interviews

Fireside Chats: An Interview With Jupiter Project

Posted on November 7, 2013 by halley in interviews | Leave a comment

jupiter project

New Zealand’s Jupiter Project have shared stages with the likes of Flume and Will.I.Am.  The Indie R&B duo made up of Gavin Correia and Marty Rich have just released their debut EP, Zeus.

I love the fact that you chose Jupiter as your namesake to symbolize the extent of your ambition. What will fulfill that ambitious drive? Money? Fame? Superbowl half-time stardom? An interview by the Panic Manual?

Hahaha, hopefully an interview with Panic Manual is a stepping stone to all of those! We work hard because we love music and we set ourselves some pretty lofty goals because we’ve always believed in ourselves. But at the same time, we’re not in the habit of talking up our ambitions/goals – we’d rather show you than tell you!

New Zealand culture. Discuss: Do you feel that your geographic remove hinders/helps the music scene ‘down under’?  You’ve said that you wrote Peer Pressure while on the road in the U.S. Do you find that time away from NZ helps your creative drive?

I definitely wouldn’t say that it is a hinderance at all. If anything, it makes us unique. We have a tonne of great artists down here who are set on taking our art to the rest of the world and it’s great that you guys and so many others are receptive to the flavour that us Kiwi’s are putting into our brand of music.

Time away is great for the soul and great for the creative process because you’re constantly being inspired by new things and new people around you. We have a lot of love for the States and write great music while we’re over so that’s why we’re always coming back.

When you work on songs, is there any specific focus on the intro as opposed to the middle as opposed to the end? I ask because the beginning hook of Peer Pressure is so catchy. Did that take you a while? Or no longer than the rest of the song?

Every element of a new song gets it’s own special attention but there isn’t a set formula for how we go about things. We do like adding different dimensions of hooks or things that draw people into the song. I think some people mistake this to mean making things catchyin a commercial sense, but the two can be quite different at times.

With the Peer Pressure intro that was a case of us having finished the record and listening back to it for the first time and all of a sudden, Marty goes “Hold up, I’ve got an idea”. It must have just came out of some random part of his brain ha!

What’s your favorite thing to wear on stage? Any must-have accessories you perform with?

Just shit that is generally cool and awesome. What we wear suits our personalities so it can be pretty out there sometimes.

In terms of accessories, some dope jewellery always goes down well too.

Any superstitions/rituals before shows?

Usually just a couple glasses of champagne to get things started!

What’s the one question you wish interviewers would ask you and how would you answer it?

Actually, there isn’t a ‘one perfect question’ but you definitely come across some of the same BS questions time and time again so it’s always good when an interviewer is original/creative in what they ask. A lil background info never hurt anyone either hahaha.

Q & A: a warm chat with Cold Specks

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Celeste in interviews | Leave a comment

cold specks

Al Spx, the centerpiece of the Canadian “doom soul” outfit Cold Specks, made waves in the music world this past summer when she released her debut album “I Predict a Graceful Expulsion.” The singer songwriter has a moody, achingly beautiful, sweeping sound that has garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews from music critics. Spx’s songs, while being intensely personal, also touch on ideas of universal scope – isolation, faith, sadness – themes to which her listeners everywhere can relate. Spx was nice enough to sit down and respond to some questions I emailed her way. She’s on tour right now through Canada, the US and Europe. Go see her if you have the chance and you’ll understand what all the fuss is about – and if you live in Copenhagen you’d better buy your ticket early.

You’ve spoken in previous interviews about how you take inspiration from musicians from the American South – which ones in particular? Do you think your music tends to be similar to theirs in style?

I think my music is inspired by a great deal of things. Musicians from the American South seems to be one of the bigger ones. I think it’s because I discovered music from that region around the same I started singing. I adore James Carr and when I was younger I studied him obsessively. I could have easily made a straight up soul record. But I wasn’t interested in that. I wanted a collection of songs that would reflect what I was feeling at the time. I think the result is probably something greatly influenced by music from the past. But I’d like to think I am doing something different.

Do you have a favorite track off your debut album? Or are they like your children in that you’re not allowed to play favorites?

At first, they were all my babies. Currently, I am more than willing to put some of them down. My favourite song on the record has always been ‘Hector’. Sonically, it is a wild one.

What has been your favorite place to perform live? Any cities that had particularly good crowds?

DENMARK! The Danes seem to have really attached themselves to Cold Specks. We recently played to over 1000 people in Copenhagen. That doesn’t happen very often for us. In fact, that was the first time we headlined a show with that many people in the audience. It was COOL.

What’s your creative process for writing your songs? Do you write the music at the same time you write the lyrics? Does it vary from song to song?

To be completely honest with you, it’s different every time. Sometimes the music comes first. Sometimes it’s the words. Sometimes there’s a melody and everything is based around it.

Your music is self-described as “doom soul,” which seems entirely fitting for the bleak but soaring music you create. You’ve spoken about how the songs on “I Predict a Graceful Expulsion” were written at a different point in your life and that they don’t necessarily reflect on your life now. Do you see yourself creating more music in the doom soul genre, or do you think you’ll move in a new direction?

I’ve been writing more. It seems the songs are driven more by rhythm. The nylon acoustic has been put to rest but the songs, and the voice are never overwhelmed. I am a firm believer that the human voice is the most beautiful instrument in the world. I think my songs will always focus on that aspect. I’m not sure what DOOM SOUL is. Maybe, we’ll fully realise it with the next record. Rob Ellis has been drumming with us on tour recently and my producer Jim Anderson has been on bass. We’ve been experimenting with combining operatic vocal drones with off-kilter rhythms. It’s been interesting. I never want to get stuck doing the same thing. I think it’s only natural to keep experimenting. Besides, new directions are always exciting.

Remaining Cold Specks tour dates
11/17 – Harold M. Williams Auditorium at the Getty Museum – Los Angeles, CA
11/18 – Bottom of The Hill – San Francisco, CA
11/20 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
11/21 – St James Hall – Vancouver, BC
11/23 – Festival Hall – Calgary, AB
11/24 – Festival Hall – Calgary, AB
11/26 – Park Theatre – Winnipeg, MB
11/28 – Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN
11/29 – Schubas – Chicago, IL

TO Jazz Preview: Interview with Eric Krasno of Soulive

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Mark in Concerts, interviews, Toronto Jazz Festival | Leave a comment

Toronto – Today marks the start of the Toronto Jazz Festival. For the next ten days, the city will be teeming with fantastic musicians playing venues large and small. You can check out some of the highlights of the line-up here.

In anticipation of the festival, I had a chance to chat with the guitarist of soul/jazz/funk outfit Soulive, Eric Krasno. We talked about their latest album, Rubber Soulive, and also dove into how new technologies like do-it-yourself studios, grassroots record labels, and the internets are changing the the face of music.

Mark: Soulive has been doing jazz, soul and funk for over a decade. This latest album, Rubber Soulive, is a funkified Beatles tribute.

Eric: It’s kind of a take on the Rubber Soul album that they did. In London [white guys playing soul music was called rubber soul]. We ended up calling it Rubber Soulive based on the Beatles album, but ended up taking other Beatles tunes as well.

MJ: What was the motivation behind this album?

EK: We had talked about doing a covers album. At first we were talking about doing a British Invasion thing, where it was different British groups, this was right around when they did the re-master of the Beatles stuff. Originally it was going to be an EP. The first session we just sat and listened to a bunch of tunes and talked about which ones would translate best into our instrumentation and our style, and then we just recorded them live in the studio pretty quickly and organically.

MJ: Over the last decade, you’ve worked with a number of different record labels. You were involved in Velour, a couple of years with Blue Note, and a brief stint with Stax. Now you’ve gone your own route with Royal Family. I’m curious about how the record label has influenced your sound and how you make music over the years.

EK: We’ve been pretty fortunate that labels didn’t really tell us what to do. The difference really is when you have a big budget. As we decided to do it on our own, we had to be a little bit more aware of what we’re spending. We have our own studios now, so we’re able to record a lot easier, but we’ve been fortunate in that we could pretty much record and hand in what we wanted to put out and they’d put it out. It’s a lot different if you’re a pop singer on a major label where you don’t have a lot of influence over what you do.

MJ: So what was the prime motivation then to break out with the Royal Family?

EK: We had [wanted to enter into a subsidiary deal with labels, but it didn’t pan out so we started our own]. Now we’re doing all of our other projects as well. We can put out live recordings every night. We actually offer our recording of our shows live at the show that night, so you can leave with a copy of the show that was just played.

Things like that we weren’t allowed to do on major labels: being able to put out as much music as we want, and put stuff out for free on the internet. For the number of albums we were selling, it made more sense to do it ourselves.

MJ: Things are moving very quickly in the music industry with technology and the movement online. It sounds like with the Royal Family you’ve got a little more freedom to embrace the change.

EK: Absolutely, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.

MJ: How has the Soulive sound changed over the last decade?

EK: It has evolved in that we’ve got better as a group, as far as communicating and improvising, and [we’ve also] allowed other influences to seep in. It started out just organ, guitar, and drums, and now … our palette has expanded.

MJ: From a guitar point of view, what are some of your influences? I don’t want to load this question, but there are certainly some people that pop in my mind when I listen to you.

EK: I was a huge Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page fan; a big rock & roll fan as a kid. Stevie Ray Vaughan was a good one, and then later on I found Grant Green and Wes Montgomery. It’s a combination of all those things really.

MJ: I’m glad you said Grant Green, because that’s definitely what I had in my mind when I was listening to Rubber.

You seem to be doing a lot of studio work and live touring. Do you like the mix?

EK: I kind of need the mix. I’ve also produced a lot of records over the last ten years; everything from hip-hop, to pop, to African music. It’s nice because I can try all sorts of different things when I’m in the studio. But then after a while, I like to get out and play, and then when I’m out on the road, I get sick of the road too, so I definitely dig the balance.

MJ: So if you were heading to a deserted island and you had to pick one Beatles album, which one would you have to take?

EK: For me it’s Abbey Road, I have to say.

MJ: Nice.

Soulive plays this Monday (June 27th) at the Horseshoe Tavern at 9:30 and 11:30.

Soulive – Drive My Car – Rubber Soulive by royalfamily

Interview: Zaza, May 8 2010, European Tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Estragon, Bologna, Italy

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Everything, interviews, Music | 9 Comments

 

First of all, I apologize for taking so long to post this. Zaza, the three piece Brooklyn-based band (that we have referenced in our Best-of 2009 and end-of-year podcast, review of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart North American Tour) has been gracious enough to speak with our European friend, Davide prior to their sound check in Bologna before opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on May 8 at the Estragon.

It has been a very busy spring for Zaza. They have already completed their first European tour after opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and we can expect a full length LP from them in 2010, which was on my wishlist from 2009. So well done and godspeed!

Join us as Davide embarks on a world of conversation with Zaza, covering the live versus recorded debate, how they signed with Kanine, their history with the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the organic process that they have enjoyed since it all started.

Read more

« Previous   1 2