The Wedding Present interview

Interview with David Gedge by Alexander Laurence

CINERAMA is a solo project formed by The Wedding Present's David Gedge. Their debut long player VA VA VOOM was released in 1998 to universal critical acclaim. Following the initial success and the limitations placed on them by restrictive record contracts, Cinerama decided to set up their own label, Scopitones. In 2000, Gedge went on to release some singles and a follow-up long-player: DISCO VOLANTE.

For their second album, David renewed an old friendship when the band flew to the United States to record with producer Steve Albini. Albini worked with David in 1991, when The Wedding Present recorded their highly praised Seamonsters album. This time, however, the chosen location was Albini's own custom built studio in Chicago. Although, quite different, the third album was another collaboration with Albini. The finished product is TORINO. It is a harder-edged record. Cinerama are currently on their longest tour of the USA that will last five weeks, mostly during October 2002. David lives in Leeds. I was able to talk to him before one of the first gigs of the tour.

AL: You did much orchestration on these last two Cinerama albums. Did you do that a lot before with The Wedding Present?

David: Absolutely none. That was the main reason I wanted to start Cinerama. I didn't think it was fair to the people in The Wedding Present to say suddenly that I wanted a string section. So I had to go solo. That was five years ago. Now it's become a proper band of its own.

AL: You did the first Cinerama record with Cooked Vinyl?

David. I didn't like them. Cooked Vinyl is a weird label. The people who run the label don't have an interest in music. They are just interested in selling records. They signed a lot of established bands who have a huge fanbase like The Wedding Present. Then they just sell records to those people. When Cinerama came along, I thought it was going to be a departure and an entirely new thing. They just try to interest Wedding Present fans. I hoped that they would do something with more imagination. So I just got frustrated really. I parted company with them, and then spoke to a few other labels, and just decided to do it myself.

AL: Are you a fan of the Scopitones films of the 1960s? They were like video jukeboxes and the real first MTV.

David: Yeah, that's where I nicked the name. They are great. It's a great story how they happened. They came to America and then a few years later they were gone because TV came along, much like cinerama. Cinerama was a three-screen thing. The Cinerama Dome in Hollywood is not an actual cinerama. There are only two left that actually exist. One's in Ohio, and one's in Yorkshire where I live. I always thought it was a cool name for a band.

AL: You have done a few albums with Steve Albini. Many of us in America think of him doing some harder edged stuff like Big Black and Shellac.

David: That's what he's known for. He's just my favorite engineer in the world. He does bring a harder edge. But this album really needed it. The first Cinerama record is a good pop record but in retrospect it does sound light. I need some edge and darkness. The records with Albini just sound more powerful. Cinerama has evolved in that direction with the songwriting.

AL: These songs on Torino sound like chapters in an ongoing novel.

David: That's just the way that I do it. There's no real plan. The way I write is very honest and it's based on relationships. It's related to film. It's all about relationships: how they do it, why they do it, especially in times of emotional stress, like the beginning or an end of a relationship. I tried to write about other things but I have never been happy with the results. Sometimes I feel that I am limiting myself to this one subject, but it's such a massive subject. All my favorite music has always been love songs and about similar stuff.

AL: Do you read poetry?

David: I don't think that my stuff is very poetic. My stuff is more like a dialogue. I have always shunned poetry, metaphor and imagery. I am in favor of straight-forward speaking. Speaking the way people speak to each other. Anything else is pretentious and unsatisfactory.

AL: We were talking about filmic music and soundtracks before. Do you like things like John Barry and Serge Gainsbourg?

David: I have always loved that stuff. I couldn't do that stuff in The Wedding Present, so that was the focus of this new band, Cinerama. John Barry has changed my life. The arrangements he did are absolutely fantastic. The compositions are like a classical composer doing pop music. He has twangy guitar in there. It's such dramatic and exciting music.

AL: Are the three records you have done as Cinerama a trilogy?

David: Maybe. I always felt that after I have made a record, I should go back and make a different record. I hate those bands who make a record and then a year later they make the same record. Why bother? That's why I started Cinerama. Torino sounds nothing like the other two: it's harder and darker. The arrangements were slightly different. It was the same thing in The Wedding Present.

AL: Are The Wedding Present going to reform and tour at any point?

David: It's funny. Seamonsters and Bizarro, two of our albums, were re-released a few years ago. They were remastered and all that. The label said "Do you want to tour?" And I thought well, yeah, maybe. We never split up. So I called the other members of the band and they were looking in the diaries and asking "How long is the tour going to be?" There wasn't that excitement there to do it again. I am more excited about Cinerama myself. I make more money from The Wedding Present but money isn't everything. When I got involved in the remastering those early records, I got excited again myself, because I haven't heard those records in years. So we ended up playing a few of them in the Cinerama set. We are like a cover band. It's good because you can cherry pick the songs because there are 150 Wedding Present songs altogether.

AL: Simon Cleave was the guitarist in The Wedding Present. He plays in Cinerama. What do some of the other members do?

David: The drummer is a tour manager now. He was the tour manager of the Wedding Present as well, and when we stopped, he went on to do that full-time. He works with Mogwai and a few other bands. The bass player is a website designer now. Like everyone else.

AL: You started The Wedding Present around 1995. Not many bands from that time are still around intact.

David: Even in The Wedding Present members come and go. They think "Yeah, I'll be in a band and travel the world and play music." Then you do it and it's great but you end up sitting in the van for twenty hours a day. You are away from home six months a year. It's quite tiring to travel around on a bus on a big tour. Those people do it for a few years and they become bored. Others like myself have stayed around.

AL: You have done ten quality albums over the years. Most bands only do one or two good records and then they are gone.

David: Success changes people doesn't it? I have met bands when they have just started and they are enthusiastic about writing songs and doing great music. You meet them a few years later, after they have had a little success, and suddenly they are different people. Then they do a record that is just rubbish because they have spent too much time and too much money.

AL: You never hung out at the Met Bar?

David: It's weird. Had I lived in London, I would have probably been more successful. That's where the mover and shakers are. But that's not me. I can't do that.

AL: Did you go to the Hacienda?

David: Yeah, because I lived in Manchester for a while. It was just another nightclub really. I haven't seen that movie 24 Hour Party People yet. I should go see it. People have told me it is good.

AL: What do you think of Britpop? Did you have any contact with those bands?

David: I like some of those groups. Blur supported The Wedding Present a few times when they were just starting out. It was before they got really big. It was a good time in music. If nothing else it meant that radio would play guitar music rather than that horrendous crap that they usually play. It's gone downhill again recently. There were a lot of good bands to come after The Wedding Present like Blur, Pulp, and Oasis. We were sort of included in that. I don't think we would have if we had come out later or now.

AL: What do you think of Suede?

David: I never liked them. I have never been a fan. It's too affected for me.

AL: After Britpop, there was many boy bands and nu-metal. But now there are guitar bands again like The Strokes and The White Stripes.

David. The Strokes are great.

AL: What do you think of The Streets?

David: The Streets are rubbish. It's English hiphop. It's really bad. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize. I just don't get it.

AL: Were you ever nominated fro The Mercury Prize?

David: No, because we never entered it. I am don't like the idea of competitions in pop music. Either I like a record or I don't. The Mercury thing: you have to pay two hundred pounds to enter into it. If you get shortlisted you have to pay another two thousand pounds. It's just another bizarre idea by the music industry. It's like a marketing ploy. You pay us money and everyone puts "Mercury Music Nominated" on the album.

AL: Do you read books?

David: No, I don't read books at all. I think life is too short. Books were invented for Victorian times when there was no TV and no films. People had long dark nights to read all the time. That's fine. Now we have so much more to fill our time. Film is the ultimate medium, and in a way film has replaced books. When I was growing up I was much more in comic books. It's not as respected in Britain as much as it is in America. When I come to America I love pop culture and comic books.

AL: Do you have any advice to young musicians?

David: Take Fountain. That was Mae West. That was the advice she gave to all the aspiring starlets who came to Hollywood. It's a road. Apparently it's a road with less traffic. I might call the next record "Take Fountain."

AL: Are there any other bands that you like?

David: I like Broadcast. The Pixies are great. And I like Hole.

AL: Did Courtney Love write letters to you?

David: No, but she actually slapped me across the face once. It was at The Reading Festival. She was with a friend of mine who is a writer. He said "David I want you to meet Courtney Love." I was a massive Hole fan. She said "You worked with Steve Albini." And then she slapped me, but it wasn't serious. I think that she's a bit out of her head really. It was strange to get slapped by one of your heroes.

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Mercury Rev Interview

Back in 2001, Mercury Rev seemed poised for world domination. They had had
been around for ten turbulent years and had come out with one of the finest
albums, which was Deserter's Songs (1998). This was an amazing album of power and
loss. Mercury Rev made secret psychedelic vistas palpable for the listener.
Mercury Rev had become one of the biggest American bands in Europe. All the
praise by the British press didn?t translate necessarily into American success,
like their buddies The Flaming Lips enjoyed, and Mercury Rev were seen more like
Sparklehorse, a band that was misunderstood on its own soil, while well
respected everywhere else. Mercury Rev did three albums previously to all
this with a different lineup. Now the band has become Jonathan Donahue
(vocals/guitars), Grasshopper (vocals/guitars), and Jeff Mercel (piano/drums).

What happened in 2001 is Mercury Rev released their anticipated All Is Dream
on 9/11. Both Mercury Rev and Sparklehorse released great albums to an
American public who thought they were just plain weird. Now there are younger
American bands like Secret Machines and Mars Volta who are also playing space rock,
with a touch of Pink Floyd, that are conducive to the far out path that Mercury Rev
have trudged alone in years past. The Secret Migration (2005) is an album that
contains all the elements of past Rev greatness. They create soaring
landscapes, helium vocals, piano crescendos, and dive-bomb guitars. Apparently
this started out as a quieter acoustic album. It was made to be intimate and
raw. They recorded it in their new studios in upstate New York. I guess when Dave
Fridmann joined the fray; thoughts of string sections did appear. The first
song "Secret For A Song" sounds as big and expansive as anything they have
done. Mercury Rev conveys emotion and feelings through stories and references to
nature.

The scuttle beat of "Diamonds" recalls their participation with techno
music. Jonathan Donahue did sing a song with The Chemical Brothers before. The
killer bass line in "Black Forrest (Lorelei)" floats around the chords.
"Vermilion" is the sound of this band at its most positive. As you listen to this
record, you notice how the piano has been used in a rock song in a very exciting
way in many of the songs. "Moving On" is one of the best vocals they have done.
This record is very satisfying. It's not shockingly new ground for them, but
it does sound like a greatest hits record of their last three records. Mercury
Rev is a band to look out for. I spoke to Grasshopper recently before their
American tour with Doves.

****

AL: When did you record the latest album, The Secret Migration?

Grasshopper: We finished it last May. We worked on it for nine months. We did
the record like we always do. We all have little ideas for songs: Jonathan,
Jeff, and myself. We go into a studio and start banging it and putting it down
on tape. This time the difference was we had our own space. We have our own
studio now. The last album, All Is Dream, we recorded at Tarbox Studios with
Dave Fridmann. Dave would come up to our place. A lot of it we would do by
ourselves.

AL: Did you plan to avoid Tarbox Studios this time?

Grasshopper: We set up our own space to do demos. After we did Deserter's
Songs and All Is Dream, we realized that we were driving across New York State to
Dave Fridmann's all the time. Those trips took seven or eight hours. It felt
like we continued to be on tour for four years, while we were recording our
albums. We wanted to do something closer to home. Dave came up one time and
recommended some microphones for us to use. He listened to what we had done. He
said: "That sounds really good. Why don't you guys keep on recording here? We
can go to Tarbox later on and shape it up and mix the record."

AL: How do the songs on the album usually start out?

Grasshopper: They start out with music first. Each one of us contributes to
that process. Jonathan usually has a lot of lyrics either floating around on
paper or in his head. We will change the structure of the song to fit the lyrics
or vice versa. A lot of the songs are written on piano or acoustic guitar.
When you start orchestrating or experimenting in the studio, and adding stuff,
then you strip away what originally played the melody. It's like throwing the
legs from underneath the table. It keeps it interesting for us when you kick
the song around a bit. The songs take on a new life that you didn't originally
thought they would. That happens when the three of us get together, and we have
different ideas, and Dave Fridmann gets in the mix.

AL: Did you set out to do a more stripped down acoustic album?

Grasshopper: In the beginning we were thinking something like that. It ended
up not being that way. One thing we wanted to do was playing around with
rhythm. We wanted to use drums and bass and percussion, but also use guitar or
piano percussively. We wanted to do things with the rhythm section that we haven't
done in the past. We concentrated more on that. I was listening to Minimalist
Composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

AL: Some of those Minimalist Composers were interested in the idea of
repetition in music. Some of those arpeggios and tri-chord are mood altering.

Grasshopper: Yeah. Mercury Rev has always been about mood altering through
music. We are always trying new ways of doing that.

AL: Since you recorded Deserter's Songs, many band like The Delgados and
Gemma Hayes, have come to Tarbox Studios to work with Dave Fridmann. I guess the
appeal to them was they were attracted to the sound that was on Deserter's
Songs.

Grasshopper: A lot of Deserter's Songs was recorded in other places. We
recorded it in Connecticut. Some of it was recorded in the Catskills at The Band's
studio. That album wasn't really a product of Tarbox Studios. Dave Fridmann is
capable of getting that sound. That was something that was in the air. That
was our mindset.

AL: The album All Is Dream came out at the time of 9/11 in America. Did you
think that affected its reception?

Grasshopper: I think so. That is exactly what happened. We were all preoccupi
ed with that. That was strange. The record company, V2 Records, is on Houston
and Broadway, which is pretty close to the site. They were shut down for a few
weeks. The record comes out on that day and the record company shuts down.
That didn't help matters. We ended up picking up the pieces. A few days after
9/11 we ended up going to Europe for a few months and concentrated on playing
and touring there. There was a whole mental toughness going on in America.

AL: There is also the fact that people don?t seem to catch on with new music
in America so fast. Many bands lose money on American tours.

Grasshopper: Why bands lose money is because the traveling. You end up doing
a lot of driving in wide-open spaces. For the most part, in the big cities,
the west coast, the northeast, Texas, Florida, and Chicago, we do really well.
It's the traveling from place to place that you lose money. We love touring in
America. This tour with Doves in May will be really good.

AL: Will that be the biggest American tour you have done?

Grasshopper: When we played with Pornos For Pyros in the South years ago,
that was pretty big. We also played with Wilco a lot when we did All Is Dream.
That was good. This Doves/Mercury Rev will be pretty big.

AL: What will the new set be like?

Grasshopper: We play a lot of the new stuff from The Secret Migration. We mix
in songs from our two previous albums. We don't many songs from our first
three albums any more. We occasionally throw some of those songs in. But we are
going to concentrate on the new album.

AL: You did a solo record a few years ago. What happened to that record?

Grasshopper: I was messing around with some songs. It was a studio project
and I gave it the name "Golden Crickets." There are a lot of different Golden
Cricket people. I want to do another record. We played a few shows together. It
was a revolving cast of characters. Some of those guys ended up playing live
with Mercury Rev, like the Russo brothers. They are now in the band Hopewell.
My solo record came about because we were in between record labels, between
Sony and V2. There were a lot of legal problems. Mercury Rev couldn?t record
anything until all that stuff was resolved. I recorded that album right before
Deserter's Songs.

AL: What are some of the other older members of Mercury Rev doing, like
Suzanne Thorpe and David Baker?

Grasshopper: Suzanne Thorpe is playing with J. Mascis, and also with Jimmy
Shields, who is in this band Rollerskate Skinny. I haven't spoken to David Baker in
quite a while. I think that he works in a studio in Chicago. Jimy Chambers
has a band in Buffalo called Odeon. They opened for Mercury Rev on a tour in
Spain and Italy a few years ago.

AL: Who plays with you now?

Grasshopper: There is the three of us. Then there is Carlos Anthony Molina.
He played on The Secret Migration. He toured with us playing keyboards. Now he
plays bass guitar. Jeff Mercel used to play drums with us, and now he plays
piano. Our new drummer is named Jason Miranda. So there are five of us.

AL: The song "Moving On" seems like new territory for Mercury Rev.

Grasshopper: Jeff came up with that idea. I elaborated on it. Jonathan really
encouraged us on that song. He said that it reminded him of a mantra. That is
mostly Jeff and myself singing on that song.

AL: Do you think that there were new influences on this record?

Grasshopper: Some of that Minimalism and Classical records that I mentioned
before. Maybe some stuff by Terry Riley, Lamonte Young, and John Cale. There
were a lot of records he did after the Velvet Underground. If there was anything
that we were all listening to it was that stuff.

AL: There was a connection to Tony Conrad at some point?

Grasshopper: Yeah. I studied film with him in Buffalo. That was in 1987 and
1988. We played together a few times.

AL: Have you played any shows in the Catskills before?

Grasshopper: We have played in Woodstock at the Bearsville Theater with
Sparklehorse. We have played at some colleges around here like SUNY Purchase.
Those shows usually go pretty good. College kids are usually more into new music.

AL: Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse used to have a song, I think it was
"Spirit Ditch," that he would play live, that had similar chords to "Holes" by
Mercury Rev. He used to sing a few lines from "Holes" and people used to go
crazy. Did you ever hear him do that?

Grasshopper: Yeah. That was good. I like him. He is great. I think that
Sparklehorse opened for us on a tour. I think that he continues to do that.

AL: How many songs did you record for The Secret Migration?

Grasshopper: There are probably about another ten songs that didn?t make it
on the album. Some of those songs have already been b-sides. When the record
comes out in America, there will be a second disc included. Some of those songs
will be on there with some recordings we did for a radio session. There was a
John Peel session and one session with KCRW. We usually have the record come
out at the same time in both countries. This time we released it in the UK and
tour there for a few months. Now we are releasing this special double disc
before we tour in May. The whole time you can download some of the songs on
Itunes.

AL: How has the reaction been to the new material?

Grasshopper: It's been great. We went to Scandinavia and Germany, Paris,
Ireland, and the UK. It was about twenty dates. This summer we are going to play
in Croatia and Macedonia. There was talk of playing in Turkey. We would like to
go places we have never been before. I would like to go to the Czech
Republic, and Hungary. My grandfather is Polish, so I would like to go to Poland.
There are more concerts going on in those places.

AL: We mentioned psychedelics a little bit. How does drugs fit in with
Mercury Rev?

Grasshopper: There was a period when it was heavy duty. We have settled down
with that now. We occasionally have a smoke now and then. For the most part it
is all about getting into the music. Music for us is like a drug. It does
change your perceptions and your moods. That is what we want to experiment with
now. Music is serving that purpose. If people want to listen to us while under
the influence, then that is their experience. For us now it is all about the
music.

AL: When Deserter's Songs came out, there was a lot of talk about Mercury Rev
being ex-junkies. Was that rumor just made up by the press?

Grasshopper: Some of that was true. That is what a lot of that album is
about. It's all about picking up the pieces and going through that experience.

AL: In some of the recent interviews with the band, Jonathan Donahue doesn?t
really talk very much. You get a feeling like, he thinks "Here is the music, I
have nothing to add." What do you think about that?

Grasshopper: Yeah. It's hard for him, as it is for all of us, to talk about
the music because it comes from a special place. The music is very personal.
Sometimes we don't know where it comes from. It's a magical process that just
comes out. Sometimes to explain that is tough. Being as sensitive as he is,
it's hard for him to talk about it.

AL: Do you think his public persona as being sort of anti-social and
reclusive is how he is in your personal experiences with him?

Grasshopper: We all go through different moods. Jonathan can be hilarious. I
went out with him last night. We went to a bar with some friends. I was
laughing for an hour. My stomach still hurts. Other times we can get quiet or
pretty blue. That is life. That is what music is too. It captures all those moods
and emotions.

AL: It seems like the last few albums have come out every three years. Would
you like to work faster and do an album a year and tour less?

Grasshopper: Sometimes I would like to work faster. After each album we have
tour for a year. After that tour we take a few months off. Then we start
recording the next album, and we have to wait for six months for the record
company to put out the record. That has just how the scheduling has worked out. I
have friends who are authors and they say it is even worse for them. They write a
book and it comes out five years later. By that time it comes out they have
written a bunch of other books.

AL: Are there any new records that you like?

Grasshopper: I like the new Beck record. There is a woman from Norway. Her
name is Hanne Hukkelberg. She is like a jazz singer. I saw her not too long ago.
I was in Norway and I saw her play and I bought her CD. When I got home, I
heard an interview with her on NPR. They played some of songs on there. I like
Soundtrack of Our Lives and Nikolai Dunger. We worked with him.

AL: The Concretes?

Grasshopper: We met the girl from The Concretes.

AL: You did a song for the James Joyce "Chamber Music" album. When is that
coming out?

Grasshopper: We did it a while ago. It was delayed because the label didn't
have permission from the estate of James Joyce. Now they finally resolved that,
so I think it is finally coming out.

AL: On the website you used to write some notes about books and what you were
reading. Do you still do that?

Grasshopper: Yeah. I just wrote a thing about Hunter S. Thompson.

AL: Have you read any good books? I remembered that you seemed very literate
and had some good choices up there.

Grasshopper: I have been reading John Fante lately. I have been reading Chronicles by
Bob Dylan. That is great. I enjoyed that.

AL: That is good. All that is all you need to read. Hunter Thompson, John
Fante, Bob Dylan, and James Joyce too.

Grasshopper: Yeah.

AL: We have been going on a while here.

Grasshopper: Yeah, actually I need to drive down to New York City to do this
DJ thing tonight.

AL: Is the DJ thing something you have been doing for a while?

Grasshopper: Yeah. Mostly in Europe. In Brooklyn.

AL: Have you lived in New York City before.

Grasshopper: I did for four years. None of the other guys did.

******


Mercury Rev

appearing at "Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival"
Sat 04/30/05 Indio, CA Empire Polo Field

appearing with Doves
Sun 05/01/05 San Francisco The Fillmore
Tue 05/03/05 Seattle, WA Showbox
Wed 05/04/05 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
Fri 05/06/05 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
Sun 05/08/05 Salt Lake, UT Club Sound
Mon 05/09/05 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
Wed 05/11/05 Kansas City Madrid Theatre
Thu 05/12/05 Minneapolis Quest Club
Fri 05/13/05 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
Sat 05/14/05 Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre
Mon 05/16/05 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
Wed 05/18/05 New York, NY Webster Hall
Thu 05/19/05 New York, NY Webster Hall
Fri 05/20/05 Boston, MA Avalon
Sun 05/22/05 Philadelphia Theatre Of Living Arts
Mon 05/23/05 Washington, DC 9:30 Club

Liars Interview

Liars By Alexander Laurence

Liars formed at the end of 2000 when Aaron Hemphill and Angus Andrew, friends from Cal Arts, reunited in New Jersey. They had previously recorded some rough tracks when they met at Cal Arts. Angus Andrew is from Australia and reminds people of a deranged Nick Cave. Aaron Hemphill is from San Diego and played guitar and drum machine with the band. Two Nebraskans, Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson soon joined their sessions.

Liars' debut album, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, was released in October 2001. The album was recorded in just two days. The sounds of synthetic keypads, vocal effects, mixed with their guitar-bass-drums intensity, reminded people of post-punk bands of the late 1970s and early '80s. A more chaotic and drunk Gang of Four. Liars were the soundtrack of Williamsburg in 2001. They soon began opening for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

In 2003, Noecker and Albertson left the band. Old friend from Cal Arts, Julian Gross was recruited as a replacement and new drummer. In March 2003, the trio began recording the second Liars album at Andrew's house in New Jersey with Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). They Were Wrong, So We Drowned was inspired by avant-garde electronic music and witchcraft, and was released in early 2004. Song titles like "Steam Rose From The Lifeless Cloak" and "We Fenced Other Houses With The Bones Of Our Own" marked a new period.

In November 2003, they played some of the new music to shocked audiences. Even after a year of losing some members, medical problems, and more, Liars are back with their uncompromising sound. Reviews have been mixed, the favorable ones calling the record "challenging." I spoke to Aaron Hemphill about the new album and the new direction.

*****

AL: You played one of the first shows with the new lineup and the new material at Bowery Ballroom in November 2003. What was that experience like?

Aaron: It was scary. It was the first show in New York. We were having technical problems. It was fun. 

AL: Many people know the first album. They hear the new album and think: what is going on? Is this the same band?

Aaron: It's all about making what you are into. There are no real rules. We are doing what we feel like. The albums are made the same way. The same people make the songs. If it sounds different, it's because it has been three years since the last record.

AL: Why did Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson leave the band?

Aaron: Basically, they wanted something that we couldn't give them. Angus and I have always worked the same way. We have always written songs on the four-track. That is how we met Pat and Ron. We gave them a tape of our songs. We met them through a sign that we had posted. We were looking for a bass guitarist and a drummer. They come from a background where you write songs in a garage with a band. They wanted to jam it out all together. We couldn't make songs that way. It got hard. You can't tell those guys what they are playing is wrong. They are good musicians. You can't criticize them for not playing the songs the way I did on the tape. Some things get lost in the translation. It wasn't very fulfilling for them and things weren't coming out the way we wanted either. It was a mutual decision.

AL: Did you present them some songs that were the beginnings of the second album? They decided to leave then?

Aaron: No. I don't think we would have been able to make this album with them. On the record, most of the time, I play drums. They were more traditional. They thought that the drummer in the band has to play the drums on the record. Some moments were accidents. You can't recreate that especially if someone else is doing it. We wanted to have things come out the way that we had worked in the past. They wanted to be just more traditional. It wasn't working.

AL: A few years ago you said in New York Magazine that the second album was going to be stranger. You said that all the more commercial aspects of the first album were going to disappear.

Aaron: Yeah. It's not like we are trying to make a weird record or anything. Think of it like if you were keeping a journal. You know how you used to be and you know how you are: it's not current. If you have people reading about how you were three years ago but you know how you are today. You can easily predict what you are going to do next in contrast to what people think you are.

AL: You were going to do a West Coast tour back in May 2003. You cancelled the whole tour. What happened then?

Aaron: Angus had a stomach ulcer. It was twisted in a knot and coming out his esophagus. It was really bad. We had to cancel the tour.

AL: When did you record the new record and how long did it take?

Aaron: It took two months. We did it in March and May of 2003.

AL: How did you write the songs?

Aaron: We wrote it all in the studio as we went along. We worked in the same way. We came up with a beat that we liked. We would then base some music around that. Or we would start experimenting with things.

AL: Did you buy a lot of gear this time?

Aaron: Not really. We recorded more tracks of instruments. There is a lot less gadgetry than one might assume. It's more organic than people would think. Trying to recreate that sound live with three people we have to use samplers.

AL: Is Julian Gross a member of the band now?

Aaron: Yeah. He's a full-time member of the band. I met Angus and Julian in Los Angeles. They both went to the same art school at Cal Arts. I met them at the same time. I ended up living in their studio at school. We played with Julian way back when before we met Pat and Ron. We took Julian along on tour to sell merchandise. Julian was the first person we called when we had the idea to do this record. We thought that Julian had the same collective approach that we had.

AL: What did you guys study at college?

Aaron: I went to Junior College in San Diego and I studied Microbiology. Angus studied Photography. Julian studied graphic design.

AL: What do you think of the New York music scene? What do you think the differences are between when you started four years ago and now?

Aaron: I don't think there are any differences. The only differences are how people perceive it, who I guess misperceived it to begin with. It's just like a bunch of bands that are in any town. I don't know what the scene meant. I don't think what people said about "The Brooklyn Scene" was accurate. I think that was a misconception. The same bands are in New York making music. I don't think the actual structure of the scene has changed. I think people's perception and excitement about it has changed. I don't think bands have ever acknowledged what people think is this scene. It's always going to change.

AL: There was a lot of attention from especially Europe in New York bands like The Strokes. There was also a focus on New York for things that didn't have anything to do with music, like the 9/11 attack. All that attention and focus moved to a lot of other bands that were around at the time.

Aaron: Yeah. I would agree with that. But if the Strokes hadn't been a band, I am not so sure that 9/11 would have brought attention to the arts and culture so much, just because it was in New York. I think the Strokes had a lot to do with bands being lucky receiving so much attention.

AL: Was doing the split CD with Oneida influential on doing the new work?

Aaron: Actually it was. How we made that was very similar to how we made the new record. We had no concern how we were going to recreate it live. We were just having fun with it. Oneida is a band makes a different record every time too. They are a big influence knowing how they work.

AL: What was that show you did on the Williamsburg waterfront two years ago about?

Aaron: That had really nothing to do with where the bands were from. We were all friends. Our friends Fitz and Arthur put on the show. I don't think that we ever represented Williamsburg and therefore I don't think that we abandoned it. All that was something never in our minds. You just live in a certain town. People called us a Brooklyn bands when we were living in New Jersey. It's all based on assumption. We never turned our backs on the Williamsburg scene. There was a lot of attention placed on it, by luck. I still live there in Williamsburg, so I can't say that I have abandoned it.

AL: What do you think about the Hipsters in Williamsburg?

Aaron: I am sure that you run into that in every town. Paying too much attention to how someone dresses and looks is like criticizing someone who pays too much attention. That is everywhere. It doesn't upset me.

AL: Does anyone in Liars have a musical background?

Aaron: I had some classical guitar training when I was a kid. My dad a sax player and my mom was a clarinet player. My parents did not teach music to me. That was always something in their past. I am not sure if any of that affects any of the music we make or not. Maybe since none of us pay any attention to the training of it.

AL: Some of the subject matter on the new record is very dark. Why is that?

Aaron: We thought it would be fun to try. It's what came out. The whole witch story was giving the album was a whole other element that you could have fun with. We wanted to make it multi-layered. If you wanted to pay attention to the story you could. If you just want to listen to an album you could. It's all very loose.

AL: Some of the songs seemed to be organized around some motif or the repetition of a word like "Blood."

Aaron: All that is not pre-conceived. It was all spontaneous. We do it as we go. Those things just happened that way. We do think about ways the songs are organized where the verse/chorus/verse is not so obvious. That is the only thing intentionally done. We don't pick a sound and go "This is the thing." It is more accidental.

AL: How has the live audience reacted to the new songs? Have you scared many people?

Aaron: I think so. Some people like it, some people don't. It's been mixed.

AL: Angus was wearing a dress at the show in November. Is that a sign of things to come?

Aaron: It's more like if it something is lying around, I'll wear it. It's not a commitment.

AL: What should people expect on this new tour in April and May 2004?

Aaron: We are not playing anything from the first album. The show will be half the new album and half new songs. We have written some songs since then.

AL: Are there any bands that you like?

Aaron: There are so many. There are some that we are touring with like Young People and Get Hustle. We like them a lot.

AL: Have you read any good books recently?

Aaron: Yeah I read a lot. I am reading Heretics of Dune right now. I am a big fan of Dune. We are big readers.

AL: Have you seen any good films recently?

Aaron: Julian and I saw The Passion of The Christ recently and we thought it was really stupid. School of Rock I thought was really good.

AL: Do you have any other hobbies?

Aaron: I like to cook and sew. When I lived in LA I liked to surf. I might buy a surfboard and hit the waves in New York. I am excited about that.

Website: www.liarsliarsliars.com

--Alexander Laurence

Gallery is here. LIARS photos here taken by Angel Ceballos in Seattle.

The Fiery Furnaces Interview

The Fiery Furnaces
Interview by Alexander Laurence

The Fiery Furnaces are my favorite new band to emerge this year. The music of The Fiery Furnaces is a mix of garage-rock, blues, and folk, yet it sounds like none of the above. The duo is Eleanor Friedberger (vocalist / guitarist) and Matthew Friedberger (guitarist / keyboards / vocals). The sister and brother were born and raised in Chicago but soon moved to Brooklyn, where they formed different incarnations of the Fiery Furnaces, with other members. They played some early shows at Enid's and things started to happen.

The group played around NYC for a couple of years. They supported bands including The Kills, French Kicks, Spoon and Hot Hot Heat. Soon, with their strong word of mouth reputation, they secured a deal with Rough Trade. They released their debut single "Crystal Clear" in fall 2003. A few weeks before their full-length, Gallowsbird's Bark arrived. Their live show is a mix of folk and electro, and they tend to play songs in a series of three. I was able to check them out on their West Coast tour at the end of January. This included several sold out shows supporting Ted Leo and The Pharmacists. You should definitely check them out.

*****
AL: How do you feel today?
Eleanor: A little tired and grumpy.
Matthew: Good. It's very nice weather in San Francisco. It's very pretty here.
Eleanor: Free Williamsburg is that online thing?

AL: Yeah. We did The Hipster Handbook last year.
Eleanor: Our drummer Dan really likes it. He was talking about The Hipster Handbook the other day.

AL: You played the Rough Trade show with The Kills and Adam Green in New York. How was that?Eleanor: That was fun.
Matthew: We played with Adam Green in London too.

AL: There was a Rough Trade show in London too around the same time?
Matthew: Eleanor had a great time that night especially.
Eleanor: Yeah. I had disasters both nights.

AL: What are we talking about?
Eleanor: I got very emotional. I got drunk. I was crying.
Matthew: She got in a big fight with people. Not with me though.

AL: Was it a heckler?
Eleanor: No! It was very silly. I won't talk about it. All the shows were a great success.

AL: Do you get nervous before a show?
Eleanor: No, this happened after the show.Matthew: It was accidental.

AL: Are you clumsy?
Eleanor: Yeah, that is for sure.

AL: How long have you been playing? Matthew has been in several bands before?
Matthew: I might as well not have been in any bands before. For how much people heard us, and how good we were, and how much I learned, which was nothing. This is Eleanor's first band.

AL: When did you start playing together as Fiery Furnaces?
Eleanor: The first time we played in New York was in November 2000. We played at Enid's. A year later we were playing at Bowery Ballroom.
Matthew: We would play with just the two of us. Then we played with just one drummer. We had another drummer.

AL: Had you been in New York for a while?
Eleanor: I had moved to New York in 2000.
Matthew: I moved there at the end of 2000.

AL: How did you get the gig at Enid's?
Eleanor: A friend was Djing there. They had set up a show there. We were the middle act.

AL: So many of these songs that are on the first album were written a while ago?
Matthew: Pretty much. The last song "We Got Back The Plague" was written at the end. It was topical. It was written after the record was meant to be made. But it took us so long to mix the record. We recorded the album in August 2002, but we didn't finish it till January 2003. We had all the songs together for a while.

AL: How do you do the songwriting in the band?
Matthew: How do we do it Eleanor?
Eleanor: Matt and I have different methods. I don't have a method.

AL: Are you equal songwriters?
Eleanor: I wouldn't say that. On our first album maybe.
Matthew: We wrote songs separately and together. It's a nice half and half thing. In general, I have a bunch of songs. I have more songs than Eleanor.

AL: Did you write lyrics or music first?
Eleanor: I had the words for "I'm Gonna Run." I wrote them while I was working. Matt and I got together that evening. He played a riff on the guitar and we put the song together.

AL: So you made up some chords in your bedroom? Did you have a four-track recorder?
Matthew: We were sitting in her bedroom. These songs were not written on a four-track. The songs that we wrote together: Eleanor had some words written on some paper. It was often some overheard conversation heard at the office. I would say, "I like this bit and that bit." And she would say, "I like that bit too." We would figure out who would play what. Eleanor would try to sing the words over it. She would do it on her own or I would suggest a way to do it. It was a very normal teenage way of desperately trying to write a song. This record is a very happy experience because we worked on it together.

AL: Do you feel strange singing someone else's lyrics?
Eleanor: No, not at all. He doesn't write about personal things.

AL: Some of the lyrics seem like there was an almanac nearby?
Matthew: I have memorized the almanac. Many of the songs with place-names are Eleanor's. They are her personal songs. "South Is Only A Home" are all Eleanor's lyrics. That is all about her life and her Swedish friend in London.

AL: Did you experiment more live or in the studio with the songs?
Matthew: We had these songs that we had made up or had been playing. Eleanor had written "Tropical Ice-Land" and I had written "Up In The North." Those are the songs we had been messing with them together. We had played them live. When we recorded them, I had some ideas about how we were going to do it. Those ideas were based on my years of making horrible bad songs in basements and trying to put them over. The record had nothing to do with how we played live.

AL: You went into the studio with an open mind?
Matthew: We planned it out. I wrote it out. I should it to Eleanor. In the studio my mind would be wandering and I would forget to do things. Eleanor would remind me to do something. The record turned out almost as we intended it.

AL: Did you record any of the record as a live band?
Eleanor: There were a lot of overdubs. But on most of the songs Matt and I were playing guitars, and Ryan Sawyer was playing the drums, and I would do a scratch vocal. In some cases we kept the scratch vocal and that is the take. Then we would do the bass, keyboards, and the real vocal. When we did "Asthma Attack" that was a scratch vocal because we didn't have any time. It was a good enough.

Matthew: "Leaky Tunnel" is also a scratch vocal. All the guitar in the first part that you hear in the background is from the vocal microphone. We only had three days to do it.

AL: Are you the producer of the record?
Matthew: Yeah. I am the producer. They are all my arrangements. Nicolas Verhnes was really good. He was working in the studio with me. He was a good audience.

AL: He didn't tell you what to do?
Matthew: He miked the drums. I didn't have any ideas about that. I have to give him the credit. There is a lot of drum overdubs.

AL: Does anyone in your family play music?
Eleanor: Our grandmother is a musician and a choir director at a church. She always wanted us to sing. But we would sit in the balcony. It was a Greek Orthodox Church.

AL: What bands do you like?
Eleanor: Lots of stuff.
Matthew: I like The Who especially. They are famous. With this record and what we play live is not like this. But hopefully we will one day do a meandering light record, and then, as a live band you play it as aggressive as possible. I like that vibe.

AL: On this tour you play songs from this album and a few new songs.
Eleanor: Yeah. Our next record is coming out in May.
Matthew: We just finished it a month ago. It's called Blueberry Boat. That record is more like The Who. It's in the line of the 1966-68 Who where you have these long songs like "A Quick One."

AL: Do you have a lot of synths?
Matthew: I have an Italian synth that I bought in Illinois for seventy dollars. It's an imitation mini-moog. There is a drone on "Leaky Tunnel." It's sounds like cliché 1971 synth noise.

AL: You like a lot of different textures and things going on?
Matthew: I like The Who's Quadraphenia. I like Stevie Wonder's stuff he did in that time.

AL: Do you like recording or playing live better?
Eleanor: Matt doesn't seem to like either. I like playing live for the people.

AL: What are your hobbies outside of music?
Eleanor: (laughter) Right now I don't do anything very interesting.

AL: Did you go to school in New York?
Eleanor: No, I went to college in Austin, Texas. I like to cook a lot, but I haven't done anything.
Matthew: I like to buy dictionaries. I bought a Japanese/English dictionary.

AL: Have you read any books recently?
Eleanor: I just read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Matthew: I read The French by Theodore Zelden. It's about the France from 1848 to 1945. He wrote a popular thing that was a pseudo-sociological. He's a serious historian.

AL: What is the plan for 2004?
Eleanor: We are going to be touring non-stop. We have a plan to do things until September.
Matthew: We are trying to get people to like us. It's a hard job. We want to play better.

AL: Who is playing with you now?
Matthew: We have been playing with Toshi for a while. He plays bass and keyboards. Dan is our drummer for just the past few weeks.
Eleanor: We are playing in America and Europe this Spring. We have played a bunch of shows with Hot Hot Heat and Franz Ferdinand last time we were in Europe.

AL: Are there any other bands that you played with who were good?
Eleanor: We played with Sleater-Kinney. They were good.
Matthew: We have also played with Quasi and Hella.

AL: Do you have any advice for young people who want to start a band?
Eleanor: We need it. We need business and relationship advice.

AL: Who does your website?
Eleanor: Me.

AL: How did you learn how to do that?
Eleanor: I didn't obviously. Have you seen the website?

AL: That's good.
Eleanor: I found a tutorial on the web. I was too lazy to find a book.

AL: Have you seen any good movies?
Eleanor: We have been flying on planes so much. That is where I see most films now.
Matthew: I saw All The President's Men. That was great. Jason Robards was especially good. I saw Dog Day Afternoon when we were in England. It was nice.

AL: It has that gender bender thing going on.
Matthew: It's mostly all about working up a sweat. I like Serpico.

AL: So you like anything with Al Pacino?
Matthew: Not really. I like all the stuff from the 1970s. I like all the cars and the street signs.
Eleanor: I saw the most recent Woody Allen film. That was terrible.

AL: Do you collect anything?
Matthew: Books. Anything thing with funny words.
Eleanor: I don't have a place to live so I have gotten rid of almost everything. It's a nice feeling.

Website: www.thefieryfurnaces.com

Deerhoof

Deerhoof Interview
By Alexander Laurence and Keith Martin

Deerhoof is from San Francisco. They are art punks who mix noise and melody. The group began with Rob Fisk (guitar) and Greg Saunier (drums) in 1994. Satomi Matsuzaki (bass) joined the group in 1996. Fisk left the band after the release of Holdy Paws (1999). There were a few member changes in the early years. Their third album, Halfbird (2001), was released, and John Dieterich was recruited as Deerhoof's new guitarist.

In 2002, the group released the critically acclaimed Reveille (2002). International fame soon followed. Fans included The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth. Apple O' (2003) came out a year ago, and this recording featured new guitarist Chris Cohen. This album was recorded in one afternoon with engineer, Jay Pelucci. Deerhoof just returned from some successful shows in Japan in the summer of 2003. They released Milk Man (2004). This is their best album yet. We had a little chat with member Greg Saunier.

Deerhoof will be play at The Echo on April 8th and April 9th.

*****

Q: How did you folks meet each other?

Greg: First I met Rob Fisk , and all I can remember about it is that he wore duct tape in his hair. But now Rob isn't in the band anymore - he moved away and he plays in 7 Year Rabbit Cycle. Satomi had made friends with Caroliner when they toured Japan, and she decided to move from Tokyo to San Francisco right at the time that Rob and I were looking for a singer. Satomi had never done any music before, but a Caroliner member who does not wish to be named played to her our first 7" single, and she said "OK, I'll join."

So then they called us to tell us, and we said "Send her over." The main thing I remember about meeting her was that Satomi was surprised when she saw us, because she had thought Rob was a woman when she spoke to him on the phone.

Later I met John in a group of people who were playing recordings of their music for each other. We were looking for a replacement for Rob, and I heard the recording that John played, and it had all these sizzling guitar solos, and asked him to join. Later I found out that his friend played the guitar solos, and John was just playing a drone in the background.

Chris was a Deerhoof fan, at least until he joined the band. He came to our show and brought us a tape of his band, the Dynathought Imagination Band, which later became The Curtains. I was a big fan, at least until I joined that band.

Q: What impact do you think a marriage has on the dynamics of a rock group?

Greg: Marriage itself has no impact, but the fact that there is a couple in the band makes touring less sad for us than for Chris and John, who have to be apart from their girlfriends. Also, we always get the bigger bed!

Q: When did you start recording Apple O' ?

Greg: It was probably about 1pm, and we finished recording at about 10pm.

Q: Who writes the songs in Deerhoof?

Greg: The Party Panda writes them, but often leaves them unfinished. We can't "jam".

Q: This last album was done very fast. Can you talk about the recording process?

Greg: It did seem faster on "Apple O'", but actually that was because more time was spent planning the songs out beforehand, like a storyboard. Once we were sure we liked them, we could just press record and there was the song. On past albums, we would record a lot of unfinished ideas and fragments and try to turn them into songs during the process of recording, which is definitely slower.

Q: Have any of you had any formal musical training?

Greg: I joined the Bryant Woods Elementary School concert band in 3rd grade, and to any 3rd graders who might be reading this, I highly recommend it!

Q: Have you played in Japan before? How do people react to your music in Japan?

Greg: Actually now we're back from Japan. It was Deerhoof's first trip there, and we played in Nagoya, Osaka, and three times in Tokyo (it's a big city). None of these are new cities, in fact they are quite old, much older than any American city. It's hard for me to say too much about people's reactions, in Japan, America, or Europe, since I'm concentrating more on playing. But every single person's reaction is unique, anywhere, of course.

Q: Can you tell if your fan base is growing faster in America or Japan?

Greg: I cannot! Probably America, because more children know us here, and they grow faster than adults.

Q: Do any Japanese labels represent you right now?

Greg: A label called P-Vine licensed "Apple O'" for release in Japan. Yahata from P-Vine is who set up our shows! P-Vine also releases other Kill Rock Stars albums, like Sleater-Kinney's last.

Q: How do you feel about using samples?

Greg: I feel fun about it - I don't feel so differently about samples as I do about drums or any other instrument. Usually when I'm doing music, I'm thinking about the music itself, the idea, the imaginary part, so the actual instrument is secondary.

I've used samples once, on a song on "Apple O'" called "Sealed with a Kiss", which is all samples except for Satomi's vocal. The song was already completely written beforehand. Then I chose which songs I wanted to sample from, based on the song titles or band names - I chose ones that fit with the motifs of "Apple O'" and the meaning of the song. Most of my samples were just one note long, so "Sealed with a Kiss" was pieced together mostly one note at a time.

Q: If you could distill your music into one message or a question: what would it be?

Greg: "What are the songs about?"

Q: What are the songs about?

Greg: It worked!

Q: Who are your favorite bands?

Greg: The Who are just one of my favorite bands.

Q: Has anyone ever thrown underwear/flashed boobs/lit lighters and swayed at you at a live gig? Has anyone acted weird at a gig?

Greg: Someone might have swayed at me. I usually have my eyes closed.

Q: How many original members are still in the band?

Greg: Zero. Deerhoof was Rob Fisk's bass solo originally.

Q: Have you read any good books recently?

Greg: A book about Kubrick's cinematic style by Falsetto was really fun for me, although I'm not saying I recommend it. Was that recent? I got a lot from Chomsky's "Understanding Power", but "like" might not really be the right word, since it is more educational than entertaining. Maybe "love"?

Q: What recent movies did you think were good?

Greg: How about "Death to Smoochie." Was that recent? I wonder if Ed Norton or Danny DeVito ever saw Brother Daniel and the Nine Fruit Tree. We played with them in Williamsburg!

Q: How do you feel about interest from other bands like Sonic Youth, Bob Mould and Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

Greg: We've played with and talked to Sonic Youth, so I feel friendly about them. It's just hearsay that Bob Mould and Yeah Yeah Yeahs like Deerhoof, so I feel vague. I feel nice!

Q: What should people expect when they attend a Deerhoof show?

Greg: Panda Panda Panda, Heart Failure, Holy Night Fever, Song of Sorn, Forbidden Fruits, Flower, The Moose's Daughter, Dummy Discards a Heart, Comedian Flavorists, All Rise, A-Town Test Site, Dinner for Two, Come See the Duck, This Magnificent Bird Will Rise, and maybe more if there's time!

Q: Are you playing in the USA again soon?

Greg: We're coming to Williamsburg!

Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to start a band?

Greg: If they are starting a band then they've already taken my advice!

Website: http://deerhoof.killrockstars.com/