SARGENT HOUSE

“For me, our life has always been similar to a solar eclipse; it will all eventually line up but it’s really just a waiting game”…

Tera Melos’ X’ed Out has swiftly become a favorite since its release in April. From tracks like ‘New Chlorine’ to ‘Tropic Lame’, its gorgeous riffs, complex rhythms and sweet harmonies makes it a strong contender for album of the year. Maybe a bold statement but it is just so uplifting, complex and yet catchy. We were lucky enough to get a few words with frontman Nick Reinhart.

First of all heard it was your birthday this week so Happy Birthday from all at State.

X’ed Out (your follow up to Patagonian Rats) was released last month to exceptionally positive reviews everywhere. Congratulations. When you started writing X’ed Out, what were you hoping to achieve with this album? How do you feel Tera Melos’ sound has progressed since Patagonian Rats?

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TTNG (formally known as This Town Needs Guns) Have had quite the year. TTNG found out that their lead singer and guitar player Stuart Smith would be leaving the band to start a family and the band recruited singer Henry Tremain. However, soon after beginning work on their new record the band was faced with loosing bass player Jamie Cooper as well. As Cooper exited the band Tremain took it upon himself to take up the bass duties and transformed the band into a trio leaving brothers Chris Collis on percussion and Tim Collis on guitar.

Throughout the major shifts in the line up TTNG managed to write and release one of my favorite albums of the year thus far.  13.0.0.0.0  was released in the first part of January 2013 and quickly started garnering major attention. I was able to send some questions to the band and after a short stint of touring in the UK, TTNG’s Chris was able to get back to us with some responses.

Note: At the original time the interview was sent TTNG had not yet changed their name.

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Not to be all LA and vain and superficial, but Chelsea Wolfe‘s complexion is like a cold glass of whole milk. And her voice — it sounds like how it feels to gulp down said beverage, or maybe a White Russian, on a sweltering summer day, inducing the kind of savage, glugging sounds that offend some types of people (not our kind of people), sitting cross-legged and bra-less on an abandoned rooftop in Detroit, wearing nothing but a virginal vintage slip dress, partially-laced combat boots, chipped red nail polish, and an armload of clinking bracelets stacked almost to the elbow. (I guess, although I’ve never been to Detroit.)

Standing in a fluorescent-lit corridor of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, it’s hard not to stare at Chelsea.  She is tall and pale and piercing, her jet black hair, feathery fur coat and generously-inked eyeliner are dark and elegant like a crow’s plumes; her shadowy silhouette broken only by a plastic cup containing a Barbie-pink cocktail that she holds in skull-ringed hands. Cramped between the main stage and “backstage,” which is more like a modest sitting area with nothing pretty to look at (present company excepted) and more often frequented by a totally different kind of worshipper, Chelsea and I talk death, John Cusack, Fashion Week,  and superstition.  She is on tour with her latest album Unknown Rooms: A Collection Of Acoustic Songs, and with moody vocals that instinctively oscillate between frozen and hearth-like, turning us to ice and then soothing our goosebumps, it is fair to say that on a rainy Friday evening in an unassuming Church in a no-good block of Los Angeles, Chelsea Wolfe is pretty much perfect. Even without the plastic bottle of vodka in my purse.

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One of my favorite singer-songwriters, the beguiling Chelsea Wolfe tours this winter in support of her Sargent House release Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs. I play this repeatedly. I can’t get enough of her dramatic, haunting vocals and lush arrangements. Honest, heartbreaking, gorgeous, dark, lovely. And live, Chelsea Wolfe mesmerized the crowd with her aura and talent. Now living in Los Angeles, Wolfe grew up in Northern California.

Amy Steele: Your father played country music. How did that influence you?

Chelsea Wolfe: He had a home studio that I’d sneak into and record songs I’d written. Being around music and seeing him go to shows was of course what introduced me to the world of music, even though I wasn’t very involved back then.

Amy Steele: When did you start singing?

Chelsea Wolfe: When I was seven or eight years old.

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The last time I spoke with him, Rodríguez-López had just reversed his attitude to recording music, and realised that complete dictatorial control was ill-suited and misdirected.

“I’ve gotten much further into what we were talking about last time we spoke, about collaborating with people. My whole life is a collaboration now. For the past 11 years I’ve just been doing whatever I’ve wanted all the time – my music, me, me, me – and making everyone bend to that will. I’m just a completely different person now. I’m working in a collaborative group, that’s what you really have to understand – music is just the result of the process, which means it’s just the result of how you’re living as a person. As controlling as I was with my music, people should realise that was an extension of my life, and that means I was just such a bummer to be around.

“Now, my whole life is a collaboration. I’m in a completely different place. There’s no greater feeling. That was no way to live. If you’re not sharing it, you’re not really experiencing something…Now, I can share experiences with my friends and the act of giving: that’s such a big thing. I’ve given away about 60 percent of my belongings over a year ago. Just paring everything down to the essentials: ‘Do I really need this? Do I really need all these books? You haven’t read that, here you take it’. They’re all small details but those things do add up.

Rodríguez-López is infamous his unreleased collection of records despite his prolific output; some of his solo records were released almost ten years after their date of recording. With this newfound exploration of collaboration, I propose to him the idea that maybe he should share his albums with his fans as they’re made, in an extension of his philosophy.

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It’s been just over a year since 11 is louder than 10 spoke to Oxford math rockers This Town Needs Guns on the eve of vocalist Stu Smith’s departure for parenthood (interview here).

At the time, the band’s future seemed secure, with Pennines vocalist Henry Tremain all set to take over singing duties. However, little did he know, he’d soon be replacing Jamie Cooper as bassist as well. After an event-packed year, 11 is louder than 10 once again caught up with TTNG at The Borderline in London in the final days of their 2012 UK tour to discuss ‘power trios’, Iron Maiden tribute bands and ‘Ron Jeremy Beadle’.

How would you sum up the last year or so since we last spoke?

Tim Collis (guitar):It’s been eventful! Stu started a family, which is good. He’s getting on well – he’s got a little girl now. And Jamie left to pursue a career in graphic design because he’s truly gifted at that, but luckily he recorded a new album with us before he left, so he features on the album – he’s got some pretty pimpin’ bass lines.

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The much buzzed-about duo Indian Handcrafts is set to release its debut LP, Civil Disobedience for Losers, on Oct. 30 on Sargent House, and you can stream it HERE

Indian Handcrafts is drummer Brandyn James Aikins and guitarist Daniel Brandon Allen and, if you’re unfamiliar with their edgy, punk/metal-infused rock, prepare to have your mind blown by Civil Disobedience for Losers. Actually, you might have more to worry about; it’s entirely possible that your face may melt clean off the wreckage of your head.

“It depends on the structure of your face and how much beard hair you have,” Aikins says about the meltage potential, over the phone from his home in Barrie, Ont. “Aside from that, I would just say it’s best listened to pretty loud. That’ll be the best way to really feel it. It was really fun to make and you can hear that; it’s built into the record.”

Formed in Barrie’s tight-knit musical community (Aikins grew up with members of Zeus and his first band out of high school, the Heat, was a three-piece featuring Bahamas’s Afie Jurvanen), Aikins and Allen started playing together 10 years ago in Doris Day, which became Fox Jaws. Despite rumours to the contrary, Aikins says he and Allen didn’t start their own project out of animosity.

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Forget what you’ve heard before, Chelsea Wolfe’s latest, Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, has stripped away the layers, closed all the doors and delivered a set of intimate and delicately devastating music. We caught up with Chelsea to find out how the album came about.

Bowlegs: A Collection of Acoustic Songs sounds like a record of outtakes, demos, songs without a home? Is that the case? Why the need for the ‘acoustic’ clarification in the title?

Chelsea: It’s a group of songs that includes ones I wrote years ago, performed live but never recorded for a release, as well as new acoustic songs. All the recordings are new though; I felt it was important to approach the older songs in the way that is relevant to my style as an artist today. I typically don’t stick to one genre or style of music on an album, but this one is predominantly acoustic instrumentation, analog or a cappella so I wanted to classify it as such.

Bowlegs: We’re a world away from tracks like Demons from Apokalypsis. Was it a more personal experience – these songs obviously feel more intimate. Did you ever have to stop yourself piling on additional instrumentation?

Chelsea: I’ve always written minimal songs and I’ve always written songs that have lots of layers and atmosphere, so it was more about choosing the right songs for this album. I do think that the tone of these songs is more personal though, yes. I haven’t always been open to sharing my more personal songs but felt I was ready to start doing so.

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Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s genre-defying sixteen-year career has resulted in more than 40 albums and Rolling Stone have deemed him one of the “Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” You’ll know him from both The Mars Volta & At the Drive-In of course, but his latest project, Bosnian Rainbows, is just beginning to take shape. The band recently came over to the UK to play a few shows & Louder Than War caught up with him in London both for a chat & to see his live show.

“I’m not interested in genre, I’m not interested in bands, I’m not interested in music scenes- I’m just interested in expression, and expression is constantly changing. You’re learning new things, new influences, language changes, body language changes over the years, we completely shed our skin every seven years as human beings, I’m more interested in that, the human thing”

- Omar Rodriguez-Lopez describes his stance and position as a music maker and composer.

Bosnian Rainbows gave a breathtaking performance at Londons The Garage on Oct 3rd, marking their 30th gig as a new band with the notoriously ‘tough’ UK crowd.

The risk in a new band featuring Omar Rodriguez Lopez is that the followers of both his previous two bands, At The Drive In and The Mars Volta, will have expectations based on those lengthy & much loved endeavors. However, the Bosnian Rainbows set was received with rapturous applause by fans of both those previous bands. Although this in reality is merely a bonus as the music is the focus of our attention tonight as opposed to the musical history of the musician, a man who owes nothing to a field to which he consistently gives so much. Thus, this is not an Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, this is Bosnian Rainbows.

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Leaving little room for doubt that their sound is both triumphant and terrifyingly beautiful, Deafheaven is that band which immediately carves its way into the channels of the listener’s consciousness.  Their stunning debut, Roads to Judah, released last year to much critical acclaim and, let’s be honest, hype - was and is well worth the press.  Taking the post-rock noise of their Godspeed predecessors and weaving that through a tapestry of raw emotion and black metal aesthetics places Deafheaven in a league rarely seen in the metal genre.  It’s not that vocalist George Clarke set out to break new ground or create what is perhaps one of the most intriguing and challenging metal albums of the last few years, but he did it all the same with Roads to Judah.  The good news is - it’s only the beginning.  I recently had the privilege of chatting with George just to discuss, among other things, the process of making the album and why Roads to Judah is a baby step in a much larger journey for the band.

The first question I have for you, George, concerns the evolution of Deafheaven.  From the inception of the group to where you guys are now, sonically, personally, emotionally – in what ways have you seen that growth for you guys as a band?
I think initially when we started out, we had an idea of what we wanted to accomplish musically, but not necessarily all the tools and the know-how of how to do it.  I think as time has gone by, we’ve done a lot of touring, and we’ve played with a lot of great bands, and our personal relationships have grown with one another – I think those things have definitely helped us out a lot.  I think the new material that we’re writing – it shows a large amount of growth.  I mean, we still have the same idea that we started out with, but it’s expanded quite a bit.

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The way it works is you pass on a CD to a friend and preface it with the words: “They’re from Japan.  Just listen.”  The thing is with Boris - that’s just not near damn enough to say.  Sixteen years later after the band’s inception, they continue to not simply reinvent the wheel but instead take the thing of the axle and make it completely different.  Like any great group of musicians and artists, they don’t let any barriers stand in their way.  They’ve done countless collaborations with other incredible artists such as but not limited to Keiji Haino, Sunn O))), Michio Kurihara, Ian Astbury, and many more.  I don’t know that the Melvins realized that their song would spawn such a diverse and sonically tenacious band like Boris, but I can only imagine they see it as an enormous compliment that after seventeen studio albums (not counting the myriad of collaborations), Boris is in no mood to quit and certainly in no mood to turn down the volume.  I recently had an email exchange/conversation with Atsuo regarding the band’s history and their own sense of the art they create:

Since the band’s formation in 1996, you guys have certainly evolved your sound from definitive metal to sludge to experimental and even what might be considered pop.  How difficult has it been for you all to sort of be able to maintain the Boris sound while still crossing barriers of music from a genre standpoint?

To us it has not been so difficult to maintain our sound since we can catch possible vision and atmosphere when hearing our own recorded music so carefully. However, in that case the member’s own identity and ego are left behind and ignored frequently. That means ‘music first’ method would shake down members. In order to preserve the balance of our feeling we need to overlook ourselves. Sometimes we feel scary about that.

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(Source: steelforbrains.com)

This week on Two States, Danny Carroll meets Dublin’s finest new synth-punk trio No Spill Blood. Recently signed to the US label Sargent House, Matt Hedigan (Bass/Vocals) and Ruadhan O’Meara (Synth/Keys) discuss their debut EP ‘Street Meat’, which was released last week.

The interview starts with Ruadhan and Matt telling us about the first time they met.

Our world is in peril. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She gives three magic instruments to three special young people. From Cork, Matt with the power of bass. From Dublin, Ruadhan with the power of synth. Also from Dublin, Lar with the power of drum. With the three powers combined they summon earth’s greatest champion – NO SPILL BLOOD!

No Spill Blood have accomplished a lot in the last twelve months. Capturing audiences attention since their first show, they have quickly established themselves as an extraordinary live band. Lar Kaye is back behind the drum kit and brings a maniacal energy to his drumming which should be familiar to anyone who was seen him play guitar in Adebisi Shank. Scary man Matt Hedigan’s bass is heavy as lead and unrelentingly menacing. Standing stoically behind his rack of vintage synthesizers, Ruadhan O’Meara brings additional layers of texture, mostly occupying the sludgier end of the musical spectrum, to the mix. Towards the end of the recording of their debut EP they were fortuitously scooped up by US label Sargent House, current home to bands such as Japan’s psych-doom heroes Boris and the uber-technical math rock stylings of Hella, as well as Adebisi Shank & And So I Watch You From Afar. The EP is available digitally on Bandcamp right now, and will be released on CD and vinyl next month, an occasion commemorated by a free launch gig in the Button Factory, where the band will be playing alongside the wonderful Realistic Train, Simon Bird; Dublin’s latest electronic whizz kid, with more to be announced.

TD: Do you wanna say a bit about how the band came together initially?

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Chelsea Wolfe is an indefinable force in the music world.  Critics and writers and fans alike have tried their best to place her in some genre, but the art and artist seem to transcend those barriers - much like the other musicians Steel for Brains has interviewed.  Concerning so many things like the DIY movement as well as the resistance to be labeled, here’s what Chelsea had to say:

The first question I have has to do with your approach to music in general – as it ties into the DIY movement.  I know a lot of people throw that term around today as a kind of catch-all, but where do you see yourself in that spectrum as an artist? 

CW: I don’t really consider DIY.  I’ve just always done things my own way without labeling it as anything, so I guess if someone considers me “DIY” I guess I am, because I do a lot of things in my own way as I want to do them, but I’m also at a point where I have the support of a great label.  I don’t really know what DIY is anymore.

When I hear a Chelsea Wolfe track, the thing I find is that you can’t compartmentalize it, and I’m wondering what your process is when you go into the studio to write a song or create this piece of art, what’s your guideline, as it were.

 CW: It kind of ties in with the first question.  Thinking about it more, in a sense, I have to have my hands in everything that happens with this band.  I’m not the kind of artist who’ll let someone else take over for me or take artistic direction of my project.  To me it’s like “my art,” as cheesy as that sounds, so it’s important for me to have a hand in every aspect of it – every step of the way.  During recording it’s really hard for me to let go and let someone else step in and take over, and I think that’s why my impulse is to have a hand in everything – and sometimes those things are out of your control.  Sometimes people assume in interviews, and things with the press, and with music videos, that those things are reflecting the artist, but sometimes the artist doesn’t have control over those things – you just kind of have to hope for the best.  I guess I just try to make sure it’s me and what I represent that’s being seen. 

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We recently described Fang Island’s Major as a straight up, sometimes sideways, slice of proper, sweet, heart on sleeve, riff-laden pop and rock – which roughly translated means we love the shit out of it. This group know their way around a good song, they fire riffs off like they’re going out of fashion, drop melodies for fun and rock the fuck out whenever the mood might take them. It was clearly time to track one of the three-piece down – thankfully guitarist Jason Bartell stepped up and provided the answers.

Bowlegs: This album has more vocals. Was it liberating to give a little more narrative to your music? Did you have more to say or was it more a case of what seemed right for these particular songs?

Jason: A little of both I would say, in both cases. It has been liberating to have more lyrics, but also kind of scary, and I definitely try to follow what the song seems to be demanding. Riffs like the rhythm hook in Sisterly just beg for lyrics and vocals, so I followed that need. I had been kicking that riff around for a good year before finding the right vocal hook for it.

Bowlegs: While writing and recording do you all instinctively know when a song is working or do corners occasionally have to be fought? Were any songs won or lost while recording Major?

Jason: I think we all kind of instinctively know when a song is working in Fang Island, it’s usually when a riff or idea makes us laugh and smile. When I walk around singing fake lyrics to a silly riff I know we’re on the right track. Theres not too much fighting in this band ha.

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