Reviews for the Playlouder.com website for the month of June 2007.
Pagoda
S/T
Ecstatic Peace!
2.5/5
Every actor wants to be a musician; every musician wants to be an actor. More often than not this cliché may bear out the artist in question’s desire to spread their creative wings in a medium that challenges them but equally often the results of this desire can appear misguided at best and at worst can seem massive errors of judgement. For every Vincent Gallo that can effortless move from screen to canvas to record there is a Keanu Reeves, Russell Grant or Steven Segal who’s success and talent in one discipline seemingly blinds any sense of self-critique in their efforts in another.
So it was with a fair sense of trepidation that I slipped this disc into the CD player but not a full cold sweat for several reasons: unlike the Gladiator, Kung Fu ‘master’ and shop mannequin mentioned above Pagoda’s leader and sole songwriter, Michael Pitt, has consistently appeared in films of fair artistic merit directed by the likes of Larry Clark (Bully), Bernand Bertoluci (The Dreamers) and most pertinently as Kurt Kobain in his final hours in Gus Van Sandt’s Last Days. Secondly the label on the sleeve of this debut album from Pitt’s band is that of Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! a stable whose roster is hand-picked by the usually impeccable Moore and features innovative and progressive avant and underground acts such as Lambsbread, Awesome Colour and 16 Bitch Pile Up. It is said that Thurston met Pitt on the set of Last Day’s where he was acting as a musical consultant, Van Sant encouraged Pitt to play a song for Moore and the rendition of the this album’s opening track Lesson Learned was so convincing that Moore asked Pitt to record an LP on the spot.
On evidence of the record that Pitt has gone on to produce the qualities that so impressed Moore are not immediately clear. For someone who has portrayed Kobain it is perhaps not wholly surprising that both the ghosts of early 90’s Seattle and the music that in turn influenced that movement loom large in the band’s sound. It is a record that is not in thrall to but rather wrapped in the sound of Nirvana and The Pixies. Rather than take and recreate it appears almost to pastiche and imitate. The album’s artwork in it’s gaffa tape and hand-scrawled, journal-like notebook lyrics certainly adheres to the visual aesthetic and sonically both Lesson Learned and Amego flit with ease from a quiet walking skronk to the anguished, amped growl that served Kobain and Black Francis so well.
However the anguish lacks a sense of authenticity and is further undermined by frankly awful lyrics: “oh medicate me/feel my pain/love me know that/I’m insane” or “So now I’m here/And I used to be there/it was before that I was unhappy but now I am numb”. Ouch. But not quite as moving as Amego’s crescendo: “Blah blah blah blah/Blah blah blah blah/Blah blah blah blah/Weapon of mass destruction”. Ok.
While the band make a pretty great sound particularly during the chorus sections the overuse of strings in Death To Birth and the needlessly drawn out closer I Do add an unnecessary pomp and the drummer seems obsessed with adding fills at every opportunity that fan the listener like an annoying moth.
It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom though as the guitars are soaked in a nice fuzz, the riffs move the songs along nicely (particularly during Voices) and Pitt’s voice certainly has potential. The commitment that wowed Moore is perhaps to some extent Pitt’s undoing as the over-earnestness translates on record as a tad contrived. Apparently the Pagoda that recorded this album has been replaced entirely by Pitt (must have been that drummer) and the new unit are looking to cut a record soon which is a project to be looked forward to. The concept of these songs being played live is also something that could certainly be anticipated as the youthful and raw energy would undoubtedly be embraced by audiences so it’s all OK Michael: time enough to skive from the day job yet.
Minus Story
My Ion Trust
Jagjaguar
4/5
Two albums that have been a huge disappointment and letdown on a personal level in recent(ish) months have been the new efforts from Wilco and Sparklehorse. Both are bands that operated with an initial blueprint of melodic alt-country rock but skewed and re-invigorated it with sonic innovation that created a wide-eyed sense of wonder at the possibilities of the supposedly limited canvas conventional rock supplies it’s practitioners. Listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or Good Morning Spider for the first time felt like the first time you had ever opened your eyes or breathed fresh air. Their latest efforts however seemed stunted, limited by the very parameters they once vaulted with such ease.
Knowing little about Minus Story and having little to no expectation possibly lead to the overly joyous experience of listening to My Ion Trust for the first time. Here are a band that have succeeded where Wilco and Sparklehorse have failed in their latest efforts: they have created a widescreen, bright-eyed record of originality that celebrates the very happiness of being alive. It is a record of anthemic and orchestral pop laced with a youthful, hopeful vocal and a gritty, guitar-led base that underpins the melodic synth and key chimes and patterns while the whole affair is swept along by spacious but firm drumming that is simultaneously reminiscent of both Queen and the Glitter Band.
Jordan Geiger’s occasionally distorted vocal is one of the first things to hit the listener and his slightly nasal Midwestern lilt is perfect for the optimistic, inspirational choruses, it is as at home crooning a sweet Sufjan Stevens-esque falsetto during Pretty In The Night as it is coming across as the bastard child of Stephen Malkmus and Tunde Adebimpe on rollicking opener proper Aaron which, after the delicate instrumental led introduction track In Line, sets the tone and template for the album to come: the lead guitar creates frenetic melody lines as the keys and rhythm section all dip during the hushed verse before all storm into the chorus creating a joyous racket which somehow never leaves a sense of melody behind even when scattered saxophones enter the fray adding to the beatific sense of chaos.
It all sounds like Explosions In The Sky playing from the Arcade Fire’s crib sheet but somehow managing to play with a complete lack of pretension or saccharine mass-appeal and only a beautiful innocence and immediacy that feels like flying through the clouds at unattainable speed or driving alone through the desert fist in the air at a midnight moon. Seriously this is one of the most uninhibited, joyous records I’ve heard in ages, it brings together ensemble pop, uninhibited chorus structure and a sheer sense of beauty that is all too rarely produced in convincing balance. Album centrepiece The Battle Of Our Lives is perhaps the most realised manifestation of the Minus Story’s vision and listening to it repeatedly only made me lust for more. Honest, original and moving: a triumph.
Lightning Dust
S/T
Jagjaguar
4/5
Amber Webber and Joshua Wells don’t always play beautiful, chilling folky, alt-country vignettes. They are both moonlighting members of cosmic, space-country rockers Black Mountain who have wowed and terrified audiences for the past few years with a succession of wonderfully oblique, whigged out rock records played at tremendous volume creating a formidable live spectacle.
In comparison to their main creative outlet this debut disc of recordings as Lightning Dust sees the duo retreat from any sense of bombast to produce quiet, sparse and affecting songs that seem almost an introverted retreat from the Black Mountain recordings. A quiet, brooding inner monologue of sombre and occasionally chilling tracks which benefit from the spartan nature of their arrangement.
The instrumentation relies principally on piano, organ and Amber Webber’s voice. Although there is currently a raft of female vocals flooding the racks in the nu/wyrd folk sense Webber’s is something a step apart from the Nadler’s and Newsom’s. Hers is a far more gothic and haunted instrument riddled with experience that is more akin in affect rather than tone to the male deliveries of Jason Molina or Mark Kozelek and is both perfectly suited to this project as well being it’s greatest asset. One spin of Highway should easily convince as Webber’s wrenched vocal heckles goosebumbps over a creeping cello and organ score.
Album opener Listened On very much sets the sombre, chilly tone that is taken to it’s most extreme on the frankly scary tracks Heaven and Breathe. While the aforementioned majestic and forlorn Highway is perhaps the albums highlight the record throws up a few surprises that allow for a let up in the gothic, cinematic sense of tension that the majority of the album builds. Wind Me Up is the most severe stylistic departure offering an upbeat, major-key roller while Jump In features a powerful use of a call and return vocal that builds to a dramatic conclusion and album closer Days Go By offers a plodding beat that eddies like a slow rolling river and brings to mind latter period Gram Parsons both in arrangement and lyrical theme.
At just over 30 minutes Lightning Dust’s debut effort represents a compact but powerful set of sketches that will hopefully be returned to very soon.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
May Vice Reviews
May 2007 reviews for Vice magazine.
Static X
Cannibal
Reprise
1 Wow, it’s ’97, I’ve got my guitar tuned to a dropped H, my bassist has an 8 string, my jeans are so big John Goodman could wear them as his Sunday slacks and we’re about to go on the Family Values tour with Korn and Cold, it’s going to be rad dude!
Maj Boorland
Asobi Seksu
Asobi Seksu
One Little Indian
7 If this is ‘nu-gaze’ then it’s a lot more fun than most of those boring older-brother shoe-gaze bands ever were. Like Yoshimi from the Boredoms fronting the crunch and fuzz of MBV with dreamy Galaxie 500 bits. The front row will be full of those V-neck sweater, converse wearing university indie society guys with semis.
Withering Frights
Tiny Dancers
Free School Milk
Parlaphone
6 Sometimes you just know what you’re going to get from the cover. Wistful, earnest, melody-infused pop with big choruses albums always have these weird wobbly fonts. This is what Herman Dune would sound like if they had a secret Dexy’s fixation. The sort of thing Elton John will champion and then kill in the water before they’ve even had a chance. Oh wait, he already did.
Yellow Brick Choad
Supreme Vagabond Craftsman
Just You, Me & The Baby
Analogue Catalogue
7 Despite having a name which makes them sound like a Galliano side-project this is actually pretty good. It’s sort of like a folk version of the music that Aim forgot how to make ages ago but with likeable, funny lyrics about living in some asbestos ridden council flat in Sheffield or something.
Mikey Pressure
V/A
Soundboy Punishments
Skull Disco
10 Appleblim, Shackleton and Gatekeeper have quietly been pushing at the more minimal boundaries of Dubstep for a good while now, with nowhere near the credit they deserve, on a string of beautiful 12’s that are neatly collected here. There is a second disc that includes the extended Villalobos edit of Blood On My Hands that rumbles on for almost 20 blissful minutes and it’s all wrapped in their super-nice artwork that involves lots of err..skulls.
Gerneral Levis
James Yorkston
Roaring The Gospel
Domino
8 Where is this Fence Collective? I want to join. All these guys like Yorkston and Ali Robertson just seem to ramble around drinking loads and falling for maidens and singing about it in songs with names like Woozy With Cider and Blue Bleedin’ Blind Drunk. I think it must be in Scotland. They all sound Scottish. Kode9 has done a remix of one of Yorkston’s tunes that actually makes you feel like you’ve drunk ten pints and just done a bump of ket that was a little bit too big.
Roland Fall
Mats Gustaffson & Yoshimi
Words On The Floor
Smalltown Superjazzz
8 Mats Gustaffson has been blowing weird noises in free-jazz ensembles with guys like Massimo Zu and Jim O’Rourke for years and Yoshimi is the cute singer chick from the Boredoms so this was never really going to Radio 1 a-list fodder. Instead you get a haunting 45 minute work out of voice echoing made sound that’s intense to the point of being sinister and creepy.
Jazz Eye
Kammerflimmer Kollektief
Jinx
Staubgold
9 If I did a blind test with all these kids that claim that they are really ‘into’ free-noise and drone and played them, I dunno, like Changez Les Blockeurs and then something my little brother made just now with a broken contact mike and some delays they wouldn’t really have a clue which was ‘better’ or ‘good’. No matter though as this is a perfect peach of all the good bits of all that is avant. Staubgold is always a pretty safe bet though.
Jimmy Shite
The Broken Family Band
Hello Love
Track & Field
7 Where do bands like this go to die? Like a really solid, reliable dog these guys keep pedalling solid, melodic alt-country at an album every year or so like they could do it forever. Except no one will put them down because they are too nice. Maybe there is this pub somewhere and they hang out with St Thomas and Richmond Fontaine and guys like that and trade road stories. I don’t know.
Garth Hooks
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
Knives Don’t Have Your Back
Drowned In Sound
7 Is there ever going to be an issue where we don’t have something in for review by a side project of some member of the Broken Social Scene?
Bee Haves
Municipal Waste
The Art Of Partying
Earache
9 I went to see the guys play a support slot at the LA2 (or whatever they’re calling it these days) last week. I turned up early and everything and still missed almost their entire set cos they run everything so early to get everyone out for G.A.Y. I was pretty pissed off. The two songs I did hear were perfectly formed blasts of Voivod-splattered thrash and good time lyrics. Maybe I just should have waited for this to turn up in the post as you get 15 of them on here. And Dave Witte plays drums. What more do you fucking want?
Budwaster Killgore
Static X
Cannibal
Reprise
1 Wow, it’s ’97, I’ve got my guitar tuned to a dropped H, my bassist has an 8 string, my jeans are so big John Goodman could wear them as his Sunday slacks and we’re about to go on the Family Values tour with Korn and Cold, it’s going to be rad dude!
Maj Boorland
Asobi Seksu
Asobi Seksu
One Little Indian
7 If this is ‘nu-gaze’ then it’s a lot more fun than most of those boring older-brother shoe-gaze bands ever were. Like Yoshimi from the Boredoms fronting the crunch and fuzz of MBV with dreamy Galaxie 500 bits. The front row will be full of those V-neck sweater, converse wearing university indie society guys with semis.
Withering Frights
Tiny Dancers
Free School Milk
Parlaphone
6 Sometimes you just know what you’re going to get from the cover. Wistful, earnest, melody-infused pop with big choruses albums always have these weird wobbly fonts. This is what Herman Dune would sound like if they had a secret Dexy’s fixation. The sort of thing Elton John will champion and then kill in the water before they’ve even had a chance. Oh wait, he already did.
Yellow Brick Choad
Supreme Vagabond Craftsman
Just You, Me & The Baby
Analogue Catalogue
7 Despite having a name which makes them sound like a Galliano side-project this is actually pretty good. It’s sort of like a folk version of the music that Aim forgot how to make ages ago but with likeable, funny lyrics about living in some asbestos ridden council flat in Sheffield or something.
Mikey Pressure
V/A
Soundboy Punishments
Skull Disco
10 Appleblim, Shackleton and Gatekeeper have quietly been pushing at the more minimal boundaries of Dubstep for a good while now, with nowhere near the credit they deserve, on a string of beautiful 12’s that are neatly collected here. There is a second disc that includes the extended Villalobos edit of Blood On My Hands that rumbles on for almost 20 blissful minutes and it’s all wrapped in their super-nice artwork that involves lots of err..skulls.
Gerneral Levis
James Yorkston
Roaring The Gospel
Domino
8 Where is this Fence Collective? I want to join. All these guys like Yorkston and Ali Robertson just seem to ramble around drinking loads and falling for maidens and singing about it in songs with names like Woozy With Cider and Blue Bleedin’ Blind Drunk. I think it must be in Scotland. They all sound Scottish. Kode9 has done a remix of one of Yorkston’s tunes that actually makes you feel like you’ve drunk ten pints and just done a bump of ket that was a little bit too big.
Roland Fall
Mats Gustaffson & Yoshimi
Words On The Floor
Smalltown Superjazzz
8 Mats Gustaffson has been blowing weird noises in free-jazz ensembles with guys like Massimo Zu and Jim O’Rourke for years and Yoshimi is the cute singer chick from the Boredoms so this was never really going to Radio 1 a-list fodder. Instead you get a haunting 45 minute work out of voice echoing made sound that’s intense to the point of being sinister and creepy.
Jazz Eye
Kammerflimmer Kollektief
Jinx
Staubgold
9 If I did a blind test with all these kids that claim that they are really ‘into’ free-noise and drone and played them, I dunno, like Changez Les Blockeurs and then something my little brother made just now with a broken contact mike and some delays they wouldn’t really have a clue which was ‘better’ or ‘good’. No matter though as this is a perfect peach of all the good bits of all that is avant. Staubgold is always a pretty safe bet though.
Jimmy Shite
The Broken Family Band
Hello Love
Track & Field
7 Where do bands like this go to die? Like a really solid, reliable dog these guys keep pedalling solid, melodic alt-country at an album every year or so like they could do it forever. Except no one will put them down because they are too nice. Maybe there is this pub somewhere and they hang out with St Thomas and Richmond Fontaine and guys like that and trade road stories. I don’t know.
Garth Hooks
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
Knives Don’t Have Your Back
Drowned In Sound
7 Is there ever going to be an issue where we don’t have something in for review by a side project of some member of the Broken Social Scene?
Bee Haves
Municipal Waste
The Art Of Partying
Earache
9 I went to see the guys play a support slot at the LA2 (or whatever they’re calling it these days) last week. I turned up early and everything and still missed almost their entire set cos they run everything so early to get everyone out for G.A.Y. I was pretty pissed off. The two songs I did hear were perfectly formed blasts of Voivod-splattered thrash and good time lyrics. Maybe I just should have waited for this to turn up in the post as you get 15 of them on here. And Dave Witte plays drums. What more do you fucking want?
Budwaster Killgore
Such Hawks, Such Hounds Feature
A preview of the movie about stoner/sludge/doom/whateveryouwannacallit rock for the Viceland.com Blog.
Atoms Splitting In The Ether
Preview of ‘Such Hawks, Such Hounds: Scenes From The American Rock Underground’
Weren’t Sabbath rad? Four smelly guys from Birmingham really did have a pretty big impact on things. As if to shove that down our throats here is a whole movie just to prove the point. The film was originally entitled ‘Heavy’ but then it looked like VH1 might sue so now its going by ‘Such Hawks, Such Hounds’. This sort of fits in with the pseudo mythological stoner-rock waffle that goes on during this awesome film. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone that had any part in bringing downtuned drones to mass consumption pops up from a typically wired looking Wino to ex-Sleep dude Matt Pike. Some of the fried out philosophising from these casualties is as enjoyable as the live footage, the balding hippy guy from Comets comes out with nuggets like “this music is like the birth of the primordial supernova”. Check out the trailer, I’m not making this shit up. Seeing things like Kyuss destroying generator parties in the middle of the desert makes you realise that Homme really has been lying to himself and everyone else for quite a while now though and watching this will make you want to burn anything you own that even vaguely resembles ‘nu-folk’. Check it out.
Atoms Splitting In The Ether
Preview of ‘Such Hawks, Such Hounds: Scenes From The American Rock Underground’
Weren’t Sabbath rad? Four smelly guys from Birmingham really did have a pretty big impact on things. As if to shove that down our throats here is a whole movie just to prove the point. The film was originally entitled ‘Heavy’ but then it looked like VH1 might sue so now its going by ‘Such Hawks, Such Hounds’. This sort of fits in with the pseudo mythological stoner-rock waffle that goes on during this awesome film. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone that had any part in bringing downtuned drones to mass consumption pops up from a typically wired looking Wino to ex-Sleep dude Matt Pike. Some of the fried out philosophising from these casualties is as enjoyable as the live footage, the balding hippy guy from Comets comes out with nuggets like “this music is like the birth of the primordial supernova”. Check out the trailer, I’m not making this shit up. Seeing things like Kyuss destroying generator parties in the middle of the desert makes you realise that Homme really has been lying to himself and everyone else for quite a while now though and watching this will make you want to burn anything you own that even vaguely resembles ‘nu-folk’. Check it out.
Espers Interview
An interview with freak-folk cats Espers for the Viceland.com Blog.
Does being lumped in with the whole free folk thing stick in your craw?
The greater interest in the ‘folk’ stuff of recent years allowed for exposure, sharing and travel for a good number of artists, so that is a good thing. A lot of us have been afforded great opportunities and friendships that continue to grow and morph and expand. It feels like the beginning. This isn't temporary, flash-in-the-pan music to any of us. There is no real emotional connection to it though, no opposition or partisanship.
No kinship with the beardy brothers musically then. In that case how would you describe the Espers sound?
Our music is a sherpa to guide all through the foothills of paranoia. It is a good, honest companion and friend.
You have worked with Vashti Bunyan. How do you feel about supposed hippies licensing properties to adverts? Where is the spirit of Woodstock man?
Nothing wrong with getting paid, you know what I mean? You gotta work to get paid and that paycheck feels good. We've done a lot of questionable deeds for the cash.
Any you’d care to mention?
No comment
Spoilsports. One good thing about the movement was the way it dug up a load of amazing old relics that people had forgotten about. How was it working with all the people that started what you are finishing?
The friendships we have made with heroes of ours are unreal, maybe the
most rewarding thing that has arrived out of all of this. Michael Hurley, Clive Palmer, Bridget St. John, Bert Jansch, Vashti, Gary Higgins, Mike Heron - they are all now close friends as well as mentors and it is just awesome.
Why do an EP of just covers?
We dig doing covers and traditional standards and stuff. We do them live, so it just seemed natural to record it all for a release.
Folk generally has an image of kind of being a bit boring. How boring are Espers on a scale of 1 to 10?
Boring? I don't think there's a boring image at all. Danny Thompson was a legendary badass. Fahey. Doc Snock rambled forever, still does. Are we boring? Considering that we are a commune that practices free love and shared vice, I don't know - that's up to you to apply standards to and decide. We had a party in Toulouse that was pretty something. Hello, Marie!
If you could only have one track to listen to forever and ever what would it be?
That's a tough one, but I'll bite. Uhhh..."Hold Me Back" by Patto.
Does being lumped in with the whole free folk thing stick in your craw?
The greater interest in the ‘folk’ stuff of recent years allowed for exposure, sharing and travel for a good number of artists, so that is a good thing. A lot of us have been afforded great opportunities and friendships that continue to grow and morph and expand. It feels like the beginning. This isn't temporary, flash-in-the-pan music to any of us. There is no real emotional connection to it though, no opposition or partisanship.
No kinship with the beardy brothers musically then. In that case how would you describe the Espers sound?
Our music is a sherpa to guide all through the foothills of paranoia. It is a good, honest companion and friend.
You have worked with Vashti Bunyan. How do you feel about supposed hippies licensing properties to adverts? Where is the spirit of Woodstock man?
Nothing wrong with getting paid, you know what I mean? You gotta work to get paid and that paycheck feels good. We've done a lot of questionable deeds for the cash.
Any you’d care to mention?
No comment
Spoilsports. One good thing about the movement was the way it dug up a load of amazing old relics that people had forgotten about. How was it working with all the people that started what you are finishing?
The friendships we have made with heroes of ours are unreal, maybe the
most rewarding thing that has arrived out of all of this. Michael Hurley, Clive Palmer, Bridget St. John, Bert Jansch, Vashti, Gary Higgins, Mike Heron - they are all now close friends as well as mentors and it is just awesome.
Why do an EP of just covers?
We dig doing covers and traditional standards and stuff. We do them live, so it just seemed natural to record it all for a release.
Folk generally has an image of kind of being a bit boring. How boring are Espers on a scale of 1 to 10?
Boring? I don't think there's a boring image at all. Danny Thompson was a legendary badass. Fahey. Doc Snock rambled forever, still does. Are we boring? Considering that we are a commune that practices free love and shared vice, I don't know - that's up to you to apply standards to and decide. We had a party in Toulouse that was pretty something. Hello, Marie!
If you could only have one track to listen to forever and ever what would it be?
That's a tough one, but I'll bite. Uhhh..."Hold Me Back" by Patto.
Emily Haines Interview
Here is an interview I did for Playlouder.com with the lovely Emily Haines. She is hot.
Daring to dream in the face of terrifying consequence.
(Stolen moments with Emily Haines)
You might think that you know Emily Haines as part of The Broken Social Scene, the free-wheeling collective of Canadian musicians who paved the way and, perhaps more than any other outfit, embody the essence of the current wave of pop-inflected indie from those shores that has been so virulently embraced here in the UK both in terms of their musical aesthetic and the collaborative, communicative nature of their work ethic. You might think that you know Emily Haines as the lead singer of Metric whose concisely crafted disco-pop gems have moved crowds and radio playlists over the last 12 months with honest energy and without resorting to gimmick or formula both in their original form as well as in a succession of dancefloor-shattering remixes. You might think that you know Emily Haines but you probably don’t.
Her latest project, a solo record backed by a band affectionately dubbed The Soft Skeleton, might however offer a more personal insight shrouded as it is in melodic arrangements and opaque, inquisitive lyrical themes that shrug away any preconceptions that the indie of BSS or the confrontational energy of Metric may have conjured. Sat on a sunny step one quiet May East End afternoon over a few cigarettes Emily talked openly, knowledgeably and passionately about everything from the records that gave her kicks as a kid to just how you play in three bands at once and still find time to talk to idiots like me.
So, how are you?
Pretty fucked up actually, I just got off the plane from Vancouver, I did V-fest over there and I got to my hotel today and thought I was gonna spend the afternoon with a bottle of champagne in the park but instead I’m here talking to you.
Sorry about that, I wouldn’t want to be talking to me either. So, were you doing the solo stuff over in Canada?
Nah, it was Metric stuff, we did a tour of the west coast of Canada playing new songs.
You have a bunch of projects on the go the whole time, do you ever sleep?
I do sleep, I guess I just get excited, there are really cool things happening and I just wanna do them all and I think now is the time. There is a certain mentality I find sometimes that people kind of realise that they’re going to get old one day so they kind of start going at some point. This is the point for me; I want shit to happen now! But I guess it’s not exactly a new thing, it’s just now I feel certain urgency. I have always been very driven to do things and travel and get into trouble.
What kind of trouble?
Any kind of trouble, good trouble!
Was there anything in particular that caused this groundswell of carpe-diemness?
Well, I’m not saying this to be morbid or tragic, because it’s not morbid or tragic but my Dad was a writer and he died four years ago. I was always working away at things but I was really shy, I knew that some day I would come out and put it all on the line, I just didn’t know when. My Dad was a very reclusive writer himself and I was kinda headed that way so when he died it was like a wake up call just telling me: ‘fuck yeah, I gotta do this now’.
Did the passing of your Dad have a direct influence on the solo record? It certainly seems to deal with far more introspective themes lyrically than say the Metric stuff.
In part. He worked with a lot of heavy people in the 70’s and lived all over the world. I was born in India and when he was out there he was working with this composer Carla Bley and he made a record with Jack Bruce from Cream on it called Escalator Over The Hill; it’s this really experimental rock-jazz fusion record, kind of like the Sergeant Pepper’s of the jazz world! The way my new record looks is a direct reference to that, I modelled the artwork on Escalator Over The Hill. It is this big gold triple album so I got it to look like that and also Robert Wyatt did the liner notes for me. He and my Dad were really good friends, he’s kind of my Godfather actually. When I first became serious about writing I got in touch with him ‘cos I’d grown up listening to his stuff and he and my father used to exchange all these mixtapes with all this amazing, crazy artwork and cool postcards and stuff.
Compared to this new record the Metric stuff seems almost like release, but lyrically it remains kind of oblique. What inspires you lyrically?
Well I try to never write about relationships, that has been done so many times. There is a glut of emotional lyrics out there; I prefer to keep it concrete. I am interested in descriptive writing specifically.
The song Crowd Surf Off A Cliff interested me especially.
For that one I just had this image in my head. It was inspired by the nature of being a touring musician and being on the road a lot, that feeling of going out on the road, briefly coming home and heading straight back out there again. Sometimes it feels like the tide might never come in again and that your life might just keep going never to return home. Visually it was this image I had of being carried by hands off to who knows where. That is pretty much how my life feels at this point.
Are you happy with that feeling?
I am trying to embrace it but I was pretty fucking scared around the time I wrote that song. I didn’t know what was happening in my life, my Dad died, relationships back home that had been the foundation of who I thought I was and who we all thought we were broke up, things changed, everyone lost their homes. I guess it was what everyone wanted at that time but it is nice to have a dream.
And what is your dream?
I guess I’m living it! My main thing now is that I just don’t want to become a bad person. There are all kinds of opportunities to never really be accountable for your actions and the whole entertainment industry is built on this warped sense of giving out free privilege and legitimising these loose morals, which is great until you have to deal with the consequences, which is something that this record deals with specifically. I suppose Metric is the sound of the night out and trying to be brave and living my life without restraint and without waiting for someone to give me permission and the new record is dealing with that in the morning, ha-ha!
Where does Broken Social Scene fit into those 24 hours?
Broken Social Scene is the next night when you go out drinking with all your friends! That band came out of all us just hanging out and being friends and instead of just hanging out and drinking beer we’d hang out, drink beer and play music. We didn’t really know what it would turn into. People always seem to think that bands came out of that but really it was the other way round and that is why that band kind of ebbs and flows it’s always gonna be there because the friendships are still there but as a band it’s broken, that’s the whole point!
Can I ask which project is the most enjoyable?
Metric is really fun, especially to perform and I guess Metric is the bread and butter but I am always writing and there is always going to be things that I write that won’t fit into Metric or Broken and this is my outlet for them. I am really into soundtracks and more atmospheric stuff. On the new record I got to work with the Scott Minor the drummer from Sparklehorse and the mood of early Sparklehorse was something that influenced me making this record so that was a real coup. And I also worked on the record with the Sergei the Giant Bulgarian, he is totally gonna score the best film ever one day, he helps with all my string arrangements and on-stage projections. Me, Jimmy from Metric and Sebastian from Death From Above have also just built a studio in Toronto as well so I’m excited about that.
Boring question: What records have inspired you over the years?
Bjork is really inspiring as an artist because she uses her imagination, that’s what I hate about indie-bullshit posturing, it seems so facile compared to someone like Bjork’s work which is a testament to imagination and originality. Kim Gordon too, she is really inspiring, we did a few songs with Metric for this movie and the director works with Sonic Youth so we met them through that. The fact that Kim Gordon took the time to come over, say hey and knew my stuff? That was a real moment. They are just amazing people who know their role and are aware of the value of you getting to meet them. In terms of straight albums or artists a bunch of John Lennon stuff, Robert Wyatt I can’t stress enough, later on Elliot Smith I guess and Neil Young too; there is a nod to him on my track A Maid Needs A Maid. My dad used to play me a bunch of far out jazz stuff without telling me what it was. He actually recorded some of the early Albert Ayler stuff that is totally amazing. Outside of music the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam had a huge effect and Roman Polanski movies too, the video for Monster Hospital was based on Repulsion, and sonically Rosemary’s Baby is totally inspiring.
This is just a kind of personal observation but it seems to me that choosing a career as musician in Canada and North America is seen as a legitimate life pursuit. Hence the plurality of projects and longevity of career artists such as you enjoy. Over here if your post-Libertines jangly indie band fails: that’s it. Plumbing for you son. Do you think there is any reason why there seems to be greater creative originality and acceptance of musical creativity as career over there or am I just talking shit?
Well, most of us in Broken attended a performing arts high-school and although it wasn’t super heavy on the arts front it was a great way to get away from the jocks. If you were someone who was a bit of a freak it was a place you wouldn’t get the shit kicked out of you. I mean I was never gonna be the girl on the volleyball team and there was a room with a piano in so I would write little songs. It was kinda problematic that I would refuse to play anyone else’s stuff but eventually they let me do my own thing. Also in Canada there is an infrastructure to allow people to get a start as an artist, you can get a grant, it’s real and I think with the generation coming through now they can see the effect of it and that it wasn’t there just to make life easy for a whole bunch of people. It’s good business investing in people! That said Canadians take life kinda seriously, I like how British people don’t give a shit.
Daring to dream in the face of terrifying consequence.
(Stolen moments with Emily Haines)
You might think that you know Emily Haines as part of The Broken Social Scene, the free-wheeling collective of Canadian musicians who paved the way and, perhaps more than any other outfit, embody the essence of the current wave of pop-inflected indie from those shores that has been so virulently embraced here in the UK both in terms of their musical aesthetic and the collaborative, communicative nature of their work ethic. You might think that you know Emily Haines as the lead singer of Metric whose concisely crafted disco-pop gems have moved crowds and radio playlists over the last 12 months with honest energy and without resorting to gimmick or formula both in their original form as well as in a succession of dancefloor-shattering remixes. You might think that you know Emily Haines but you probably don’t.
Her latest project, a solo record backed by a band affectionately dubbed The Soft Skeleton, might however offer a more personal insight shrouded as it is in melodic arrangements and opaque, inquisitive lyrical themes that shrug away any preconceptions that the indie of BSS or the confrontational energy of Metric may have conjured. Sat on a sunny step one quiet May East End afternoon over a few cigarettes Emily talked openly, knowledgeably and passionately about everything from the records that gave her kicks as a kid to just how you play in three bands at once and still find time to talk to idiots like me.
So, how are you?
Pretty fucked up actually, I just got off the plane from Vancouver, I did V-fest over there and I got to my hotel today and thought I was gonna spend the afternoon with a bottle of champagne in the park but instead I’m here talking to you.
Sorry about that, I wouldn’t want to be talking to me either. So, were you doing the solo stuff over in Canada?
Nah, it was Metric stuff, we did a tour of the west coast of Canada playing new songs.
You have a bunch of projects on the go the whole time, do you ever sleep?
I do sleep, I guess I just get excited, there are really cool things happening and I just wanna do them all and I think now is the time. There is a certain mentality I find sometimes that people kind of realise that they’re going to get old one day so they kind of start going at some point. This is the point for me; I want shit to happen now! But I guess it’s not exactly a new thing, it’s just now I feel certain urgency. I have always been very driven to do things and travel and get into trouble.
What kind of trouble?
Any kind of trouble, good trouble!
Was there anything in particular that caused this groundswell of carpe-diemness?
Well, I’m not saying this to be morbid or tragic, because it’s not morbid or tragic but my Dad was a writer and he died four years ago. I was always working away at things but I was really shy, I knew that some day I would come out and put it all on the line, I just didn’t know when. My Dad was a very reclusive writer himself and I was kinda headed that way so when he died it was like a wake up call just telling me: ‘fuck yeah, I gotta do this now’.
Did the passing of your Dad have a direct influence on the solo record? It certainly seems to deal with far more introspective themes lyrically than say the Metric stuff.
In part. He worked with a lot of heavy people in the 70’s and lived all over the world. I was born in India and when he was out there he was working with this composer Carla Bley and he made a record with Jack Bruce from Cream on it called Escalator Over The Hill; it’s this really experimental rock-jazz fusion record, kind of like the Sergeant Pepper’s of the jazz world! The way my new record looks is a direct reference to that, I modelled the artwork on Escalator Over The Hill. It is this big gold triple album so I got it to look like that and also Robert Wyatt did the liner notes for me. He and my Dad were really good friends, he’s kind of my Godfather actually. When I first became serious about writing I got in touch with him ‘cos I’d grown up listening to his stuff and he and my father used to exchange all these mixtapes with all this amazing, crazy artwork and cool postcards and stuff.
Compared to this new record the Metric stuff seems almost like release, but lyrically it remains kind of oblique. What inspires you lyrically?
Well I try to never write about relationships, that has been done so many times. There is a glut of emotional lyrics out there; I prefer to keep it concrete. I am interested in descriptive writing specifically.
The song Crowd Surf Off A Cliff interested me especially.
For that one I just had this image in my head. It was inspired by the nature of being a touring musician and being on the road a lot, that feeling of going out on the road, briefly coming home and heading straight back out there again. Sometimes it feels like the tide might never come in again and that your life might just keep going never to return home. Visually it was this image I had of being carried by hands off to who knows where. That is pretty much how my life feels at this point.
Are you happy with that feeling?
I am trying to embrace it but I was pretty fucking scared around the time I wrote that song. I didn’t know what was happening in my life, my Dad died, relationships back home that had been the foundation of who I thought I was and who we all thought we were broke up, things changed, everyone lost their homes. I guess it was what everyone wanted at that time but it is nice to have a dream.
And what is your dream?
I guess I’m living it! My main thing now is that I just don’t want to become a bad person. There are all kinds of opportunities to never really be accountable for your actions and the whole entertainment industry is built on this warped sense of giving out free privilege and legitimising these loose morals, which is great until you have to deal with the consequences, which is something that this record deals with specifically. I suppose Metric is the sound of the night out and trying to be brave and living my life without restraint and without waiting for someone to give me permission and the new record is dealing with that in the morning, ha-ha!
Where does Broken Social Scene fit into those 24 hours?
Broken Social Scene is the next night when you go out drinking with all your friends! That band came out of all us just hanging out and being friends and instead of just hanging out and drinking beer we’d hang out, drink beer and play music. We didn’t really know what it would turn into. People always seem to think that bands came out of that but really it was the other way round and that is why that band kind of ebbs and flows it’s always gonna be there because the friendships are still there but as a band it’s broken, that’s the whole point!
Can I ask which project is the most enjoyable?
Metric is really fun, especially to perform and I guess Metric is the bread and butter but I am always writing and there is always going to be things that I write that won’t fit into Metric or Broken and this is my outlet for them. I am really into soundtracks and more atmospheric stuff. On the new record I got to work with the Scott Minor the drummer from Sparklehorse and the mood of early Sparklehorse was something that influenced me making this record so that was a real coup. And I also worked on the record with the Sergei the Giant Bulgarian, he is totally gonna score the best film ever one day, he helps with all my string arrangements and on-stage projections. Me, Jimmy from Metric and Sebastian from Death From Above have also just built a studio in Toronto as well so I’m excited about that.
Boring question: What records have inspired you over the years?
Bjork is really inspiring as an artist because she uses her imagination, that’s what I hate about indie-bullshit posturing, it seems so facile compared to someone like Bjork’s work which is a testament to imagination and originality. Kim Gordon too, she is really inspiring, we did a few songs with Metric for this movie and the director works with Sonic Youth so we met them through that. The fact that Kim Gordon took the time to come over, say hey and knew my stuff? That was a real moment. They are just amazing people who know their role and are aware of the value of you getting to meet them. In terms of straight albums or artists a bunch of John Lennon stuff, Robert Wyatt I can’t stress enough, later on Elliot Smith I guess and Neil Young too; there is a nod to him on my track A Maid Needs A Maid. My dad used to play me a bunch of far out jazz stuff without telling me what it was. He actually recorded some of the early Albert Ayler stuff that is totally amazing. Outside of music the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam had a huge effect and Roman Polanski movies too, the video for Monster Hospital was based on Repulsion, and sonically Rosemary’s Baby is totally inspiring.
This is just a kind of personal observation but it seems to me that choosing a career as musician in Canada and North America is seen as a legitimate life pursuit. Hence the plurality of projects and longevity of career artists such as you enjoy. Over here if your post-Libertines jangly indie band fails: that’s it. Plumbing for you son. Do you think there is any reason why there seems to be greater creative originality and acceptance of musical creativity as career over there or am I just talking shit?
Well, most of us in Broken attended a performing arts high-school and although it wasn’t super heavy on the arts front it was a great way to get away from the jocks. If you were someone who was a bit of a freak it was a place you wouldn’t get the shit kicked out of you. I mean I was never gonna be the girl on the volleyball team and there was a room with a piano in so I would write little songs. It was kinda problematic that I would refuse to play anyone else’s stuff but eventually they let me do my own thing. Also in Canada there is an infrastructure to allow people to get a start as an artist, you can get a grant, it’s real and I think with the generation coming through now they can see the effect of it and that it wasn’t there just to make life easy for a whole bunch of people. It’s good business investing in people! That said Canadians take life kinda seriously, I like how British people don’t give a shit.
Cristian Vogel Interview
Here is an Interview I did with Cristian Vogel for DrownedInSound.com.
Cristian Vogel Speaks
It is perhaps only fitting for a man born in Chile, who has lived in England, Germany and Spain to have trodden perhaps one of the most varied musical careers of the last decade or so. Having produced and DJ’d techno across the world, manned the mixing desk and provided remixes for artists from Maximo Park to Radiohead without forgetting his time with Jamie Liddell in innovative electronica duo SuperCollider Cristian Vogel has constantly and restlessly moved forward. His latest project, Night Of The Brain, sees Cristian stepping away from straight production and into playing in what is perhaps the most conventional construct he has ever challenged himself with. NOTB brings together the varied strands of Vogel’s past and unites them in a new setting that appears to have invigorated the wandering man.
Hi Cristian, how is Barcelona?
Very sunny thankyou!
Great! We are here today to talk about Night Of The Brain. What prompted the decision to persue a full band project?
Well, If I was being honest I would say a big part of it was growing very bored with travelling the world alone as a DJ. It can get very lonely, it is a lonely art. It is easy and it pays very well and it can be fun but I needed a change. I had also become very bored of the techno scene in general.
Was that your internal boredom with the scene or the scene itself boring you?
A combination of the two I guess. The techno scene moves fast. Always very very fast. One week one record is massive and the next week that record has been outdone and everyone moves to the next one. I also felt that there had been a change in the clubs in terms of the atmosphere. I don’t know what it was, maybe people changing what they were drinking or whatever else it might be that they were taking but the whole vibe has definitely changed.
So is NOTB a means to reinvigorate yourself?
In a way yes, I think I just needed a new challenge. The thing with a band is that it is a different kind of pressure to the pressure you have making a techno record. Whereas if you are producing a techno tune there is that pressure to make it the very best tune and compress that high-hat sound or create the best kick drum sound or whatever with the band there is no sense that we are going to be the best band in the world. That pressure is not there, we simply want to play good music.
Is it in some way reaching back to the fruitful creative patnership you shared with Jamie Liddell in SuperCollider?
Well SuperCollider was great in that we made some great music and got to travel around together and see some places and we got on very well as friends but the whole process became a little wearying. Doing things like whole days locked away in hotel rooms doing press and things like that was not so good. This is a very different band to SuperCollider though which was a highly collaborative project. With NOTB I tend to come up with most of the ideas for the songs and then they are played out in the studio.
Did having worked with lots of bands from Chicks On Speed to Radiohead both in production and remixing influence your approach to NOTB?
When you are producing you are really on the other side of the fence, trying to coach the best that you can out of a band which is a different set of skills to those that you require to make the record in the first place. I actually ended up producing this record myself and putting it out on Station 55 my own label just because there weren’t the people around at the time to get involved with it. We are already talking about getting Franz Tiechler from the Young Gods involved in producing on the next record. I have worked with him before and he is a very hard man, very exacting.
How do you separate the creative processes between what ideas might be relevant to your more electronic recordings and what ideas might be more relevant to the band project?
It is actually fairly clear cut, ideas for the band stuff. They might come in the form of a riff or a melody and I just play that out on the guitar or the bass. The bass is an interesting instrument to compose with as it fairly narrow in its field, With a guitar you can go all kinds of crazy and off on tangents but the bass keeps it concise. And then you just keep playing the song out until it show its true colours and there you go.
In terms of the instrumentation there is a mix between live drums and programmed beats was there a reason for this?
The plan was always to have live drums because I have spent so long programming beats. On one level it is easy because I have done it often but on another to get the exact sound that you want can take a very long time. I had always wanted live drums for this band it just took a little while to find someone suitable, but we were very lucky to find Cristobal Masis who is a wonderful drummer
Are you looking forward to playing this record out live?
We have already played some dates and it was good but we have our biggest show yet at Sonar which should be great yes.
In terms of your previous recordings would you place NOTB as continuing that body of work or is it something you view as being separate?
I would say that everything I have done up until now has lead to this.
Finally, you have already mentioned a second NOTB record, do you have any electronic projects forthcoming or is the band the sole focus?
I actually have a new techno record I am working on that should be released in September.
Cristian Vogel Speaks
It is perhaps only fitting for a man born in Chile, who has lived in England, Germany and Spain to have trodden perhaps one of the most varied musical careers of the last decade or so. Having produced and DJ’d techno across the world, manned the mixing desk and provided remixes for artists from Maximo Park to Radiohead without forgetting his time with Jamie Liddell in innovative electronica duo SuperCollider Cristian Vogel has constantly and restlessly moved forward. His latest project, Night Of The Brain, sees Cristian stepping away from straight production and into playing in what is perhaps the most conventional construct he has ever challenged himself with. NOTB brings together the varied strands of Vogel’s past and unites them in a new setting that appears to have invigorated the wandering man.
Hi Cristian, how is Barcelona?
Very sunny thankyou!
Great! We are here today to talk about Night Of The Brain. What prompted the decision to persue a full band project?
Well, If I was being honest I would say a big part of it was growing very bored with travelling the world alone as a DJ. It can get very lonely, it is a lonely art. It is easy and it pays very well and it can be fun but I needed a change. I had also become very bored of the techno scene in general.
Was that your internal boredom with the scene or the scene itself boring you?
A combination of the two I guess. The techno scene moves fast. Always very very fast. One week one record is massive and the next week that record has been outdone and everyone moves to the next one. I also felt that there had been a change in the clubs in terms of the atmosphere. I don’t know what it was, maybe people changing what they were drinking or whatever else it might be that they were taking but the whole vibe has definitely changed.
So is NOTB a means to reinvigorate yourself?
In a way yes, I think I just needed a new challenge. The thing with a band is that it is a different kind of pressure to the pressure you have making a techno record. Whereas if you are producing a techno tune there is that pressure to make it the very best tune and compress that high-hat sound or create the best kick drum sound or whatever with the band there is no sense that we are going to be the best band in the world. That pressure is not there, we simply want to play good music.
Is it in some way reaching back to the fruitful creative patnership you shared with Jamie Liddell in SuperCollider?
Well SuperCollider was great in that we made some great music and got to travel around together and see some places and we got on very well as friends but the whole process became a little wearying. Doing things like whole days locked away in hotel rooms doing press and things like that was not so good. This is a very different band to SuperCollider though which was a highly collaborative project. With NOTB I tend to come up with most of the ideas for the songs and then they are played out in the studio.
Did having worked with lots of bands from Chicks On Speed to Radiohead both in production and remixing influence your approach to NOTB?
When you are producing you are really on the other side of the fence, trying to coach the best that you can out of a band which is a different set of skills to those that you require to make the record in the first place. I actually ended up producing this record myself and putting it out on Station 55 my own label just because there weren’t the people around at the time to get involved with it. We are already talking about getting Franz Tiechler from the Young Gods involved in producing on the next record. I have worked with him before and he is a very hard man, very exacting.
How do you separate the creative processes between what ideas might be relevant to your more electronic recordings and what ideas might be more relevant to the band project?
It is actually fairly clear cut, ideas for the band stuff. They might come in the form of a riff or a melody and I just play that out on the guitar or the bass. The bass is an interesting instrument to compose with as it fairly narrow in its field, With a guitar you can go all kinds of crazy and off on tangents but the bass keeps it concise. And then you just keep playing the song out until it show its true colours and there you go.
In terms of the instrumentation there is a mix between live drums and programmed beats was there a reason for this?
The plan was always to have live drums because I have spent so long programming beats. On one level it is easy because I have done it often but on another to get the exact sound that you want can take a very long time. I had always wanted live drums for this band it just took a little while to find someone suitable, but we were very lucky to find Cristobal Masis who is a wonderful drummer
Are you looking forward to playing this record out live?
We have already played some dates and it was good but we have our biggest show yet at Sonar which should be great yes.
In terms of your previous recordings would you place NOTB as continuing that body of work or is it something you view as being separate?
I would say that everything I have done up until now has lead to this.
Finally, you have already mentioned a second NOTB record, do you have any electronic projects forthcoming or is the band the sole focus?
I actually have a new techno record I am working on that should be released in September.
The Cribs Interview
Remember I talked to the Cribs guys a few posts below? Well their video got banned from MTV so I interviewed them agin to see what they thought about that for the Viceland.com blog.
So, what happened with MTV and this video?
I don’t know. I just got an e-mail this morning informing me of the fact it was banned. It’s insane. Apparently Ofcom got one complaint. One fucking complaint. I just don’t get people sometimes.
The video features decapitation. Do you think the person that complained knew someone that had been decapitated?
Yeah mate. Have you even seen it? We did it really tacky on purpose. No one could possibly think that was realistic. The person that complained was either like some super conservative angry person or just some snake in the grass industry insider.
Woah, a conspiracy theory!
Sure man. Could be.
There is also a really hot girl in the video who is naked. Who is she?
She was some model from LA. We’d never met her before the shoot.
Was she always meant to be naked or did you just add that idea in when you saw how hot she was?
No she was always gonna be naked. But we put the black bars over her bits cos that’s the point of the video. She’s all over us but we don’t care so she goes to extremes to get our attention. Like chopping her arm off.
That is pretty extreme, like Shaun of The Dead meets that Robbie Williams video.
Nah it was all Dianne who directed the video. It was her idea. The very original version had the girl totally naked but the one we sent to MTV had the bars so the ban was just down to the violence. Sex is fine but no violence. Bullshit mate.
What are you gonna do now about getting it shown on MTV, surely that is pretty important?
I don’t really care.
So, what happened with MTV and this video?
I don’t know. I just got an e-mail this morning informing me of the fact it was banned. It’s insane. Apparently Ofcom got one complaint. One fucking complaint. I just don’t get people sometimes.
The video features decapitation. Do you think the person that complained knew someone that had been decapitated?
Yeah mate. Have you even seen it? We did it really tacky on purpose. No one could possibly think that was realistic. The person that complained was either like some super conservative angry person or just some snake in the grass industry insider.
Woah, a conspiracy theory!
Sure man. Could be.
There is also a really hot girl in the video who is naked. Who is she?
She was some model from LA. We’d never met her before the shoot.
Was she always meant to be naked or did you just add that idea in when you saw how hot she was?
No she was always gonna be naked. But we put the black bars over her bits cos that’s the point of the video. She’s all over us but we don’t care so she goes to extremes to get our attention. Like chopping her arm off.
That is pretty extreme, like Shaun of The Dead meets that Robbie Williams video.
Nah it was all Dianne who directed the video. It was her idea. The very original version had the girl totally naked but the one we sent to MTV had the bars so the ban was just down to the violence. Sex is fine but no violence. Bullshit mate.
What are you gonna do now about getting it shown on MTV, surely that is pretty important?
I don’t really care.
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