mark Greenberg (Andrew Bird, Wilco). What made him the ideal choice to record your album with?

I had been sitting on a batch of songs, waiting to release them at this ideal date. People kept asking for them, and eventually I just got sick of telling them I didn’t have them recorded. I decided to try and record a full length album. I figured it would not be a bad idea to bring someone on board who might have some buzz going in the industry. I literally took out 10 or 12 of my favorite independent CDs from the last 8 or 10 years, many of them being Andrew Bird CDs. I wrote down the engineer and producer credits on all these albums, and Mark was one of the first two or three people that we e-mailed. He replied within 30 minutes and he was like ‘hell yeah I’ll work with you! Who doesn’t love a toy piano?’ And we were like ‘you’d be surprised actually.’ He is the coolest guy in the world.

You’re recording the album in Chicago. What made that city fitting?

I did like the idea of uprooting myself from all things that were comfortable and going somewhere I didn’t live. Chicago has been a favorite city of mine. I’ve been there a couple of times before I started recording. Also, we recorded the bulk of the work on the record during the winter, and I had this idea in my head that it would be very special and beneficial to the vibe of the record if we were to record when it was freezing balls outside. It doesn’t really get much colder than Chicago in December/January and it worked. There’s totally this haunting shimmer and we ended up with twelve lovely, spooky songs.

I read that the string arrangements were very important to your album.

Yeah, that’s another reason I went with Mark. I loved that he’s worked with Andrew Bird. I mean Andrew’s amazing so Mark will not take much credit for the work they’ve done together because Andrew can fart into a microphone and it sounds gorgeous (laughs). He obviously knows what he’s doing with strings and I was an arranging major at Azusa Pacific. I wanted to show off that side of my work on this record.

Is your signature Schoenhut toy piano going to make an appearance on the record?

She did. We made some adjustments to the mixes of “Black Rose” and “Cinnamon Bone.” Those will be on the new record and everything else we recorded is going to be new. There’s a song called “Start with Goodbye, Stop with Hello” that’s toy piano-based. It ended up being one of my favorites on the record.

Will “Devil’s Flesh and Bone” going to be on it?

Yes, you will love it! One of my favorite things about that recording is that we did a bunch of auxiliary percussion like ratchets, tambourine. My favorite was when we put an old glass jug of water on top of timpani, and hit it and tilted the bottle. It makes this really cool, pitch bending percussive noise. It gives the song a sense of clockwork.

How did you get that idea to incorporate all these different instruments?

I string arrangements have been written for a long time. But the percussion, which I love, that was mostly Robbie (DeLong). I flew him out to Chicago to work on the record. He’s really good at adding that “fairy dust” during a recording session. All the little things that don’t stand out, like they don’t take center stage of the record, but they really do add a lot of gloss and finesse to a final product.

When you bring out your kazoo and slide whistle, it’s a huge fan-favorite. How did you originally bring those in to your songs?

We mostly bust out the toys on “Foot Soldiers,” and that song is very silly and campy. That song was the one that got the most instrumentation, I guess, for this whole recording session. Actually, about halfway through recording it, I realized as much as I wanted to put it on the new record, it’s not going to make any sense in the context of these other spooky songs. That’s why I’m offering as a b-side on Kickstarter.

You’ve recently incorporated the accordion. How’s that been?

OK. I’m still just as bad as I was when I first started playing the song that I wrote on the accordion. We put accordion, reed organ, singing wine glasses, and tuned desk bells on my song “Coming Up Roses.” I kinda have to play that song at my sets now. It’s a doozy; people cry. Gotta make people cry. It’s my goal in life (laughs).

On stage, you wear all these different outfits that span across different eras like the 50s or Victorian era. How do they add to your live performance?

That is a really good question. The only thing I’m really thinking about is that I want, for the people nice enough to come out and see me, to give them something nice and pretty to look at. But I think that the gowns that Shareen (owner of Shareen Vintage) has loaned, the aesthetic like Victorian or quirky old Hollywood that she puts me in, it just sort of emphasizes the production of the music. It adds a visual representation of the sound. The music is super feminine and the gowns are really feminine too.

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