James Beavis frenches it up with musician and artist Geneviève Castré aka Woelv!
tks: Bonjour! J’essayerai de poser ces questions en francais, mais je suis desolée si mon francais est chiante. Est-ce que vous etes venue en Nouvelle-Zelande avant? Comment l’hemisphere sud compare avec Canada?? Si vous deviez donner Canada et la Nouvelle-Zélande note entre 1 et l’infini, quels seraient-ils?
gc: Yes. I came to New Zealand in 2006. The only two countries I have visited in the southern hemisphere are New Zealand and Australia, so I am not sure how the southern hemisphere would compare with the northern one. I love New Zealand so much and I felt really wonderful when I was there. It’s a very welcoming place. Do I really have to rate Canada and NZ? I am not that fond of grades. All I can say is that I think both Canada and NZ are not at their best right now, considering they have both elected conservative governments. This terrifies me.
tks:Vos pages Wikipedia et lasf.fm ne contiennent pas trop d’information, et votre myspace est une veritable skelete: parce que vous enyoez vos informations par courrier, peut-etre? Comment vous decririez-vous a Nouvelle-Zelande?
gc: These pages were not created by me. I don’t know who updates them. I am very much a hater of MySpace. I believe there is a certain positivity in being able to share your music so quickly with the entire world, but I am weary of the brand name and the amount of time it allows people to waste on the internet. A fierce internet presence makes me dull and lazy once confronted with real life. I think people in New Zealand should not expect much from me except for the fact that I will be singing in French. I think that the audience and I can go to so many more places together if nothing else is expected. Let’s leave the door open.
tks: Sur votre album, Tout Seul Dans la Foret en Plein Jour, je trouve que vous semblez (vocalement) remarquablement comme Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power: pensez-vous que vous etes similaires vocalement? Qui gagnerait si vous etiez en concurrence a Singstar? Qui est votre chanteur/euse préferée, ou ceux qui vous ont influencé le plus?
gc: I have no idea what Singstar is. I don’t think very many singers deal that well with being compared to another much more famous one. I would be lying if I said that I never went through a phase when I listened to a lot of Cat Power, but that was many years ago and I feel deeply inspired by so many other singers in a way that it so much more obvious. Jacques Brel is a huge influence, so is Brigitte Fontaine’s music, and then CRASS was a huge influence on this entire record. I haven’t followed Cat Power’s activities so much lately. I felt pretty bummed when she did that Cat Stevens cover for a De Beers (a diamond business) Christmas commercial and became a new face for Chanel. That really takes a lot of the charm away for me. We should love singers for how their music makes us feel and not their actions, yet my feelings get tangled up. I wouldn’t want to be faced with the decision-making most popular musicians have to make.
tks: IVotre musique est tres belle, particulierement en ce qui concernce que vous ne chantez qu’en francais: pourquoi le faites-vous?
gc: I sing in French simply because that is my language and poetry comes out of my brain in no other form. I value languages and I feel like when the whole world sings in English it gets boring. I can not write as well in English as I do in French.
tks: J’ai vu un peu de votre performance belle a South Union Arts, en Chicago, sur youtube. Vous jouerez seul ici aussi, ou avec les autres? Vous ecrivez et recordez votre music par vous-meme aussi? Si non, cela a-t-il un grand effet sur la musique que vous creez, ayant d’autres contributions?
gc: I play by myself 99.9% of the time. On recordings, I have been helped by very dear friends. It becomes more of a collaboration sometimes because whoever plays the drums or the violin makes up their own part. I appreciate that kind of situation. When I am on stage, though, I prefer having all the control. I like being able to just stop in my tracks and improvise on the spot. That way all the shows are different. If I was with a band we would have to rehearse these sometimes drastic changes and it wouldn’t be the same. Maybe one day I’ll be a member of a band, though. That would be good for me.
tks: Evidemment, votre travail ne concentre pas sur la musique: vous faites des >dessins, et les petites bande-dessinées. Peut-on expecter de voir ces influences artistiques en votre performance ce lundi?
gc: No. I will be singing. No drawing this time.
tks: Il y a eu quelques performances recents ici qui comprennent une large participation de l’audience, et creent un sens de communauté, par exemple Lucky Dragons, et l’année derniere, YACHT. Qu’en pensez-vous: les performances devraient-ils inclure l’audience plus, ou non? Est-ce quelque chose qui distrait de votre performance? (Je n’essaie pas d’encourager une invasion de l’etage a lundi. Honnetement.)
gc: I think some people are incredible at including the audience in their process. I believe that what Luke and Sarah of Lucky Dragons are doing is pretty revolutionary. Not only are they asking the audience to interact with the music, but to actually touch one another. And as someone who is weird about touching others (I get shy and self-conscious) I think they are producing a lot of healing energy. Breaking boundaries in the softest most graceful way. Audience participation is something that works well for some people and not so well for others. I think I am not very comfortable at doing this, I have tried it plenty of times, but I feel like my music is already somewhat alienating and I just want to be as comfortable as possible while the enjoy it. I think sitting back and closing your eyes is good.
tks: Et dernierement: Avez-vous lu des bons livres recemment? Je viens de finir un livre, et accueil les recommendations.
gc: Anything by Réjean Ducharme, who like me is from Québec. He has been a strong influence on everything I make. My favourite book of his is “L’ Océantume”. There is nothing else like it in the world.
tks: Merci, je suis tres excité pour lundi. Excuses pour le francais terrible!
gc: James, vous écrivez très bien en Francais. Je viens de découvrir la version anglaise de vos questions, j’aurais du l’utiliser. Je suis désolés si je n’avais pas très envie de répondre a certaines de vos questions.
Geneviève.
James Beavis
Woelv plays HappyNovember 24th!
