Interviews

As one of Canada’s most beloved acts, Saskatoon’s four-time Juno award-winning rock ‘n’ roll five-piece The Sheepdogs, are headed back out on the road following the release of their latest LP, Outta Sight. 

The album is a return to form for The Sheepdogs, who have enjoyed widespread international success over their 18-year history as a band. The multi-platinum group has delivered a highly-focused, concise, and well-crafted album with Outta Sight that is downright quintessential for fans of the neo-classic rock genre.

Bandmates Ewan Currie, Ryan Gullen, Sam Corbett, and Shamus Currie are also joined by Gatineau-born guitarist Ricky Paquette for this tour, who will be supporting them throughout the coming months as they do shows across Canada and overseas. 

We spoke with the bassist and founding member of The Sheepdogs, Ryan Gullen, just a day before their first performance in Sherbrooke, QC, before they play Montreal’s MTelus on September 22.

PAN M 360: You’re finally back, with Outta Sight signifying your return to your default state as a touring rock ‘n’ roll band. After a few months on the road, how does it feel to be back at it?

Ryan Gullen: It feels good. Post-pandemic touring has its unique challenges, but we’ve done a tour of the UK, Europe, and some stuff in Canada. It just feels really great. So much of what we were doing was just waiting for it all to come back, so it feels really good. A huge part of what we’ve always done is playing live. That’s how we make income, how we promote ourselves—it’s literally what our job is. To have that not be a part of our anatomy as a group for quite a while there was a tough thing. It’s amazing to be back and to put out music, play it for people, and have that shared experience that I think we’ve all been longing for this past while. 

PAN M 360: Would you say the vibe of your shows feels any different than it would prior to the pandemic?

RG: It’s tough to say, it’s been so long. We definitely did shows during the pandemic, we were arguably one of the busier Canadian bands doing different unique shows. We played on a hotel rooftop to people on their balconies, we played drive-in shows. 

But I think the biggest thing is getting back to playing in a room to a bunch of people on top of each other and the excitement that comes from that. People are just really happy to be back. Back in November of last year, we were one of the first shows when Toronto finally reopened for indoor shows. We did four sold-out nights at Lee’s Palace [in Toronto], and we recorded the show and ended up releasing a live record of that. The energy of relief of people being happy to be back to what they were doing was amazing that weekend. 

And that continued – when we got back to England we were one of the first shows that people were going to. The excitement is still there, I think it’s a little bit of one of those ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’ situations, in that people are really happy to be back doing things they love, and I think there’s something special about people being in a room together experiencing music together.

PAN M 360: How has it been touring with Ricky Paquette?

RG: It’s been great, we’ve done one show with him so far, and rehearsals and stuff. He’s a guy we were familiar with over the years, and a guy we respected as a guitar player, so when we needed to fill this position on the tour it was kind of a no-brainer. 

He’s such a monster of a player, but he’s also such a nice guy and has such great energy. We don’t know him very well personally but having spent time together and having jammed and played a show together it’s been amazing. It really brought a lot of life and positive energy into what was kind of a tricky situation.

We try to not make every show the same. We think it’s important not to just go up and go through the motions every single night. And Ricky’s such a great player and has a new vibe to add to things to make them fresh and exciting. It’s also gonna be fun to learn about somebody on the bus but also onstage too. It’s cool to experience that. 

PAN M 360: On the note of the album, it’s being pointed to as one of your most focused, refined projects yet. What were the band’s overall impressions of it once the recording was wrapped up?

RG: The funny thing is the process of the record was probably the most unique we’ve ever done. Pretty much every record we’ve ever done we’ve set out in some way or another to make a record. Changing Colours was sort of unique in that we went into the studio, tried things, and messed around, and six months went by and we had a record. But it was fairly focused during the time we were working on it. 

With this one, it was different because we didn’t necessarily sit down and say ‘we have these 12 songs.’ Basically, it was ‘we don’t know when we’re gonna be able to go back and do what we do,’ and generally feeling pretty down about not having any certainty. Even when this record was coming out we had to postpone a tour in Europe in February and March. It was sort of this constant repetitive situation, so we thought, let’s do what we normally used to do: get in a room and make music and record it.

We’d just sit in a circle and jam something, and then when it was feeling really good we’d hit record. We’d play together and finish that song over the next day or so. It made for something that was both a surprise, but also concise, in a sense that it was all made the same way even though it was over many months of getting together when we could. 

As a result, it is very focused in the sense that it’s back a little bit back to the earlier days of our band when there wasn’t a lot of hubbub going on. It was a bit more of a workman’s attitude where we’d get up and set aside days to get up in the morning and work on music together and see what came out of it. That was probably part of the reason why it feels so focused. We also didn’t want to get super crazy, we wanted to make a straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll record. Once it started taking shape we recognized that. 

There weren’t people from the label coming around. It wasn’t like ‘let’s try to wrap up here because I’m going out for dinner …’ you couldn’t go to dinner. It was this funny thing. And then we made the EP in Montreal, we were there in full-on lockdown. We were staying in a hotel and we literally were the only people in the hotel, including the hotel staff! It was like The Shining. It was just the five of us in our own rooms in this big hotel in downtown Montreal. You couldn’t go out for dinner anywhere, we’d just sit and drink beers and hang out. It was the same thing as this, there was nothing else we could be doing, so it was a nice way to work with no distractions. 

A lot of the subject matter or vibe of these songs is us looking forward to what was hopefully coming after the pandemic ended. The energy is us looking to the future, and as a result, it has a specific vibe that was the soundtrack to the future of things. It was very concise and focused because we were just doing that as much as we could to hold us over and keep us sane during one of the most uncertain times for the world, and for us as a band. 

PAN M 360: In the past, you guys have talked about the music that’s influenced your work, like The Beatles, CCR, Led Zeppelin. Were there any new influences on Outta Sight that weren’t present in your other projects?

RG: One of the influences that Ewan has been really into that’s shining through on the record is J.J. Cale. He’s Ewan’s number one listened-to artist on Spotify for the past couple of years. We have a song that has a drum machine that is literally the same setup as J.J. Cale, so that’s an influence that wasn’t there as much during Changing Colours. And I think a lot of it is trying to not do the same thing over and over again, but also not suddenly coming out with, like, an EDM record. We’re basically trying to look at what we’ve done, and trying to not make it again and lean on it, but at the same time, not reinvent the wheel.

Some songs lean more towards the later 70s. “I Wanna Know You” is the first song we ever used a synthesizer on, which is leaning more on like Boston or Loverboy, that was a bit different. We weren’t all, like, crushing Loverboy, but it was one of those things we were all interested in exploring more. 

PAN M 360: Let’s talk about bass for a second. What was your inspiration to pick up the bass in the first place?

RG: It was the band. Ewan, Sam, and I started it as three guys getting together to jam. Ewan had just bought a guitar and Sam was interested in playing the drums, and I kind of just wanted to learn how to play the bass. We literally all started playing our instruments together, which almost sounds too good to be true but is 100% the truth. 

In the music I was exposed to growing up in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, the bass was a lot of holding down root notes with a pick. But when I started listening and paying attention to the bass, I could see players use the bass as an interplay between drums and guitar. I see it as kind of the glue that holds everything together because it’s a rhythmic instrument but you’re also playing notes. 

PAN M 360: Did you find it tough to stay in practice during the major lockdowns at the beginning? 

RG: Oh yeah. I basically didn’t play an instrument forever. It was sort of a weird thing because some people took on a lot, but others did the opposite. I didn’t think it would last that long, so I didn’t think to keep my chops up. 

As time went on I became interested in experimenting with other instruments. I played a lot of pedal steel, but no, I didn’t spend a lot of time playing until we finally got back together. It wasn’t something I did a lot of. It felt like ‘we’re gonna take a little break, take a couple of long weekends, and move on.’ I just chilled my brain for, basically, the first time in my adult life. 

PAN M 360: Did you pick up any new hobbies or pastimes during the lockdowns?

RG: I took to cooking a lot more for me and my girlfriend, and that was fun for the first while. I played video games which is something I don’t do too much, I played a lot of Red Dead Redemption. I tried to learn pedal steel, that’s a real bastard of an instrument to try and learn. I messed around a bit but not in any sort of real capacity. I mostly just took advantage of having downtime. 

As an artist and musician, you’re forever in a state of thinking super far ahead, and also in a state of F.O.M.O. I’m not thinking about the tour starting tomorrow, I’m thinking about the next tour or the next record. 

PAN M 360: What’s next for The Sheepdogs after this tour (and presumably, a solid rest)?

RG: It’s always tough to say, you’re catching me on day zero, and these dates go until the end of January. There are obviously things we’ve started having conversations about – everything gets planned very far in advance. We always want to be making music and we definitely want to challenge ourselves to increase the frequency that we put out music. 

Will we have a new record off the top of next year? No. But the plan is to go on tour, continue moving forward, chase different opportunities, and always be trying. 

Once we do take a bit of rest after this long, busy time, we’re gonna take the time to do new music, enjoy the tour, be in the moment, and figure it out once the dust settles – without waiting too long. We’ve been a band for 18 years, and things have changed, but we’ve never really strayed from the formula of it all: friends getting together and making music.

The Sheepdogs play w/ Boy Golden at MTelus on September 22. Tickets Here!

Although we don’t hear as much about him today as we did twenty or even thirty years ago, Fatboy Slim’s name is undoubtedly linked to the beginnings of the rave epic. Hits such as “Rockafeller Skank,” “Praise You” and “Right Here Right Now,” all three from his second album You’ve Come A Long Way Baby (1998), made the DJ and producer known worldwide.

From his early days with the indie band Housemartins to the present day, through Beats International, Freak Power, Mighty Dub Katz and his popular alias Fatboy Slim, Norman Cook’s career has been as impressive as it has been eclectic, and that’s part of the reason his name is still around today.

Inactive on record since 2004, Fatboy Slim continues to travel the world, displaying his musical knowledge and technical prowess from party to party, to the delight of old and young ravers alike.

On the eve of his highly anticipated appearance at the MEG festival–he was supposed to perform at last winter’s aborted Igloofest–, we spoke to the famous DJ who talked at length about his journey, the music that marked him, the beginnings of the Fatboy Slim epic, the big beat, his passion for Djing, the Woodstock 99 disaster, the place of irony in his work and the intoxicating chaos of the party.

Check it out now, the funk soul brother!

PAN M 360: What were your first kicks in music, what did you start with? Remember what was your first album?

Norman Cook: I used to love pop music when I was young. I remember at the age of 8 telling my parents that I wanted to be a pop star. And that’s where I was heading until punk came along. Then I didn’t want to be a pop star, I just wanted to be part of the music world, without being a star. I remember the first record I bought was Suzi Quatro’s Devil Gate Drive… I then learned to play some instruments and it was when I discovered punk that I got into it and started playing in bands. I became a DJ a bit by accident; I was buying a lot of records at the time and they would invite me to parties to play them.  So at these teenage parties, someone would often spill their drink or throw up on my records. So at one point, a friend invited me to her party and asked me to bring my records. I said I would come, but without my records. So the friend in question offered to rent turntables and asked me to be in charge of the music for the whole evening so that I would be the only one handling the records. And that’s how I started. I also realized that I liked to share my appreciation of certain songs with others. I liked to play songs and try to guess what people would like to hear next, to create a kind of performance. That’s how I started, I must have been 14 or 15 years old.

PAN M 360: And what did you play at that time?

Norman Cook: I was playing punk rock! It was towards the end of punk and the beginning of new wave… That and some of the pop hits at the time. And it was also during that period that I discovered electronic music, bands like Human League, Heaven 17, and all that stuff associated with the new romantic movement. A friend of mine and I had bought two turntables and in order to break even we used to do weddings, school parties, and I even DJed funerals…

PAN M 360: You actually witnessed this incredible period in British music.

Norman Cook: Yes, I consider myself very lucky to have been able to experience that. For me, it was the golden age of music. Being my age, I’ve seen and heard a lot of it. I grew up with 70’s pop, then punk-rock, hip-hop, electronic music… I think I still have the basic spirit of punk rock, which is not to follow the established order, not to follow the rules, to change things, and to do it yourself. I got more seriously into Djing when I was old enough to go to nightclubs. By then I was playing funk, electronic music, rare groove, and then house. It was really exciting to go to clubs at that time. But it was more of a hobby to be a DJ during that period. We got ridiculous fees. So I played in bands during the day and at night I was a DJ, if I didn’t have a show with one of my bands.

PAN M 360: You played in a few bands and, of course, the Housemartins. I’ve always been intrigued by the difference between the music you played with that indie-rock band at the time and what you turned to afterward. Because after the Housemartins disappeared, you made a name for yourself with Beats International, then after Pizzaman, Mighty Dub Kats, things completely opposite to the Housemartins. Were you tired of playing in bands?

Norman Cook: I was a white kid in a suburb in the South of England and all the music I really liked was black music, like funk, hip-hop, house. During that period I felt that playing black music when you’re white was not okay. There were very few white bands playing black music at that time. So I turned to white indie music with the Housemartins, a band that came from punk. But as a DJ, I didn’t mind playing black music. Then came drum machines and samplers and from then on white people could make music similar to black music without pretending to be black themselves. So that’s what I did, and I dropped the Housemartins. To be honest, I never really liked playing with the Housemartins. It was Paul (Heaton)’s band and I was just the bass player. 

PAN M 360: In these other adventures before becoming Fat Boy Slim, you also reveal your love for reggae and dub.

Norman Cook: Yeah, I play a lot of that as a DJ too. It’s the most authentic black music I grew up with. Where I lived, there was always reggae music around me, so I grew up loving that music. But then again, I didn’t want to be that white guy trying out reggae. As soon as samplers came along, you could put all these influences, ideas and different sounds or rhythms into a song and add your own personal touch without pretending to be black.

PAN M 360: So how did the Fat Boy Slim saga begin?

Norman Cook: I continued to play with bands while DJing. There was Beats International and Freak Power, which was a kind of acid funk band. But after about ten years of playing in bands by day and DJing at night, I realized that more people came to see me for my DJ sets than for the gigs of the bands I was playing with. Fatboy Slim was one of my many DJ projects. There was Mighty Dub Katz, Pizzaman and I played with Freak Power. So the last thing I wanted was another project. With Fatboy Slim, it was a way of combining all these different influences into one entity: the catchiness of pop music, the rhythms of hip-hop and the energy of acid-house became a sound of its own, which we called big beat. It all quickly became more and more important in my professional life and I no longer had time to play in bands, I was still up from the night before because of Fatboy Slim. Over the years, I made Fatboy Slim just me, no longer pretending to be a bass player trying to write traditional songs, with lyrics, choruses, verses… The punk rocker in me gave up all that. It was a chance for me to finally create the music I really like, mixing all these samples, instead of making the music I thought I should make. 

PAN M 360: For me, the Big Beat sound was a sort of mix between the energy and aggressiveness of punk and the groove of hip-hop, with the added bonus of dub madness.

Norman Cook: Yes, it is! That’s kind of what I like about music. I like the rebellious side of punk and the idea that you don’t have to be a musician to make a record, mixed with the grooves of black music that I like but with a certain pop sensibility. I didn’t want to be too much of an underground artist, I like to entertain people and that penchant for entertainment came across in my sets, where I would jump around, where I could play hip-hop tracks on 45s and techno tracks on LPs, just to fuck with the genres. And with the samplers, the big beat allowed me to keep doing that.

PAN M 360: How did the big beat evolve, if at all, and what is the big beat today?

Norman Cook: The thing is, the big beat never really evolved. It was more of a rule-breaking, genre-bending thing. The only common link from record to record, or artist to artist, was that there was a big beat. Then it became a genre, then a formula and soon everyone started making big beat albums that all sounded the same, and that’s what killed the big beat in a way. It was only a matter of three or four years. But I think the genre still has a place. If you think about it, garage came from the Paradise Garage in NYC, house came from the Warehouse club in Chicago and big beat came from my club in Brighton, the Big Beat Boutique. I’m really proud of that.

PAN M 360: You have all these wacky aliases (Margaret Scratcher, Chimp McGarvey, Son of Wilmot, Yum Yum Head Food… over twenty!), funny song or album titles… To what extent would you say that humor or irony is an integral part of your work?

Norman Cook: I think it’s a huge part of my work. The irony, more than the humor. I don’t make comedy records but I do like to twist things around. Also, I don’t take myself too seriously. There are a lot of musicians who think they’re a gift to the world from God, but I’m just an idiot who likes to show off; I like to make people smile, make them dance. I’ve never seen Djing as a high art form and I’ve never seen myself as a genius artist or a sex symbol… It’s just me making records. And by not taking myself seriously, I think it’s harder for people to criticize me. But also, there’s a huge amount of emotion and reference in music and humor is often an aspect that gets overlooked. As I said, my job is to make people dance and smile, not necessarily to educate them, to start a rebellion, or anything like that. It’s often just about empathy or sex. For me, Fatboy Slim is all aspects of my personality rolled into one. 

PAN M 360: Your last album, Palookaville, was released in 2004… almost 20 years ago. Do you plan to release another one sooner or later?

Fatboy Slim: Not really. I don’t seem to like making albums anymore. I did a few and then I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I lost that passion but I didn’t lose the passion to play music for people. But who knows, maybe one day I’ll get tired of going around the world DJing and staying up until indecent hours and I’ll get the urge to make an album again. Never say never, but to be honest, the concept of an album seems a bit stale in this streaming age. I might put out a few new songs, but once I’ve released enough to put it on an album, it’s going to feel redundant.

PAN M 360: Maybe then you’ll bring out your old bass…

Norman Cook: Yes, I still play bass from time to time, for birthdays and weddings. If my friends put a band together for one of these occasions, I’m always the designated bass player! I still enjoy it but I consider myself a better DJ than a bass player, I can assure you!

PAN M 360: What have you been doing lately? Any new projects in the pipeline?

Norman Cook: We recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the big party we did in Brighton Beach, which was really exciting. Also, I’ve finished organizing my first festival where we take over a holiday camp for a weekend. It’s one of those huge British holiday camps that nobody goes to in the winter. So I’ve selected 35 DJs to take turns at the All Back To Minehead festival weekend. Minehead is a tiny seaside resort in the West of England.

PAN M 360: How do you work on your DJ sets? Do you follow a certain strict pattern with some room for improvisation or do you just let yourself go, following the mood?

Norman Cook: I go with the flow. I know what the first three and last three songs of my set are but what happens in between depends on the crowd, the mood… On the other hand for the big shows, I take fewer risks. People are there to hear the hits. The smaller the show, the more fun I have and the more freedom I give myself. I play with Serato, my laptop, and CDJs.

PAN M 360: A lot of people saw you recently in the documentary about the Woodstock 99 disaster. Was that the most chaotic event you’ve been to as an artist or have there been worse ones?

Norman Cook: Oh no, it wasn’t the worst (laughs). It was chaotic but I wasn’t there on Sunday when things started to get really bad. It was just too big an event. It was full of drunken American kids and when you have that many of them in one place, it can become a problem. But I’ve been to gigs that were far less organized than Woodstock, and gigs where the behavior was far worse and I was really more scared! That will be the subject of another documentary perhaps…

PAN M 360: Could you mention one?

Norman Cook: Um… no (laughs). A gentleman never kisses and tells.

PAN M 360: You said in the documentary that you like chaos when you perform, is it still the case? And what kind of chaos are you referring to?

Norman Cook: I like chaos because dance music is mainly about uniting people but also freeing them for a few hours to forget their stress and boring lives. People are free, people are together, people are sexy and I try to make them forget about the daily train by putting them in a fantasy world full of bright lights, loud music, and solidarity. As long as there is a community spirit, as long as people don’t hurt each other or break anything, I like the chaos you feel when they lose their minds. You feel it and you can see it in their eyes. You see some of them look at you and seem to say “what the hell are you doing here?” and I look at them like “yeah this is fun, let’s go”… For me it’s really exciting because I’m the one who controls that energy, I’m the one who tries to make them go crazier and crazier and they totally lose themselves in the music. That’s the kind of surrender I’m trying to get. I’m not trying to cause a riot, I want the crowd to lose themselves and let go together. That’s the kind of chaos I like and seek when people go crazy, but stay within the bounds of decency and public safety. The crowd is as important as the DJ. If you’re in a band, you can put on an amazing show for a shitty crowd, but as a DJ, it’s a conversation you’re having with your audience. If the crowd doesn’t respond to what you say, then it becomes a monologue.

PAN M 360: Do you play your hits (“Rockafeller Skank,” “Praise You,” “Weapon Of Choice”) in all your sets? Do you sometimes feel like the Rolling Stones, obliged to play “Satisfaction” at every show?

Norman Cook: I actually play Satisfaction mixed with “Rockafeller Skank”! I don’t mind that at all! I would say I play “Right Here Right Now” and “Praise You” quite a bit all the time, but I have so many different versions and mashups and remixes of those songs that I never get bored. I think these are probably the two songs that the public would be disappointed not to hear. “Rockafeller Skank” is not always included in my set though, only if I think people deserve it…

PAN M 360: Do you have anything to say to the people who will attend your show in Montreal?

Norman Cook: First of all to apologize to the Montrealers for taking so long to come, to thank them for their indulgence. Then to invite people to come and get lost in a collective euphoria, to escape… and not to forget their dancing shoes! 

FATBOY SLIM PLAYS THE “OFF PIKNIC” THIS SATURDAY, SEPT. 3 AT 4 P.M. BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE!

 With his calming, cool José González, has been compared to the likes of a contemporary Nick Drake. González’s newest album, Local Valley, is his deepest and most philosophical album yet, with songs about love, death, humanism, and futurism, González imagines a world that reverts back to a somewhat tribal point of view—where everyone depended on each other in a global village. For example, the song “Visions” could also be called González’s magnum opus. 

We spoke with González about parenthood, his artistic style, and dancing apes, as he was pushing his one-year-old son, Matteo, in his stroller, through a park in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Jose González plays tonight at Theatre Maisonneuve – tickets here

Pan M 360: Where are you right now?

José González: I’m actually just walking right now with my boy. He should be sleeping but he’s not. He’s one year old. I’m just walking through Slotsugen park in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

PAN M 360: You weren’t a father when you released Vestiges & Claws. How has becoming a parent changed your perspective on songwriting?

José González: The period of time when I was about to become a dad and then became a dad, there were some changes in life, natural changes. Trying to go and see every band that came to town to be OK with not seeing them. I definitely think more about what I value each week. It’s a bit more calm living. As for the music, I didn’t feel as rushed to write local Valley and I let it take the time it did. The pandemic gave me even more time. I think you can sense that when you compare the two albums.

PAN M 360: That calmed state of mind? 

José González: Yes. With Vestiges & Claws I had high ambitions with the type of songs I would write. I tried to only do it with one guitar but had to do overdubs. So I think I let go of some of my youth, dogmatic standards. 

PAN M 360: This is probably you’re biggest album, theme-wise. You’re speaking or singing to humanity as a whole. Would you say that introspection came from being a new father. 

José González: I would say partly. With Vestiges & Claws I was inspired by humanism, effective altruism, and the long future… not only for humans but all sentient beings. In a way, I was already there, but with kids, it gave me more perspective and felt more real in a way. These discussions are a bit abstract, about how civilization might look in 100 or 2000 years from now.

PAN M 360: There’s this philosophical narrator approach to the new album as well. You just quoted one of your songs “Visions,” with the whole sentient beings line. It kind of feels like I’m experiencing a university philosophy class all over again. 

José González: I admit that I’ve been reading more and more over the years. And walking around with the stroller, I get to listen to full books and many of those books are philosophy books. It was kind of fun to release that inner nerd. But yes it’s just like a nerdy science class. 

PAN M 360: The album art was made by your partner, Hannele Fernström, a designer/illustrator. Did you two talk about the art or was it just her?

José González: We talked a lot. Aesthetically we were both on the same page. We both like Jospeh Frank, the textile designer. We wanted the album cover to be something more colourful. I was involved quite a bit in deciding which animals made the cover too. But once she started doing her thing, it was all her. She’s very into details and we both have very strong opinions.

PAN M 360: I’m always really excited when there is another album coming from you because they don’t happen every few years. You take time in between your releases, especially in this day and age when musicians release albums every one-two years.

José González: Yes I definitely take my time. I had my demos half ready for a while and with Local Valley, I waited until my daughter went to preschool and then really dedicated time to working on it. I was relaxed, but it came from being frustrated about not having the time as a new father. I was still playing and yes, I can bang out a song by just playing, but I wouldn’t like it. The way I work is I sit and write with complex chords or amazing arpeggios and from that demo, the finished song can take years. It’s mainly about combining and finding the lyrics perfectly sit. I need meaning too. So yeah, I’m a slow writer.

PAN M 360: You sing in Spanish, Swedish, and English on Local Valley. Have you tried that before?

José González: Yes, but it never quite fit. I tried that on Vestiges & Claws, but it was easier to sing in English in the end. But I felt it was kind of weird to be this Swedish, Argentinian artist who only sings in English. So this time it felt very natural. 

PAN M 360: You said that it’s important for you to find meaning in your songs, but your song “Swing” is a dance track about, moving your body and being free. It’s not a huge idea…

José González: Yes when I say meaning I mean working on many different layers, with the rhythms, and from an album point of view, I tried to have other layers. So I have some songs with the drum machine and playing around with loops. I wanted many different styles on the album. So songs about death, but also a song about moving your body. “Swing” isn’t deep but it does serve a purpose on the album. In my mind, I was thinking about “Happy” by Pharell Williams, When I saw videos of people dancing in secret to that song, undercover, I guess I was inspired by that. It’s not in the lyrics, but it does highlight that, independent of your sexual orientation or religion, we’re basically apes that like dancing. 

Born from the wacky minds of Montreal producers and DJs The Fitness (Darien Pons), Lou Roots (Louis Racine) and GabaGhoul (Gabriel Chenart), The Mugzy and Maam Show is a playful and zany cross between the Muppet Show and underground dance music. Like the Puppetmastaz or Mr. Oizo’s Flat Eric, the Mugzy & Maam Show brings a bit of madness and derision to DJ sets or electro shows that are too often static and linear. On the other hand, the three heads behind these puppets don’t fall into gaudiness and easy humour. There is a real work of conception and reflection behind the comical aspect of these two cardboard aliens who have fallen by accident in Montreal, a city where they have set themselves the goal of producing music, seeking happiness, and alerting humans to the dangers of losing their community. 

The Fitness, Lou Roots and GabaGhoul talked to us about this unusual show.

PAN M 360: Tell us how this crazy project came about.

Lou Roots: The idea came about in December 2019. It stems from the desire to bring a more visual and playful aspect to the generic DJ set. We were inspired by Daft Punk or Mr. Oizo with his Flat Eric puppet.

The Fitness: Once the puppets were imagined, we had to give them a personality, create a story, a setting. So we worked a lot on that, hoping to ultimately bring some fun and extravagance to the underground dance scene. It’s ultimately easier to comment on our society and this underground scene through puppets as well. 

PAN M 360: What does the show consist of?

The Fitness: The Mugzy & Maam Show is two puppets doing a DJ set for about an hour. Since we handle the puppets, we can’t really play live so all the music was pre-recorded by us three. But since MUTEK asked us to do a longer show, we added half an hour. There’s a secondary character called Shteve Kelly, who I play, who is a kind of awkward party boy and a fan of Mugzy and Maam. At one point during the set, he spills his drink on the puppets’ audio equipment, frying the circuits and muting the sound. So this forces the puppeteers to reveal themselves and take their instruments and machines for a half hour live set.

GabaGhoul: Mugzy and Maam bring a more theatrical side to DJ sets that are too often similar, where you see a DJ behind his machines and not much else. We’re transforming that a bit to give a live performance at Mutek, with different instruments and machines. It’s a way to show that we are the ones making the music, and who we are. 

PAN M 360: Who are Mugzy and Maam?

The Fitness: They are two aliens from a distant planet, who have to flee from it because it is being invaded by a huge fungus. So the pair escape in a spaceship built by Mugzy, which ultimately crashes in Montreal. A little lost, without family or friends, the two protagonists find comfort in underground dance music. They discover a mode of expression and a community of friends, which ultimately saves them. 

PAN M 360: Who designed these puppets?

The Fitness: Our friend Gen Wade’s company Material Things made the puppets. We asked her about three years ago because we think she does beautiful work. 

PAN M 360: Will the show at MUTEK be the first of the Mugzy & Maam Show?

Lou Roots: The project hasn’t been fully unveiled yet despite a few performances here and there, at Mural for example. So we consider the show at MUTEK as the real premiere of the Mugzy & Maam Show. 

The Fitness: I think puppets take a lot of adults of a certain generation back to their childhood, with Sesame Street and the Muppet Show for example, but in a more underground context. It’s very fun and accessible and we’re surprised that MUTEK was interested in us, because our music is not very experimental. But with the sets, the puppets and the music, it gives a more alternative dimension. This motivated us to develop our show. Although it doesn’t sound very serious, this show is not a joke, because we don’t make jokes at MUTEK (laughs). 

GabaGhoul: It’s not very MUTEK sounding, but we are quite proud and grateful that MUTEK trusted us without even really seeing the show. I think it shows once again how MUTEK likes to open the boundaries of electronic music. 

THE MUGZY & MAAM SHOW TAKES PLACE AT ESPLANADE TRANQUILLE on SUNDAY AUG 28 During « EXPÉRIENCE 6 » at 5 PM. FREE, INFO HERE!

Donia Leminbach is enjoying the full freedom she gained with the re-launch of her career, marked by the release of recordings under the Draw Me A Silence banner. A few years ago, the producer began a new chapter in her life.

A divorce, the heritage of a small palm grove built by her late mother in the Tunisian Sahara, a life divided between the southwest of France and her mother’s house. These personal events coincide with a real professional success in the circuits related to the genres and subgenres techno, dub, breakcore, hardtek, bass music family.

Given the success of her recent recordings, she travels around North Africa, France, the world… All this also coincides with the appearance of her new alias, Azu Tiwaline, which will be highlighted this Sunday at MUTEK.

PAN M 360: Tell us about the birth of Azu Tiwaline, this alias that brings you authentic success.

AZU TIWALINE: I am based between the south of Tunisia and the southwest of France (on the border of the Landes and the Basque country. In Tunisia, I stay quite close to the Chott el-Jerid, a vast saline plain which is in fact an old dried-up sea and which sometimes covers itself with a few centimeters of water, once or twice a year. It becomes another magical landscape. Five or six years ago, I decided to live there and come to France from time to time. My mother, twenty years earlier, had bought a piece of land with sand, she built her house little by little, she planted palm trees little by little, she passed away 5 years ago and I decided to settle there. It is a small palm grove, it is really a paradise there but I have to take care of it and I am an only child. For two years now, I have to spend half of my time in France, because it’s not easy to spread out in Europe and in the world from Tunisia. That’s why I have another base in the southwest of France, which allows me to travel.

PAN M 360: Going back to Tunisia was necessarily a great source of improvisation, how does this manifest itself in Azu Tiwaline?

AZU TIWALINE: So I was born in France of a Tunisian mother and a Cambodian father, but I grew up in the Ivory Coast, in Abidjan. I came back to France when I was 14 years old. I always had a link with France and the French-speaking world, my parents spoke French, it’s my mother tongue, so I quickly integrated myself into France. I then became interested in rave culture and started to make electronic music, having access to equipment from my friends who were making electronic music. 

PAN M 360: How does your living environment impact your music? 

AZU TIWALINE: There are rhythmic elements from North Africa in my music, I work on ternary rhythms, I also use instruments that can be found in Berber music. Also, I record a lot of sounds from my immediate environment, I like that we can situate ourselves with these sound recordings on the terrain of North Africa, the street, the village, the calls to prayer, a kind of sound postcard. But above all, there is an emotion underlying these sounds put in context, the desert in my music can also mean silence. And people can stick to the meaning they want. But I don’t claim to be a North African ethno-musician at all. 

PAN M 360: You are more a citizen of the world, where you are is a matter of creation, isn’t it?

AZU TIWALINE: Exactly.

PAN M 360: Your aesthetic is clearly electronic, in fact.

AZU TIWALINE: I’m more techno and dub, even if this dub is not fundamentally reggae.

PAN M 360: How has your art evolved recently?

AZU TIWALINE: For the moment I am surfing on this wave from my first album under the pseudo Azu Tiwaline. I take advantage of this good energy, the support I received, it allows me to tour and continue the work of creation. Last winter, I finished composing a second album which should be released in 2023. That’s what’s happening in the short and medium term. And then in the long term, I don’t know yet. I want to do artistic residencies, which I’ve done many times before.  Another dream of mine in the long term is to be able to do film music.

PAN M 360: Did you study music?

AZU TIWALINE: Not really in a sustained way. I took music lessons when I was a kid but it didn’t produce the desire to be an instrumentalist, I don’t think I had any teachers to produce the click. It’s rather when I discovered electronic music in raves that I wanted to understand how the machines worked. I had friends who had equipment and that’s how it started. As a self-taught person, little by little, I bought machines, software, etc. I was doing all that at the same time. I was doing all this at the same time as I was studying, so I didn’t necessarily think I would make a career out of it. It was a passion and, at the end of my studies, I was already starting to earn a living with music. I gave myself two or three years to enjoy it and we’ll see.  More than twenty years later, I’m still making music. It’s going well right now but there are periods where there are ups and downs, there is no stable income, it’s the art of managing your emotions without panicking when there are less busy periods professionally. 

PAN M 360: Azu Tiwaline?

AZU TIWALINE: I would translate Azu Tiwaline as ‘the eyes of the wind’. A Berber might not translate these two words like that, but for me, the combination of these two words can lead to this translation. In my imagination, at least, that’s how I perceived it, especially when I started living in Tunisia.  And so, when I finished my first album, I chose this alias to mark this change and create a new identity. Everything changed in my life at that moment, I wanted to signify the coming of this new cycle with a new identity.

PAN M 360: Affinities with certain artists, labels, etc.?

AZU TIWALINE: I first received a warm welcome in England, this open door there allowed me to radiate internationally, while being close in my way to UK bass music. My signature at Livity Sound also helped me a lot in this sense, I was able to meet several artists that I admired and with whom I could make new collaborations. Then I have a link with the Tunisian electronic scene, which is rather experimental, rather noisy. Of course, I live in the Sahara and I’m not necessarily connected with the community of Tunis where it happens mostly, but I still have links. And here I like to spend a lot of time alone and live in the desert to enjoy this solitude.

AZU TIWALINE PERFORMS SUNDAY AT SAT, NIGHT SERIES 5 / MUTEK MONTREAL. INFOS AND TICKETS, IT’S HERE.

Evoking power-pop fills my music geek’s heart with joy. Alex Chilton and Big Star, Cheap Trick, The Smithereens, Weezer’s first three albums, Mathew Sweet, The New Pornographers, and so many other bands. Uplifting stuff that makes you want to hop around and sing along, Thus The Beths, a relatively young band from Auckland, New Zealand, are a true blessing. I would go so far as to say that The Beths are making some of the best power-pop of the Anglosphere, these days. Elizabeth Stokes (vocals and rhythm guitar), Tristan Deck (drums), Jonathan Pearce (lead guitar and vocals) and Benjamin Sinclair (bass and vocals) are creating songs that are as addictive as they are memorable. Moreover, they play really tight and smile a lot. Pan M 360 got caught singer-guitarist Liz Stokes somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard, a few days before The Beths’ Montréal gig.

Pan M 360: Hello Liz, if my sources are correct, you must be somewhere between North Carolina and Virginia.

Liz Stokes: Yeah, so we are in North Carolina we played in Durham last night, and we’re in Raleigh Today.

Pan M 360: 2022 has been but an extensive tour for you, so far.

Liz Stokes: Yes, it’s been nice. We’re playing maybe seven or eight more shows in North America. Then 10 days later we have some dates in Australia and New Zealand.

Pan M 360: Will this be your first visit to Montréal?

Liz Stokes: We actually played there in 2019, the year before the pandemics, at Pop something?

Pan M 360: Pop Montreal? (Writer’s note: the venue was Casa del Popolo) Your third album, Expert in A Dying Field, will be released in about three weeks. I’ve heard the singles (“Expert in a Dying Field”, Silence Is Golden”, “A Real Thing”, “Knees Deep”). Can the listeners expect a ratio of tender and rocking songs similar to Future Me Hates Me and Jump Rope Gazers?

Liz Stokes: Yeah, certainly; it’s gonna be like a 50-50 mix of Future Me and Jump. Also, it does feel like a bit Jump Rope Gazers tour I guess because we never got to play those songs live. And then we’ll come back and keep touring once the new album comes out!

Pan M 360: Given its melodic and energetic rock approach, your music is generally uplifting, even when the lyrics tackle anxiety-inducing questions like the rising sea level on “A Real Thing,” for instance. It seems to me like a conscious choice for the band, to gently move or raise awareness without causing dread?

Liz Stokes: We experience a lot of dread and that’s why I don’t necessarily like to write and sing about these things. I like to write about what I’m feeling, but I don’t like to play songs that make you feel dread and make you feel really anxious. That’s not what I like to do. I like the songs to feel hopeful and exciting. And I feel like you can still write whatever you want, you know, in a way that’s very “word painting”, about those feelings that you’re trying to get across.

Pan M 360: Since we’re talking about anxiety-inducing topics, watching your “Knees Deep” video made me realize I haven’t gotten over my fear of heights. Is the sequence of events we’re witnessing real? The band members leaving one at a time to bungee jump over the river and coming back to the rehearsal space?

Liz Stokes: Well, it’s a fictional video! But the bungee jumps are real; we went in the morning, and everybody could jump one at a time. And then we went to the studio and shot the scenes there. We’re definitely not actors! It was a very silly video, but we had a lot of fun making it.


Pan M 360: But it works somehow! Even though you’re using props like algae stuck in one of the musician’s hair. Where is that bridge exactly? Is it in Auckland?

Liz Stokes: Yes, that’s the Auckland Harbour bridge, up because I think a lot of bungee jumps. It’s very picturesque, yet we didn’t want it to feel like a tourism study. For us, it’s just a functional bridge over the harbour. On a beautiful day, the view is great. But at the end of the day, you’re just jumping from a commuter bridge!

Pan M 360: Was it your first time jumping?

Liz Stokes: Ben (Writer’s note: bass-player Benjamin Sinclair) and I had done it before as kids, on a family holiday. But this time it was scarier, I think. When you’re a kid, you’re like ”Well, even if I fall, I’ll bounce”, but as an adult, you’re like “I will shatter into a million pieces”!

Pan M 360: I read in the press release that your new album would be an “incandescent collision of power-pop and skuzz”. For those, like me, who are not familiar with “skuzz,” how would you define it?

Liz Stokes: I’m not that familiar with it either, to be honest! We have somebody that writes a bio, and he or she is much better with words than we are. We like distortion, you know, fuzzing out! I like writing pop songs, within the pop format. But we still like distortion and power-pop.

Pan M 360: The Beths are quickly becoming the new power-pop heroes of the 2020s. But who are your own power-pop heroes?

Liz Stokes: I love Alvvays, a Canadian band. I’m also a big fan of the Buzzcocks, I listened a lot to their compilation Singles Going Steady. I like just how simple it is, the ideas, the melodies. They really pop out, they’re really memorable. I’m not like a “deep cut” listener. I listen to that in my car a lot, the Buzzcocks, going into the city.

Pan M 360: Well I am really looking forward to your Sunday concert in Montréal. Thanks so much for this interview, be safe!


Photo by Frances Carter.

THE BETHS PLAY LE BAR RITZ PDB ON SUNDAY AUGUST 28TH AT 8 P.M. YOU CAN BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE!

A figure of the Toronto electronic scene for over ten years, Korea Town Acid cultivates a musical identity that draws largely from downtempo, broken beat and alternative hip-hop. Producer – her last album Elephant In The Room was just released – live performer and DJ, Jessica Cho does not hesitate to push the boundaries of music genres, and the scene is very grateful to her, as proven by the nomination of her track Sobriety for a Juno in the category of underground dance single of the year in 2022. For her second appearance at MUTEK, the Korean artist offers a live performance guided by improvisation, creating unique soundscapes.

PAN M 360 : How would you describe your relationship with Montreal ?

KOREA TOWN ACID :  I feel like Montreal treats me really well. Obviously, Montreal has very prestigious festivals like MUTEK, Pop Montreal and Osheaga. I’ve played at Pop Montreal, as well as MUTEK, I’ve done a Boiler Room at Piknic Electronik. I’ve had ones of my best showcases in Montreal, I feel very connected to the city. The intention behind an event is very important to me and I feel that there is no festival like MUTEK that focuses on digital and creative arts and that is really about the audio interactive experience. 

PAN M 360 : What does a festival like MUTEK mean to you ? 

KOREA TOWN ACID :  You know, l was working for a long time to be on stage like MUTEK. A part of me wanted to play hardware and live. I was so inspired by a lot of artists that played there that I wanted to be a part of it. I actually debuted in MUTEK 2018, so I’m really excited to go back because it was pandemic and during pandemic I haven’t like really focused on playing live PA stuff because the way I interact with my live PA has to do with reading the vibe at that moment in the room and everything. So yeah, like I’m really looking forward to having that connection with the people. I feel that the type of audience that MUTEK brings is the people who really care about this kind of underground and original music. It’s really exciting when people are there to see you and they’re just receptive about what you do. 

PAN M 360 : What can we expect from your performance at MUTEK ? 

KOREA TOWN ACID :  Basically no computer. It’s very hardware focused and I’m using drum machines, samplers, FM synthesis and modular synthesis, bringing stuff in and out. I already have pre programmed stuff but I’m orchestrating it live. Let’s say like I have a song already, but then I’m mixing it and I bring things live. It’s kind of like a DJ approach because I want it to be cleaner and have a smoother transition. I want it to be more dancefloor oriented. I’m playing a Saturday outdoor stage at 7:00 PM so it’s going to be a sunset kind of vibe. I’m picturing this kind of energy. 

PAN M 360 : I know some people use the word hybrid for a performance mixing DJing and live, would you say your proposition is hybrid ? 

KOREA TOWN ACID :  I wouldn’t, I would say it’s absolutely not hybrid because I’m playing original live music, but just the way I’m approaching bringing in and out of tracks is a DJ approach. But it’s completely original so I wouldn’t call it a hybrid. 

PAN M 360 : A big part of the live will be improvised. Is this approach for improvisation coming from your background in jazz ? Are you trying to recreate a dialogue between the machines ?

KOREA TOWN ACID : Yeah, basically my approach for the music is really about capturing that moment. It cycles through the moment and the improvisation aspect is that when there’s a sort of happy mistake comes in within my set. I try to navigate, if there’s something good, I stay there, and then it evolves. Definitely, the energy sort of goes out and shifts. That’s when it comes where I can feel the audience is digging in more than others sometimes. Improvisational aspect is where I could bring up different stuff, depending on what people are digging. I have pre programmed stuff in the machine but what I would actually perform will depend on the mood, the situation and the day.

KOREA TOWN ACID IS PERFORMING ON SATURDAY AT L’ESPLANADE TRANQUILLE, EXPERIENCE SERIES/ MUTEK MONTREAL – FREE CONCERT

The Trois-Rivières-born Québécois living in Berlin previewed his new album “Begin Within”, his first release at Mutek 2022, at MTELUS last Friday for the Nocturne 3 program, which also featured the fantastic Cora Novoa and the genius Luke Slater. 

At the crossroads of contemporary music, dark techno and hypnotic ambient, Nicolas Bougaïeff is a multi-talented composer with a wide range of production techniques and, what’s more, an individual always looking to share his erudition. 

He is invited by the biggest European techno clubs such as the Berghain or the KitKatClub. He performs in Israel, Poland, England. He shares the stage with Richie Hawtin, Daniel Miller, Anna, FJAAK, Ben Clock, Blawan. He creates software and applications. He teaches electronic music in his own school. You will have understood that Nicolas is a music scholar. 

Best known for his techno made of darkness, decadent and monolithic rhythms, he multiplies breathtaking dance atmospheres.  In the context of MUTEK 2022, he came back to Montreal, at home in Quebec, with a new concept: the album Begin Within, which will be released in November. The album is as dark as ever, but this time with a different approach.

For him, “it’s a new take-off” that consists in revealing a part of his intimacy. Terrified of having to share a closeness with others because it brings him to his own vulnerability, Nicolas nevertheless talks about it with PAN M 360.

PAN M 360: Nicolas Bougaïeff is known for his dark and dancing techno, but for your first performance at MUTEK, you chose to present a preview of your new album Begin Within, due out in November, which is more electro-experimental and sung. Tell us about the genesis of this new project. 

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: I composed this new album as a reaction to states of mind, very vague sensations…very strong…that followed me and overwhelmed me for years, in fact. I felt trapped in frames. This album is the fruit of something that was growing inside me for a long time. I have many fears to exorcise…

PAN M 360: When you talk about fears, can you tell me what they are precisely? What did you want to externalize?

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: I really have a lot of fears! (laughs) The ones that prevent me from functioning are those of intimacy, honesty and vulnerability. There’s nothing innovative in what you’re saying, maybe, because it’s a human experience that is common to all of us, I think. For me, it’s the fear of the other and the intimacy that could come from it, as well as exposing oneself honestly. 

PAN M 360: Do you think this album is the most personal or intimate you have done so far?

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: All my musical compositions are very personal. I put a lot of myself into it, but with Begin Within, it’s definitely intimate. Intimate, both in the musical composition and the choice of titles as well as the lyrics. 

PAN M 360: If we compare your album Deckalog, dark, dancing, monolithic techno, released very recently, and the upcoming album Begin Within, the musical contrast is very strong. However, knowing your formation and your career, it seems to me rather coherent. In any case, definitely, the darkness remains present but under another musical angle. The novelty is the contribution of your voice on all the titles. For me, to put your voice is to give a part of your humanity. How did you live this experience of singing?

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: I never worked on my voice and never took singing lessons. I worked with a new instrument that I didn’t master at all and that helped me to make it even more intimate because I went into it naturally, without thinking. So I focused on intimacy and emotionality. I totally exposed myself. Not being able to hide behind professional singing skills made me feel very free, more free than when I compose.

PAN M 360: How do you think the public will receive this new performance?

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: For me, it’s a new take-off. I know that people know me more for club or rave music, but I don’t want to anticipate the public’s feeling. I let people do what they want with my music. However, deep down, I hope people will be transcended by my music and touched by the intimacy I want to share with them. 

PAN M 360: Originally from Trois-Rivières, you studied classical music at McGill University and at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, then you obtained a doctorate in minimal techno. Not finding enough space in Montreal to evolve in your field, you moved to Berlin in 2005. Your first apartment was right next to the mythical Berghain. From there your revelation was born and your career blossomed naturally. Your music, I think, reflects all this long and rich experience. “Saccades et Paroxysmes”, a recording released in March 2022 on your label Denkfabrik, is an experimentation between electronic texture and the improvisation of a French pianist, Justine Ekhaut.  Definitely techno, your acclaimed first album, The Upward Spiral, was released on the Mute label in 2020. My feeling is that your eclecticism is a logical consequence of mature reflections and a process of intellectualization of your practice. Your techno is hyper refined, hyper efficient. What do you think about it?

NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: Thank you very much. It touches me…My journey into techno has been an exercise in integration, actually. I have a range of techniques that allow me to apply different methods of music composition in a broad way. I experienced it as a way to fully immerse myself in the Berlin techno culture. Berlin was naturally welcoming to me. I had the chance to release my music on different labels, to play in many clubs and to meet artists who trusted me. I fed off all this atmosphere to work on my music. I like to push my limits as far as possible and I juggle with the rules. 

PAN M 360: You have been fortunate being able to collaborate with Richie Hawtin by founding the software creation company Liine in 2010 and the MIDI/OSC app Lemur. Then you founded the Berlin Academy of Electronic Music. When I said earlier that you intellectualize your music, it’s also in connection with these projects. We are in a virtuous circle: artist, developer of production tools and teaching. I would like to know what led you to develop these tools that you have successfully commercialized and this idea of a music school. 


NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF: For me, these are great themes! I wanted to learn music from A to Z, to be as erudite as possible on all aspects of music. I know that it is difficult to be an expert in all fields, but I was thirsty for knowledge. I’ve never done jazz harmony and that will be my next challenge. But, I’ve gathered as much knowledge as possible about the concepts of music, its history, its practice, the different styles etc.. The tools developed with Liine are the result of a coincidence because they were tools that I had created for my own musical practice. Then a colleague discovered what I was doing and put me in touch with Richie (Hawtin) who was won over by the tool. At that time, I didn’t have many gigs under my belt. And that was indeed a big door opener for the next thing. As far as my music school is concerned, it is the fruit of a natural process for me. I have been a teacher for more than 15 years. My desire was to make up for the lack of teaching and training in electronic music. When I was young, it was very rare to have courses on this musical domain contrary to other styles of music. I also come from a family of teachers, so I’ve always been immersed in this field. For me, it’s part of the game. You give and take.

After more than 30 years of a prolific career, Luke Slater belongs in the heavyweight category of techno. Pioneer of the genre in Great Britain, he has developed many aliases over the years, allowing him to explore the corners of his creativity. MUTEK invited him as LB Dub Corp (yesterday, August 25) at the Esplanade Tranquille and he will play live tonight at the SAT under his best known alias, Planetary Assault Systems. Expect a masterclass of dark, cold, and atmospheric techno. 

PAN M 360 : Do you remember the first time you came to Montreal? 

LUKE SLATER: You know I do, and I’ll tell you why. As crazy as this is, yesterday morning I was up at like 6:00 o’clock in the morning because of jetlag, so I went for a walk. And I went over to la Place-des-Arts and on my way I spotted this place called Eggspectations… I think it was like 1995, I did a gig here and then after the gig it was like 6 or 7 in the morning they took me to Eggspectation and I was never really sure whether it was in Montreal or Toronto or somewhere else. I was just standing there, “it’s here ! Eggspectation is still here, I’m still here.” I didn’t go and eat any eggs, but I was pleased to see it was still here. 

PAN M 360 : So you’ve been familiar with the city for quite a long time now. Is there anything special about it for you ? 

LUKE SLATER: I think it’s quite unique from what I’ve experienced because of the French culture. This sort of mix where culturally I’ve always thought it’s really interesting, like I’ve never really managed to put my finger on it. For me, it’s never been like a straight sort of place to play, where you go and play and you know the crowd like “this is a rave crowd”, etc. Every time I come here it’s like “OK, what’s it going to be this time,” and it’s a good thing.

PANM360 : So is it an ‘expect the unexpected’ kind of thing ? 

LUKE SLATER: In some way, yeah, you got to keep an open mind. MUTEK is a very good example of that. The festival itself has always, from what I’ve seen, been curating really culturally interesting music and that’s inspiring, to the point that, all over the world, people know the festival. 

PAN M 360 : During MUTEK you are playing with two different monikers and you have quite a few others, it seems a lot ! 

LUKE SLATER: Yeah, I’m trying to strip them away slowly, it’s just a lot to manage. Last night I did an LB Dub Corp, more of a house set and tonight the live show with Planetary Assault Systems and I can switch between those two really easily. The 7th Plain, that gets a bit more complicated, it’s a different kind of mindset. I think the idea started because I was writing so much music and I needed to separate out everything. After a time, what happened was I started releasing on different labels, and then assigned each pseudonym to a label, and then it started to happen that these labels wanted more. So, I had to kind of think of writing in a way that was true to each one, which worked for a while, but ultimately ended not in disaster, but ended in just being ridiculous, trying to satisfy everyone.

PAN M 360: You are playing in two very different contexts during MUTEK : outdoor at Place-des-arts from 9-11pm and at MTELUS on Friday night. How each context is calling for one or the other moniker?

LUKE SLATER : With LB Dub Corp I don’t do that many DJ sets. It’s kind of like just the happy living with a side project really. I do look at where they want me to do it, because people don’t really know me that well as LB Dub Corp and some years ago there was a couple of instances where I did LB Dub Corp sets around techno warehouse events, the people were really confused why I was playing house. So I thought, LB Dub Corp got to be somewhere outdoor and mellow or a really small club, you know, very personal, dark, and that for me, that’s the two areas where LB Dub Corp work. I don’t like weaving out LB Dub Corp just like that because it’s got to be the right place. I’ve done a few nice sets in the Panorama Bar. But I think Planetary Assault Systems kind of just works. I mean, I’ve done sets in the day, during festivals… To be honest, it’s a nighttime thing for me. If it’s a very festive warm, I always want to block out the light. I like the dark better. 

PAN M 360: As you may know, MUTEK is about electronic music but also digital arts in a wider sense. Have you experimented with any other digital arts besides music? 

LUKE SLATER: I get acutely aware when I’m doing something that takes me away from music. I’m very sensitive to it and when I find myself looking at different paths I find it very difficult to kind of accept that at some point music has to be left behind for something. A lot of times when I explore different things I always come back to the music. I go out the door, have a look around and that’s it. It’s not just the throwaway thing, it’s a part of me and to sort of get excited in the same way by another process is really difficult even though. I’m very curious about AI lately, it’s threatening and that’s why I’m curious. I might feed all my tracks to see what it will spit out, is it going to be good? I don’t know. 

PAN M 360 : Have you ever mobilized music as part of a bigger project including other art forms ?

LUKE SLATER: When everything was locked down last year, but some places were open, I did a few special dates in Holland under the name the 7th Plain, which is more of my ambient, more spiritual side. It was really cool trying out this idea of getting some modern dancers involved, originally from the Staatsballet in Berlin and whom I’ve worked with before. I was playing live and I wanted them to express what they do in front of me on the stage. And it’s just amazing, really, you know, and we did one show at the Muziekgebouw, which is a classical concert hall in Amsterdam so totally different thing. I like to push the boundaries, break the codes of what you should and shouldn’t do. 

PAN M 360 : You are talking about the lockdown which makes me think about how the pandemic underlined the fragility of the structural techno music economy. I know there are initiatives like Aslice from DVS1 trying to make it more livable for producers. Have you any thoughts on how artists can build a more sustainable community ? 

LUKE SLATER: I think the nature of the music business is just tough. It is not just about talent, it’s about getting involved. For my experience, being present around everything probably was more important than just the fact I write records. If you got talent and you’re making music, that’s something that can’t be touched. But there’s more than that. It’s never just been about the music business and never just been about music. If you’re just sitting in your bedroom making some tracks, you need to reach out. I was around clubs a lot, right from the very beginning I was so involved, I mean my life became the clubs, I was fully immersed in this world. That was a good escapism and I felt at home. 

PAN M 360 : It’s probably easier now to make music and it’s easier to go online and put some stuff online thanks to the democratization of the tools, but it doesn’t mean it’s easier to reach to audiences and differentiate, there is so many competition

LUKE SLATER: It really is, that’s a real thing, not just a perception of old versus new. In the early days I think there probably were just as many musicians, but not that many people could actually release something. So people would have been creating stuff, but the bit where you can get it put on a record and then mail that record to someone, a DJ, and then that DJ would play the record; it was a very expensive and special route. And that’s the route I was involved in. So if you could get there, if you had a record coming out on the label, back then that was a big deal. And now it’s not, I mean there’s more kudos involved with labels. So people want to put stuff out in Mote-Evolver, but what Mote-Evolver does as a record label is absolutely no different from other labels. We go through the same process of releasing a raffle, the difference is that I run the label and I pick the music that goes out. Maybe there’s a shift in words like ‘release’ and uh, a lot of the old terminology of music I think sometimes can be dropped now because the chain is not the same. We don’t live in the past, you know? It’s not the 1980s anymore. Just use new words to describe what’s going on, slowly that’s happening. 

PAN M 360 : Retrospectively, after so many years listening to music, creating music, would you say having such a long career, is more a blessing or a curse ? 

LUKE SLATER: I think the first thing you have to do is accept that you’ve had a long career. There’s a point where your career is branded as a long old parade and you have to take that on. People are going to say you’ve had a long career and they’re going to look back at the history. Actually, I think this is an amazing thing, because if people are interested in my history and what I’ve done and why was one part of and everything that revolved around the culture, this means there’s a huge interest in the music and how it’s formed, where it’s going, what was going on there, what is going on now. You got to turn that into a positive, bring your history with you but you don’t live in the history. You can’t pretend that it didn’t happen and people will always ask you about this, you gotta own that. You gotta own that big time and. I think you can keep on pushing things and keep on testing different areas yourself. I think there’s an old saying that like if I went to see a band like let’s say the Clash was still playing, another band from my youth, and Strummer was still alive, If I went to see them play now and they didn’t do “London Calling”, I’d feel really pissed off about it. And to them, it’s probably the one track they don’t want to play. I think this is interesting, where Rock n’ Roll and dance music, some of the kind of lessons and ethos from bands, sometimes can crossover to electronic music because if you’ve written a lot of records and some people know of those records, I think you kind of owe them to do at least a couple when you’re going to play, you know? So I think the history things seems to inspire other people. People come up to me, brimming with enthusiasm, I’ve heard their perception of what happened, everything that came out and that’s a good thing. 

Unlike the hardcore classical music lovers, some other fans consider that film music is the classical music of our times. For sure, Hollywood film music draws from the Romantic and Post-Romantic period, and has more success than contemporary music composers for obvious reasons. Since a few years, many experiences of  symphonic music performances with film projections in real time is 

From conducting small ensembles to symphony orchestras, he built his strong reputation, and one of his trademarks is leading orchestras in Live to Projection film concerts. Erik Ochsner is definitely one of the leading film-orchestra conductors in the world.

He has been Principal Touring Conductor of La La Land Live in Concert, he has conducted 50 performances of Justin Hurwitz’s Academy Award and Grammy Award winning score. He conducted the world premiere of Mary Poppins in Concert at the Sydney Opera House, Love Actually with the San Francisco Symphony, Beauty and the Beast in Concert in Taiwan and Poland, Back to the Future, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek (2009), and Star Trek Into Darkness. Ochsner premiered The Music of Star Wars with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, he has been Music Director and conductor of the 2017 Opera America New Works Showcase and was a Guest Conductor at the Nanjing (China) Forest Music Festival. 

More recently, he led performances of Star Wars in Concert: Episode 4: A New Hope with the Montreal FILMharmonique. Upcoming performances in Montreal will involve him as the conducter of Star Wars in Concert, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back, presented 3 times at the Place des Arts (Wilfrid-Pelletier), next Friday and Saturday.

Ochsner is also Founder and Music Director of SONOS Chamber Orchestra. Highly educated in music, he attended The Pierre Monteux School, he is also a graduate of the Ivy League Dartmouth College.  He is Finnish-American dual citizen. From New York City where he lives, he talks about his next challenge in Montreal.

PAN M 360: We observe that live film music for symphony orchestras attracts more attention from an audience that would not come to symphony houses to hear classical repertoire. What is your own perception of this phenomenon? 

ERIK OCHSNER: You know, I’m fully classically trained, my goal in life was to become an opera conductor, which is not the case today. But, in a way, I’m conducting works for a different kind of total performance. And we always have new audiences coming to see these films with orchestras. And we always hear comments from amazed viewers like, “Oh, I didn’t know an orchestra was that big, or I didn’t know how it worked.” 

PAN M 360: How are you perceived by the classical community?

ERIK OCHSNER: Some purists on the classical side still think it’s a bad idea to play film music. I think that we artists need an audience. And by offering these concerts, we continue to serve our community. There are people who only come to the concert to hear Beethoven and the great repertoire, and that’s fine. Now we also have people who come to hear film music performed by great orchestras. So I don’t think it’s a loss or a setback for anyone.

PAN M 360: One could argue that the audience for symphonic film music does not systematically migrate to the large repertoire after having had a concert experience. Why is that?

ERIK OCHSNER: Yes, many people will not return to a symphonic concert other than a film score. People recognize symphonic music from their everyday lives. They identify that music that was in a commercial, when in fact it was Vivaldi. That’s why: parents today are not really interested in classical music because their parents didn’t introduce them to it. My own parents introduced me to it, and I loved it. So our duty is to inform and educate. Invite the public to conferences, encourage them to read the program notes. We must not ignore the phenomenon while being aware that we cannot force anyone to take the step towards the great repertoire.

PAN M 360: We can also guess that you find real qualities in the musical works composed for the cinema.

ERIK OCHSNER: Yes. I can’t speak about all film composers but I know, for example, that John Williams is a genuine post-romantic and also modern composer but you will also find more contemporary passages in his work, even if they are not dominant. Yes, film music is often a tribute to composers of the past but… also can have elements of atonal contemporary music. That said, Williams keeps returning to his favorite post-romanticism, that of Richard Strauss, Gustav Holst, etc. Otherwise, you know, it wouldn’t work. In 50 years it might be very different, but not now, because people have not been educated to feel comfortable with the “serious” repertoire of the last 75 years.

PAN M 360: Have you ever met John Williams to discuss your symphonic performances?

ERIK OCHSNER: No, I’ve never met him, although I’ve had discussions with other composers like Shameer Tandon, Howard Shore, Justin Hurwitz or Michael Giacchino, but I’ve never met John Williams, of whom I’ve conducted several scores. Of course, I’ve been told what his expectations are: he wants to get a great sound on stage, a great quality of execution.  But he doesn’t plan anything. A local orchestra decides, hey, we want to play music from a filler and has to negotiate with the rights company for that music. In the case of Star Wars, the John Williams music is owned by Walt Disney, so if you want to do concerts with the Star Wars music, you need the agreement of the license managers of all those movies around the world. A team will then have to go to the concert venue, make sure the screen size is right, that the projector is powerful enough, and that the orchestra is serious. For the conducting, John Williams approved a list of potential conductors and I’m on that list. Apparently, he and Disney like what I do.

PAN M 360: Have you ever conducted in Montreal?

ERIK OCHSNER: Yes I conducted the music from the La La Land soundtrack as part of the Montreal Jazz Festival, I think it was in 2017. With GFN Productions in Montreal, we were supposed to do The Empire Strikes Back in 2020 and then 2021 but the pandemic decided otherwise and we are finally back in 2022. 

PAN M 360: How do you approach the soundtrack of The Empire Strikes Back?  Is there a Disney recipe to follow?

ERIK OCHSNER: Disney and John Williams have established a protocol. So if a producer is interested in a particular track, each track has its own technical specification, which specifies the size of the screens, the quality of the projectors, the orchestra instrumentation, the number of flutes for example. This way, Disney can figure out how much money the company will make from each show. It’s still a business, whereas the classical world operates as a non-profit enterprise. It is fair to say that these film projects are considered profit-making enterprises.

PAN M 360: You often deal with freelance orchestras. How can you ensure quality in performance? How do you make sure that freelancers can be a cohesive whole?ERIK OCHSNER: I don’t audition players. Instead, I’ll talk to musicians I trust and ask them for their recommendations. When all the musicians in each section get together, many of them know each other because they’ve played together a lot. I want it to be friendly, I want it to be fun for the musicians I hire. Anyway, they work well together in general, it seems to be nice. And that’s exactly the feeling I had working with the musicians that were brought together for the FILMharmonique  Orchestra. They are very good players. And yes, I observe that there are many excellent musicians in Montreal and Quebec. Obviously, they all know each other and the chemistry works in that context.

FILMharmonique ORCHESTRA IS PERFORMING AT PLACE DES ARTS ON FRIDAY AUGUST 26, 7H30 PM AND SATURDAY AUGUST 27TH, 2Hpm AND 7H30 PM. TICKETS HERE

Through “Spillover’, American audiovisual artist Pierce Warnecke—based in France— and multidisciplinary artist Matthew Biederman – born in Chicago and based in Montreal – explore the divide between nature and culture through sound and image. Pierce and Matthew have been working together for many years, drawing on their respective backgrounds to bring together their vision of the art world. Pierce has regularly presented his work at Mutek, Elektra, CTM or ZKM, while Matthew has participated in the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennial, Istanbul Design Biennial, Montreal Digital Art Biennial, Artissima in Italy, SCAPE in New Zealand, and Moscow. In order for us to enjoy this sensory work that will be presented this Saturday, Pierce and Matthew contextualize their work.

PAN M 360: Given your background, your performances, and your installations, I would like to know more about Spillover. How did you come up with it?

PIERCE WARNECKE: It is an in situ creation that follows a residency at the Index Biennial last May in Portugal. The curator, Louis Fernandez, wanted to highlight the media art biennial whose theme was The Surface. We have been working with Matthew for about 9 years on several projects. We took advantage of this theme to explore the different forms of boundaries that exist between the human and natural environment. By a combination of circumstances, we realized that our project was totally linked to the environmental issues in the north of Portugal, in the Montalegre region. The issue is linked to various open-pit lithium mining projects that would degrade the landscape, destroy the ecosystem and endanger the socio-professional balance of the inhabitants.

PAN M 360: Did you conceive this creation with a militant environmentalist commitment in mind? Or did it come out of a creative phase?

PIERCE WARNECKE: Yes, we felt touched by the environmental and social context of the situation. We had the chance to talk to the people in the affected places and their distress touched us.

PAN M 360: Your works are often presented at large-scale, internationally renowned events such as Mutek, Elektra, CTM, Artissima (Italy), the SCAPE Biennial in New Zealand, or the Moscow Biennial. Could you give us some details about your creation and production process, as well as the tools you use to achieve such results?

PIERCE WARNECKE: We have a number of software programs that we use regularly. I use Max MSP a lot and Matthew uses TouchDesigner. We’re always looking for a simultaneous interaction between sound and visuals where we can really play live with the construction of the landscape. Matthew uses maps that represent the region of Montalegre in 3D. We play with the landscape as if it were an instrument in its own right. I’m turning that terrain into sound in real-time.

PAN M 360: What are your work habits when creating? Do you create together in real-time or is there a particular pattern of working and thinking?

MATTHEW BIEDERMAN: In my opinion, sound and visual creation are done simultaneously. However, sometimes the visuals are inspired by the sound and vice versa. We exchange a lot of files to inspire each other, before we end up with a complete sound and visual work. The visual composition is just as important as the sound composition. It’s real cooperation. Our artistic complicity has been forged over the years.

PAN M 360: There is still a huge amount of work to be done in terms of educating the public to see visual art as an art form in its own right, especially when combined with sound. Matthew, how do you think that can be remedied?

MATTHEW BIEDERMAN: I think it depends mostly on the context in which visual creations are exhibited. With our work, Spillover, we are in a three-dimensional setting: the map, the visual and the sound. That’s what makes the audience feel.

PAN M 360: Since you are dealing with a subject concerning the risks of environmental destruction with the aim of developing green energies, don’t you think that your work has a dramatic appeal?

PIERCE WARNECKE: Yes, there is a dramatic side, that’s for sure. At the same time, we couldn’t afford to be too moralistic, because in order to create, we use technological objects containing lithium. We live in a totally paradoxical society, we try to adapt while having the least negative impact on the environment. Our desire was not to be too moralistic but to question our lifestyle and our choices.

MATTHEW BIEDERMAN: My activism goes through my works to sensitize individuals, hoping to make society more alert on these issues. I want to raise awareness, rather than be judgmental. As a Canadian, I also feel close to what is happening here in my country, where Aboriginal people are often the victims of our energy development projects.

PAN M 360: Do you have other projects in the works? Together or solo?

PIERCE WARNECKE: We would like to continue to develop the Spillover project and adapt it to different contexts and locations around the world.

MATTHEW BIEDERMAN: It would be great to delve deeper into the intricacies of map work.

Artists’ websites :
https://piercewarnecke.com/
https://www.mbiederman.com/

SPILLOVER WILL BE PRESENTED ON SATURDAY AUGUST 27TH AT 7PM, AT THE MAISONNEUVE THEATER OF THE PLACE DES ARTS. INFO AND TICKETS HERE.

Tarta Relena, a Catalan duo made up of contralto Marta Torrella and soprano Helena Ross, was initially dedicated to a cappella singing. And then…

Fascinated by European sacred songs, baroque and early music, they also became interested in the superimpositions of traditional styles collected all around the Mediterranean: Arabo-Andalusian, flamenco, rebetiko, Bulgarian, Cretan, Corsican, Sardinian, Sephardic and more. What’s more, they perform their songs in several languages, modern or ancient, Catalan, Spanish, Greek, Latin, English, Ladino, etc. 

Tarta Relena stands out even more from the folk movement with elegant electronic juxtapositions that brought them to MUTEK Montreal, this Thursday alongside singer, instrumentalist and composer Marina Herlop, and this Friday under the Tarta Relena banner. 

Their discography includes the EPs Ora Pro Nobis (2019) and Intercede Pro Nobis (2020), as well as the album Fiat lux (2021). The artistic direction of MUTEK (thank you Marie-Laure Saidani!), took the slap, especially for the striking impact of these Catalan voices before an audience. It’s our turn!

This totally justifies this detour to the lobby of their hotel, shortly after their arrival in Montreal.

PAN M 360: Tarta Relena has perfectly understood that ancient, baroque, and traditional music work very well with contemporary aesthetics. How did you make the connection? 

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: Good point! We agree. We actually started singing in a choir when we were teenagers in Barcelona. 

PAN M 360: Baroque and early music are rooted in the city of Barcelona, you can attend concerts parties, chamber orchestras, and choirs.

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: That’s right, there’s a lot of that in this city, it’s a kind of cultural dynamic for us, an important part of our culture. A lot of young people sing in choirs and we were part of that movement. So we became friends, and we started to sing more seriously.

PAN M 360: We also perceive several vocal cultures in your singing.

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: Yes, we also like to mix vocal techniques related to choral or individual singing from different cultures and periods of music. It can be very lyrical but also rough!  

PAN M 360: How did you envision mixing singing with electronics?

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: You know, it wasn’t very planned, it was something… natural, instinctive, just like our vocal work. We use the voices in a very natural, organic way. And then we tried to stick to synthetic instrumentation to the voice, in order to create a contrast. We look for this contrast.  

PAN M 360: You work on different vocal strategies: unison, two-voice harmonization, canons, rhythmic shifts, etc.

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: Yes, we like our voices to travel. The vocal melodies can be independent and meet in different ways. For this, we have studied the techniques used. 

PAN M 360: And the languages!

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: We do sing in Catalan and Spanish, but also in Latin, ancient Greek, etc. 

PAN M 360: You’re not looking for cultural purity, it goes far beyond the Catalan culture. 

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: Nothing is pure! We keep finding the cultural origins of the expressions as if they were hidden in the old songs, whose authors we do not know. It’s very inspiring for us to add our research to this fascinating ancient music, or to use it as inspiration for our original songs.

PAN M 360: What kind of musical education did you have?

HELENA ROSS: I did classical and baroque singing, and Marta followed other paths. Of course, we also learned choral singing.

PAN M 360: What is your accompanying equipment?

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: We use Ableton Live and two MIDI controllers. We trigger the accompaniments. These sounds do not move once triggered, however, we can improvise vocally by adding new variations to our song in real-time. 

PAN M 360: Your album was released less than a year ago. Do you have another one in the works?

MARTA TORELLA + HELENA ROSS: No, we are in a concert phase that will last several months.  Then there will be another phase. Most likely, this phase will be very different from what we do and have done. We are always ready to look, to experiment, to start something else. But… at the moment, we have no clear idea!

TARTA RELENA PERFORMS WITH MARINA HERLOP AUGUST 25 AT MTELUS, NOCTURNE 3 SERIES / MUTEK MONTREAL. INFOS + TICKETS HERE

TARTA RELENA PERFORMS ON FRIDAY AUGUST 26, AT SAT. PLAY 2 SERIES /MUTEK MONTREAL. INFOS + TICKETS HERE

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