November 22, 2006: http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2596&Itemid=2
For all my love of rock history, I surprise myself when I realize that I have never really investigated the Pixies beyond the major hits ("Cactus" and "Wave of Mutilation"). So, when the opportunity to review their first-ever DVD LoudQUIETloud: A film about the Pixies, I decided that this would be my proper entry point.
From this perspective, the film works.
It is a documentary about the grunge originators' reunion tour in 2004, with live footage from the various dates interspersed throughout. It is not a retrospective history of the band since only a little bit of information is provided about the band. Rather, directors Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin paint a picture of a highly influential band with middle-aged members who are still plagued by demons.
There are some moments reminiscent to Spinal Tap, such as drummer David Lovering's career as a magician prior to the reunion, but more tender focus is given to bassist Kim Deal's struggle to remain sober while on tour after years of alcohol abuse.
I did wish that the directors were less stingy with the concert footage, as spellbinding performances of songs like "Where Is My Mind?" and "Here Comes Your Man" are cut short to make way for more interviews. As a relative newcomer, this left me with the desire to run out and buy their albums, but I can imagine longtime fans getting irritated with the tactic.
That said, the footage of the band on tour is more interesting and revealing, with surprisingly candid insight into the group's continually troubled dynamic with each other and within themselves (accentuated by an original score by Daniel Lanois that attempts to elevate the film above the standard "concert film").
Deal's struggle with sobriety is a major focal point as she brings her sister (and Breeders bandmate) Kelley on the tour to keep her from drinking. By contrast, Lovering develops an addiction to tranquilizers while on tour and faces scrutiny from frontman Black Francis and lead guitarist Joey Santiago, both of whom became family men after the Pixies broke up.
The film leaves the viewer with a warm impression of the band that appears to consist of the most down-to-earth musicians to ever spawn a subgenre of such rebelliousness. A quote from Kurt Cobain precedes the film who notes that he was trying to rip off the Pixies when he was writing the seminal "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
There isn't a lot at stake in the film since the group reunited mostly for financial reasons and showed little sign of wanting to record new material.
"We don't talk very much. Not because we don't like each other, but because it's just the kind of people we are," said Francis as he summed up the band.
The film leaves the viewer with an honest depiction of a band and its implosive nature that still results in explosive music.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friendly Rich interview
Nov. 6, 2006: http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2450&Itemid=2
Not many musicians would come to a fan's house for lunch with his mother and her boyfriend for an after meal interview. But as Friendly Rich put it, "I like to put myself into uncomfortable situations."
This situation highlights only the tip of the iceberg in regards to the composer and frontman of the Toronto-based cavalcade of sound, The Lollipop People.
"Yeah, I even went to a Conservative party dinner once and ate with a bunch of Conservatives and faked that I gave a damn about their platform just to practice the art of, ( . . . ) I don't know, being with strangers and mixing," he reminisced.
Discussing his music after a healthy serving of perogies, Friendly Rich's affable demeanor befits his name. Rich is the alter-ego of Richard Marsella. Composer by trade, Marsella incorporates influences as disparate as The Residents (avant-garde music and visual arts group), Italian pop and classical music, into a theatrical amalgamation that comes together in his latest CD with his band, the ten-piece Lollipop People, titled The Friendly Rich Show. The album is a soundtrack to Marsella's variety-vaudeville show of the same name, for which he composed all the music, along with puppet shows, crank calls, Eucharists, fish jumping through hoops and a general plethora of the absurd, the divine and the uncomfortable.
Marsella has been releasing music since 1994 on his label, the Pumpkin Pie Corp., but it's only recently that his sound has started to become more refined.
"The six - or seven, I can't remember - releases that I did before were just me naked in my parents' basement, on my own, so I would be playing all the instruments. So it was very un-listenable," Marsella said.
Since then, he has recently completed a master's degree in music at the University of Toronto, which culminated in the release of We Need a New F-Word this year, the first proper full-length album from The Lollipop People, produced by former Blue Rodeo member Bob Wiseman.
Despite the success of The Lollipop People, Marsella's website states his main areas of study as "musical construction and parade pedagogy." The latter refers to the Parade of Noises that Marsella has organized for the last four years in which several hundred elementary school students march in a parade while playing instruments they made themselves. Marsella believes that this helps to creatively engage children in music without the experience being limited to strict musical theory.
"The thing I do in the schools is not teaching kids the recorder; it's breaking your recorder in half or lighting it on fire - that's how we approach it. So it's rebellion; it's kind of teaching the benefits of anarchy to people."
On top of all this, Marsella curates the Brampton Indie Arts Festival, an event that he created in 2000 and has featured acts as diverse as The Most Serene Republic. The festival is the brainchild of former York University student Istvan Kantor and showcases experimental films and art exhibits.
"It's making a four-day composition, putting one interesting act behind another, behind another. We try to make it really different, like there will be an experimental film, followed by a weird dance piece, and we try to make it multidisciplinary," Marsella explained.
This works in tandem with his career as a musical educator, which makes his friendly alter ego seem a bit of a double life.
"It's been a challenge career-wise because I do a lot of work in the schools, and I don't necessarily want my work with The Lollipop People to be compromised. We want to be able to have naked 70-year-olds go on stage and inflate their balls. But at the same time, if a parent of a grade four (child) that I work with sees that, then you're in doo-doo." The naked old man mentioned is Naked Marvin, one of the many recurring acts that makes The Friendly Rich Show such a disturbingly fun time.
The Lollipop People just released their latest batch of musical misanthropy and had their celebratory show at the Music Gallery on Oct. 28. From there, they will be performing every Saturday at the Cameron House (408 Queen St. W.) as a preview for the next album, set to be recorded in December.
"The last recording I did, we had performed the material a bunch of times live, and I loved the outcome of what happened after you work with something in front of people and allow the musicians time to experiment with it."
Not many musicians would come to a fan's house for lunch with his mother and her boyfriend for an after meal interview. But as Friendly Rich put it, "I like to put myself into uncomfortable situations."
This situation highlights only the tip of the iceberg in regards to the composer and frontman of the Toronto-based cavalcade of sound, The Lollipop People.
"Yeah, I even went to a Conservative party dinner once and ate with a bunch of Conservatives and faked that I gave a damn about their platform just to practice the art of, ( . . . ) I don't know, being with strangers and mixing," he reminisced.
Discussing his music after a healthy serving of perogies, Friendly Rich's affable demeanor befits his name. Rich is the alter-ego of Richard Marsella. Composer by trade, Marsella incorporates influences as disparate as The Residents (avant-garde music and visual arts group), Italian pop and classical music, into a theatrical amalgamation that comes together in his latest CD with his band, the ten-piece Lollipop People, titled The Friendly Rich Show. The album is a soundtrack to Marsella's variety-vaudeville show of the same name, for which he composed all the music, along with puppet shows, crank calls, Eucharists, fish jumping through hoops and a general plethora of the absurd, the divine and the uncomfortable.
Marsella has been releasing music since 1994 on his label, the Pumpkin Pie Corp., but it's only recently that his sound has started to become more refined.
"The six - or seven, I can't remember - releases that I did before were just me naked in my parents' basement, on my own, so I would be playing all the instruments. So it was very un-listenable," Marsella said.
Since then, he has recently completed a master's degree in music at the University of Toronto, which culminated in the release of We Need a New F-Word this year, the first proper full-length album from The Lollipop People, produced by former Blue Rodeo member Bob Wiseman.
Despite the success of The Lollipop People, Marsella's website states his main areas of study as "musical construction and parade pedagogy." The latter refers to the Parade of Noises that Marsella has organized for the last four years in which several hundred elementary school students march in a parade while playing instruments they made themselves. Marsella believes that this helps to creatively engage children in music without the experience being limited to strict musical theory.
"The thing I do in the schools is not teaching kids the recorder; it's breaking your recorder in half or lighting it on fire - that's how we approach it. So it's rebellion; it's kind of teaching the benefits of anarchy to people."
On top of all this, Marsella curates the Brampton Indie Arts Festival, an event that he created in 2000 and has featured acts as diverse as The Most Serene Republic. The festival is the brainchild of former York University student Istvan Kantor and showcases experimental films and art exhibits.
"It's making a four-day composition, putting one interesting act behind another, behind another. We try to make it really different, like there will be an experimental film, followed by a weird dance piece, and we try to make it multidisciplinary," Marsella explained.
This works in tandem with his career as a musical educator, which makes his friendly alter ego seem a bit of a double life.
"It's been a challenge career-wise because I do a lot of work in the schools, and I don't necessarily want my work with The Lollipop People to be compromised. We want to be able to have naked 70-year-olds go on stage and inflate their balls. But at the same time, if a parent of a grade four (child) that I work with sees that, then you're in doo-doo." The naked old man mentioned is Naked Marvin, one of the many recurring acts that makes The Friendly Rich Show such a disturbingly fun time.
The Lollipop People just released their latest batch of musical misanthropy and had their celebratory show at the Music Gallery on Oct. 28. From there, they will be performing every Saturday at the Cameron House (408 Queen St. W.) as a preview for the next album, set to be recorded in December.
"The last recording I did, we had performed the material a bunch of times live, and I loved the outcome of what happened after you work with something in front of people and allow the musicians time to experiment with it."
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Four Tet interview
October 12, 2005: http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=947&Itemid=2
As I hear nothing but silence on my phone, I realize Kieran Hebden (better known by his stage name Four Tet) and I have been disconnected for the sixth time. This will be the last time, after the irritation we have both put up with over the past 25 minutes (including my recorder being on the wrong setting and not recording the first take of our interview).
It's never easy being on the road and having to conduct interviews via cellular phone from Connecticut to Mississauga. But, as the London, England native says, "[Touring] is all part of the job." And the release of his fourth album Everything Ecstatic has brought (or will bring him) all over the world, including multiple Canadian stops. In fact, after the release of the album, his only tour stops were two Canadian dates, one of which was a set at the Ottawa Bluesfest that I was able to catch.
The name Four Tet has been tossed around by many music critics in the last couple of years and most people that I talked to before the set were familiar with his handle but not the music. After his set though, everyone remembered his name and his sound.
Everything Ecstatic reflects the somewhat more aggressive nature of his live sets, rather than continuing with the more plaintive nature of his earlier albums. His previous album, Rounds, in particular, landed him with the title "folktronica", a title given to him by the indie-music press that he dismisses as "bullshit".
"I don't even like trying to describe my own music," he says. "The word ‘folk' doesn't really have much to do with what I'm doing." His music shifts forms from song to song, album to album and even from minute to minute. The electronic element is the only constant throughout. Nearly all of his music is constructed using computer programs like Cakewalk and a sequencer, with occasional samples of his guitar or vibraphone being the only live instrumentation he has implemented. His latest work has brought him rave reviews from such literature as the Village Voice Dusted and The Wire.
Hebden says he draws on influences from "anything, from hip hop to punk to techno . . . everything in my life comes into what I'm doing. Music is just part of my everyday routine." This influence shows in the diverse nature of his music, which has especially expanded on Everything Ecstatic. The album swings from bass-driven romps like the opening "A Joy" to slower, more thoughtful and moving jams like "And Then Patterns", with many tracks using samples of free-jazz drumming to provide more realistic propulsion.
Initially making his mark in the post-rock group Fridge, Hebden found solo success when Fridge went on hiatus and his supposed one-off project dubbed "Four Tet" started to take off. Now he has come much further as he has done remix work for Radiohead and MF Doom, produced an album for Beth Orton and recorded covers of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made Of Sand". This is in addition to the four full-length records he has put out on Domino Records, home of acts like Franz Ferdinand and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus.
The future for Four Tet includes finishing up his North American tour (which came to Toronto on Sept. 23) and travelling back to the UK with Texan post-rockers Explosions in the Sky. Hopefully there will be a new Fridge album in the new year and after everything else, a much-deserved break. In the meantime, the man himself claims: "I just hope to make music that's a bit different than what's out there. Just keep moving forward. I have no interest in covering the same ground again and again."
As I hear nothing but silence on my phone, I realize Kieran Hebden (better known by his stage name Four Tet) and I have been disconnected for the sixth time. This will be the last time, after the irritation we have both put up with over the past 25 minutes (including my recorder being on the wrong setting and not recording the first take of our interview).
It's never easy being on the road and having to conduct interviews via cellular phone from Connecticut to Mississauga. But, as the London, England native says, "[Touring] is all part of the job." And the release of his fourth album Everything Ecstatic has brought (or will bring him) all over the world, including multiple Canadian stops. In fact, after the release of the album, his only tour stops were two Canadian dates, one of which was a set at the Ottawa Bluesfest that I was able to catch.
The name Four Tet has been tossed around by many music critics in the last couple of years and most people that I talked to before the set were familiar with his handle but not the music. After his set though, everyone remembered his name and his sound.
Everything Ecstatic reflects the somewhat more aggressive nature of his live sets, rather than continuing with the more plaintive nature of his earlier albums. His previous album, Rounds, in particular, landed him with the title "folktronica", a title given to him by the indie-music press that he dismisses as "bullshit".
"I don't even like trying to describe my own music," he says. "The word ‘folk' doesn't really have much to do with what I'm doing." His music shifts forms from song to song, album to album and even from minute to minute. The electronic element is the only constant throughout. Nearly all of his music is constructed using computer programs like Cakewalk and a sequencer, with occasional samples of his guitar or vibraphone being the only live instrumentation he has implemented. His latest work has brought him rave reviews from such literature as the Village Voice Dusted and The Wire.
Hebden says he draws on influences from "anything, from hip hop to punk to techno . . . everything in my life comes into what I'm doing. Music is just part of my everyday routine." This influence shows in the diverse nature of his music, which has especially expanded on Everything Ecstatic. The album swings from bass-driven romps like the opening "A Joy" to slower, more thoughtful and moving jams like "And Then Patterns", with many tracks using samples of free-jazz drumming to provide more realistic propulsion.
Initially making his mark in the post-rock group Fridge, Hebden found solo success when Fridge went on hiatus and his supposed one-off project dubbed "Four Tet" started to take off. Now he has come much further as he has done remix work for Radiohead and MF Doom, produced an album for Beth Orton and recorded covers of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made Of Sand". This is in addition to the four full-length records he has put out on Domino Records, home of acts like Franz Ferdinand and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus.
The future for Four Tet includes finishing up his North American tour (which came to Toronto on Sept. 23) and travelling back to the UK with Texan post-rockers Explosions in the Sky. Hopefully there will be a new Fridge album in the new year and after everything else, a much-deserved break. In the meantime, the man himself claims: "I just hope to make music that's a bit different than what's out there. Just keep moving forward. I have no interest in covering the same ground again and again."
Dillinger Escape Plan interview
(March 30, 2005): http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=584&Itemid=2
Since 1997, New Jersey-based act The Dillinger Escape Plan have been creating their distinct style of "technical metalcore", but have only released two full-lengths in this time. The latest, Miss Machine, was released to rapturous reviews last July, but when asked about the critical hype, bassist Liam Wilson says he feels, "An overall ‘wow, awesome!' and a gag reflex of just trying to stay humble about it and not think about it as much as we can."
The album was five years in the making, as the band dealt with the departures of two founding members, bassist Adam Doll and vocalist Dimitri Minikakis. However, these changes have only made The Plan stronger: New vocalist Greg Puciato channels influences like Trent Reznor and Mike Patton (who also recorded with the group in 2002, for the EP Irony Is A Dead Scene), as well as adding his own distinct wailing and shrieking.
"We were definitely looking for someone who could keep up with everything we had already done, but could play songs that we hadn't written before he joined," says Wilson.
The band itself has also grown more diverse, with their "cathartic [amalgamation] of noise and punk-jazz ethics" (as Wilson puts it) incorporating stronger influences of industrial and new wave to counterbalance the onslaught of brutality. This diversity can be heard on the band's current single "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants," which features clean vocals, Latin percussion and, God help us, a genuinely catchy chorus.
"We don't want to necessarily associate entirely with the metal community. Not that it's anything to shit on, but it's kind of one dimensional and homogenized, as are most musical genres," says Wilson. "We wanted to take songs that we could have incorporated into something else, but instead give the song its own life," explains Wilson of the new styles being brought into the band's arsenal.
The Dillinger Escape Plan also brought their infamous live shows for several Canadian tour dates in February. Past shows of the band have included fire breathing and seizure-inducing strobe lights, but this time the show was more stripped back to "not steal the punk vibe," says Wilson.
With the band playing Toronto four times in just over a year, one would expect the band to be back in town relatively soon. For now, though, they are embarking on nearly eight more weeks of touring in various spots all over the globe.
"We start in Australia, then we go to Japan, and then we go to France, then Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Germany, then more shows in the UK. So, it's a cluster fuck, man. It's not coming to a stop yet," says Wilson.
However, the touring means it will likely be another excruciating wait for a new album, although the band has already started on new material.
"We have almost enough for three songs, which isn't a whole lot, but I think we've got a ton of ideas, and I don't think we are going to run out of ideas anytime soon. We're just trying to find the time to actually write. When we're on tour, it gets a little harder to write. You can sit down with a laptop and try to sketch out some ideas, but nothing really gets fleshed out until you have at least two months at home. We need a month to detox from the amount of tours we do," explains Wilson.
The average Dillinger Escape Plan song isn't just a four-chord wonder, either; each song is full of meticulously constructed patterns and jagged rhythms that keep even the most jaded listeners on the edge of their seats.
The next album will likely be a breathtaking excursion, as Wilson views the band's next release to incorporate "anything that can promote a fresh sense of fusion." He then adds, to the distinct pleasure of the band's fans, "Our tastes are really different, and we're all really hungry musicians with a lot to say, and more to say in the future.
So I think we definitely want to keep it so that we have a bit more space to start defining broader boundaries for ourselves."
Since 1997, New Jersey-based act The Dillinger Escape Plan have been creating their distinct style of "technical metalcore", but have only released two full-lengths in this time. The latest, Miss Machine, was released to rapturous reviews last July, but when asked about the critical hype, bassist Liam Wilson says he feels, "An overall ‘wow, awesome!' and a gag reflex of just trying to stay humble about it and not think about it as much as we can."
The album was five years in the making, as the band dealt with the departures of two founding members, bassist Adam Doll and vocalist Dimitri Minikakis. However, these changes have only made The Plan stronger: New vocalist Greg Puciato channels influences like Trent Reznor and Mike Patton (who also recorded with the group in 2002, for the EP Irony Is A Dead Scene), as well as adding his own distinct wailing and shrieking.
"We were definitely looking for someone who could keep up with everything we had already done, but could play songs that we hadn't written before he joined," says Wilson.
The band itself has also grown more diverse, with their "cathartic [amalgamation] of noise and punk-jazz ethics" (as Wilson puts it) incorporating stronger influences of industrial and new wave to counterbalance the onslaught of brutality. This diversity can be heard on the band's current single "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants," which features clean vocals, Latin percussion and, God help us, a genuinely catchy chorus.
"We don't want to necessarily associate entirely with the metal community. Not that it's anything to shit on, but it's kind of one dimensional and homogenized, as are most musical genres," says Wilson. "We wanted to take songs that we could have incorporated into something else, but instead give the song its own life," explains Wilson of the new styles being brought into the band's arsenal.
The Dillinger Escape Plan also brought their infamous live shows for several Canadian tour dates in February. Past shows of the band have included fire breathing and seizure-inducing strobe lights, but this time the show was more stripped back to "not steal the punk vibe," says Wilson.
With the band playing Toronto four times in just over a year, one would expect the band to be back in town relatively soon. For now, though, they are embarking on nearly eight more weeks of touring in various spots all over the globe.
"We start in Australia, then we go to Japan, and then we go to France, then Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Germany, then more shows in the UK. So, it's a cluster fuck, man. It's not coming to a stop yet," says Wilson.
However, the touring means it will likely be another excruciating wait for a new album, although the band has already started on new material.
"We have almost enough for three songs, which isn't a whole lot, but I think we've got a ton of ideas, and I don't think we are going to run out of ideas anytime soon. We're just trying to find the time to actually write. When we're on tour, it gets a little harder to write. You can sit down with a laptop and try to sketch out some ideas, but nothing really gets fleshed out until you have at least two months at home. We need a month to detox from the amount of tours we do," explains Wilson.
The average Dillinger Escape Plan song isn't just a four-chord wonder, either; each song is full of meticulously constructed patterns and jagged rhythms that keep even the most jaded listeners on the edge of their seats.
The next album will likely be a breathtaking excursion, as Wilson views the band's next release to incorporate "anything that can promote a fresh sense of fusion." He then adds, to the distinct pleasure of the band's fans, "Our tastes are really different, and we're all really hungry musicians with a lot to say, and more to say in the future.
So I think we definitely want to keep it so that we have a bit more space to start defining broader boundaries for ourselves."
Excalibur Articles: Clann Zú interview
I am going to archive everything I have written for Excalibur (the York University student newspaper, don't ya know) because the website search engine has me terrified that I will lose everything.
(March 23, 2005): http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=517&Itemid=2
Umbrellas and crows fill the grey. Pock marked procession through the sleet as the howl of a lonely bell misbehaves in the drunken silence.
Mourned over sparse piano, this line begins the sweepingly melancholic Black Coats and Bandages, the second full length album from Clann Zú.
The band is musically and internationally mixed: Vocalist/bodhran player Declan de Barra lives in Dublin, Ireland, while the rest of the band - guitarist Benjamin Andrews, bassist Liam Andrews, electronic producer Lach Wood, drummer Ben Hellmig and violinist/keyboardist Russell Fawcus - are based in Australia.
Clann Zú blends elements of post-rock and folk with an alternative sheen (not to mention shades of electronic, jazz, Middle Eastern rhythms and god knows what else).
Violinist/keyboardist Russell Fawcus attempts to describe the band's sound. "Noisy, quiet, harsh, beautiful, miserable rock based music with a mish mash of influences from angular punk to classical music from the middle of the last century with Dec's political/broken hearted lyrics?"
Clann Zú has been making waves through the wonders of the Internet, bringing them a devoted fan base around the world through their web site, which features several downloads and animations (also by de Barra). This was made evident in spring 2004, which brought the release of Black Coats and Bandages through Canadian-based label G7 Welcoming Committee (home of such acts as politipunks Propagandhi as well as political writer and speaker Noam Chomsky).
The summer brought Clann Zú to Canada where they embarked on a cross-country tour. "It was an amazing tour and experience for us. We can't wait to do it again," de Barra says.
I was lucky enough to catch two of the shows, which turned out to be some of the most breathtaking live music I've ever seen performed. When asked about performing devastatingly personal music live, de Barra says, "It's difficult, I block everything out but the music and the words. It is a strange thing to do, and it's stranger doing it on repeat every night."
Now that the band has put touring on hold, de Barra has also been working on a solo album. "I am recording the album right now. It's a very different process. There is no compromise and no crutch to lean on," explains de Barra. "It is based on vocal and guitar from myself and I am enjoying verses and choruses again as they have been thrown out of the Clann Zú camp by majority."
As for the band's next release, one can be sure it won't be the same as anything else they've done. Rua, their previous album, was recorded under completely different circumstances than the current Black Coats and Bandages.
Rua took over a year to complete, and was filled with electronics and overdubs. BCAB has a rawer, more live feel to it. The entire album is analog, recorded to two inch tape, and features minimal overdubs to recreate more of the live atmosphere.
For the next album, de Barra says, "I have learned to throw any ideas I have out as when we all meet up we are all at different places musically so it's a total unknown until we meet. Clann Zú is a collaborative affair so until we are all face to face in a room with a load of instruments we don't know. Safe to say it will be different again."
Fawcus agrees, "Who knows! Our musical diversity is not planned, it is just the nature of this group of individuals getting together to create music. Interests change as do influences and we've never really felt bound to creating anything that is ‘stylistically' particular."
(March 23, 2005): http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=517&Itemid=2
Umbrellas and crows fill the grey. Pock marked procession through the sleet as the howl of a lonely bell misbehaves in the drunken silence.
Mourned over sparse piano, this line begins the sweepingly melancholic Black Coats and Bandages, the second full length album from Clann Zú.
The band is musically and internationally mixed: Vocalist/bodhran player Declan de Barra lives in Dublin, Ireland, while the rest of the band - guitarist Benjamin Andrews, bassist Liam Andrews, electronic producer Lach Wood, drummer Ben Hellmig and violinist/keyboardist Russell Fawcus - are based in Australia.
Clann Zú blends elements of post-rock and folk with an alternative sheen (not to mention shades of electronic, jazz, Middle Eastern rhythms and god knows what else).
Violinist/keyboardist Russell Fawcus attempts to describe the band's sound. "Noisy, quiet, harsh, beautiful, miserable rock based music with a mish mash of influences from angular punk to classical music from the middle of the last century with Dec's political/broken hearted lyrics?"
Clann Zú has been making waves through the wonders of the Internet, bringing them a devoted fan base around the world through their web site, which features several downloads and animations (also by de Barra). This was made evident in spring 2004, which brought the release of Black Coats and Bandages through Canadian-based label G7 Welcoming Committee (home of such acts as politipunks Propagandhi as well as political writer and speaker Noam Chomsky).
The summer brought Clann Zú to Canada where they embarked on a cross-country tour. "It was an amazing tour and experience for us. We can't wait to do it again," de Barra says.
I was lucky enough to catch two of the shows, which turned out to be some of the most breathtaking live music I've ever seen performed. When asked about performing devastatingly personal music live, de Barra says, "It's difficult, I block everything out but the music and the words. It is a strange thing to do, and it's stranger doing it on repeat every night."
Now that the band has put touring on hold, de Barra has also been working on a solo album. "I am recording the album right now. It's a very different process. There is no compromise and no crutch to lean on," explains de Barra. "It is based on vocal and guitar from myself and I am enjoying verses and choruses again as they have been thrown out of the Clann Zú camp by majority."
As for the band's next release, one can be sure it won't be the same as anything else they've done. Rua, their previous album, was recorded under completely different circumstances than the current Black Coats and Bandages.
Rua took over a year to complete, and was filled with electronics and overdubs. BCAB has a rawer, more live feel to it. The entire album is analog, recorded to two inch tape, and features minimal overdubs to recreate more of the live atmosphere.
For the next album, de Barra says, "I have learned to throw any ideas I have out as when we all meet up we are all at different places musically so it's a total unknown until we meet. Clann Zú is a collaborative affair so until we are all face to face in a room with a load of instruments we don't know. Safe to say it will be different again."
Fawcus agrees, "Who knows! Our musical diversity is not planned, it is just the nature of this group of individuals getting together to create music. Interests change as do influences and we've never really felt bound to creating anything that is ‘stylistically' particular."
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