Annie Clark, aka St Vincent, catches me listening to one of her songs as she walks into the room. “There are stars like Kanye West who insist on listening to their own music when they’re doing interview and shoots, but I’m just not that into it,” she teases. I promise not to quote her referencing Kanye …and we begin:

lvs: You’re on tour at the moment, where have you just arrived from?

sv: “We went to Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. I’d never been to any of those places before. China was amazing! There’s not an established “indie music” scene there, so it was an interesting crowd to play to.”

lvs: I read somewhere that when you were a teenager you worked as the tour manager for your uncles band Tuck and Patti. Did that inspire your desire to go on tour and play music?

sv: Manager or Road-Manager, those are lofty terms for what I did which was basically, “Can I help carry your bags?” and “Can I get you some water?” I did get to see a lot of the world before I was 20 and for a kid from Dallas Texas that was pretty mind blowing. It definitely made me want to keep touring. Sometimes I miss TV, I like Arrested Development a lot.”

lvs: “Wasn’t it an Arrested Development reference which led to the name of your first album, Marry Me?”

sv: “Yeah I’m a big fan, but I only watch it on DVD. I don’t know how we got onto this tangent….”

lvs: “Speaking of television, is it true that your second album was inspired by Disney?”

sv: “ That album was a funny little one to make. I’d just moved back to New York and I was living in a small apartment in Brooklyn. I was starting to write the album and I swear the second I made any noise, I was getting noise complaints from all of my neighbors. Which for the record I don’t think is my fault. It was more the fault of the insulation and shoddy building… anyway, so I had to start making my record on my computer, listening through head phones with no audible sound to the outside world. I started thinking about doing it like a film score and the first thing I thought of was Disney. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

lvs: The origin of your stage name is a little mysterious. Obviously your real name is Annie Clark, but Wikipedia claims you came up with “St Vincent” as a dedication to the Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas, while other interviews have you claiming that that was just a joke… What really inspired it?

sv: “Well there’s a Nick Cave line and it goes “And Dylan Thomas died drunk in St Vincent’s hospital” and Andy Warhol was secretly religious; he used to go to church every week. St Vincent is also a family name. It’s the middle name of my Great, Great Grandmother. I like that there are all these meanings. I guess a little of each and not a single one. I think I was joking in one interview when I said my music was a reference to Dylan Thomas as it was a place where poetry comes to die. That WAS a joke. I WAS being silly.”

lvs: Ah it’s a joke until it gets quoted on the internet. Then it’s fact. Forever.

sv: Yes if it’s on wiki it must be true!

lvs: Also on the internet, listed as a fact, Obama is your top friend on Myspace. How did that come about?

sv: Well, Barack asked me personally and I FINALLY obliged. No, I don’t even know how to change stuff on myspace. That was probably done November 2008. I have a blog, I have a twitter, I definitely have a self conscious toe in technology, but I don’t gorge personal stuff. If I saw a cool movie, or I heard a wonderful record, I like to share it.

lvs: So you used to play in the Polyphonic Spree. How does touring as “St Vincent” differ? Do you miss all your pals?

sv: We’ll we’re performing in New Zealand as a duo. It’s just me and my violinist. Usually my band is a five piece, with wood-wind and drums and bass. Tonight we’ll be sampling a lot so it will still be a lot of noise for just two people, but yes – a big group is a lot of fun. The Polyphonic Spree was fantastic to be a part of. I happened to go to high school with some of the guys in the band and they were like “ Hi Annie, you should come and join our band.” The next thing I knew, I was in a robe touring the world. I loved it.

lvs: So what’s next for St Vincent? Is a third album on the cards?

sv: I’ve been traveling straight since last February so I haven’t had time to start writing the next record, but we’re nearing the end of the “touring cycle.” It’ll happen soon.

lvs: And can you reveal a little about how you go about writing?

sv: Well with the most recent Actor record I didn’t begin writing anything on guitar or piano. I literally wrote most of it mouse-click, by mouse-click. I wanted to do that. I wanted to switch it up. I don’t “read” traditional music very well, I instead have to feel my way through it. I’m typically going after an idea or something that’s visual when I work. In elementary I took this class for Surrealistic art and they talked a lot about drawing the negative space. For some reason that really informs what I do. That’s in my brain. I sit down and think “what is the shape of this melody” and then envisage it. That’s how I work.

☮

With ex-Dandi Wind at the helm, the two-front women are not only the epitome of style with sequins, tie-die and 80s inspired dresses on show, but also have the songs to back them up. It isn’t style over substance or even vice-versa – it’s a nice balance between the two.

Obviously, having connections with Erol Alkan and dancing about the stage like a girl possessed with the spirit of Blondie and sex appeal, there isn’t much that Fan Death can do but exude cool and embody Peaches’ sentiment “The boys wanna be her, the girls wanna be her”. Songs like “Veronica’s Veil” could slip easily into the ’80s nostalgia’ cache, yet the lyrics use a subtle blending of Biblical references and synthesisers, and “The Constellations” is completely ethereal and eerie – a pretty far cry from the bubblegum pop of the eighties.

There are the inevitable animal noises from the men in audience as catcalls and wolf whistles suggest not everyone is musing on the musical nuances of the set, but oh well. By the time ‘Son Will Rise’ has whizzed through with its tribal drums and Rocky-esque beginning it doesn’t matter.

We grabbed Fan Death for a brief chat, with a slight jet-lagged induced air…

“This is the first night of the tour so we’re pretty excited but only just got off a plane a few hours ago! We’re off to London tonight too. I really liked the girl just on now [Marina and the Diamonds]“.

How does playing in Canada differ from touring the UK? Is there a more receptive crowd?

“I don’t think they’re more or less receptive. It’s different because Vancouver is pretty small. I mean, it’s a really up-and-coming city but it can’t compare to London. It’s weird though – you would think the cities’ scenesters would differ really wildly but nearly all hipsters look the same in any part of the world. It seems like it’s such a small group of people liking the same thing that the fashion thing crosses over”.

Speaking of fashion Fan Death have a pretty unique look: “Yeah, this dress is from a tour that we did of vintage shops and we got paid in clothes. I love this though, it’s really comfortable!” There is an aura of cool surrounding Fan Death – not least due to Erol Alkan’s admiration (manifesting itself in considerable producer help on “Veronica’s Veil”) but how do you manage just to slip onto the radar of Mr. Alkan?

“Well Dandi knew him previously and we just sent him over some stuff and he loved it! So much that he invited us out to DJ in Miami with him – even the airfare was paid for. We got to swim in the sea in Miami for spinning a few discs – it was amazing”

Will Smith would be proud! What type of music did you play?

“Will Smith actually!! I’m loving that old 90’s nostalgia trip. Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff…”

What more could be asked for? An appreciation of Will Smith’s style (before he was a Scientologist and making ‘feel-good’ movies; back when he was chillin’ with Uncle Phil and Jazzy Jeff, and making songs like “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”) which could make Lady Gaga feel inadequate for its effortless cool and songs with catchy hooks taking influence from every era from BC to the 80s to 2009. Amazing.

☮

Vivian Girls combine a lo-fi, punk, garage-sound with a touch of femininity. Breaking out from the New York scene they produce art-rock for the twenty-first century, and although surrounded by the devil that is hype their songs manage to live up to them up. Break-speed tempo and almost indistinguishable lyrics make for great music – the type that creates sweaty, jumping, beer spilling and raucous live shows. There are gorgeous harmonies beneath the layers of distortion with baleful vocals; it’s songs like “Where Do You Run To” which encompass Vivian Girls musical ethos. We caught up for a quick-fire interview and to get the low-down on what it’s like being in an all-girl punk outfit circa 2010.

Can you give us a quick low-down on what Vivian Girls are about?
Vivian Girls are about working hard, constantly touring, and having fun.

What’s the best gig you’ve played?
They’re almost all a blast, but I think for me the Sonic Youth show stands out for obvious reasons.

What will 2010 hold do you think? Broken any resolutions yet?
2010 holds tons more touring. I never make resolutions so I don’t get disappointed when I break them, which is inevitable for me, so to answer your question, no, I have not broken any resolutions.

Has the New York scene influenced you?
Of course! There’s nothing more influential than being surrounded by motivated like minded individuals, which is exactly how the New York scene is in the 00’s.

There’s a garage-punk vibe about your music- did you instantly know what you wanted your sound to be?
Not exactly, Vivian Girls started out with the intention of being a loud fast punk band with harmonies, in vein of the Wipers and Shangri-Las and it just sort of morphed into what it is today.

Everyone I mention Vivian Girls think you’re the coolest things ever- what’s your secret?
That opinion isn’t unanimous, so I wouldn’t take any advice on being “cool” or well-liked from us. We’re just trying to do what we do and are growing up and learning a lot along the way.

Is it hard being an all-girl band in ‘the industry’? Or has everything been a DIY process anyway?
It’s hard being a girl in the world, period. But I think we are very fortunate for the success we’ve found and the way we’ve been treated so far.

You’re touring last year was of epic proportions- any tour plans for the upcoming year?
Expect some more of the same epic proportions.

Got any top tips musically for the upcoming year?
Have fun, it’s only music.

Get Color, released in August 2009, was recorded over several months in 2008 at a number of grimy spots across Los Angeles  – a pretty far cry from their debuts recording process which took place at The Smell, the DIY venue that plays host to a massive collective of (predominantly fast and loud) bands such as Mika Miko (R.I.P babes), No Age, and HEALTH, who ,as it turns out, had a less than satisfactory experience recording on their home turf.

‘Oh god, we hated that so much, it was not fun.  The worst experience of our lives, seriously. I would personally never, ever record there again. We had to do days from 4am until 4pm, and the worst thing was, because, you know, it’s The Smell and there are shows on every night, we had to move all our fucking recording gear in and out every day. Plus we had to tour right in the middle of recording, which just screwed everything up a bit more’

Production values seem to be an aspect of HEALTH’s career on which they want to focus more, clearly. Predominantly viewed as a band with an onus on their live show, they now seem to want to lean towards tighter production and a better sound in general, moving away from being stuck in the rut of being s phenomenal live band, but unable to commit that ferocity to record.

‘Yeah, we were recording in The Smell for a number of reasons, there was a definite sound we wanted to achieve, and I think we almost got there, but also budgetary – it was really cheap to record at The Smell, Jim, who runs it and is basically the kindest person in the world, essentially gave us the key and told us we could do what we want. That being said, we’ve started doing things for the next album, and we really want to nail it, just focus more on production, and get the sound we want. We need better production all round, I think.’

What that ‘sound’ may be is an interesting topic in terms of HEALTH as well. Having eschewed the loose, bro-fi aesthetic of their eponymous debut,  Get Color  takes on a far more ‘danceable’ dynamic, something they concur with.

‘Yeah, I don’t know if danceable is the right word but it’s definitely something we were aiming for, a definite groovier feel, tracks like Die Slow were pretty exemplary of that I think.’

Not that HEALTH have ever deliberately shied away from dance music, their first album spawned a whole album of remixes (DISCO) – something that looks to be replicated in the coming months.

‘Yeah definitely, DISCO II is coming out, very soon actually. We didn’t get a whole lot of input into it this time around, because we’re on this European label now (Lovepump United), and they just asked a whole lot of artists to contribute remixes to it. I can’t say exactly who because it’s all still pretty up in the air, but I think CFCF are definitely doing another one (they contributed to the original DISCO album)’.

And they are not afraid of you, if their promotional video for this Australasian tour is to be believed. Featuring the band playing didgeridoo, bushwacking through someones backyard , and failing at cricket, it is a truly terrifying statement of intent from the 4-piece. Seriously. Ish.

‘Oh, that video, ha. Yeah, I dunno, we really enjoy the visual side of things, it’s something we’ve been working on with our television show, called HEALTHivision, and just thought it’d be a nice way of showing, I guess, that even though it’s our first time down here, we’re, yeah, we’re not afraid of you guys. At all.’

So there it is. Whilst the promo video may not show them as exemplary savages, their live show promises to be an exhilirating mix of reckless pace and intensity. There’s a reason Trent Reznor selected HEALTH to open the last ever Nine Inch Nails shows, and you get your opportunity to see exactly why this Saturday you probably should go, okay.

~~

HEALTH play SFBH Saturday February 20 w/ support from Beast Wars. Tickets $40 from Slowboat Records and utr.co.nz . DO IT!

Initially mentored by Sydney-based Tanzanian musician Mr Zux and eventually Grindin Music, KillaQueenz have since become one of Australia’s leading dancehall/hip-hop/electro crossover outfits.

Having released their debut album Sistarhood last year, late this February, they return to New Zealand for their second Aotearoan tour – this time performing in Dunedin, as well as Wellington and Auckland.

Having interviewed them last time they passed through New Zealand for shows, Martyn Pepperell caught up with Kween G via cellphone from Sydney to assess where things are at – and what the future points towards for the KillaQueenz.

mp: Okay, last time we talked you’d just released Sistarhood and were preparing to tour the record through New Zealand. What has been going on since?

kg: We’ve been pretty happy with the response to Sistarhood. We’ve just been getting a lot of shows around the country. We’ve been pretty much everywhere in Australia, expect for Adelaide, which we’re going to at the end of the month. So, we’re pretty happy with how things have gone. We’re put out some cool remixes. My favourite has to be the D-Cup Boyfriend remix. It’s been nice.

mp: D-Cup, that’s a pretty funny name for a producer!

kg: Yeah, it’s big ya know! Big!

mp: Since the record came, where have you performed in Australia where you hadn’t played before?

kg: Perth, which is on the other side of Australia. We went to Tasmania, which is one place I thought I would never go to. Those are pretty much the two places that we were looking forward to going to. We haven’t been to the Northern Territory. I’ve been to the Northern Territory to do some Hip-Hop workshops, but as far as a Killaqueenz show, we haven’t hit Darwin or anything like that.

mp: Darwin! That would be crazy!

kg: Yeah, it’s beautiful up there!

mp: So where have you found to be the most receptive to your shows?

kg: I’d probably have to say Melbourne. We did the Fords Festival over New Years and that was the biggest crowd we ever played to. We visit Melbourne quite often, more then any other place. Aside from Sydney it’s our main spot.

mp: And is it somewhere that you have been going for a long time?

kg: Yeah, we recorded some of the tracks from the album there; and it’s close to Sydney. Sydney and Melbourne always work together.

mp: Do you think there are any other factors in why it’s popping in Melbourne?

kg: Melbourne has a pretty rich hip-hop scene and live music scene. So you find that people are always supporting gigs. There hasn’t been a night when we’ve been there that it’s been quiet.

mp: What’s your radio support been like?

kg: It’s been really good. Triple J, they have been getting behind us a lot; and putting us in rotation.

mp: Any weird PR placements you wouldn’t have expected?

kg: We did a shopping spree photo shoot for Vice Magazine yesterday; which was really weird. It was a good opportunity and we appreciate it, but I don’t like shopping in Sydney. It’s just shit. They’re asking us to choose from places and, oh man, it just sucks. It’s so hard. It would have been good if it was another city. I really like the shopping in New Zealand, it’s really nice. Unfortunately Sydney is not a good place to shop [laughs].

mp: Have you been playing alongside some big artists or doing any collaborations?

kg: Definitely! Especially on the festival circuit! But we’ve mostly been doing our own shows as well, which is a good change for us. We haven’t done as much support shows; we’ve done our own shows. We’re just about to start the Good Vibrations tour, so it will be great to make some links with some of the producers and artists who are coming out for that.

KillaQueenz Double Up

mp: And you’ve just done a video-clip for your single Double-Up. What’s up with that?

kg: It’s our first video. We did it backwards. Most people put a video out before they drop an album, but we decided to let everyone know who we are before we dropped a video. It’s gotten a good response, ’nuff hits on Youtube and stuff. I’m happy with it, it’s a really nice video; it’s different to what normally comes out in Australia. The most important thing is we represented what Australia looks like in a different way to how most videos normally do.

mp: Where did the ideas in the video come from?

kg: The production company that directed it had the ideas. We just got the people. All the people in the video are mates of ours. I was pretty proud, I was like, gosh, all of our friends are so beautiful. So yeah [laughs].

mp: How much time have you been spending on the road touring?

kg: Pretty much every weekend for the past few months! We’ll have a couple of weeks off, than we’ll be back on it for a month or two. So, it’s really good to get us more inspired and develop our performance more.

mp: Have there been any songs from Sistarhood that have been starting to stand out as key at the shows?

kg: Double-Up definitely, everybody always gets moving for that. We did this show on Australia Day a couple of weeks ago and there were all these kids there. We got them up on stage and got them to dance to Double-Up. So, that is probably the one that always gets people up!

mp: Any surprise ones?

kg: Yeah! Break the Rules to Get Paid, everyone relates to that [laughs]. People like that message and I’m happy with that to, cause for me that is an important track. It’s good that people are reacting to it.

mp: And your thoughts on coming back to New Zealand?

kg: Once again, we’re looking forward to it. Last time we had a great time. I like New Zealand. I’d like to actually stay there and work with some people on music for a little bit. I’ve never been to Otago, I’d never even heard of it until we got the call to do it; and I’m going to get a tattoo in Auckland, cause I wouldn’t want to get a tattoo anywhere else but there!
By Martyn Pepperell

NZ tour dates
Wed 24 Feb @ Otago University Orientation, Dunedin
Fri 25 Feb @ Be Nightclub, Auckland
Sat 26 Feb @ Good Luck Bar, Wellington

Sistarhood is out now.

mp: So! How do you feel to be one of the first non-reggae/roots/soul acts selected to perform at the One Love Festival in Wellington?

te: We think it’s great! And we’ll take it – we’re happy to play to anyone who’ll have us. If someone says play – we’ll play! And people are mostly good and hopefully the audience will be kind to us, Wellington people are always nice to us. We’re looking forward to it and we need the work, we need to play, we live off playing and we’ll take any work we can get – And this seems like a pretty good show where we’ll be keeping some good company!

mp: I hear that! So, you guys have a pretty massive reputation for playing like crazy! How often are you performing at the moment?

te: Just about every night, we play at least five or six nights a week!

mp: And why is that, is it that you’re that focused? Or is music all you can do, or want to do?

te: We’re probably pretty inept at most things, I’ve done probably a million different jobs and this seems like the best one I guess. We’re a band and we’re kind of old fashioned and we think bands should play, so that is what we do. We’re not good looking enough to try and do it any other way. We just play for people and try to travel a lot. We have a lot of bars down here that are kind enough to let us play and we need to feed ourselves. We decided a couple of years ago that playing music was about the best we can do, so we’re going to do that. That’s all we do, and in order to survive, we have to play a lot; so that’s how it all works out!

mp: What is it that has kept your attention and focus on doing this?

te: Man, I love music. I’m a fan. I have been for as long as I could walk, you know? I love records, I loved my mum’s records and when I got to buy my own records I loved them too. It’s always been my life. It’s all I’ve ever thought about, all I’ve ever cared about. I like books, I like films, I like my buddies, but I like music the absolute best!

mp: So what is it that you love about music?

te: Everything man! I love its mystery. I love its transcendence. It can take you anywhere you need to go, you find the right record and it will put you in the place where you need to be. It goes everywhere, it doesn’t stay in one place, it travels and moves, you know? And I like stories and music tells stories. And I like histories, and there is a lot of histories to be found [in music]. All those things I guess?

mp: Where are you from originally? And how did this all begin?

te: I’m from NZ originally and so is Jess [Shanks] and everyone is our band. Both jess and I lived in America for a long time and that’s pretty much where I learnt to play music. I was in punk rock bands and stuff when I was younger in Christchurch. Then I picked up a guitar and moved overseas for some time and learned how to play music, taught myself how to play guitar and there I was, I guess? I wrote songs, got married and came back to New Zealand and have been doing this ever since!

mp: How long were you overseas for?

te: All up a few years. Lived in America for a while, Australia, just travelled round man, it’s what I do. We sort of go back to America to play. Hopefully we’ll be going somewhere else to play this year and see some different things.

mp: How often do you go overseas to perform?

te: We try to get away for a couple of months every year. We didn’t go away last year because we really wanted to stay in New Zealand and take our record around and try and convince people to buy it. The year before we spent four months in America travelling around and playing. New Zealand is our home and we like it here the best, so this is where we are. This is what we sing about, this is what we care about.

mp: How do you network your overseas shows?

te: Email, phone calls, friends, just going to places! We don’t have a manager or anything like that. We’re not that awesome at marketing or any of those sorts of things, we just try to meet people and when we’re overseas we do a lot of busking. Hopefully that helps you meet some people and do some shows. We are just sort of, real fly-by-night characters. We just take it as it comes and try and hustle our way through.

mp: Why the emphasis on such a renegade touring style?

te: We like to play, we like to travel; we like to see things – and the kinds of instruments we use are pretty good, you can take them anywhere.

mp: You’ve got an album in stores that you’ve been promoting over the last year, but I understand you sold a massive number of copies of an EP you recorded a couple of years ago – and almost entirely sold it on a hand-to-hand basis. What’s the story here?

te: I don’t know if it’s to do with the quality of the record so much, as we play a lot. And if you’ve got some records to sell, you’ll generally sell a few. I mean we brought out our EP maybe about two and a half years ago and that ticked over pretty good. The album came out last year and that was the first thing that we got into shops and that’s kind of new for us. But I mean we give a lot away too. If people want the music we will give it to them. If we can sell it to them, that is good also, because I mean, we do live off this!

mp: Any particular themes you like to explore in your music?

te: We try and sing about our lives and not just our personal lives, because that can get pretty fucking dull. We sing about our friends and community and things going on that we see and how we interpret it and stuff. I guess we sing a lot about travelling and stuff and seeing different places, that’s the thing we do a lot of. We’ve got plenty of songs about the harbour here, that sort of thing.

mp: Any particular feeling you get when you’re writing a song that seems like a keeper?

te: I feel lucky. I think, thank god I got a song, you know what I mean? I don’t feel too much ownership over the things, they just come out and I feel blessed play them and hopefully record them and that sort of thing. So yeah, I’m not like some glorious artist or anything. I mean, I care about it and I work hard at it, and I spend a lot of time each day on music. If I’m lucky enough to get a song, I guess I feel pretty blessed about it.
By Martyn Pepperell (thanks!)

The Eastern perform at One Love, this Waitangi Day in Wellington at the Hataitai Velodrome, alongside the likes of Sola Rosa (feat Spikey Tee), Don McGlashan, Mungos Hi-Fi (Scotland), The Midnights, Richard Nunns and The Etymologists and the Roots and Culture DJs. $10 entry.

TELEPATHE with Busy Gangnes

cs: So, from the beginning! How did the two of you meet and how did Telepathe form?

telepathe: Lizzy (Melissa Livaudis) and I used to be in another band, and that split up and she played drums and I played guitar and we just wanted to do something different and we wanted to arrange and write music – all the parts, rhythm etc. that’s basically how it’s worked. Lots of music software!

cs: Did you guys have an obvious sound you aspired to, starting out?

telepathe: Yes and no. We wanted to make beats and stuff but it took us a while to decide everything. There was always a vision – we didn’t want to make disco music. We wanted to make pop. We wanted to make something accessible.

cs: There’s a lot of aesthetic space on Dance Mother. Was this something you were seeking to achieve?

telepathe: Yeah, we wanted it to feel like really big and have a lot of space. Even though there’s so many tracks and so many songs we didn’t want it to sound too intense. We’re into atmosphere for sure. And I think you can tell it throughout that record.

cs: What was inspiring you to create the resulting atmosphere on Dance Mother?

telepathe: For that stuff, we were listening to like The Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush and that’s all really atmospheric. And melodic. And also a lot of hip hop and that’s where we go the rhythm from. So rhythm and melody were pretty much our focus points.

cs: It’s interesting you cite Cocteau Twins. I just did an interview with Oliver from The xx and he excitedly cited them as a huge influence.

telepathe: Really? That’s awesome. We do have a lot of similar interests with those guys….I think you can tell our sounds are similarly influenced for sure even though we’re quite different.

cs: You enlisted Dave Sitek to produce your album? That’s pretty massive!

telepathe: It was amazing. Basically Lizzy and I had been working on the record at home or whatever and we went to a couple of different people – engineers and stuff – we were putting together demos and we had a vision. We wanted a pop rhythm but we’re not a hip hop group OR a rock band, and most people were like ‘ I think you’re really confused about what you want’ and we were like ‘what the fuck why does this keep happening?’ And then someone played Dave Chromes On It on our Myspace and we had a mutual friend and he gave him our demos and home recordings and then Dave was like “do you want to make a record I have a studio, next week, let’s go make a record” and we were like OMG. It was amazing. After so long struggling with people not getting it and being confused and then he came along and didn’t question anything and was even crazier than us, and runs with the ball and creatively we can do anything we want and not question it or second guess it.

cs: So you guys had a really successful first album. Are you nervous about the sophomore, and all the ‘second album syndrome’ that’s associated with that?

telepathe: I try not to think about it. It’s a really common thing that happens to a lot of bands – their sophomore album ‘breaks them’ or whatever in a bad way. Right now, for the first time ever, when we made Dance Mother we were just going with it with no expectation and we had this awesome opportunity but now there’s like record labels and lawyers and deadlines and that’s a bit weird but for the most part Lizzy and myself just want to get back to a place – I mean we are there – paying attention to that pressure is demonization. We can’t put our name on something if we didn’t feel free making it you know.

cs: Are you taking Dave Sitek back on board?

telepathe: There’s a couple of producers and we have a couple of ideas about what we want to execute…he has a busy schedule and he moved to Los Angeles, but he’s like our mentor now so we can’t leave him! We won’t leave him. We’re such a good team together so it fits. And it works.

cs: Is there anything we can expect from the new album at this stage?

telepathe: Basically we were listening to a lot of pop music when we made Dance Mother and we come from more of an experimental background so we weren’t used to making pop songs so we’re just gonna say they’re pop songs ‘cause they feel like pop songs to us, and I think that more or less worked. But now we’re taking a more traditional approach – writing a hook and a verse – it’s as simple as – not that Beatles songs are simple – but like verse/chorus – simple melodies and getting it correct for sure. But writing a brilliant pop song is failrly complicated – yeah? Yeah, it’s a total skill…it’s a parody…it just has to happen and it has to be spontaneous. There’s a good energy between us at the moment to be able to create it.

PONYTAIL with Dustin Wong

cs: Tell me about forming in art school?

ponytail: We had a class to form a band and everybody went into class knowing that they were going to be in a band with somebody and the teacher gathered us together in a circle and there were 30 of us and just went ‘you’re in a band, you’re in a band’ etc.

cs: Did you develop Ponytail’s style systematically from art school?

ponytail: Jeremy’s (Jeremy Hyman) been in a band before – he was in a metal band – and his drumming style is very influenced by that genre and Lightening Bolt and stuff. I’ve been in a few bands before and stuff…and punk bands in high school. So our style was already set in a way – we knew what we liked initially and we tried to bring those together somehow.

cs: What was the idea at art school; the overall aim of forming a band?

ponytail: The class was called paralleling – it means parallel to painting – the idea of art and expression and by living life you are creating art and you know being in a band can be like making a painting, or going to the grocery store and finding the best carrot is like finding the best colour.

cs: Extending visual art into the real world?

ponytail: Exactly – just changing the medium.

cs: It seems a lot of visual artists extend themselves into the music world. Do you think this is a natural progression from a visual medium?

ponytail: I think both sides inspire each other. Musicians admire visual artists and visual artists admire musicians. It’s kind of natural because a visual art can be so cerebral whereas music is so sensational and you can feel it when it’s happening whereas visual art is more cerebral and contemplative – music can be too though.

cs: Tell us about being from Baltimore?

ponytail: I think there’s multiple developments going on there at the moment. A group of people that are really into free improvisation and noise and groups that are more pop orientated. I just played a solo show for a local festival at this warehouse and it was just so many people and so many solo acts – maybe 10 or 12 just that night – and it was very much kraut rock and electronica. There was a really cool thing happening and it is a generally cool thing happening at the moment. Everyone’s doing their own thing and it’s rad.

cs: I’m interested in why places blossom with creativity at particular moments? Why in Baltimore at the moment?

ponytail: When I visited Baltimore for the first time I was 19 – Freshman year in college – I was in California at the time. I fell in love with how real it felt, and it made me want to move there with the potential of what it could be and I think a lot of people found that in Baltimore. And Dan Deacon moved down with that idea. And he got people excited to make music.

cs: Do you think the place Ponytail is from from has influenced your sound?

ponytail: Definitely the bands we’ve toured with – touring with Battles was a huge influence for us. We toured with them a few years ago – 2007, yeah the summer of 2007 – we toured with them for a couple of weeks. They were so professional and we were just a rambunctious quartet and we took a lot from them and got inspired by them.

cs: Album, released in 2008 in the US. Tell me about the making of Ice Cream Spiritual?

ponytail: I think we started writing Ice Cream Spiritual – we were in the middle of releasing the first album and Jeremy and I got together and we started writing and we wrote Celebrate the Body Electric – the first song we wrote for Ice Cream Spiritual. We emailed that to Ken and Ken wrote some ideas on top with his computer mic and guitar and that became a strong middle point and then we wrote around it and figured out the beginning middle and end. It took a long time – we were still trying to figure out who we were as a band. We wanted to make something that was better than the first record. Although I like the immature attitude of the first one, we wanted to progress.

cs: Going into the album did you have an idea of how you wanted it to sound?

ponytail: I mean, it’s hard to say. We you know, were getting more pedals at the time and put that into the songs. In the first album we don’t use any effects at all – maybe a delay pedal but nothing else. Ken has an octave pedal which lowers the octave of whatever you’re playing – we don’t have a bassist so we needed to fill that space somehow. We wanted to sound big with what we had.

cs: Coming from visual art backgrounds, do you place importance on the visual aesthetic which compliments the music? Do you think of them as separate and want them to be a whole?

ponytail: When we write the songs we think about imagery. We’re like “what does this make you feel” or “what do you think about when you’re listening to this” or playing it. “Oh it felt like we were going through a tunnel of flowers” or something like that and then we kind of all have our own images about what the songs sound like in our minds for each song.

cs: Do you understand it as a good song if there’s intense imagery created?

ponytail: Definitely – if we think the song is done and we think it’s good the images are a lot richer naturally which is awesome – it all fits together.

~~

Telepathe play SFBH January 5, Ponytail play SFBH January 4 – tickets are $30 for each show!

Courtney Sanders is a freelance writer and the editor of Fluro. THANKS COURTNEY!

bg: I thought I’d just ask some general questions first up, What got you into music in the first place?

yw: Well I guess my Dad was into music, he taught us how to play the drums and piano when we were little, and I guess that was the start of things.

bg: What got you interested in lyrics and writing words?

yw: I don’t know, that came later when I was in my late teens, or early 20s. I was interested in writing earlier, when I was sixteen or so. I always had a knack for it, in terms of figuring things out, and got serious about it later on, and kept doing it from there.

bg: You’ve been lumped with hip-hop, but it always seemed a bit limiting.

yw: Yeah.

bg: How important was Anticon?

yw: It was very important, meeting all those guys, having somewhere that felt like home. That definitely was a factor in moving forward and continuing to record. I knew I had an audience of at least five, six guys who would listen to stuff I do.

bg: As a lyricist, does that affect the way you write music? Do you conceive of the two separately, or spend equal time on the two?

yw: I’m interested in both things, and the way they fit together. Both are important, I try to spend good time on both aspects. I would say the lyrics for me are front and centre. That’s your immediate meaning, your immediate conversation is happening within the lyrics. The music goes straight to your gut, but the lyrics are what you are hearing. Everybody’s different obviously in the way they listen, but for me, that’s what I think of first and then I write songs around that.

bg: There’s always been a lot of focus on your lyrics, and the music gets ignored in critical writing

yw: I think that’s probably true, people tend to focus on the lyrical aspect of things. It’s true.

bg: Do you find your fans tend to assume they know you, the people who pore over your lyrics?

yw: Yeah, people sometimes have somewhat of a familiar kind of way of talking to me. Which is cool. I don’t mind it. I think that’s kinda neat in a way. Obviously they don’t really know me. If they did, they wouldn’t want to.

bg: Is it strange that your words are analysed to the minutest detail?

yw: I find it flattering that people take the time to do that. Obviously, it’s awesome for me. I spend so much time on them. If someone was to gloss over them, I would feel dissatisfied if people weren’t actually listening for real. It’s not as if I deserve to have people listening to me for real, but it’s very nice that they do.

bg: I thought I’d ask a few questions about Eskimo Snow. I hear it was recorded around the same time as Alopecia? How did you differentiate between the two projects?

yw: It happened naturally, because they needed to be separated. When I started listening back to the roughs from the studio sessions, I started to realise that there were two different things happening there, and that maybe it was best to separate it out into two projects.

bg: Did the success of Alopecia change the way you approached Eskimo Snow?

yw: I wouldn’t say that necessarily. In what terms do you mean success? I think that we were successful in mixing and putting together Alopecia. That in a way led me to wanting to work with the same guy, Eli Crews in mixing Eskimo Snow. I had previously mixed it with a guy called Mark Nevers, and I felt like it wasn’t quite right for us. Nevers is brilliant, but I feel like what he did, it didn’t necessarily jive with the live sound. Going back and working with Eli again, definitely had to do with my feeling that what we had done for Alopecia really worked out. That being said, what we did for Eskimo Snow – we had a different sound in mind when we were going into the mixing process. It’s not as if we tried to repeat what we did with Alopecia, but I did want to work with Eli again.

bg: I guess I was talking about the critical praise of Alopecia.

yw: Yes that’s true.

bg: Did the ’sudden’ success of Alopecia affect you?

yw: No, each record that we’ve done seems to have received a bit more attention before it. It’s not like we came out of nowhere and blew up off one record. Each one has seen more attention than the one before it. Including this one, more than Alopecia. It’s just been a gradual incline of listenership and attention. Which is I think the right way to have things, rather than have an all of a sudden explosion.

bg: You’ve been re-mixed by some great artists – how did things with Islands and Boards of Canada come about?

yw: I just asked them, and they agreed.

bg: Were you happy with the end result – putting your work in somebody else’s hands?

yw: All of the remixers did a wonderful job. We had some remixed songs from Eskimo Snow as well. I’m excited to hear those as well. I’ve only heard one so far, but everyone’s done a great job.

bg: The album sounds much more live, have you noticed it live that it sounds much more open to play?

yw: Yeah, our band is different. Our live band is different to the last live band we’ve had. That changes things a lot. We have two new members. Austin Brown, who played with us for the last two years of our tour, is not with us anymore. That changes things. I don’t know exactly what the difference in sound is, but it is different. I’m not playing the same things. I played drums on the last tour. This tour I’m not, I’m just singing pretty much. But the new songs feel good to play.

~~~

Why plays SFBH December 18, support from Grayson Gilmour.

Presales $40 available from:
Wellington: Slow Boat and undertheradar.co.nz
Auckland: Real Groovy, Fast and Loose, cheeseontoast.co.nz and undertheradar.co.nz.

~~~

Brannavan Gnanalingam is a writer based in Wellington. His debut novel Getting Under Sail is to be published by Lawrence & Gibson and is due for release soon.

Possessing one of contemporary music’s most incendiary live shows and a clutch of critically acclaimed albums, Rhode Island duo Lightning Bolt have earned wild praise from some of music’s bigwigs (the likes of Steve Albini, John Peel). Their drum/bass set-up might sound limiting, but the uncompromising music and textures they create are anything but. They have just recently released Earthly Delights, their fifth album, and first since 2005’s lauded Hypermagic Mountain, and is further example of their unclassifiable sound. Their music straddles genres such as metal, noise, punk, prog, and favours textures, rhythms, and riffs over easy listening. Drummer/vocalist Brian Chippendale was kind enough to answer some questions about their m.o. and the new album via email…

bg: There’s a physicality to your music which is kinda like the textures/images of avant-garde cinema, (or other bands like the Boredoms etc – what attracted you guys to conceive of music as more than an aural thing? Does having backgrounds in other forms of art help?

lb: As the drummer the design of my instrument is based in physicality. And I am lucky and grateful that I stumbled into this instrument. I was a pretty physically active young person that began playing in bands (I wanted to be a singer but I lost in a sort of coin toss) and I was able to channel my athletic needs into making sounds. I also have never had much of an interest in drug use generally, but enjoy the possibility of a sort of creative mental expansion, and physical activity is in some way the poor mans amphetamine. Entering into a kind of “early man/berserker rage” and then returning to reality loosens you up, it cuts through certain illusions the world puts forth.

bg: Was ‘minimalism’ an intended m.o. (e.g. by becoming a two-piece)? How important were minimalist composers e.g. Satie, Glass etc. in showing what could be done with very little? Or is this whole labeling process (words like minimalism, noise) itself limiting/frustrating for you two?

lb: I would hesitate to call a band that employs 8 speaker cabinets and at times 6 amplifiers minimal. But, aside from that, we do have limitations, and limitations make what you have stronger. Maybe it’s the theory that if you take a person’s eyes away, their smell becomes more acute. Brian G experiments with new effects pedals from time to time and I switch my drums around here and there and dabble with electronics, but most of the time, the things that stick in our head and graduate to songs are the more primal things, the simplest things. Lots of bands at some point in their career return to their “roots” and just try to rock out again. We sort of return to our roots every night that we practice, eventually abandoning everything to rock. Oh, and I hum Phillip Glass over every song, but you just can’t hear it! I think lately I have been humming The GoGos.

bg: Your music requires loud and expansive speakers especially live – in the time you guys have been together, the way we consume music has shifted considerably to things like mp3s and i-Pods – has this technological shift affected the way you’ve constructed music, or affected the way that your audiences have approached your music?

lb: If anything the shift to tiny speakers and the anonymous nature of downloadable music has strengthened the need for our, or any, live show. But we really haven’t changed the way we are creating things. When putting together our latest album it was built with LP sides in mind. Which is at this point pretty arbitrary, but we stick with it. We will probably get with the program in terms of “the end of the album” just in time for “the end of the post album” phase we are in now. Its good to try and stay one or two steps behind technology, which at times is just a giant blind man stumbling though the woods. Though at other times that giant blind man can stumble upon a pot of gold.

bg: Has being so renowned for your live shows proven problematic when it comes to recording in the studio – can you approach it in the same improvisational way as a live show given that it’s a ‘permanent’ recording? I’ve read that your albums have quite frequently ended up being a bit of both live and studio recordings.

lb: Everything we have released on album has been played live in a some sort of studio. There have been a handful of overdubs. We generally go the route of recording several takes or versions of our songs and picking the most interesting one for the record. The newest record was entirely recorded in a small studio a friend of ours set up in our practice room. So we had a lot of time with no real studio expenses. Any recording is strange in that a week later you may play the song a new better way. But that’s how it goes. There are a few videos online of live takes of our songs that are cooler than the albums. We play tens of shows a year and release one album every 2 to 4 years, so you can see where our priorities lie. Though we generally jam in our studio hundreds of days a year, so that’s number one. Just jamming for ourselves.

bg: Your music relies on happy accidents – is it hard finding these kind of spontaneous accidents while touring day-in and day-out, or while rehearsing in the studio? How do you keep things fresh?

lb: Most of the happy accidents come while jamming day to day. We record everything we do on cassette tape and go back and listen/take notes on as much as we can, which isn’t nearly even half of what we record. We have probably forgotten 90 percent of what we have played and worked on 10 percent. If even that. Most of the music we create goes the way of the wind. And some of it is probably the best stuff we have ever played. I think the freshness comes from taking time to do other things, to have experiences outside of music. So we have something to say.

bg: Your music feels very democratic – in the way you two interact musically, and the fact you play within the audience which adds a different level to the audience/performer
dynamic – was it ever as thought out as that, or is that just the way it works for you guys?

lb: Not much was thought out in terms of concept. It was more following intuition. playing on the floor grew out of us having grown tired of having the same experience in clubs, seeing bands in the same venue over and over and getting into a sort of rehearsed reaction to things. Standing in a certain corner, hanging out at the bar each night. Bands tend to have a certain sound coming out of the PA that homogenizes them. At one point I saw a band set up in the middle of the room, right next to me, and it blew my mind. We took this as our approach and it became ritual for us through lots of small informal warehouse parties in our hometown. Our floor style also grew out of playing empty rooms in the beginning and having to chase the tiny audience around. Things have changed some now though. In come places we have hit a wall with the floor show as the audience has grown beyond a comfortable size. Forcing us to reconsider the stage and look at its good sides as well. At some point an intimate event can be considered an elite and alienating activity. And a homogenized stage show can be seen as a tool for communicating to more people, people that may not seek it out but need it nonetheless. We are hoping to work on both levels.

bg: Hypermagic Mountain sounded much tighter/more polished (relatively speaking) when compared to your early work (e.g. Lighning Bolt) – how much planning has gone into structuring your sound as the band has progressed over the years?

lb: Again, it has all been fairly intuitive. At some points in our career it’s been fun to make more improvised music and at others it’s been great to tighten up the songs. We also have been careful about what we put out as formal recordings. We have hours and hours and hours of tapes more in the vein of the first record. Which was mostly cassette jams from practice. I have recorded every practice since that 1997 record on the same kind of Tascam 4 track machine with good old Maxell XLII 90 minute tapes. Some day the floodgate will open and everyone that wants to will hear 50 more “the yellow album” Lightning Bolt records.

bg: How have you approached Earthly Delights – it’s taken four years to come out, what was the reason for the length of time taken for this record to come out?

lb: Earthly Delights is really a continuation of the approach of Hypermagic Mountain. It’s all recorded in our practice space to a pretty simple recording setup, and much of it was mixed live as we played by our engineer/friend Dave Auchenbach. It took a long time to come out because we had such a long busy half year preparing, touring and recording the record, we just got tired of hanging out. So we took a year and half off and then recorded a couple more tracks for it. I wish we could say we are presenting a thing that we have been working on for 1400 days but it’s not the case. If it was it would sound much different.

bg: Is there also a link to the Bosch painting [The Garden of Earthly Delights]?

lb: That Bosch painting has been lurking around my subconscious for years, but the only real connection is in the name and actually one very subtle character reference in the artwork. It was more us feeling the need to put an earthy word in the title of what felt like a more grounded, rooted record. And then we have a little “Lightning Bolt Album Name Maker” machine we hook up that concocts the other “wild” word. Like Delights, Hypermagic, or Wonderful. Ther’es about ten more words left in the machine so we are good for 20 more years.

And as for Bosch, the name was a slight nod to the painting but really just felt like the best thing we could make using our 2 person democratic procedure. It had the ideas we were looking for with what felt like a more grounded, earthy record. We have been pretty overt about the names of our things. There is one little thefted item in the artwork from the Bosch painting but it’s hard to find.

bg: On a slightly tangential and final note, one of my favourite American films from recent years was Ben Russell’s Black and White Trypps Number Three in which you guys have a starring role but the audience was the main focus – what did you guys make of the film, and its thematic preoccupation with the ‘transcendence’ of spectatorship (Russell’s words)? Did you expect your audience to actually look/behave like that?

lb: I enjoyed the film and like all three films I have seen in that series. But I felt that film betrayed the audiences trust a little, and it is (as most effective art is), manipulative. Any band’s front row audience is probably pretty into the music, and if you slow down time, it will appear to a group of people lost in contemplative joy. Ben Russell realized that and made it happen, it was a good concept for a film executed well. But that’s the last time that specific group of kids will get up front and feel comfortable with themselves. Next time I see Russell with a camera pointed at me I may hide!

~~

Lightning Bolt play SFBH November 25!

Brannavan Gnanalingam is a writer based in Wellington. His debut novel Getting Under Sail is to be published by Lawrence & Gibson and is due for release soon.

Prepare yourself to be moved, and in a pioneering spirit venture forth to listen, watch, shuffle, nod with arms folded, and maybe, just maybe even dance to Beans – live this October.

Well, that’s what the press release said. And now, here is the word for word transcript from when I had a chat with Beans recently. He’s playing in Wellington and Auckland on the 25th and 26th of October, and you know you don’t want to miss out!

martyn pepperell: Hey, how is it going?

beans: Good, you?

mp: Great! So, when did you first start doing this music thing?

b: Since I was 17 and I’m thirty plus now, so it’s been a while. I started actually doing shows when I was 21, started touring when I was 23, 24; so it’s been a minute.

mp: No doubt! So how did it all kick off for you?

b: When I was 17 I tried to learn how to be a DJ, but I couldn’t afford the equipment. So it was cheaper to start writing, and that’s how I really started getting into it. But prior to that, as a kid, I used to dress up as Rick James and Kiss and use a tennis racquet as a guitar and force my family to sit around in a circle and sing ‘Superfreak’ and what not, and wear my mums boots and that, and lipstick and all, and perform for them, so I guess that’s how it kind of started.

mp: Serious? Damn. So where was your head at before this music thing?

b: I mean I didn’t know it as the time, because I went to art school, and I wanted to be a visual artist prior to being a rap artist, so my main thing is drawing and whatnot, but even when I was in art school, I used to cut class to go to the studio and whatnot, so it became art or music, and I chose music.

mp: So you were all up on drawing and painting and stuff?

b: Yeah, drawing, watercolour, charcoal, pencil, things like that, a lot of portraits and whatnot.

mp: You still fuck with visual art?

b: Only as an admirer of art, not a participant.

mp: Let me guess, surrealism? That was your thing?

b: Yeah, the surrealists, my whole thing was the surrealists, those were my early influences, and it influenced the writing as well [as an MC].

mp: So you were up on the DJ thing first?

b: As I said, I tried to be a DJ, but I ended up rapping, because it was cheaper and I couldn’t afford the equipment at the time, so I just started getting into it from not being able to DJ really, then the virus spread, my mum hated it at first, but she didn’t have much of a choice.

mp: Haha, feel that. Okay let’s switch gears, what was the first record you bought?

b: Not that I was a musician then or anything, but the first song I ever bought on my own was ‘Planet Rock’, that sound has always really stuck with me. When I was growing up, as a fan of hip-hop, I didn’t necessarily want to be an MC. That didn’t come till later, in my late teens, when I was trying and attempting to do so. When I was growing up it wasn’t like something I wanted to do, I wanted to be a visual artist. But the more I started doing it, the more I got into it.

mp: Word. Okay, so you’ve worked with a mad wide range of artists inside and outside of hip-hop; why?

b: Because my whole personal approach to hip-hop is that in order to bring new things to hip-hop, you are going to have to work outside of hip-hop, because you can’t get results by doing the same thing. So I was always open to working with people outside of hip-hop who didn’t do things in a hip-hop manner. I always found that more interesting and I try to expand the vocabulary of it. So that’s really where it comes from.

mp: Ain’t that the truth. So, was there anyone who encouraged you to think outside of the square along the way?

b: I just think that in general, diversity is a part of the landscape of what hip-hop was supposed to be. So my whole thing is hip-hop is supposed to go outside of itself to bring new things to it. I mean the first song I ever bought, ‘Planet Rock’, if it wasn’t for Kraftwork it wouldn’t have been that song. So if it wasn’t for Bambatta being exposed to something outside of what he was doing, we wouldn’t have had that song. That’s a perfect example of what hip-hop is supposed to be in my mind. It’s supposed to go outside and bring those things to hip-hop, and that’s now considered a classic. That’s always what I thought of hip-hop as being. So I never thought of it as anything other then doing what I was supposed to be doing in the context of hip-hop.

mp: Dude, I gotta hand it to you. I wish more people making hip-hop looked at things like you do. Anyway, you have a real open and confessional rap style. Why do you expose so much in your lyrics?

b: If I can’t be honest with myself, how am I going to be honest with the music, you know? I mean that’s my life. That’s a reflection of who I am. That’s the most honest form of expression that I have. It helps me deal with things by putting it out there. It’s not always easy to, trust me, I know that, but I mean, it’s somewhat cathartic.

mp: True again. So how do you rock your live show these days?

b: I tour with a DJ named Prolific. I do all my solo stuff with a DJ. I used to play with an iPod.

mp: That’s right.

b: Actually, when Anti-Pop [Consortium] first broke up, it was just me and a CD player, and then I got an iPod, and then I got a DJ. I’ve honestly only been working with a DJ for two years now. The rest of the time since Anti-Pop broke up; it was just me and an iPod.

mp: What was that like? Just rocking with an iPod?

b: I liked it, it was just me. It was just me on stage, you know what I mean? It helped my breath. It helped me as an MC, cause I had to carry a whole show for an hour or so. Now I move around a lot, and my breath control, not to brag or anything, but my breath control has increased and it’s made me a better mc by doing it like that.

Beans plays SFBH October 25, tickets only $25!

Thanks to Martyn Pepperell for this interview!