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Wednesday, 19 November, 2008

PLANETNOTION TELEVISION!

CAMERA-FOLK AND FILM EDITORS WANTED!

Planet Notion is looking for guys and dolls to film and edit features for its new TV channel, PNTV. Accompanying Notion to artist interviews, gigs, fashion shows, festivals and international events, you will be skilled, passionate and full of ideas about how to produce shit-hot video content. Camera-folk will be experienced and ideally have their own equipment, or at least access to equipment, while editors must be able to turn projects around quickly, and with stylistic flare. If you can both film and edit content, we would especially like to hear from you! These casual, unpaid positions would be ideal for those looking to develop their showreels, and to get the chance to travel, film major artists and top events.

Please email lucy(at)musichqmedia
(dot)com if you’re interested in getting involved, cheers!

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Interview with The Crimea's Davey Macmanus!

Interview with The Crimea's Davey Macmanus!

The Crimea have never been a band to do things, let’s say, the conventional way… When Warner Bros. Records dropped the boys due to poor sales of debut album Tragedy Rocks, the four-piece shrugged their shoulders and embarked on a campaign that would change the future of music distribution. Releasing follow-up album, Secrets of the Witching Hour as a free download was a shrewd move; a means of establishing a new and firm fan base. Their method of reaching the masses has been followed by more established bands such as Radiohead, so you could call The Crimea trend-setters. Ahem, but rather than letting their growing success go to their heads, the four-piece have continued to show their fans the same appreciation, support, and dedication that they’ve shown to The Crimea; playing intimate, almost exclusive, candlelit shows, and releasing new single ‘48a Waiting Steps’ as yet another free download. Here, Planet Notion catches up with singer Davey Macmanus, to talk Dear Deirdre, crack-whores, and going for Gold! Words: Dangerous Dave When bands release a single taken from an album, it’s usually for a particular reason… Why did you pick the ‘48A Waiting Steps’, and where does the inspiration behind the track come from? We picked the ‘48a Waiting Steps’ and ‘Loop-a-Loop’ becuase we kinda’ wanted to be seen in a different light. Warner’s had always released the poppier songs so, when we became disentangled from them, it was the obvious thing to release something we thought better represented us as the successors to Siegfried Sassoon and Da Vinci before him. Sure, I mean, with ‘Secrets of the Witching Hour’ there was a clear indication of your music developing – or at least going through noticeable changes… How would you say that your music’s developed? Well I guess we just grew up a bit; went round the world a few times and got more of a sense of it. Became more humble; thankful… The reason that ‘Secrets’ developed musically is cos’ we spent seven months making it and tried a-hundred different things for every part before we picked our winner… We went round the houses but we done it all ourselves - mostly at home, but also in Latvia, Norwich, and various other studios around London. The latest stuff has further developed… I’d say it’s also developed because, financially, we’ve always ridden a fine line - so we’ve had to better ourselves each time. We still have something to prove basically. So the inspiration for the music that you’re currently producing has come from different sources, places, or moments, than your older material? No. It’s all been reaching towards the third Crimea album. I only got a guitar when I was eighteen and was in a punk band for seven years, so it’s taken me a while to find my musical destiny… I was thrown onstage way too early. And how imminent is that 100,000 Gold [download] mark with ‘Secrets of the Witching Hour’… Can you reveal any of the plans for the extended edition you’ll release in celebration? I'm not sure how soon the imminent gold is, but touch wood in the next few weeks. The new version basically has a different running order and pieces of music between the songs; a strange Kentuckian woman whispering interludes I wrote. On the original version of ‘Secrets’ it was done by a very famous American singer but, when we released it for free and it went up on Reuters, her label freaked out and we had to remove her. So we've redone it with this crazy woman we met in New Orleans. You tend to promote new releases to an exclusive sect, an in-crowd lucky enough to know: “Where and what time”. Is this a means of being in touch with your fan base or a way of breaking from the mainstream mould? Jesus, it’s basically because we’re a cottage industry operating out of the mainstream; doing our own thing. We rely heavily on the internet, we’re trying to promote to everyone, and we haven’t got the money behind us - so we have to think of ingenious methods of promoting ourselves. Once, I went in Dear Deirdre in The Sun the week our single came out. Once, I spray-painted ‘1939 Returning’ all over London, including every bridge along the Thames… Having interviewed Anton Newcombe [Brian Jonestown Massacre], I’m only too aware of his involvement with Perry Watts-Russell [Warner Bros. Records]. Was Perry equally as nuts as Anton and how did you find him to work alongside? It was tough working with him. He’s a great guy but basically, major labels in general are a humdrum of non-activity, and everybody has to ask everybody else and think about it for six months before they can take a shit. I have a good relationship with Perry; I told him at the time we were dropped that we were doing the free record, and then when Radiohead did it I asked him if he stole the idea. He said he was really annoyed when they did it because they hadn’t mentioned it to him… So, with breaking from Warner in mind, how have you found the transgression from being on a label to producing music alone; has it been a positive change? It’s been great in general; in that we’ve been free to do whatever we want. Last year we released the free record the day after we mastered it, whereas it took four years for Warner to release one album we'd already recorded before we signed the deal. Last year we toured in China twice and released the record there. This summer we’re touring the States and releasing ‘Secrets’ as a free download there through Tripwire. The launch party sees us playing Venice Beach, and we’ve just kind of been doing the English campaign since Christmas - releasing the two singles. Your live shows are generally intimate affairs; do you ever feel like you should be playing large arenas or concerts, or would that feel like “Selling your soul to the devil?” We have sold our soul to the devil; many times! Perry wouldn’t even let me meet his secretary until I got a new front tooth. When they dropped us, I knocked it out again. We’ve done lots of supports in arena style tours with big bands, and festivals et cetera. I do love having a big crowd, but these days we go for sit-down candlelit shows. It's supposed to be like going to the cinema. Away from the intimate gigs, have you ever considered doing an epic opera? You know, like R. Kelly’s rap opera: ‘Trapped in the Closet’… You could have midgets, gun scenes, and crack-whores!!! I’ve actually got a mini opera going. It’s a trilogy of songs; my version of the Requiem. It’s gonna be on the next record… Our drummer is a midget, our keyboardist is a crack-whore, our bass player shoots from the hip, and I could beat R. Kelly in a ‘rap off’ any day. Using your reputation to send out political, sociological, or economical messages to the neuro-transmitters of the masses - like Bono, Sting, and Thom Yorke are doing; where do you stand on that? Our statement is basically: Life can be terribly unjust, but there are moments of wonder out there, and some people actually think about things other than shoes and what’s for dinner. You kicked-off the free albums and downloads boom, with bands like Radiohead following suit. How do you feel about the doubters, those that say that FREE downloads are killing the industry? I'm still in two minds about it. My personal reaction to someone giving away something for free is that it must be terrible, and I think that applies to a lot of people… It seems to be an unstoppable force and everyone just downloads illegally anyway, no matter what, so that’s that. You have to make money in other ways now. But what does it mean for the future of music? Do you think the CD will continue to thrive, or will it go away before having an eventual resurgence like the Vinyl? Or will it just die a death like the Tape? I’m not sure about the future of music; that died with Dusty Springfield… The CD is doomed, as are the people who use it to fund their livelihoods. The dole will always be there to shelter us, it’s just [that] I missed the last five weeks and the fuckers cut it off. It’s all about being cool, which isn't much fun. Finally, if you were to do a fucking Bono on us, or go all Sting on Planet Notion’s red raw arse, what words of wisdom would you have for our readers? Fill your body with anything which helps you forget it’s a body in the first place. Wise words, Davey, wise words… The Crimea’s new single, 48a Waiting Steps, is available on free download through 7Digital . For a free download of The Crimea album, Secrets of the Witching Hour, visit The Crimea’s website .

tags: | the crimea | the crimea 48a waiting steps | 48a waiting steps | davey macmanus | more...

Dangerous Dave interviews Jay Reatard!

Dangerous Dave interviews Jay Reatard!

The Proud Gallery, Camden, is an unusual setting to be interviewing the saviour of the Memphis punk-rock scene, Jay Reatard. One of the more stylish venues in Camden, the crowd verge on semi-alternative and smart casual, giving an impression that they’re either pretentious creatives or attach themselves to a “hip-crowd” like leeches on a day-trip to Baker Beach. One certainly feels out of place with unkempt hair, armpits rising damp and a gut full to the brim with a days steady drinking. No doubt Jay Reatard feels a similar sense of bewilderment; the venue’s hardly jam-packed full of punters and those that are here strictly to see Jay could be counted on one finger. But when Reatard takes to the stage, his brown wavy mane, bassist Billy Hayes’ afroesque (sic) fuzz, and drummer Stephen Popes’ long blonde locks - teetering on the realm of surreal and sublime, even the ne’er-do-wells stand-up and take notice. The performance is a 100-mph punk-rock ride on a schizophrenic LSD wig-out; riding a beast of a chopper down the M25 in the early hours of Sunday morn. Blood Visions, a relatively unknown LP that remains one of the most original of the past year, has given Jay Reatard a lot to live up to. Not only does his performance fail to disappoint, particularly astounding given the venue, but the blend of paranoid punk-rock, 80s post-punk, and a pinch of new wave, far outreaches expectation. Having seen a clip of Jay knocking out a stage-invader with a vicious right-hook and having read countless reports of the multi-instrumentalist’s sporadic temper, I was expecting Jay to be a bit of a loose cannon; Anton Newcombe all over again… Perhaps it was the Vodka-and-Tonic I bought him or the countless beer stains down my top, but I like to think it’s because Jay’s a jolly nice chap that all preconceptions were thrown out the window with a resounding BANG! It’s been said that you had a turbulent home-life when you were younger, and that your problems led to you turning to music and leaving school at fifteen. Would you say that you used music as a form of escapism from your problems? I suppose; I mean, I think all art is some form of escapism. Mostly just from boredom man, you know? I didn’t really like… I stopped going to school, so, when you’re fifteen, you know, the majority of people you’re going to meet are going to be at school and there’s not really a lot of places where you can be social with fifteen year-olds outside of school. So it was purely out of boredom; I hadn’t really… I wasn’t around anyone so I kind of just created my own group of friends out of my four-track. You know, I was like: ‘Oh, okay, I can play guitar and drums’ , and it was like interacting with another person, you know, just over-dubbing; and then once I realised I had a four-track and I could do the guitar and the bass, it was like… It was just an escape from boredom man, I had nothing else to do… I think there’s a lesson to be learned there for kids of today. Turning their misdemeanours and all the hate into something far more beneficial… Sure. I mean like, around that age, I was doing the same thing. I was doing petty crimes and going to jail for fighting and stuff; but I knew there was probably - it sounds like a close shave, but definitely something better to put all the negative energy into. And I figured that if music and punk-rock could kind of inspire me, than why not do something while you’re, you know, pissed-off, rather than sitting around like some jerk who’s angry at the world? So would you say that punk-rock was more of an inspiration to you than the Memphis music scene you grew up with? Well, you know, Memphis as a city has always inspired me more than the music. I mean, I’ve only ever… The last ten or fifteen years, I’ve only really enjoyed a few bands from Memphis. It’s more like the city, it just kind of… There’s this kind of ominous negativity that always exists there. It’s quite a violent place that teaches you how to hold your outlook on life. I mean, most the people there are pretty friendly, but it’s definitely more the city that’s inspired me than the music itself. But Stephen (Pope) and Billy (Hayes) (Jay’slive Bassist and Drummer) are from The Barbaras who came out of the Memphis scene. You must have had respect for their music to bring those guys in? Yeah, I thought they were doing cool stuff, you know, and they were young; they didn’t have anything tying them down, and it just seemed like a good situation for all of us. Like, they can help me by giving me a band to play with live, and I can help them by getting more people into their music as well. I think it’s just the perfect relationship… Sure, that's the impression I get. So does the Memphis music scene have quite a close community? Well, you know, it’s tiny, it’s small and it’s very accentual. It’s the same group at any given time; the same fifteen people all playing in service bands. I suppose it’s just like anywhere else where there aren’t a whole lot of people. I mean, Memphis is a pretty small town - it’s like 800,000 people… Maybe. So, it’s not so much that there’s a scene, it’s just a small group of people that try and get along well enough to collaborate together. There’s no certain movement or anything, it’s just very slow; and people are really - most people are pretty uninspired. Most people are pretty non-ambitious, they just wanna kind of sit around and play some local gigs at their local pubs and then work their jobs, you know? There aren’t a lot of people who want to work a seventy-four hour life just to get a pay-check and a place to sleep, you know? Yeah, definitely man, I‘m the same. So how does the Memphis scene compare to other areas nearby, like Nashville for example; somewhere that produces shed loads of music? Nashville ’s like a really music industry town… It’s just like, you know… Nashville’s like Country music that’s all mass-produced, it’s a pretty soulless place, you know? It’s not very interesting. It’s fun though. I get the impression that heart and soul in American music comes from growing-up in the smaller towns and suburbs. The Black Lips recently told me that growing up on the outskirts of Atlanta helped them create better music… Sure, absolutely - I mean they’re from Atlanta , so that’s a pretty big fucking city; it’s like five-million people. But you know, Memphis definitely - I’ve always felt like I could create things without anyone really paying much mind and that’s always something that… I think if you try to do something with people looking over your shoulder or people anticipating what your next move is, then you become a little bit subconscious. Now I kind of get that feeling that people are watching my every move because I’m on a bigger label and - I’m never at home anyway, so I’ve gotta figure out a new process, because the old one doesn’t work anymore… (laughs) What about the transition to solo artist, because you’ve played in a lot of bands; The Reatards and Lost Sounds… You produce your own solo material as well. How have you found going from working in bands to putting all your energy into solo work? It was pretty natural because in the Lost Sounds we gave it our all; everyone tried their hardest. I mean, our goal with that band wasn’t really to be a band that fully collaborated with each other; our goal in that band was to try as hard as possible and things didn’t really work out. We tried it for six years and… I like the records we made and I’m proud to have worked on them, but I guess everyone’s a little disappointed about some people in the band wanting a little bit more - a little higher success than we did. So, you know, we figured it was best to go our ways and - I was so bummed in being with a band at that point; it’s kind of like dating a girl for six years and you break-up, you probably wouldn’t wanna jump straight back into another relationship. So I was very apprehensive, and I took a year off from even playing music and… The next thing just seemed like: ‘Okay, I can’t stomach the idea of being in a band right now, so I’ll start making stuff myself…’ Sure man, I like that. Good answer. But what about the music, how would you describe it? It seems to be heavily influenced by punk, but there’s also a touch of New Wave about it - especially on the final track (Waiting for Something)… Well, you know… It’s essentially punk-rock music in spirit; but from song to song, you know, I definitely don’t try to stick to a strict hole or anything. But I would say it’s… It’s the sound of nervousness. It’s kind of like really nervous punk-rock music and you know, I was a kid who grew-up and was born in the 1980s, so of course it’s going to have a lot early 80s’ influence or something. It’s a good sound to hear. But it’s just punk-rock music as far as I’m concerned man; in my humble opinion it’s just punk-rock. So you were heavily influenced by punk bands of the late 70s? Yeah, I mean the solo stuff has been more inspired by, like… I never really listened to a huge deal of punk until a few years ago. I kind of just wrote it off as shit; and then recently I’ve started listening to The Adverts and bands like that. I guess the solo stuff’s been more influenced by English music, I suppose. Does the inspiration for your lyrics stem from your sub-conscious; are your songs completely made-up; or are they autobiographical in some way - which is the impression I get from songs like My Family ? No. Every lyric I write I try to like, take an aspect of my personality and exaggerate it so that it becomes a bit more interesting, or more severe, or over-the-top. I mean, if I’m writing a song that’s about a guy stalking a girl and killing her at the end of the song, it’s nothing that I would ever do in reality but, you know, maybe it’s a passing thought that went through my brain that I really fucking want to kill that person. So I write a song about it. Shit man, that’s some heavy shit. Good though. What about the recording process; would you say that you prefer performing - the experience and reaction of a live audience - to producing and recording your music? I definitely prefer recording because music’s a pretty personal thing to me; it’s like, something that I like to do alone. It’s like this weird thing where I spend hours in my bedroom working on these songs alone, and then I figure out that: ‘ Oh, I might have to perform them in front of a few-hundred people, or whatever, and play them.’ So, you know, I honestly prefer recording; it’s more of a creative thing. But as far as like, the charge I get from playing live, they’re two different things, you know? I… Playing somewhere like this though; I guess it’s not ideal… (let‘s just say that the majority of the audience rank among the upper echelon of smart-casual; hardly the finest fodder for fast-paced punk-rock) Kind of not ideal but, you know, sometimes I like being thrown to the tigers. I kind of like the complication of playing to people who are unsuspecting, you know? The kind of look on their faces, and how disgusted they are sometimes, makes me realise I’m doing exactly what I was meant to do. There was that incident at the Silver Dollar where a guy climbed on stage mid-performance; you pulled him back and punched him in the face. Do you get pissed off with fans that try and disrupt your performances? Well, you know, I used to - when I was a teenager; I was in bands that were kind of like… It’s so depressing for all these people to say: ‘Jay was in these crazy bands’. I mean I was a kid, so like, when I was eighteen I didn’t think I had a future; so I didn’t mind like, having my shit broken, or having something thrown in my face, or cutting myself up or whatever - because I didn’t think I was gonna be 28 anyway… If I’m gonna be hit it’s apparent I’m not writing a tight tune - probably. I just feel pretty misunderstood by some of these people; they expect me to act like I acted ten years ago or something, but people grow-up man, you know? People say: ‘You’re losing your edge’ and all this stuff; but it’s fucking growing up just like anyone else. You can’t keep doing that shit forever; and there’s nothing more depressing than a forty year-old man who likes to get on stage and, you know, throw shit at people and roll around in broken glass or something. It’s like, I don’t wanna be Iggy Pop. Sure, definitely man. I mean, when I interviewed The Black Lips I got the impression that they’d matured somewhat; that the music is more important to them than pissing about… Now their audience acts that way! Yeah, exactly. So would you say that’s fairly accurate; that you’ve matured as an artist? Yeah, I mean, you know… It’s just this thing where it’s like… Some people just come to the show and they come to Black Lips shows, and they’re like: ‘If you guys aren’t going to create violence, we’re going to create it.’ Fuck ‘em! It’s irritating, you know - it’s silly! I think, yeah, most of those bands - we were young and we did stupid shit, pissed in our mouths and all this stupid stuff - but now we’re in our twenties and we write songs. What about moving to Matador Records… How big has the change been for you; from being signed to smaller labels and then signing for a major company? Essentially I can afford to make any record I want now, so that’s a change. But I’m gonna do things exactly the same way; there’s no reason to change just because you get a big budget to change things… Yeah, you know - it’s good; it just allows me to relax a little bit and not have to worry that I’m gonna be like, old and broke and homeless. And, you know, I think they’ll be able to get a lot more people exposed to what I’m doing, as opposed to some of the tinier labels I was working with; which all did good jobs with what they had to work with, but… You know, Matador, as far as internationally and what not, I think they’ll help us maybe get away from just playing to Indie people and those close-minded punk-rockers they mix with. My goal has always been to play music to like, your common person. The album, Blood Visions, has had some excellent write-ups - it’s been received really well. Are you surprised by how successful it’s been? Sure, I mean, you know - it’s doing alright. I thought it would just be another record; it’s like the eighteenth full-length record I’ve made. So yeah, I think that if you’ve made eighteen of anything, and then the eighteenth thing that you’ve made is the only thing that people pay attention to, it can be a bit confusing. It’s like: ‘Well, hey, I did all this other stuff, what was wrong with that?’ It can definitely fuck with your mind a little bit, but, you know - it’s good . I kind of feel like Blood Visions - the idea behind the record, was to take every band I’ve been in, and take the one thing I liked about the band and put them altogether into one big like… One good idea; one big focus of ideas. Some of the other bands I picked and watered down, I wanted to strip everything away that I hated about all these bands and just combine them all [into something better]. Some artists are talented but lack the passion and drive to carry on with their music once they start making the money. Do you see music merely as a career path or do you have a genuine passion for it? I mean, obviously I see it more as a passion or… Until recently I haven’t really… I’ve always made a living out of music but the quality of life is - I guess its called living what you’d call living; but people wouldn’t call what I’ve been doing living too well. But until recently it hadn’t really paid off and now I’m comfortable for a while and I don’t have to worry about it. But, you know, I’m making it so that the way I’m making records I wouldn’t have to tour if I didn’t want to. I mean, coming and carrying the gear up this fucking cobblestone road and going to all this trouble, of course it has to be a passion otherwise I’d just give up on it, you know? Words: Dave Dryden NOTES: The Blood Visions LP is available to buy on on 'In The Red Records'. Matador Records will be releasing six Jay Reatard singles, on limited edition vinyl, by the end of 2008, and a singles collection album. A follow-up to Blood Visions is due for release in early 2009.

tags: | jay reatard | blood visions | stephen pope | billy hayes | silver dollar | memphis | more...

Cassius discuss their Nike+ workout project!

Cassius discuss their Nike+ workout project!

Following in the footsteps of Crystal Method, Aesop Rock, and LCD Soundsystem, French house/electronica duo Cassius have recorded the latest Nike+ Original Sport Music track. In collaboration with the sporting brand, Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass took on the challenge of recording a 45-minute continuous downloadable track with the specific goal for people to workout to. Zdar and Boom Bass, real-names Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, are two of the most highly respected producers to come out of the French electronic scene. Collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan, Leroy Burgess, Jocelyn Brown and Ghostface Killah, as well as production for hip hop artist MC Solaar and electo-pop/dance trio Cut Copy, are just a few examples of the pair’s credentials. The Cassius duo are also renowned as perfectionists of their art, their attention to detail highlighted in the fact that single tracks alone have taken them years to finalise. These are just a few reasons why, when discussing the Nike+ 'CASSIUSPLAY' track with the duo, Boom Bass is quick to point out that Nike approached them as first option for the project . The limited time given to record CASSIUSPLAY, and the structure of a seven-minute warm-up period, a thirty-minute workout, and a seven-minute cool down, created quite a challenge for the band. Furthermore, both Zdar and Boom Bass set themselves the added objective of recording a piece that wouldn’t just appeal to runners, but their long-established fanbase too. “It was challenging because it was new to us,” commented Zdar. “We had the guide that it was for runners, and so you need a ten minute slow-track at the start and a ten minute slow-track at the end. But the biggest challenge for us was to do it not just for runners, but also for Cassius fans that prefer to their running on the dancefloor.” Whereas previous exponents of the Nike+ series have recorded the track as a single-entity, Cassius decided to combine a number of individual tracks and meld them together to create the flow necessary for a continuous workout. “We had a lot of tracks and a lot of ideas,” explains Boom Bass, “we didn’t want to do just one track. So we tried a lot of things, put a lot of things together, and ran to them to see how they worked.” Of course, that’s all very well and good, but what are the components necessary for a project as specific as a workout track? “In fact, that’s what we asked ourselves,” laughs Zdar. “We realised by asking friends and by checking what each of us listen to whilst working out. When I was running I was running with a walkman, listening to The Clash, and then I’d have forty-five minutes of mainly disco, disc-funk, and Italo-disco. We realised that you can run to anything.” Boom Bass is quick to agree. “There are no rules,” he adds with a smile. Trying out the warm-up section, the workout section, and the cool down period firsthand, was an essential element of perfecting the track. “At the start we said let’s do everything really fast,” recalls Zdar. “And then we tried it and said ‘Oh, it’s too purposey [sic]’, so we turned-down some beats and took-out some kicks. “Then we made a little beat with some reggae, tried it, and it worked. It didn’t take me off the running, so I knew it was going to work. Some people might say ‘I can’t work with this because it’s changing too much.’ Whatever, I don’t know. But with me, if I’m running I like the music to change every few minutes.” This approach will come as no surprise to those familiar with Cassius’ sound. The pair have dabbled in a range of genres; blending rock and blues with their synonymous house and electro sound is just one example of their limitless scope. As a result, the final 45-minute-track offers a diverse blend of influences. The opening seven-minute warm-up, the reggae section that Zdar refers to, was a particular highlight of the recording process. “The first song we knew would be perfect, the one with the reggae,” Zdar beams. “We had it finished maybe two months before Nike called us and we knew: ‘This one’s going to be perfect for the starting warm-up!’” Despite having the opening section already at their disposal, Zdar points out that it still presented a problem in context with their goal. “The problem was that it was twenty-five minutes and we knew we’d have to make it nine; otherwise it’s building very slow and then going nowhere.” Something far from ideal when the warm-up period’s over and you’re waiting for a 30-minute intense workout to kick-in. As for the ten-minute cool down period, this was another section that Zdar instantly fell for whilst experimenting with their objective. “I remember I was walking to the beat - ‘dmm, dmm, dmm’ - after listening to it; and I said ‘this is just too perfect for the last track!’ You can just cool down to it; get home, sit down and say ‘Ah, I just ran like a man!’” Zdar and Boom Bass, who both contribute vocals alongside French artiste Gladys, also decided to include the theme of running in their lyrics, an approach in stark contrast to bands that have collaborated with Nike+ in the past. Gladys is no stranger to the Cassius set-up; as well as being Boom Bass’ wife, she has collaborated with the duo on a number of occasions and, according to the pair, will soon be a long-term addition to the band. “She’s been singing with us for some time and now she’s really part of Cassius,” Zdar explains. “She has two sections of the track where she sings; I have one and he [Boom Bass] has one. We’re a team with Gladys; we write fantastic melodies, we write lyrics… I think the next album will be very good because there’s going to be the three of us as a vocal group.” CASSIUSPLAY is available for download via i-Tunes. For further information visit the Nike+ website: www.nikeplus.com

tags: | cassius | philippe zdar | boom bass | cassiusplay | nike | nike+ | philippe cerboneschi | more...

Andy Cato talks Café Mambo 2008!

Andy Cato talks Café Mambo 2008!

Andy Cato, perhaps better known as one half of Groove Armada, couldn’t be a better choice to take charge of Café Mambo 2008, the first in the illustrious series without resident Pete Gooding at the helm. The two-disc CD boasts such names as LCD Soundsystem, Finley Quaye, J.J Cale, Band of Flys, Weekend Players, The Brian Jonestown Massacre (it’s true), Groove Armada and, of course, Andy Cato. Here Andy gives us a personal perspective of his choices of eclectic and Balearic beats inspired by the sunsets of and culture of Ibiza. What does it feel like to be doing a solo project? Pretty natural. Whilst Tom and I sometimes team up on the turntables, a lot of DJing is done solo. Why did you decide to move to Barcelona? Do you miss anything about England? Mountains, sea, weather, food, those small cold beers, a social way of life. I miss mates, family, and sitting inside when it's raining with a cup of tea. What was life like before you formed Groove Armada? I can't really remember. In the last ten years, we've played live to more than 6 million people around the world, put together 8 albums of different types, DJ'd in most clubs you can think of and checked out every after party we could find. I've lived on boats and in 3 different countries and worked in studios all over the world. So what happened before all that is a bit of a blur. I lived in Brixton, and things were going pretty well with another band until the van got stolen with all the gear in it. What’s you relationship with the magical island of Ibiza? Explain a little about what it means to you. As of this year, I've been going there for 20 years. The first time I went there, it was only because it was the cheapest holiday I could find. It was an18-30 thing, though I'm not sure how that worked as I was 15 at the time. I spent my time in the West End of San An. It was a time when lads went out in crisp shirts and I remember a girl getting her iron back from some boys across the way and shouting down the hotel corridor " the f`***ers pissed in me iron ". Since then, it's got better. It's become a second home, with friends all over the island. There's nowhere else I've found that has so much variety of life and beautiful things in a such a small space. It's a special place too - as people have latched onto [it] since the dawn of time. Did you know, for example, that the soil on ibiza can't support any plant or animal which is dangerous to mankind? Things are going on over there... We know its paradise in Ibiza, so tell me what your average day in paradise is… what’s your Ibiza routine? Depends on the night before. If it's daylight when I get to bed, then the routine is a few hours sleep during the really hot bit, before heading off to somewhere like Es Torrent for the afternoon. A cold beer or two, fresh fish, some Rosé, and bit of hierbas always gets things back on track. Then across to Mambo to DJ or listen to [music] and watch the sunset. After that and a brush up, it's off into Ibiza port to see mates at The Rock or Match bar. I'll probably pop in on Duji's bar too - a tiny treasure in the backstreets. After that, it's off into the night. This usually involves a club or two, a lot of dirt tracks followed by a villa party, and a bit of walking about in the morning sun trying to get home. Ibiza is a crazy place if you want it to be – can you give me an experience you have had that you would not be able to have had anywhere else? Where else can a typical night involve eating a barbeque cooked up by a local fisherman, seeing one of the world's finest sunsets, DJing at one of the world's best clubs, and ending up dancing in a villa with Kylie and Sienna? You’re used to playing at stadiums across the worlds, does that mean that small parties are very rare for you now? They are, although whenever possible, we'll do free parties, boat parties or beach parties to keep that side of things alive. How did you get involved with Mambo? I don't remember how I met Xavier (the boss) and his sons. Probably going down there with my mate Simeon and Djing for Pete Tong's radio one broadcasts. Anyway, they're family now and their spirit is what makes the place special. Why are you so fascinated by chillout music? I'm not. Most of my DJing happens at 3 in the morning on the worlds biggest dancefloors. What I love is the power music has to transform an experience - to make it really special. This applies to sunsets or peaktime dancefloors. What’s it like to play sunset at Mambo? Imagine being with your best mates, playing your favourite tunes, with a cold beer and one of the world's finest views. The term Balearic gets banded about everywhere these days, but what does Balearic music mean to you? When I go out to DJ in Ibiza, the record box will have a massive anthem alongside Chris Rea, or an up to the minute Beatport obscurity alongside dubs of Findlay Quaye. House tunes spanning twenty years. That's what it means to me. What was your plan with the Mambo compilation, how did you put it together and what tracks are the highlights? I wanted to capture the magic of the place - that last hour when the sun falls into the sea, and the first hour after, when the night begins. That's why I needed two CDs. The sunset hour features that Balearic blend that takes in JJ Cale and Coldcut, LCD or Jose Gonzalez, alongside classics that a lot of people might not have heard - Morgan King for example. Getting these things to flow takes work, and it's something that I've had a lot of practice at in the Mambo hotseat. CD2 is that kind of locked in groove which lets you move through the decades, the ups and the downs without losing that hypnotising house music core. I could keep this going all night long. Do any of the tracks included in your mix trigger any particular Ibizan memories for you? Were you there at the beginning? Well I was there in '88, which is nearer the beginning than most. Tunes like Last Rhythm take me back to big moments on the old Terrace with the plane so close to your head you could touch the wheels. Can you see yourself spending a lot of time in Ibiza when you are old and grey? I can't ever imagine not spending time there. There's nowhere better to be old and grey. Are there any up and coming acts or DJ’s you can give us a heads up on? Well, joining us at our Fridays in the new Lovebox room at Eden are the like of Brodinski & Yuksek , Herve, 8 Bit Boy, Mok and Toof, Rub and Tug, Horsemeat Disco... Words: Toni Tambourine Check out the album here: http://clients.ihouseu.com/defected/mambo/

tags: | andy cato | cafe mambo 2008 | groove armada | lcd soundsystem | fiinley quaye | j.j cale | more...

When Dangerous Dave met The Black Lips

When Dangerous Dave met The Black Lips

Alas, the pen is a dangerous tool; a tool with great ability - and not just if jabbed into the retina with such force that pus spews forth, like liquid from the tested needle of a junky. No, the pen has the ability to produce information for us to see and learn, albeit without an ink-stamped Guarantee. Ah, how one takes the pen’s work as a given, eyes scanning data like a puppy-dog drooling beneath a dinner table - ever eager to sink it’s teeth into yet another juicy scrap of meat. Mmm... Many stories have been written about self-professed ‘Flower Punk’ (“we came up with that to stop the media trying to label us”) Atlanta four-piece The Black Lips, and yes, a lot of it is probably true. The pissing on stage, the vomiting, the nudity and male on male bonding RE: a tongue jammed down the throat, cannot be disputed. Nor their mad-cap live album Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo shot in location in Tijuana, Mexico, where money buys momentary peace from the authorities, drug wars are rife and pimps, prostitutes and thieves walk the streets and seedy back-alleys like wolves on a midnight prowl. Ah, the pen can reveal such exciting truths; but it can also distort the subconscious of the reader. Sometimes one has to dig deeper, like a dog with a bone, to reveal the changing of the guard or the facts behind the facts. In this interview The Black Lips reveal that how they're perceived may be true, but there's far more to them than mere debauchery. They're a band with the same energy live on stage that they showed when pissing in each others mouths, and they still evidently have fond memories of the hedonistic Tijuana but… well, they've matured somewhat. The Black Lips history, their struggle to get signed to a major label and the hard rigours that led to its eventuality, have given them a deeper respect for their music - all too apparent on their last album Good Bad Not Evil. A modern masterpiece; no doubt. Alas, this isn’t merely an interview with bass-guitarist Jared Swilley and drummer Joe Bradley, it’s a morality tale in the vein of: “If at first you don’t succeed, keep fucking trying”… PN: Okay lads, we’ll start with the new single, Bad Kids; I heard through the grapevine that it was inspired by your time in detention centres. Any truth to this or was it inspired by something else? Jared: I think just for getting in trouble as kids - just crap, a lot of vandalism. I mean, I actually had to go to a detention centre but it’s not actually about being in a detention centre. We all hung out together in school and destroyed a lot of things; got drunk a lot. We did pretty good… Well, I guess I didn’t do so good in the end because I got caught, but we had a good run. I’d had a bad week, I got kicked out of school and got arrested a couple of times. PN: What about the other track, Leroy Faster, is it based on any experiences or… Jared: I think its just nonsense that song… Joe: Might be about a crack head who got hold of the wrong stuff. Jared: Yeah I think it’s about a crack head. Joe: There’s a lot of crack in Atlanta. Lots of crack heads too. PN: So what was it like growing up in Atlanta, other than there being shit loads of crack heads; was growing up there an inspiration to your music? Jared: Well we grew-up in a little suburb, so I’d imagine growing up in the city would have been a lot different. I enjoyed where we grew-up because there was a lot of like-minded kids… Joe: Locked up for break… Jared: I think it was maybe an inspiration to our music - cos there was just nothing else to do. I think bands from the suburbs tend to make better music than kids that grew-up in the cities. PN: Your live shows have gained notoriety for being debauched affairs, pissing in each others mouths and the like. When did you first start causing such onstage madness and what inspired you to start doing it? Jared: That was in the very early days when we were still teenagers - like a lot of that stuff doesn’t happen anymore. I mean the shows are still crazy and energetic but mostly it was just, um, being immature and not knowing how to play our instruments - I think that was it. PN: So would you say that you’ve done a lot of growing up? That you’ve matured as band? Joe: A little bit, yeah, well we would hope so… Jared: Not too much! But, um, I don’t know why we did that stuff. I think it was, you know, punk-rock - that’s what you’re supposed to do, so… We were really into The Germs and stuff like that and they were a big influence. We still have the energy we’re just not as dopey anymore. We didn’t want the antics to get in the way of the music. PN: ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ is an extremely diverse album - the way a lot of The Stones albums were in the 60s… Joe: You don’t want to constrict yourself to one type of music; you really disable your career with your ability to evolve as a band. Plus, you get bored if you play the same music all the time - it gets really boring, so we always like to explore new things. Jared: We have a lot of different influences and stuff so they all kind of creep up along the line, you know? PN: Sure… Okay, what’s the story behind the live chicken on stage (Siren Festival), was that some kind of fucked up voodoo ritual or… Jared: (laughs) It was mostly just because… Sometimes at festivals it’s hard to, you know - you’re like a tiny speck to most people, so we got our friend to build this air canon. And it was mostly just an excuse to shoot out tons and tons of feathers but it was supposed to look like we’d put a chicken in a canon and exploded it. The chicken was fine, we used food stamps to buy it at a Puerto-Rican market. The chicken was fine. We set it free in McGolrick Park in Brooklyn; someone probably killed it and ate it. It was just a pretty cool thing to have tons of feathers, like - snowing down! It looked pretty cool. PN: What about Tijuana in Mexico (The Black Lips recorded live album Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo there), that must have been a pretty cool, debauched affair. What was it like playing there and what sort of things did you get up to? Joe: It was cool because, like - over half of the audience were - like, Mexican kids; and we played with this awesome band who came down there. It was a really dangerous place; you had to worry about the people as well as the police - probably the police more. Jared: The police are the most dangerous thing. It’s not such a great place to play shows; we had a good show just because the circumstances were right, but it can go really wrong down there as far as getting robbed or - getting arrested is the worst because they’ll arrest you for anything. We gave everyone eighty bucks in cash when we went down because that’s the going rate for a bribe. PN: Shit. That sounds like Columbia! Jared: Well, just a couple of days ago there was a battle on the street - the street we played on down there - like a big gun battle between local drug gangs. Like, all down the street there was a high-speed chase with people shooting from car to car and, like - thirteen people died. It was pretty hairy down there. The drug wars are getting bad along the border. We had a couple of things stolen and our tour manager got shaken down for eight-hundred bucks, but that’s kind of mild compared to what could have happened. You get stopped a lot - you’d be insane to take your car there; actually some people did but you had to pay someone to guard it - a lot! But we walked over there and on the way back I got stopped, like - three of four separate times. They’ll take everything out of your pockets, take your money, smell your fingers to see if you’ve been smoking joints. When you walk down the streets they’re selling prostitutes and they’ve got, like - sticks in their hands and they jab you in the side… Joe: Like that (makes jabbing motions) ‘CH-CH-CH-CH’ when you walk by… Jared: And we tried to take a picture of them right then and they started blowing all these whistles and waving flags and stuff, and all the prostitutes ran inside and all these guys were blowing whistles to try and distract you. PN: I guess you didn’t have a lot of luck with the Tijuana women then? Jared: No… Joe: You really don’t want to… Jared: It’s pretty much the most hedonistic city. It’s kind of cool that it’s still there because, I mean, San Diego’s just like an affluent Californian, Southern City town, and within a two minute walk you go straight into dirt-ball country. It’s kind of creepy to see middle-aged white men walking round alone there because you know they’re doing horrible things. It’s like a poor mans South-East Asia, I guess… for Americans. PN: So when did you first develop an interest in music? Was there a standout moment of clarity when you realised ‘this is what I want to do?’ Joe: My Mum was real musical in the church so she got me into the choir and shit when I was like, five… Jared: I was kind of the same. My Dad was a musician and I sang in church when I was a kid. But it was mostly, you know - your Beatles and stuff? And knowing about punk bands when I was real small I kind of wanted to be in a band. It was like skateboarding sure got me into it a lot because I’d skate with older kids and they got me into ‘Black Flag’ and stuff like that so… I mean, I really loved punk-rock and ‘Black Flag’ and stuff, but I was really into The Beatles and The Stones so it’s kind of a merger… PN: If I hadn’t been a journalist I’d probably still be working fruit and veg in a supermarket. What would you have done if you hadn’t done music? Joe: Engineering. Jared: I’d probably be either a garbage man or in the army. PN: Back to the live stuff, do you have any pre-stage rituals, touching a cross or going for a massive shit, or do you just get pissed before you head on stage? Joe: We slap our faces and warm-up our voices. Jared: I like to take a shot of whiskey. But we don’t really have any - I don’t know… Some bands pray. Joe: Yeah, or huddle and touch each-others butts. We’re not into that; we just go out there and do it. PN: Some writers, particularly the likes of Ginsberg and Hunter S. Thompson, have been described as outlaw writers. Some people might describe your music as outlaw music, would you agree with that? Jared: I’d agree with that mentality as far as there are a lot of bands around who are cowardly and safe and I don’t think anything artistic should be safe at all. Joe: People conform to too many norms… Normally. Jared: I don’t know - not doing what everyone else is doing and not being afraid to take risks. Joe: Not being a pussy… Jared: Yeah not being a vagina about having to be on the road all the time. Joe: Too many people are waiting for people to lead them in a certain direction and that’s just not the way you’re supposed to do things, you’ve got to find your own way. Jared: Yeah, I get real bent out of shape about a lot of these bands – they put a song on MySpace and they’re huge and they’ve never struggled or had to do anything; it‘s just kind of happened… Joe: How are they supposed to appreciate all that they’ve had when they’ve done nothing to earn it? PN: Sure. I totally agree man. But those bands are mainstream, you know? Don’t you think the mainstream’s an important thing to break into? Joe: No, that’s not true. Jared: Yeah, I like the mainstream. I mean, like - The Beatles were the biggest band in the world but they put in their time in Hamburg and slogging it out in like strip-clubs and stuff like that, so I admire that. But I don’t admire stuff that - if you don’t work for stuff… There’s nothing wrong with being on a major label. You know, maybe if they’re really good they deserve it, but there’s something that bothers me about it. Joe: It’s not them doing the hard work it’s someone else paying someone else to do the hard work for them, and that’s just not something we admire. PN: I guess it makes you stronger as band to go through the shit-run to success, right? To have to slog it out… Jared: Yeah, I mean we had to deal with four years of homelessness and poverty. Joe: Eating out of trash cans and stuff like that… Jared: And more. It just recently got more comfortable. I mean recently we’ve been able to eat and stay in hotels and pay our rent and stuff like that. PN: Man, I guess at that stage you carried on going just for the love of the music? Joe: Yeah. Homeless shelters - I mean basically they were the only thing keeping us going. We didn’t have homes to go back to or like - food to go back to so the only thing we could do is find some way of like - getting to the next show and play it… Get closer to getting home. Sheer determination! Jared: Yeah, sheer determination. And I knew if I went home I’d just be washing dishes and stuff like that. A lot of people would have quit a long time ago. PN: And it’s paid off! I mean you were on the Conan O’Brian show for Christ sake. I read, and I don’t know whether it’s true, that when you were on the show there wasn’t a single crime committed in New York. Jared: (laughs) I never heard that before; that’s awesome. Joe: A ridiculous statistic. Jared: It’s slightly crazy. I think New York’s pretty tame now. It’s pretty safe there; it’s a lot safer in New York than anywhere else. PN: Do you think you have to have some form of rebellion to make good music… Joe: Not necessarily. It doesn’t hurt though. It usually comes down to, like, when things are bad the music’s good and when things are good the music’s bad. Like when Bill Clinton was president, like, that’s when we had all the Backstreet Boys and N-Sync and all that crap; and then when things started going bad, you know, the music got better. Not always at a constant, but that’s normally how it works. Jared: I definitely think that there needs to be some rebellion in good music. I mean, even straight-laced guys - the people who make straight-lace music that my parents like, are fucked-up… Buddy Holly was a total fuck-up! Joe: Yeah, but at the same time in the 80s you had the Yuppie culture come in and that was a rebellion to everything before, like it goes both ways, you know? But you definitely need some kind of something. PN: Okay, so on the theme of rebellion, what about drugs and music? They were synonymous in the 60s - kind of went together hand in hand, to some extent. Do you think they can help with the song-writing process? Joe: It’s more about the perspective. Drugs change your perspective, you know… Jared: I think they could; I don’t necessarily think they have to. I think the only reason they’re synonymous with it is because the type of person who’s usually a musician has that kind of lifestyle – it’s what they’re around all the time. But, I mean - I’ve written good songs drunk before, so… But I think with some characters it probably helps them. I think some people with, like, predispositions to take drugs are probably pre-destined to do something like music or write or paint or something like that. Joe: Yeah, but doing drugs doesn’t necessarily always mean you’re gonna make good music. Jared: Yeah, I think cocaine makes really bad music. Joe: Yeah, unless you’re doing hip-hop. PN: What about the ‘Flower-Punk’ tag that you’ve been categorized into. Was it your idea for your music to be known as ‘Flower-Punk’ or was it a media creation? Joe: We came up with that to combat the media trying to put all types of labels on us. We got called, like, 'garage, rockabilly, punk' or something. They’d gone too far. They love to have a definition of some sort so we just came up with a definition of our own so people would stop keep trying to make up stuff. Jared: I think rock n roll’s a good enough description most of the time. But you know you don’t have to put a label on it, you don’t have to describe it. Some people do it better than others but we just kind of say it as a joke. I think there are probably other ‘Flower Punk’ bands out there now. PN: What about the track ‘How Do You Tell A Child That…’ [A thin guy in a scruffy suit two sizes too big - and a tasteless tie, probably early to mid forties, thin grey hair and a moustache like Graeme Souness circa 1980 - approaches the table with a look of lo-fi excitement strewn across his face] Guy: Are you guys playing tonight? Jared: No, no… Guy: Um, are you in a band? Jared: Yes… Guy: Um, and you’re Kula Shaker? Jared: Yeah… Guy: Come on - what’s the name of your band? Jared: The Black Lips. Guy: What? Jared: The Black Lips… Guy: Um, who? Jared: The Black Lips! Guy: The Black Lips ? Oh… Do you know Kula Shaker? Jared: No. Guy: Oh, well apparently… You know Drink Tea? Well Kula Shaker, um, they covered that. Yeah, Drink Tea, they did that. And, um, they… They had big ‘taches so I just thought… I just thought… PN: Yeah? Man, that’s great, but we’re kind of doing an interview here so… Guy: One of them, um, one of the really great songs had an Indian theme. Yes… Um, which is apparently something to do with King Arthur… [The guy walks over to the bar and takes a seat, smiling at us every now and again as he necks pint after pint after pint. He later asks a sexy blonde if he can take her photograph on his mobile phone - “You look like a model, are you a model” - to which she gives a look of genuine distain] PN: Right. The track ‘How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died’ from Good Bad Not Evil - was that in anyway based on the loss of Ben (Eberbaugh, original band member killed when a drink driver going the wrong way collided with the car he was driving)? Jared: Well, no, no. It’s just about the death of everyone really. I mean, I guess if you put it into… It was mostly an ode to these old trucker sounds - an old genre of country called trucker country; and it was just, like - ballads where they talk over the music. And all of them were like, so heart-retching and depressing but like, so comical. PN: I mean, the only reason I ask is because there’s a section of the song that refers to someone getting killed by a drunk driver ( The teacher you loved Mr. Peterson / Has sadly passed away / He was killed by a motorist in a drunken act of rage )… Jared: Oh yeah! I mean, Cole wrote that and I don’t know whether that was his intentions but we’ve told people that maybe it could be. But it’s just about… We had a load of friends that died, maybe that was… But it’s kind of like a tongue in cheek song. We like to mix black and white together so it’s supposed to be, like, kind of sad but funny at the same time. Joe: I mean it sounds kind of happy, but then the contents are like, really dark, you know? Kind of like black comedy. Black comedy meets white on white crime. PN: I guess not all of your tracks are related to reality then? So how do you come up with songs that come from the subconscious? What’s the song writing process? Joe: We’ll just write songs and then come together in the studio and just show ‘em to each other. Jared: I’ve just written a song. I had just a few minutes to write the lyrics while we were in the studio so I just went through ‘The Song of Solomon’ from the Old Testament and just picked up random sentences from that. I’ve used that ‘Might is Right’ book to pick out, like, brutal things from that. Joe: I’ve got one song I’m writing. I got some lyrics, some words, from a Conservative ‘Right Wing’ talk radio show host. He had some really good one-liners like: “The Violence in Europe is oozing like the pus from a broken scab.” That was a good one. You’ve got to get it where you can. PN: Woah! This morning I read a story about Uma Thurman getting stalked by a fan. Maybe he was a maniac, who knows? Have you had any weird letters, turds in the post, or fans that follow you about in a weird fucking way? Jared: We’ve got some creepy fans. We’ve got a lot of kids who follow us around. Most of them are nice - you know, they’re just not, like, creepy. But we’ve definitely had some people that creep me out that I avoid. If I know they’re gonna be there I’ll hide! Joe: Yeah, they creep you out, you know? You’ll be standing there, you’ll start to shiver, you feel a chill up and down your spine, you’ll turn around and the person’s just standing there. Just like that... Jared: It hasn’t been so much any more, but we used to have like, old men following us around. Lately it’s been nicer because it’s just like, teenage girls, and that’s harmless. I’ve had kids say things to me that scare me; we have these like, crazy teenage boys, and I was sort of like that at their age - but they say really depraved things and they think we’re crazy and stuff like that. That freaks me out. I don’t wanna like, make some kid shoot himself or do heroin and stuff. Some kid thanked me the other day - saying he dropped acid for the first time and he was saying like, “Thank you, I dropped acid for the first time because of you.” I don’t know how I feel about that… I don’t feel too good about that… PN: You can’t blame yourself for that shit though. So how do you chill-out away from all that crap – away from the music? Jared: When I’m at home I play tennis or I BBQ. Yeah - tennis and BBQ. I’m not as good as John McEnroe - I’m not as angry as John McEnroe. I wanna start playing golf more to; I think that’d be really relaxing. But we never have time at home; when I’m at home I’ll be working on other music projects. Joe: Yeah, that’s usually the way it is. I’ll do some yard work; it feels nice doing a bit of work on your yard. Jared: I take online Spanish classes but I’ve been really slacking on it... Joe: Normally when I get home I gotta clean up my house because my room mates are kind of messy. I like to get it nice and clean so I can relax. I’ve got three room mates, it’s the only way I can like, afford to be on tour. It’s a nice house but you’ve gotta find some ways to cut corners. Jared: I share an apartment with my girlfriend so we split it. PN: Any amusing stories from your recent tour? Jared: I’m trying to think of anything funny happening. The tour we just got back from was pretty uneventful as far as… PN: I guess that’s what you were saying about growing up a bit, right? Joe: Well normally on our tours we have more time but on these last European tours all our drives were like, eight or ten hours between shows; we tried to party but then we’d have to get up at like eight-thirty in the morning so we couldn’t really hang-out and have as many funny times as usual. PN: Finally, what about a new album, any plans or details you can reveal? Jared: Yeah, we’re taking the majority of the summer off to record a new album; we have to find out where we’re recording it though. PN: Any song ideas at the moment or any that you’ve already got? Jared: I think everyone has ideas. I kind of like it when it just kind of flies by and you go in there without really knowing what to do and… Joe: It keeps things fresh. If you play the same song over and over again and then try and record them you usually find that they’re normally pretty stale… Jared: The way we did our third album I really enjoyed - the one before, Good Bad Not Evil, because a lot of that was written that week. Like - we just came up with a lot of stuff right before it. And I don’t know about the rest of the guys but I tend to work better under pressure, like, when you have to do something. If I’m sitting around with a guitar all day and it’s like, “Oh, I have to write a song” then I probably won’t, but if it comes down to the wire then I’m better at doing that. Joe: I think everyone works better under pressure… Well not everyone. Highly strung people don’t work well under pressure. If you have a deadline to meet it depends on how determined you are. If you have determination then you’ll work harder and work better towards your goal. Words: Dangerous Dave! Photograph of Jared, Joe, and Dangerous courtesy of the Kula Shaker fanatic! Bad Kids is released on Vice Records on May 12th. Check out the Black Lips MySpace page!

tags: | the black lips | good ban not evil | los valientes del mundo nuevo | jared swilley | more...

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