Interviews

He is one of the true successors to the great saxophonist Peter Brötzmann but…  in 2022, we can’t really qualify him successor at 57 years old ?! In fact, he is a true international leader of free improvisation and avant-garde composition beyond free jazz. Mats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophonist, born in 1964 in Umeå, Sweden. Since the beginning of his international career in the mid-80’s, he added clarinet, keyboards and electronics in his tool box. 

Mats Gustafsson is known for his explosive style, we could witness his talent in many contexts, witch so many artists as Gunter Christmann, Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Paul Lovens, Barry Guy, Derek Bailey, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Ken Vandermark, Magnus Broo, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O’Rourke, Thomas Lehn, Evan Parker, Misha Mengelberg, Zu, The Ex, Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Fire! orThe Thing.

Mats Gustaffson is also an excellent speaker about his craft, PAN M 360 shares his comments before his performances at FIMAV this week-end. On Saturday, he will share the stage with Rob Mazurek and David Grubbs, and he will be involved in a power duet with Colin Stetson.

First, some questions about the trio concert :

« All three drove Chicago’s experimental music scene forward in the 1990s: MATS GUSTAFSSON with several free jazz bands and as a member of Peter Brötzmann’s Tentet, while he was staying in the US; DAVID GRUBBS at the onset of the post-rock movement in Gastr del Sol, his duo with Jim O’Rourke; ROB MAZUREK in a multi-stylistic approach under various iterations of his Chicago Underground project. »

PAN M 360  : Can you remind us what led you to David Grubbs, whom with you recorded the duet Off Road? How have you built this musical relationship?

MATS GUSTAFFSON : We met in Chicago in the mid 90s through my good friends John Corbett and Jim O `Rourke and we immediately started to work and hang out together. I played w Gast and I played other things together with David, on his solo records until we decided to record Apertura, our first duo.. followed up by a Swedish tour and recordings of Off Road. It ain’t over yet…

PAN M 360 : About Rob Mazurek, the 3rd playor of this Victoriaville concert, same question, how did you meet? How did you play together? What has been built yet or what is gonna be?

MATS GUSTAFFSON :  Also the Chicago connection. That is important. Chicago was BEAMING of energy and creativity in the mid / end of 90s… and still is. But that period in particular stands out. We played a few ad hoc things and we kept on meeting in all kind of places internationally. And when this chance occurred to play a trio we jumped at it….  The pandemic stopped all the plans… but  we will reboot now. All is open!

« They worked many times together, but never all three at the same time, surprisingly. That is, until May 2019. They jumped on journalist John Corbett’s proposition to play as a trio for a two-day engagement at The Underflow in Athens, Greece. »

PAN M 360: Is this trio an important step for 3 of you? How could you describe with words what happened in Greece ?

MATS GUSTAFFSON : No words can describe those things enough. It was pure creativity and pure SHARING. As simple as that. When chemistry works, both musically and socially…. What can you do ?  just go with the flow. This trio is super important to me, hell yeah!

« The Underflow » : present-tense music exploring a wide range of dynamics, at the crossroads of acoustics, electrics, and electronics

PAN M 360 : Above that, what can you add to make us understand the language elaborated between you guys?

MATS GUSTAFFSON :  Listen openly and you will get rewarded. All and nothing is in there. As it always should be. All possibilities. All rules. All non-rules. All perspectives. We bring in all our experiences to the mix… and when people are willing to share…. The audience will feel it. Listen freely. Think freely. Act freely – as simple as that.

« They made the venue’s name their own, and their debut album, culled from these concerts, came out in early 2020, followed by a second one recorded just before the first wave of lockdowns. These albums showcase the rich history between these three masters. »

PAN M 360 : Can you see the progression from the first live sessions and the 2 following recording sessions?

MATS GUSTAFFSON :  I can hear something. What is it ?  I have no idea ?  Progression ?  I have no idea….

Development ?  i Have no idea. We move on. We deal with the past, with our experiences, individually and as a collective. And we SHARE . when this is true… SOMETHING happens. We can call it whatever we want. But we want to SHARE it. On stage. And with the audience. New things will happen. And again. And again. And again.

PAN M 360 : Will the Victoriaville concert offer new things  after what has been achieved ? What would it be, roughly or even more?

MATS GUSTAFSSON :  ;))

Yeah – let’s hope some new things will POP out! I’m pretty sure, since we have waited 2 years now to play together… it will be an EXPLOSION never ever heard of before. Followed by some bad- ass IMPLOSIONS – and if we survive that, we will try to play something entirely different  at the end of the concert. Watch out for THAT!

Second, a few questions about your duet with Colin Stetson

« Two giants of the saxophone will be sharing the stage, combining their diametrically opposed yet fully complementary approaches.

« COLIN STETSON has developed a highly original technique on bass saxophone where he subvocalizes while playing his instrument (his voice being amplified by a transducer). In solo settings, he favors long, multiphonic, loop-like notes that weave incredible ambiences. With other musicians, he can turn feverish and hard-hitting, as our audience heard in 2017 with the performance of his band Ex Eye.

PAN M 360 : With Colin Stetson, that we know quite well in Montréal, what are you looking for?

MATS GUSTAFFSON :  It is all about SHARING, in the trio as well as with this duo. I can’t wait. It is all open. Saxophones and electronics. Wham- bam – thank- you – mam! I’m looking forward to the moment that will happen. The moment that might happen. And I’m looking forward to the next moment. In every moment.

STETSON and GUSTAFSSON played as a duo for the first time in Vancouver in 2011, a performance chronicled on their sole album, 2012’s Stones. They’ve locked horns a handful of times since, moving deeper into their musical relationship each time. 

PAN M 360  : Let’s keep this question in the program : « Where does that relationship stand 11 years later? You’ll have to be there to find out. »

MATS GUSTAFFSON :  Exactly – you have to be there to understand. We will use everything that has happened since 11 years , on stage. Together – in a sharing experience. The only real difference  this time is that we will use electronics as well. The « stones » album is solely acoustic. This will be different.

PAN M 360  : The 2 approaches are distinctives, can you see where and how they meet as a duet?

MATS GUSTAFSSON : SHARING!!! And SHARING. 

If we do share…. The audience will know.

PAN M 360  : Do you have plans for a recording project? Other concerts?

MATS GUSTAFFSON : Oh , yes. Recordings HAS to be. And it will. It is all being planned.

The next step is me inviting Colin to be a soloist in my next big compositional work « Hidros 9 « , which be premiered october 1st 2022 in Warsaw, poland. Colin is featured soloist together with Hedvid Mollestad, Anders Nyqvist and per åke holmlander — in an interaction with Dieb13 and Jerome Noetinger and a 18 piece chamber ensemble. It will be WILD!!

Exceptional composer, guitar heroine of avant-jazz and its peripheral zones, formidable improviser, the American Mary Halvorson has acquired the reputation of one of today’s leading musicians in the post-genre fields of the so called “musique actuelle”.

Her discography, which includes more than fifty collaborations and a dozen albums as a leader, bears witness to this. She has received numerous accolades and honors with the Thumbscrew Trio and her other ensembles, and has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. One of her recent projects includes a rare collaboration with the mythical Robert Wyatt. Tour de force !

She has been known at FIMAV since her first concert in the ensemble of Anthony Braxton (circa 2007), who was her professor at Wesleyan University (Connecticut). She has subsequently given several performances in the Bois-Francs and the current one is devoted to her two most recent projects, Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch), which have already delighted international critics.

Although she was first associated with contemporary jazz, even if her guitar sound is in the jazz tradition, her music is now post-genre as it includes a wide range of styles, from consonant indie folk to atonal contemporary music. 

At the height of her possibilities, the 41-year-old musician generously offers us this diptych, which she will defend in the Bois-Francs, this Saturday, May 21, 10 pm, at the Colisée in Victoriaville.

« Amaryllis & Belladonna » is her most ambitious project yet, and it showcases her composing skills.

PAN M 360  : Do you agree with those notes in the Victoriaville festival program? 

MARY HALVORSON : In terms of scope, it’s true that it’s the largest project I’ve written for, with ten musicians when Amaryllis and Belladonna are combined. It was a new and intense challenge for me, writing for string quartet plus a brand new sextet, and it’s definitely composition-heavy, although there’s plenty of improvisation woven in as well. I feel so fortunate to be playing with all these wonderful musicians, and to be able to perform at Victoriaville Festival this year.

PAN M 360  : You have been heading so many projects… Do you have son favorite achievements? What made you really proud as a leader / composer ? Maybe you don’t think in those terms.

MARY HALVORSON : I don’t really think in those terms. I enjoy challenging myself to explore new musical worlds, and to not make the same record over and over again. Each project is unique and I try to fully immerse myself in whatever is happening currently– in this case, Amaryllis and Belladonna.

PAN M 360 : The paintings on your double project web pages are quite beautiful. Can you comment on their choice?

MARY HALVORSON : The paintings were done by the musician and artist DM Stith, someone who I respect and admire greatly. His concept for the paintings was based on the idea of the poisonous flower, Amaryllis Belladonna. I wanted the paintings to express that duality: something both beautiful and poisonous. I had high hopes for the designs and he managed to exceed them!

« The concert will be split into two parts. « Belladonna » is a set of six compositions for electric guitar and string quartet. She will be teaming up with a highly regarded American ensemble, the MIVOS QUARTET. »

PAN M 360 : Could you explain the crucial aspects of those compositions for guitar + string 4tet? What were you mainly seeking in that specific area ?

MARY HALVORSON : I’ve always loved the sound of string quartet music. When done well, it sounds like one enormous instrument, a force. I considered writing for string quartet alone (with no guitar), but in the end I wanted to be a part of that sound so ended up writing myself into it. Plus, I feel guitar with string quartet is a beautiful sound, and one that is underexplored.

PAN M 360 : How is the marriage between an amplified guitar and an acoustic quartet? How did you develop this relationship with Mivos Quartet, excellent ensemble without a doubt?

MARY HALVORSON : I’ve been an admirer of The Mivos Quartet for a long while now, and have heard them perform in many different contexts. One of the things that drew me to them, in addition to their musical excellence, is their open-mindedness and ability to play seamlessly through so many different styles of modern music. I felt they understood what I was trying to do from the first minute of the first rehearsal– they really nailed it right away.

PAN M 360 : From your perspective, is there a narrative from the 1st to the 6th piece? What are the links between them?

MARY HALVORSON : In theory the order of compositions could be shuffled; in other words the pieces don’t have to be performed in the album order, and they may not be tonight, I’m actually not sure yet. The pieces do add up to create a narrative, and when I composed the music I was certainly thinking about how the pieces contrast and complement each other to create a larger whole. Still, the order may change slightly from performance to performance. I do have certain pieces I enjoy starting and ending with, though.

PAN M 360 : How would you comment your own evolution as a guitar player in the recent years ?  Also as a soloist/ improviser? How did you work on the textural aspect of it, I mean tone, pedals, etc.

MARY HALVORSON : It’s a lifelong goal to get better at the guitar, to improve my technique, ear, and facility on the instrument, and to expand the scope of what I can express and communicate. I once heard Bill Frisell describe that process as chipping away at a block of wood, and I really related to that. It’s hard to pinpoint one’s own evolution as it’s almost always gradual, but I do work consistently on improving, and during the pandemic I had more time than usual to really sit with the instrument, think about my weaknesses and what I want to improve upon. This type of nuts and bolts practice is probably what I work on most, and developing textural stuff, pedals, improvising happens more during gigs, sessions, etc.

« Amaryllis » is her new sextet of improvisers, here performing her compositions, some of which also include the MIVOS QUARTET. Which means there will be ten musicians on stage at some point. HALVORSON’s music has never reached that scope before ! »

PAN M 360 :  Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet) are also playing on the record and will be performing at FIMAV.  So there is a specific approach with this line-up. Can you explain what led you to this ensemble?

MARY HALVORSON : I had a weekend booked in the summer of 2020 at the (now kaput) Brooklyn Stone. I wanted to do something completely new for those performances, and thought about musicians in the sextet, curious what that grouping of players would sound like. This sextet is a combination of old and new friends: all incredible musicians and improvisers who I admire greatly, and who I knew would execute the music with both precision and recklessness. I wrote a bunch of music for those Brooklyn Stone performances, and like most events that year, they ended up getting canceled. But at that point I was so excited about the music and the band that I kept going with it, figuring I’d make it happen eventually. 

PAN M 360 : Of course, the rhythmic aspect of Amaryllis is more about jazz, the whole aesthetic of this record is chamber jazz. Can you please describe briefly the core of those compositions?

MARY HALVORSON : I wasn’t thinking about jazz specifically when I wrote it– or any genre for that matter– really just hearing the sounds of the individual musicians in my head and trying to envision music that would work for this combination, regardless of style. I often write in an intuitive/ improvisational manner, going train-of-thought and just seeing what comes out, trying to express whatever mood or energy I’m feeling in the moment. There were no gigs happening when I wrote this music, so part of what kept me going during that time period was the joy of writing compositions for these bands, and imagining what the music might sound like. It gave me something to look forward to.

PAN M 360 : Do you plan to record again with this ensemble?

MARY HALVORSON: I haven’t thought that far ahead or come up with any specific plans yet, but I have already written some new music for the sextet, and I’d say it’s likely I’ll record again.

PAN M 360 : Where is the duality of Amaryllis & Belladonna? 

MARY HALVORSON: I liked the idea of having two projects which can exist separately or together. The music is different but there are points where it overlaps. It’s not always possible logistically and financially to perform with a ten piece band, and I’m grateful for the opportunity whenever it happens. There will also be times when I perform with the sextet alone, or just with Mivos Quartet. But when possible, the tentet can come together for a large-scale performance.

PAN M 360 : Regarding your Artlessly Falling previous project with Code Girl, how could you convince Robert Wyatt to perform on a few songs ? Tour de force ! 

MARY HALVORSON : Having Robert Wyatt sing on Artlessly Falling was a dream come true. I have been a Robert Wyatt fanatic since my mid twenties and he is one of my musical heroes. I have also been in touch with him for many years, exchanging music and emails periodically. So quite simply, I asked if he would be interested. I still can’t believe he said yes! Working with him was an incredible experience, as was getting the chance to compose music especially for him. Not only is he one of my favorite musicians of all time, but he’s a wonderful person, a joy to work with, and he really brought those songs to life.

MARY HALVORSON IS PERFORMING AT FIMAV , ON SATURDY MAY 21TH, COLISÉE DES BOIS-FRANCS

Back in 2018, a trio of musicians who had played next to each other in different bands from South London, UK—Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass), and Nick Buxton (drums)—set out to create a heavier noise-punk/post-hardcore sound like At The Drive-In or Deftones. After months of honing in their sound, which turned out to be a more melodic post-punk vibe, the trio needed a front person. Tom suggested Florence Shaw, a visual arts student he attended school with, even though she had no prior music performing experience. After some much-needed convincing, Flo arrived with notebooks of cut-up poems, grocery lists, writings on her old drawings, and random thoughts she wrote down after watching tv advertisements, and began piecing them together in a spoken word tone as the guys played. It was very on the spot and unplanned but would become a crucial part of Dry Cleaning’s sound, leading to a few EPs and their acclaimed debut album New Long Leg in 2021.

“I was on the bus to Lewis’ house where we were going to do the rehearsal and I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do,” she says of the memory. “I think I ended up speaking because it just felt very accessible. And it just felt like a good way. I was quite attached to the writing that I had with me at the time. And I thought like, ‘Well, this is a really direct way of kind of showing off this writing.'”

Shaw’s songs feel very stream of consciousness, almost a form of beat poetry, as walls of dark and sometimes cheery sound radiate through the speakers. It could be compared to a band like Wire or a female-fronted The Fall, but with her lyrics of dissociation, escapism, daydreaming, complicated feelings of love, anger, etc., Shaw has essentially become the glue holding Dry Cleaning and their success, something she both cherishes and is still terrified of.

We spoke to Florence Shaw before Dry Cleaning’s Montreal debut show at Theatre Fairmount this Friday, May 13 about her droll lyrical approach, obsession with collecting random tiny objects, her emo phase (which she admits hasn’t left), and why she sometimes scares people live.

PAN M 360: It’s funny when I first heard New Long Leg I thought ‘I won’t be able to see this band for many years because of the pandemic,’ but you’re here in a week.

Florence Shaw: Yeah I know! That all kind of changed quite quickly right? It’s still a very strange feeling and we definitely thought we were going to be stuck in the UK for ages. But it was only a year and a half.

PAN M 360: And I saw a quote somewhere that joked you will probably be touring until 2025 or something?

Florence Shaw: Yeah, I think that is sort of how things are looking. It’s going to be quite intense. We sort of want to make up for the lost time you know? There are so many places we’ve never played. It’s like, this European tour we’ve just finished, It’s the first time we played in almost all of those countries, even though they’re sort of right next door. It’s all weird.

PAN M 360: And you being the frontwoman of the band and people singing along to these, I’d say very personal songs, is it strange to you? Especially still being quite new to it?

Florence Shaw: It’s always an incredible feeling! I didn’t really know if that would happen necessarily. Because there’s not often a melody to the words. So they’re quite hard to learn. Because of that, because there’s no melody to guide, you know, but we always have hundreds of people singing the words every night. And that’s always just a mad feeling. It’s a crazy sort of feeling of connection with people that I didn’t really expect to have (laughs). It sounds kind of cheesy, but it really is. I don’t know how else to describe that you feel very connected to people you’ve never met.

PAN M 360: How do you get into the zone of playing live?

Florence Shaw: That’s a good question. I’m sort of still learning all about that really. I’m often quite quiet before we play. I’m not really one for like hanging out and telling jokes and stuff like right before. I always need about half an hour to myself, to think about what I want to do. And I guess set a bit of an intention for the show, even if it’s something quite small, or kind of think about what you might want to think about whilst you’re on stage or have a think about where you are, and kind of where the people who’ve come to see you might be coming from and stuff like that. I do like to think about those things I find if I don’t do that I find it too hard to be present. It feels like an out-of-body kind of experience. And I do like to feel present when we play.

PAN M 360: And with some of these songs I feel like you might go into a sort of trance playing them live?

Florence Shaw: I do like to do like to connect with the audience if I can. Even if it’s quite a sort of a temporary relationship, I do like to have a bit of a relationship with the crowd. And like, yeah, it’s strange when you don’t. And so I do tend to look at the crowd for most of the show, which sometimes freaks people out.

PAN M 360: Freaks people out? People have said that?

Florence Shaw: Yeah I’ve read that before. I think I’ve been described as staring people down. Which sounds quite intense. But it’s really just like a sort of looking for some sort of connection with people, I guess, rather than trying to freak people out. I think I can be more intense than I realize sometimes. There’s very little sort of barrier because it’s just your speaking voice. It’s a monologue, I guess. And there’s not that sense of like a melody or something to be like a vessel. It’s just, that it’s very bold and I think that is part of what people find quite intense about it. I try to bring some humour to what I do as well. It’s kind of seriousness, but it’s tempered with a bit of childlike glee or a bit of fun. I think of myself as a bit of a clown sometimes. Like one of those clowns, that’s maybe not like, tripping over buckets of water, but it’s a comedy of seriousness.

PAN M 360: Your New Long Leg album is much more nuanced and polished than your previous EPs. Would you say that this is partly due to the work of producer John Parish? Why did you choose to work with him?

Florence Shaw: We approached a few different people just to kind of start conversations about who would produce the album because, again, it was like a completely new experience for us. We’d all recorded before but not at that kind of level. And so we were all a bit sort of, we were sort of fumbling around in the dark a bit wondering who we should work with. And we contacted lots of different people. But his response was immediate. He just replied, like, straight away, saying that he was really keen and that he really loved EPs, and that he had all these notes on the demos that we’ve made, just like straight away. And we always tried to go with kind of gut feelings. And that just felt very positive. That he just was immediately like, ‘Yeah.” He wasn’t thinking about it. He didn’t want to meet and then maybe something would happen but just immediately was like, ‘Yes, I really want to do this.’

PAN M 360: Wow. So no pussyfooting around with him at all?

Florence Shaw: Yes exactly. We were fans of his work, particularly with Aldous Harding’s albums she’s done with him. I don’t know, with his music, I feel like you can always hear the room. It’s kind of at the forefront and it doesn’t sound glossy. It sounds intimate. He’s also very patient. We’d do several takes of a vocal phrase to get the right delivery. He had the patience for every syllable.

PAN M 360: There’s one lyric in the song “Strong Feelings” that I just love. It’s the opening “Just an emo dead stuff collector, things come to the brain.” It perfectly summarizes a part of my life. That whole emo phase I’m sure everyone went through. Did you ever go through that emo, dressing in all-black goth phase?

Florence Shaw: 100 % (laughs). I used to hang out in attics and listen to The Cure and I very much went through all of that really intensely actually. When I was a teen at least. I mean I’m still a bit emo, to be frank. I think it didn’t totally leave me. What I was thinking about at the time is almost like little collections of things that are like dead pieces of wood or bone fragments or things that you kind of sometimes end up collecting, especially when you’re a teenager. It’s like a little something that you sort of … a little habit that people sometimes pick up —holding onto stuff from the natural world or something like that. Yeah, I’ve kind of thinking about that.

PAN M 360: Do you still have little bone fragments or collections around your house?

Florence Shaw: What I’m much more into recently, as I collect, I collect loads of things—I have lots and lots of like collections of little things—and often it’s just like miniature stuff. I have lots of collections of like little plastic animals or little glass animals, things like that, like anything miniature anything on a really tiny scale, kind of almost no matter what it is; if it’s a little table, or like a little like a model of a mouse or something just really small, or even just like seeds or things like that are really tiny, really tiny things.

PAN M 360: Do you arrange them in such a way creating little scenes or are they kind of just scattered about?

Florence Shaw: I do like to like set them out, you know, quite carefully. I can be a real homebody, you know. Yeah, man (laughs) I like really like organizing stuff. And moving little things around and creating little dioramas and stuff around the house with like, little objects. That is a real passion of mine. Objects have a bit of a dialogue between them, don’t they? And that’s what I enjoy. Like, like creating little pairings of things, a little group of things that then means something new because they’re together. I sound totally nuts right now, don’t I?

PAN M 360: No I think you’re just being yourself.

Florence Shaw: Absolutely.

PAN M 360: You’ve often been compared to The Fall for your use of spoken-word in your songs, but are there any other artists who you think have been as influential for Dry Cleaning? What about John Cooper Clarke? Baxter Dury? Sleaford Mods? “The Gift” by the Velvet Underground? 

Florence Shaw: It’s funny I used to think ‘Oh no I haven’t listened to much spoken word music,’ but actually growing up I remember this Death In Vegas tune called “Hands Around My Throat,” which is basically just a woman speaking over what I thought was this really menacing music. And I was obsessed with it when I was like 12. And then there’s like Grace Jones and my mom would listen to The Last Poets quite a lot when I was a kid. She had all of their LPs and that definitely seeped into my consciousness, that speaking was an option for making music. I guess it was just very clear to me that the spoken word can be used as a musical instrument.

PAN M 360: Were your parents very musical when you were growing up too?

Florence Shaw: My dad used to play in a band and he sang. He’s also played drums in other bands sometimes. He’s a really good guitarist and plays harmonica. He had lots of instruments in the house. So he would sometimes like enlist me and my brother to do like backing vocals on like, recording and things like that. Just very fun stuff. Not like putting us to work. But like, yeah, he would teach us little keyboard parts and things like that. So yeah, it’s something I spent time doing when I was a kid, but it always felt like it was just sort of for fun. I never thought of it as a career. Drawing and art was always the thing that I wanted to do as my job.

PAN M 360: Do you think that background in visual arts gives you a more abstract way of looking at the world, maybe in terms of your lyrics?

Florence Shaw: I certainly think art school, no matter what your experience of art school is, it certainly teaches you to be observant, or at least kind of exercise your sort of skills of observation. Whether it’s through just something really direct like drawing, listening, being a better listener, or just photography. Maybe just kind of recording things around you and taking notice of things around you, in the world as they happen. I think it certainly exercised my ability to do that, kind of just as a daily practice. I love to people watch, it’s like a big thing for me … I’d quite happily just walk around the part of town I’d ever been to, or something like that all day, just taking photos or writing things down. And that’s what I find most inspiring, really. And I think definitely, visual arts is something if you’re sort of interested in that kind of thing, it really brings it out of you, even more, I think.

PAN M 360: Dry Cleaning … not the ideal name to make it easy to find info on you guys on the internet, why did you choose this band name?

Florence Shaw: Yeah it’s totally ungoogleable or whatever (laughs). The guys came up with it before I joined when they were just jamming, but I remember the name was something that made me think it would be a good idea to join because I always really liked it. And I think we got to the bottom of it being possibly Tom, who came up with it. You know how these things are, these origin stories. It’s one of those completely impossible to remember how it happened or to trace it back. But we think it was Tom. And I think basically, they were just wanting to go for something that was kind of ubiquitous. In the UK, at least, possibly, maybe all over the world, or in some parts of the world there are so many dry cleaners, they’re absolutely everywhere. The sign always just says dry cleaning, and never really called anything else. So it’s kind of written everywhere. And you see it all the time. And it’s kind of really mundane.

PAN M 360: Yes they are everywhere here too. Here in Montreal, it’s just “nettoyeur.”

Florence Shaw: Yes that must be the equivalent (laughs).

Entitled “Planet Happiness”, this micro-festival will explore the electric guitar in a contemporary music context. On Monday, May 9, 7:30 p.m., in the Wilder Building, the first program will feature Belgian guitarist and composer François Couvreur, the teotwawki quartet and Montreal composer Kevin O’Neil. On Tuesday, May 10, also at 7:30 p.m., a second program will feature the Instruments of Happiness guitar quartet led by Tim Brady. Three new works will be performed.

PAN M 360: So the Instruments of Happiness are about to conquer an exoplanet?

TIM BRADY: We’ll try…

PAN M 360 : You celebrate the electric guitar as a vehicle for contemporary music. We are seeing more and more musicians and ensembles doing so. How would you assess this impact in the musicosphere?

TIM BRADY : The electric guitar is a young instrument – it was only officially invented in 1932. And it is a distinctly North American instrument, it is quite different than the European classical guitar, in technique, repertoire and culture.  So it is still growing – it started in jazz, then blues, rock n’ roll, country, progressive rock, then experimental music, and now composers from the notated music tradition are finding out what amazing sonic resources it can offer.  With a few pedals and a good amp, it’s a mini-orchestra.

This transformation and evolution seems to prove the point: in art, nothing is static. The classical European orchestra (which I love) is a victim of narrow traditions and a very limited repertoire.  It can’t really grow and adapt with the times. They try, but it is a bit of a “square peg in a round hole” – the orchestra is mostly about the past, not about the future…  I hope the electric guitar can avoid that problem of getting “stuck in time”, and that we stop trying to find new artistic ideas.  For the past 90 years at least, the instrument and its music has kept evolving, and chamber music for the electric guitar is just one more area to discover with the instrument.

PAN M 360: Will this micro-festival be repeated? What is the context of its foundation?

TIM BRADY: This is a somewhat of an informal project. Yes, it took several months to put together, but it was a combination of Covid necessity (some cancelled shows earlier in the year) and a chance meeting with two young international guitarists – François Couvreur (Belgium) and Felipe Alarcon (Chili) – that brought this together.  It was a bit spontaneous and unexpected. But for only 2 concerts, in packs in an amazing range of artistic ideas and new work. 

Instruments of Happiness is working on several other big projects – a concert at Salle Bourgie, another 100 guitars event, a site-specific opera – so there will always be new music for guitar lovers to hear in Montreal.  But we don’t want to tie ourselves to a festival format every year.  Montreal has enough festivals!!

This micro festival will feature Belgian guitarist and composer François Couvreur, the Teotwawki quartet and Montreal composer Kevin O’Neil.  In this first concert, Couvreur will survey the European creation for solo electric guitar, performing works by Fausto Romitelli, Michel Fourgon and Jean-Yves Colman, complemented by a work by Canadian composer Andrew Noseworthy. 

PAN M 360 : Can we know more about this work and its composer/performer?

TIM BRADY: Andrew Noseworthy is originally from a small town in Labradour and he somehow ended up studying contemporary music and guitar in New York and London (ON). I’ve known him for 10 years, from his student days.  He is very funny and chill, but totally serious about creating great music with the electric guitar. He’s become the “go-to”, first-call chamber guitar player in Toronto in the past few years,  An artist who is going to have an impact.

PAN M 360:  What is the gear involved ?

TIM BRADY: We could talk about gear for hours, in fact, sometimes we do!  But our show uses very modest setups: overdrive distortion, volume pedal, harmonizer, delay, maybe an expression pedal, and then a slide and e-bow to expand the sonic palette.  In the Amy Brandon piece, we use violin bows, cheese graters, and dessert bowls! – but that’s a bit of an exception.

PAN M 360: How did you choose François Couvreur?

TIM BRADY: Chilean guitarist and composer Felipe Alarcon put us in touch, through ZOOM. François had some interesting ideas, and he has his own ensemble in Liège (Ensemble Hopper), and he is VERY into chamber music.  He wanted to present a range of European music – which is a great balance because we almost never do European music (nothing against it just hasn’t happened). Plus he plays solo for his set – which is a nice contrast to the two quartets on the rest of the festival.

PAN M 360: What can we know about Kevin O’Neil ?

TIM BRADY: Kevin O’neil is an emerging composer guitarist who has worked with us in the 100 guitars project several times.  He loves the electric guitar, and wants to explore drone and ambient music.  The electric guitar is PERFECT for that!  So he has been working with his own, new quartet to create his own sound.  A great idea.

PAN M 360: What are the distinctive features of its electric guitar quartet? 

TIM BRADY:  We use an amplifier as an INHERENT part of the sound – this changes everything. ANY sound can be loud, ANY sound can be soft. This gives us a dynamic range and a choice of timbres that is truly unequalled. A min-orchestra. And our electric wire means we are intimately connected to electronics.  Electronics are not just something we add later, it is what we do. Culturally, we come from the aural tradition – jazz, blues, rock – which has little or no connection with to chamber music or the classical tradition.  Personal expression is critical – we don’t want to hear “an electric guitar being played” – we want to hear It played by Charlie Christian, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, John McGlaughlin, or any of the amazing young players on Youtube. So it is a weird and wonderful dance trying to take this highly idiosyncratic North American solo instrument from an improvisational background and pass it through the “filter” of notated chamber music.  It leads to some totally unexpected and remarkable results – which you can hear May 9 and 10!

PAN M 360: Who are the performers?

TIM BRADY: In the May 10 concert, the quartet formed by myself, Jonathan Barriault, Simon Duchesne and Francis Brunet-Turcotte will perform works by François Couvreur and Chilean composer Felipe Alarcon, as well as five other pieces (commissioned works) that will explore the diversity of styles and visions of contemporary music creation for electric guitars, visiting electroacoustic, minimalism, musique actuelle, improvisation, chamber music and micro tonality.

PAN M 360: This quartet configuration has matured. What do you think of this band today?

TIM BRADY: IoH has been around for 8 years now, so we know how to work together.  We know our strengths and weaknesses, and how to make the most of our rehearsal time. We always try to give the listener the most passionate and expressive performance possible – full of musical details and surprises.  Also, we tell silly jokes, I complain again about being so old compared to the other three, we laugh, talk about pedals for a minute, and then get back to work.

PAN M 360 : Can you tell us more about each of the works in the program?

TIM BRADY: Among these pieces will be those of the three Canadian composers Corie Rose Soumah (QC/NYC), Ida Toninato (QC) and Amy Brandon (NS) exploring the beauty and fragility of the sound of the instrument with their creations. There will be those of François Couvreur (Belgium) and Felipe Alarcon (Chile) immersing us in chamber music with transparent and vibrant timbres. Finally, we will discover those of Jose Segura (Quebec) and Robert Davidson (Australia) offering very idiomatic and robust works, full of energy and rhythm.

PAN M 360: What do these works imply for the performers?

TIM BRADY : There is a lot of work making sure the composer’s ideas are really well imagined and laid out for the instrument.  We have to work closely with composers, as it is a slightly odd instrument – that amp, all those pedals! Plus – music schools still spend all their time teaching composers how to write for violin and clarinet…so there is usually a steep learning curve, and lots of collaboration.  The 4 guitarists take a very “hands on” approach – both literally and figuratively! 

The Planet Happiness event will also be the occasion to celebrate the release of a new CD for Instruments of “Happiness: Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness” (Redshift Records).  This project, which brings together four Canadian composers around the theme of slow, quiet music, was originally presented in February 2020 at Église le Gesù in Montreal. The CD includes works by Louise Campbell, Rose Bolton, Andrew Noseworthy and Andrew Staniland.

PAN M 360: Remind us about the February 2020 event.

TIM BRADY: The CD is the music from our last big pre-Covid concert – Feb. 15, 20120.  It was a surround sound event et Église Le Gesù.  The public was surround by the 4 guitars, and we played slow quiet music designed for the 7 second reverb time of the church. It was quite magical.

PAN M 360: Tell us about each work in the program and its creators.

TIM BRADY: Each composer has a different path into music: Louise Campbell is a clarinetist and music educator, Rose Bolton plays Irish Fiddle music and does electronics and film scores.  Andrew Noseworthy is an emerging guitarist from Labradour/Toronto and Andrew Stanliand is an ex-jazz guitarist turned composition professor.  Each piece on the CD has a different “vibe” but they all help us create an project with “slow quiet music in search of electric happiness.”

PAN M 360: How do you see the studio qualities of these works?

TIM BRADY:  I’ve worked with the same sound engineer for 33 years -we’ve tried every mic in every position.  We now have a good idea of how to get a rich, detailed and expressive sound out of the solo electric guitar, and the quartet. I’ve always been interested in recorded sound – it seems a very natural extension of the electric guitar.  If you’re going to bother recording a sound, might as well make it sound good.

PAN M 360: Instruments of Happiness are here looking for quietness and a certain slowness… And what more?

TIM BRADY : What else do you need?

TO ETTEND THE FIRST PROGRAM PF PLANÈTE BONHEUR (MONDAY), IT’S HERE

TO ATTEND THE 2ND PROGRAM OF PLANET HAPPINESS, IT’S HERE

Sid Le Rock, aka pan/tone, aka Sidney Sheldon Thompson is discreet in the media but his importance in the electronic scene is not to be proved anymore. He released albums in prestigious independent stables: Mute, Kompakt, Shitkatapult, or My Favorite Robot Record and collaborated with producers like DJ Koze or Gui Boratto. He delivers Invisible Nation, his eighth studio album, on his label Beachcoma. The ten tracks take the form of a tribute to his ancestral Algonquin heritage that he hybridizes with his electronic palette, directly inspired by the DIY scene of the 1990s and that he has been cultivating for twenty years.


PAN M 360: You were born in Toronto and have been living in Germany for almost two decades. Today you release an electronic album inspired by your Algonquin heritage. It seems like a long journey, what can you tell me about your journey as an artist?

Sid Le Rock: It’s been 20 years almost since I’ve come to Germany, but really it just started as a fluke, thanks to a Canadian government program that allowed us to come to Europe and experienced a cultural exchange. I won this award and I always wanted to go to Germany, so I ended up going to Cologne about all the places because I had work relationships there. From this moment I fell in love with the culture, with being somewhere different other than Canada, where you know as a big country, little villages and towns, where I come from, are very far apart from the next big city. Here in Germany, it was a big population and a whole new set of different values and cultural expressions that was very profound for me, so I decided to move to Cologne, make my mark here and make the most out of it and see what happens and then. I managed to make a struggling living as an artist, not so much as if I was like living in Canada, where it would have been harder, you know.

PAN M 360: Why do you think it was easier to make a living as an artist in Germany?

Sid Le Rock: The options were there, there are more clubs, and more festivals, so I had more benefits as a musician to be here in Europe, especially with the proximity to all the other countries. At this time, it was called the mass movement to Berlin, which was kind of still very underpopulated, a lot of musicians chose to go there because it was cheaper for us to live. Nowadays, I kind of get that full feeling of Berlin, I start feeling a bit of my age. It’s a bit of a Peter pan kind of lifestyle for many of us, we’re all in our 40s now but we’re all acting like we’re in our 20s. Then there’s a point in time when you’re just like okay, I need to settle down, and so I like to stay within my area of comfort and less going out to clubs and things like that, especially with the covid and everything so.

PAN M 360: You go less in the clubs however we have the impression that the DJ dimension of your career takes more and more importance. Has it always had the same place in your career?

Sid Le Rock: From the beginning of my career, I really was more focused on live performance, DJing came after. I wish it would have come sooner because I enjoy it quite a lot! I was known as a live guy and that was a great way to express myself in the music, like the recorded music that I would put out. It would allow me to express it differently from a live perspective.

PAN M 360: Could you tell us more about the concept of the album and its creation process?

Sid Le Rock: Originally the concept of the album was an award I was given by the German Government, like the cultural music Council of Germany. In the original concept of the award I was stating that I wanted to go to Canada, go to pow-wow, get in touch with a lot of the artists that are in that field and basically incorporate that style, you know that sound and more of a live take and use those recordings and add what I do. But because we were on lockdown we couldn’t travel and then there were just too many limitations. I had to basically do it to the best of my ability, imagine myself, repurposing the style of music. This album could have been something completely different and I’m happy with the result.

PAN M 360: I understand that you had more time to work on this album than on your precedent work, which makes me wonder, since Berlin is so busy all the time and so many things are happening at the same time, did you sometimes feel the pressure to release stuff out?

Sid Le Rock: It has changed since the beginning of my career, where, in the past, I would release an album, would tour on this album for a year or two, and you know as a live performer, I would play the same songs all the time, so it would make me a bit sick. That’s why I told you earlier I wish I would have discovered DJing sooner, it would have been nice to go back and forth. Not that I hated what I did, it’s just that people just see it in your face when you’re playing the same song over and over. Today it seems like everything is so much faster, so much promotion, it doesn’t really matter how good is the music, it’s how well you can promote it. Streaming services like Spotify, when they’re saying to be relevant today as an artist, you have to release every week or every two weeks, it doesn’t give artists time to breathe. It feels like your hands are tied or you have like a ticking clock always concerned about how people will forget about me. I’ve gone through that stage, but I think the older you get, the more comfortable you are with the fact that what is important is being happy that 10 years later, when you listen to your music again you can say I’m glad I did it the way I did.

PAN M 360: Since you are known as a live guy, do you ever think about going live with Invisible Nation?

Sid Le Rock: You mean like from the like performing side? Yeah, can you imagine a drum circle, that would be fantastic! It would have to be within North America because it’s a big production to travel around, but playing a couple of shows here and there would be a really nice thought to do. From the aspect of traveling around Europe, it would be pretty much a one-man show, as usual. The next step is to make the recorded music more live functional for a live performance.

PANM 360: Given the political and socio-economic situation of the First Nations in Canada, the title of your album sounds like a political statement. What are your thoughts?

Sid Le Rock: I totally know where that’s coming from, it really wasn’t the impression I want to make. Of course, it’s added to the fact that Native American aboriginals are always going to have that message behind it about the misrepresented and the social inequalities that they’re going through. So when you’re putting out a record it does come off as if it’s kind of a political view but really it was more in a perspective of paying my respects to my heritage to the sound, to the culture, and something that I was always fascinated by, from my growing up North in Ontario where it was very common to have a pow-wow and things like that.

Pan M 360: Yes, and about that heritage, you’re talking about I was wondering what was your relationship with music before you decided to become an artist?

Sid Le Rock: Music was always a big part of our family, from my dad playing the fiddle or the harmonica to my mom being a music teacher. I was too busy playing with the neighborhood kids so I actually didn’t take advantage of those skills at an early age, but later. I even remember my dad used to do these vinyl parties, where he would invite neighborhood kids and we would have these games at the party where, if you won this contest, you would get vinyl from his record crate. I’m just reflecting on it down and like wow, giveaway record collection to kids who had no turntables probably. During my early teens I was hanging out with friends in a small town there was not much to do, and so we were all influenced by hip hop and excited to do our own little thing. It all came together, where I felt that spark not just as a listener, but as someone who wants to be more involved in the process of making music.

PAN M 360: Finally this album, by joining your roots, seems like it’s closing a loop.

Sid Le Rock: It’s almost like a reflection, or like homesickness that I have for Canada. I try to get back to Canada once a year to visit them, but you see a major difference, you see more gray hair, more wrinkles and I think it’s an album that speaks a lot of value like a return to Canada in a way, you know so yeah eventually I’ll get back home, and then I guess that’s my calling card to say that, with this music I’ve released, this is a promise that we’ll be back home soon.

The multilingual, Congolese-born, Montreal-based, Pierre Kwenders has established himself as a modern contemporary and architect of African and afro-fusion music over the years, and with his latest album José Louis and the Paradox of Love—an undertaking that took four years to complete across multiple cities featuring collaborations with Win Butler, King Britt, Ngabo, Sônge, anaiis, and more—he pushes the sonic envelope even further. The album title sounds like a psychedelic art house film and spliced up next to Kwneder’s music videos, it kind of is.

Blending a diverse collection of love stories and abstract romantic metaphors, Kwenders has released his most personal album to date, naming it after his birth name José Louis. Kwenders moved from Kinshasa to Montreal back in 2001 and has been a staple in the scene ever since, joining the Afrika Intshiyetu choir, and eventually starting the Moonshine party series in Montreal—slowly turning it into a globe-trotting event.

We spoke with Pierre ahead of his May 6 show at the Phi Centre about the impetus behind José Louis and the Paradox of Love, his inspirations (most notably the Congo’s Papa Wemba), and his future plans.

PAN M 360: There’s a lot of romance on this new album. Are all these stories derived from truth or personal experiences? Is a song better if it actually happened?

Pierre Kwenders: Definitely, all the stories told here are derived from the truth and only truth. Whether it was a personal experience or not, some of them have definitely helped me learn more about myself and my surroundings. I think a song is better when it can speak directly to the soul. That does not always depend on if the story happened or not. 

PAN M 360: How did you decide who would collaborate with you on this album. You’ve got Win Butler, Shabazz Palaces, and King Britt?

Pierre Kwenders: Tendai Maraire produced (Big shoutout to him) my previous record and together we were able to create a sound. I wanted to take that further and blend into my DJ world. On “L.E.S. Liberté Égalité Sagacité,” Tendai approached King Britt to join in the jam and when we linked in Nola to work on some music, Win added his magic. I believe everything just happened organically. Music brings people together!

PAN M 360: Your stage name comes from your grandfather correct? And your real name is Jose Louis, so why release an album now in reference to your real name?

Pierre Kwenders: Pierre Kwenders was my grandfather’s name. There would not be a Pierre Kwenders without José Louis or vice versa. To me, this being my most personal album, it’s the José Louis story I am telling here. 

PAN M 360: You sing in five different languages, is one easier to sing and write in than another?

Pierre Kwenders: Lingala, la plus belle langue du monde! Everything sounds easy and dreamy in Lingala!

PAN M 360: You wrote this album in different cities in the world, do you think of a specific place you used for inspiration?

Pierre Kwenders: I like to always be out of my comfort zone. Being able to travel and record in so many cities, helps me channel my inspiration in different ways every time. There is no specific place really!

PAN M 360: The whole album is multiple genres and very layered, but “Papa Wemba” is really an amazing single-track. What is that one about? A reference to the Papa Wemba film?

Pierre Kwenders: It’s simply my homage to one of the greatest that ever lived. Papa Wemba was the King of Rumba. He has opened so many doors for Congolese artists and has inspired generations. I believe there’s a bit of him in what I do.


PAN M 360: Yes you’re kind of embodying the Papa Wemba style now that I think about it.

Pierre Kwenders: I’m a kid who sometimes wishes that he was born in Village Molokaï!!!! (Village Molokaï is the name of Papa Wemba’s headquarters in Kinshasa)

PAN M 360: And “Church” has a full choir in the track, the “Afrika Intshiyetu,” choir you were a part of many years ago? What was it like to collaborate with them again?

Pierre Kwenders: Afrika Intshiyetu is the choir where I started singing. It was always a dream of mine to have them on one of my records. Having them on Church was a dream come true. It’s a full-circle moment!

PAN M 360: How are the Moonshine parties holding up with the pandemic?

Pierre Kwenders: Great! We travelled the world and touched new cities such as Kinshasa, Brussels, London and Lisbon. It’s great to be a great summer – Our latest mixtape SMS for Location Vol.4 is nominated for a JUNO. We have Vol. 5 in the making right now. Zaire Space Program our documentary is in editing. Look out for Club Sagacité, a multidisciplinary artistic and community space that will be launching soon. Let’s just say, we haven’t been sleeping.

What do Hell, a Hollywood dog named Mooch, and post-punk/ no-wave madness all have in common? Give up? They are all subjects on Celebrity Death Slot Machine’s debut EP, Hell Stairs. This band is from Atlanta, but on the local Mothland label, and made up of former and current members of Rose Hotel, Neighbor Lady, Material Girls, and Mothers. From the concrete skies, and an isolating synthy wilderness emerges CDSM in all its glory. They have a sound for mayhem, up there with Bauhaus, Iceage, Viagra Boys, or The Birthday Party, made up of a rag-tag group of talented musicians who find pleasure in pushing sonic language as far as it will go.

CDSM’s Hell Stairs is dark and twisted, the perfect album to scare your family with and then subsequently burn down a disco too. The group is playing their first Montreal show on May 7 at Théâtre Plaza during the festival, Distortion’s, Theatre Takeover three-day series, featuring Deerhoof, Fleece, Paul Jacobs—replacing Spaceface due to COVID—and more. CDSM will open for the UK’s psychedelic post-punk duo, The KVB. We caught up with CDSM ahead of their show.

PAN M 360: How did CDSM start and how did you land on the name Celebrity Death Slot Machine

CDSM: CDSM started after a long summer spent crafting walls of unintelligible noise in a room full of synthesizers. These songs were pulled from that abyss and formed the identity of Celebrity Death Slot Machine. The name is an amalgamation of a handful of names we had going around but seeing as we write all the songs as a three-piece and Celebrity Deaths come in threes … we felt it was an apt name for the project.

PAN M 360: Were the songs on Hell Stairs derived from jams or did someone bring almost-finished songs first?

CDSM: The songs were all crafted by Ben, Tyler, and myself, and then our synth player and percussionist Jack Blauvelt produced and engineered the songs. Jack really brought everything to life. 

PAN M 360: How did the theme of Hell Stairs arrive? Is it someone’s loose journey into Hell?

CDSM: The name of the record and maybe the overarching theme of Hell Stairs is ascension. As the pandemic took our jobs and our last musical project imploded, there were moments that felt like the bottom. The only thing to do from there is pick yourself up and climb back out of the shit. Look back into the eyes of the haters and say “Fuck Off.” 

PAN M 360: The lyrics on Hell Stairs feel very stream of consciousness or are they actually meticulously crafted? (I get a huge Nick Cave/Bauhaus vibe)

CDSM: The lyrics were sometimes written from a stream of consciousness, but were crafted more as the songs took on a life of their own. We were very inspired by the classic movie Mooch Goes to Hollywood.

PAN M 360: You haven’t been a band for too long, yet you’ve opened for Iceage, and at the upcoming Distortion takeover series, The KVB. Are you just getting lucky, or do you know something most don’t?

CDSM: It is nice to be recognized by other talented and successful artists and we’ve already gotten to share stages with some extremely fine talent, but all of us have been writing and performing in other outfits together and adjacently for many years, so we can walk the walk at this point. Our live show and our recorded songs speak for themselves. We have worked very very hard for the cherished opportunities we’ve had and will have to play with talented artists.

PAN M 360: How do the songs translate to a live setting?

CDSM: You will have to see for yourself! We are working on the follow-up to Hell Stairs currently and hope to be teasing new songs from it on this tour and other dates this fall.

Shaina Hayes is a newer name in the folk-country music realm, but she has a sound that incorporates some of the best aspects of the genre in the last few decades. Her debut album, To Coax a Waltz, is a bit Dolly Parton, Julie Doiron, and Joni Mitchell. Her lyrics offer a new perspective on the wild world of love while using a quaint country backdrop as cathartic inspiration. We spoke with Shaina Hayes from her country home in Shigawake, QC, to learn about her musical upbringing, farming practices, and dividing her farm work from a burgeoning music career.

PAN M 360: Hey Shaina. Our readers don’t know too much about you. Could you tell us a bit about your musical history, background, and how you got into music?

Shaina Hayes: I grew up in a tiny town on the Gaspé coast, called Shigawake, where I didn’t really have access to any kind of formal musical training, but my family always loved music. It was rare that the guitars wouldn’t make an appearance around the dinner table when folks came over. It was actually my family (along with others in the community) that brought to life the first Shigawake Music Festival, an event that still takes place every August.  

I moved away from the region after highschool to study jazz voice at Vanier College in Montreal.  After that, I had spent a few years performing in various groups, but academia and the competitiveness of the music scene ultimately left me confused and insecure about how to proceed with my music career.  It was at that point that I turned away from music and towards farming.  I hoped that the detailed planning, manual labor, and straightforwardness of farming would be a gratifying new, non-creative venture. So in truth, leading up to the making of this album, I hadn’t been actively making music for nearly 7 years.  During that time, I had indeed fallen in love with farming, but also came to realize that my deepest drive to farm is in fact an artistic one: a life where you get to craft a bustling Eden that produces veggies of all shapes, colors and flavours is undeniably one of creativity. As my growing seasons wound down and I tucked in the farm for the winter, I slowly found myself drawn back to writing music, because I now recognize my desire and believe in my ability to be creating beautiful things all the time. So in short, it was my love for farming that brought me back to music and stimulated the creation of ‘to coax a waltz’.

PAN M 360: So the village of Shigawake inspiring for your music?

Shaina Hayes: Yes, definitely.  It is an incredibly beautiful place – think towering red cliffs overlooking the ocean, and rolling agricultural fields.  Even when I’m not drawing direct inspiration from it, I like to think that Shigawake holds the place as my primary reference for what I find beautiful.  And in that sense, it will forever inspire and inform my creative decisions.   

PAN M 360: Is there a central theme to To Coax A Waltz? I definitely got a sense of nostalgia throughout many of the tracks?

Shaina Hayes: The title to coax a waltz is taken from the song “Honey Friend.”  “Honey Friend” was the first track recorded on the album and is perhaps its gooiest love song.  The title is from the line, “My stern heart beating a dutiful cue is learning to coax a waltz from all that I do”.  The line is meant to allude to the way that romantic love can spread and make you want to fall in love with everything you do.  Writing these songs and creating this album was an exercise in learning to fall in love with every emotion, step and moment along the way – learning to “coax a waltz”.  This, for me, was the central theme of the album, but grief, feminism and indeed, nostalgia do make several appearances as well.

PAN M 360: It’s nice to hear Thanya Iyer on this album. Has she kind of been a collaborator with you for quite some time?

Shaina Hayes: Yes, Thanya Iyer is one of my dearest friends.  She and I have been making music together since we were 17, and continue to collaborate on each other’s projects. I owe much of my sound and confidence as an artist to her influence.  She is as talented as she is kind. 

PAN M 360: You’re also a full-time farmer and horticulturist (seasonal I suppose?) How do you balance that with transitioning into making music full-time?

Shaina Hayes: Yes, as I touched on before, I grow vegetables for my CSA basket program.  This means that during the winter I find myself with a fair amount of free time and energy to dedicate to my music.  I’ve managed to build my farm schedule to allow for the odd festival here and there, but I try to do the bulk of my writing, recording and performance work into the fall, winter and spring, when the farm work eases up.

PAN M 360: Who are some of your influences?

Shaina Hayes: Blake Mills, Big Thief, Julia Jacklin, Andy Shauf (and of course Dolly and Shania)

PAN M 360: Is the farm life also inspiring for your lyrics?

Shaina Hayes: Definitely.  Many of the tasks I undertake at the farm can be pretty repetitive and mindless (weeding, harvesting, etc.), so I tend to have a lot of time to let my mind wander while I’m working.  This is often when the first stirrings of songs come about.  The happenings on the farm also tend to offer lots of fodder for metaphors (à la “you’re a soft slipping mud in my hands” from my song “Mud.”

PAN M 360: Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song or happy to write a happy song? Is the song better if it really happened?

Shaina Hayes: I really don’t think so.  Being willing and able to articulate how you are feeling, whether happy or sad, is a crucial part of understanding yourself, and therefore essential for building a balanced and happy life. I think offering a perspective that resonates with or touches someone is the key to a good song, and I think that’s possible whether or not it really happened to you. 

PAN M 360: “King” kind of changes the mood of the whole album for me. It feels very upbeat as opposed to ethereal folk I guess? Was that your intention for that song?

Shaina Hayes: Yes. The album was produced by Francis Ledoux and David Marchand – two of the members of Montreal noise rock band zouz (with whom I also sing on occasion) . Zouz is one of my favorite bands ever, and while, King isn’t quite as noisy or rocky as zouz, I made it clear that this was the one track that I hoped would venture the closest.  It’s certainly different from the rest, but I really enjoyed making it and hope to perhaps explore farther in that direction with future music.

PAN M 360: What is your favourite song on the album and why?

Shaina Hayes: It changes pretty regularly.  Though, I think “Mud” has always been a front-runner.  I feel that is the truest to my style and shows off David Marchand’s genius musicality.  

In many fields, artificial intelligence can be seen as a threat to a major part of the professions that may soon be more and more easily replaced by robots. For better or for worse… With this guideline on the horizon, many see a dystopian future with no way back, while some still manage to see it as a new playground for exploration, both technically and metaphysically. Presented at the SAT for the second time, the Empty Vessels project by David Gardener (Montreal Life Support) and Greg Debicki (Woulg), combines music, robotics, and artificial intelligence in an innovative way, to see how a robotic AI could inhabit an experimental cello concerto by itself. Developed from the latest research in the field, a network of artificial neurons is connected in symbiosis with the cello through four rotating bows, which constitute the visible luminous heart of the machine. Even if the machine manages to occupy the space and replace the human on stage, Empty Vessels has the potential to transform the frightening vision of the self-destructive and inhuman nihilistic void into a fertile and organic meditation on emptiness. Through lines of code the performers finally manage to hide, within their empty vessels, the sincere memories of a child learning, naively and sometimes clumsily, to master his new instrument.


PAN M 360: David, you do light, sound, and kinetic sculptures with your Montreal Life Support project. Would you like to talk about your background?

Montreal Life Support: I grew up in the UK and I worked as a design engineer for experiential architecture companies and that’s basically where I developed my skillset in terms of electronics and mechanical engineering. I then established my own practice and I started building products for myself as a visual artist and designer. I moved to Montreal about five years ago and I renamed myself Montreal Life Support. It’s a reference about culture dying in the UK for some time now, big businesses are pushing all the artists out of London. Montreal is my life support because there is so much culture and DIY venues here.

PAN M 360: What about you Greg? You are the one behind the algorithm programming. Would you like to share your background too?

Woulg: I studied new media art at Alberta University of the Arts. I was interested in making interactive installations or really long format performances, of 12 hours or longer for example. From there, I got interested in creative coding and that sort of thing. When I left school, I realized that the art I was interested in was way too expensive for a normal person’s budget. But I kept making music and that’s where most of my energy went for a long time. I make lots of plugins and interfaces for my music performances. That’s where the art programming came from. I have a big interest in generative music, in AI and especially the neural network coming from the new wave of AI research.

PAN M 360: Would you like to talk a bit about how you developed the project?

Montreal Life Support: I was designing and building the robots to be able to play the cellos. The cellos are built for human bodies, they are very curvy, there is no flat surface, and there is nothing to attach anything to. A lot of the development was working out a way that you can build a robot that can interface with an organic form. Most robots work on two or three axes in a linear way. This one had to be built completely from scratch to fit the cello. It’s still in development, it’s version 2.5 now.

Woulg: There are AI for generating classical, jazz, or pop melodies. We really wanted to try to make something that felt more like electronic experimental music. For generating that, there is no open-source for electronic experimental cello music (laugh). We generated a bunch of writing and chord progressions that we liked so that we could train the AI on things that were to our taste.

PAN M 360: Do one of you know how to actually play the cello?

Montreal Life Support: I grew up playing the cello. It sets it apart from other instruments because you can play infinite notes. In that respect, it is very organic. The knowledge on how to play helped the robot develop its full sound.

PAN M 360: One of the first questions that come to mind when we see the show is where is the bow? According to you, does it start at the software or is it at the end of the robotic structure? Or is the whole robotic AI considered as the bow?

Montreal Life Support: Physically, there is a small rotating bow on each string. The reason for doing that is to play the four strings at the same time. With a normal cello, you can play one string or two at a time. So we wanted to play as many notes as we wanted. You can hear the loop of the circle.

Woulg: It reminds me of the mellotron. There is a certain quality to the loop of the bow turning. In a certain way, it opens new and different possibilities to play the cello and it closes the possibilities of a normal cello at the same time.

Montreal Life Support: The title Empty Vessels refers to the absence of human presence. Removing the bow hits home to this emptiness of humanity. You are just left with the instrument.

Woulg: So the bow is missing…

PAN M 360: For now, you can hear the stop-start mechanical rhythm of the robotic AI. How do you feel about it?

Montreal Life Support: The goal is that it matches the fluid sound of a human playing. The bows are made of plastic, you can hear it in the sound as well. It makes the sound more aggressive. The end goal is to play beautiful string music.

Woulg: In this version, we liked those kinds of stop-start mechanical sounds. Conceptually, that’s an important part of the piece. Sometimes, there is that kind of scraping that makes me think of futurism in music where they had the sounds of trains and scraping metal.

PAN M 360: How autonomous is the robotic AI so far?

Woulg: Right now, it’s not autonomous. It can generate music, chord progressions, and rhythms. The fun part of working with AI is that in a fraction of seconds you have 10 000 hours of music. The hard part is finding the good bits. Learning about neural networks and what is possible changed the music we ended up with, in the project. We are not at the stage where we can press a button and it plays forever. Hopefully, we’ll have that in the next version.

PAN M 360: According to you, who plays the cello? You or the robotic AI?

Woulg: For now, it’s kind of both I would say. To a certain extent, we’re going to have to be the interpreter of what the AI spits out.

The name Gus Engle might ring a bell for snowboarding fans, but the music of Gus Englehorn reminds us of the joys of childhood—when you would make up fantastical stories, deep in the woods with your friends. A past professional snowboarder and now a full-fledged musician, Gus Englehorn’s second album, Dungeon Master, released later this week, is a bizarre and refreshing piece of avant-garage pop-rock.

His lyrics feel like they are pulled from chimeric short stories filled with wizards, horses, spiders, and surreal unexplained locations. In a music industry full of insipidity, Gus Englehorn, proves that you can be whoever you want.

The instrumentation on Dungeon Master is studded with jangly guitars, sparkly synths, glockenspiel, and hazy drumming, as Gus leads you on his darkened odyssey. It’s quite hard to feel bored with Dungeon Master. It feels like a choose your own adventure saga.

We caught up with the Alaskan-born, now Montreal-based singer-songwriter to learn about his inspirations, love of fantasy, and his wife Estée Perda—who plays drums on his albums and has been cited as sounding like Moe Tucker (drummer of The Velvet Underground) on salvia.

PAN M 360: I haven’t really heard anybody with your sound before, which is always really fun for me, because I interview musicians all the time. When you’re like writing your songs, do you write in the vocals screams or like drawn-out “ahhhhhs?”

Gus Englehorn: It’s kind of me just playing the guitar and freestyling lyrics over the top. Most of the stuff comes off the top of my head. Like my wife will be making a painting and I’ll be trying to make her laugh with some crazy lyrics and stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever written down a big drawn-out “ahhhh” or anything (laughs).

PAN M 360: So the lyrics are based more on the feeling you get from the guitar or other instruments?

Gus Englehorn: Yeah it happens one of two ways. Either I write down a short story and put music to that or I come up with little stories as I’m playing.

PAN M 360: Is that where the title Dungeon Master comes from? Are you writing little Dungeons & Dragons stories?

Gus Englehorn: I’ve always been really into fantasy, like video games, books, and movies, but the title came from one of my shows actually. By the time I was doing the launch for the first album, Death and Transfiguration, I had a partially finished version of the song “The Gate,” and this guy was yelling “encore” so I played it. And the same guy came up to me after and was like ‘Man, I love your lyrics it kind of reminds me of Dungeons & Dragons. You’re like the Dungeon Master up there, leading us through this crazy campaign.’ So it kind of gave me a direction to go of me as this Dungeon Master omnipotently leading you through these strange situations.


PAN M 360: I think the title for the album definitely makes sense. I mean, “Exercise Your Demons” is very much like a necromancer casting a spell on you.

Gus Englehorn: Yeah exactly. I guess that was the vibe I’m going for (laughs).

PAN M 360: That song “Terrible Horse” also really stuck with me. It seems very stream of consciousness?

Gus Englehorn: That’s one of my favourites on the album. That one, I just imagined this terrible horse who kicks his master and goes and runs off, and then, he drinks from a poison river. His soul leaves his horse body and he’s in Hell and he tries to escape. And it’s also about a party animal, like a person who has a drinking problem and is drinking from the poison river and just getting rude. I guess it’s a little fable. A lot of them on this album are little fables I guess.

PAN M 360: You were a professional snowboarder before you were a musician. What led you to making music?

Gus EngleHorn: So I think I like started playing guitar when I was like 16 and I was just kind of like writing songs the whole time I was snowboarding. I would always kind of do it. But yeah, I think I was imagining a day when I would become maybe too old to snowboard and I was like ‘Well I need to do something. I don’t wanna just curl up and die.’ So I kept trying to write songs and then when snowboarding did end I still didn’t really know how to write songs even though I had been trying for years and years. So there was a period of three to four years where I was really trying to learn how to write music. Like waking up and trying to make a demo or something. Then I made that first album after like three or four years of being broke with no job.

PAN M 360: And when you were constantly trying to write songs what did you use as inspiration? Other music?

Gus Englehorn: I think the reason I write songs is just to sort exercise my imagination and be as creative as I can. So a lot of it comes from that desire to explore new ideas. But then there are influences from films and different art movements like the surrealism and the Dada movement. And then there are bands like The Pixies, Daniel Johnston, Leonard Cohen, and then my own personal experiences I suppose.

PAN M 360: And your wife, Estée, is your drummer. How did she start playing drums for your music?

Gus Englehorn: Well we had already been dating for 10 years when I released that first record. We had a different iteration of the band where we were both playing guitars and we tried to play with other people but it never really worked out. Then eventually she just hopped on drums and it really seemed to click. She can kind of do anything. She’s very musically inclined.

PAN M 360: Does she help with the lyrics at all?

Gus Englehorn: That’s just me, but before we go into the studio she adds drums and we make little demos and we both try to come up with different arrangements. But sometimes she’ll come up with a lot of the basslines and glockenspiel stuff.

PAN M 360: You’ve lived in many places—Alaska, Salt Lake City, Hawaii—would you say that has an influence on your trajectory as a musician or creative person?

Gus Englehorn: Yeah I think so. I think just being in Alaska seems to do something to your brain. You kind of feel like you’re hidden away from the world and there are a lot of colloquialisms and individuality there and lots of unique characters. So I think you just feel free to do what you will. So it had an influence on my ideas of being an individual.

PAN M 360: Have you had any opportunities to play a show there?

Gus Englehorn: We did play one last summer in my hometown, a fishing village called Ninilchik. It was called Salmon Fest and it was kinda a Bluegrass festival. But people were pretty cool and I think some were a little horrified. Alaskan festivals can get pretty crazy too. When we were playing it was like pouring rain and by the end of the set, there was like a pile of people mud wrestling. It was pretty crazy and I think stuff like that only happens in Alaska.



For its last concert of the Cartes Blanches series, Pro Musica invites music lovers to travel musically in Eastern Europe. Brian Manker, cello, and Angela Park, piano, will perform a repertoire focusing on works by Rachmaninov, Martinu and Kaprálová.

 So let’s meet Angela Park, in order to know more about this excellent pianist’s career, about her duet with Brian Manker and the pieces to perform on Sunday, 3 PM, at the Phi Center.

PAN M 360: First, we’d like to know more about you! Where were you trained as a chambrist and a soloist?  

ANGELA PARK: I studied solo performance at Western University, the University of Toronto, and the Université de Montréal. Chamber music has always been a large part of my musical education. I began playing in a piano trio when I was 13 and have always loved collaborating in various instrumental combinations ever since. I met one of my duo partners, violist Sharon Wei, when we were undergraduate students at Western University. Even during our studies, we sought out ways to keep playing together, and this has fed into my professional career. 25 years later, Sharon and I are still thinking up all kinds of projects together!

PAN M 360: Who were your main professors?

ANGELA PARK: James Anagnoson, Ronald Turini, William Aide, Jacob Lateiner, Paul Stewart. I have been lucky to meet and be inspired by each of these artists, who were each wonderful teachers as well. 

PAN M 360: Who were or still are your pianistic role models?

ANGELA PARK: There are so many I love to listen to, including Richter, Horowitz, Argerich, Nikolayeva. Listening to recordings of my past teachers also continue to inspire me. 

PAN M 360: How would you describe your pianistic personality? 

ANGELA PARK: I have been told I am a sensitive listener 😊. 

PAN M 360: Do you have favourite composers or periods of classical music?

ANGELA PARK: Composers I feel most close to as a performer are Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, Rachmaninoff. I also love the process of commissioning and playing new works of today’s composers. Some composers whose music I have really gravitate to are Barbara Croall, Omar Daniel, Kevin Lau, and Darren Sigesmund (who happens to be my husband!). 

PAN M 360: Do you see yourself more as a chamber musician or a soloist?

ANGELA PARK: My career has taken me much more in the chamber music realm. I try to maintain a schedule of learning solo repertoire and playing recitals whenever possible, as I feel that solo playing helps ensemble playing, and vice versa. 

PAN M 360: What are your favorite contexts for performing live or recording? 

ANGELA PARK: Some of the most moving experiences as a performer have been for the organizations Concerts in Care and Xenia Concerts. Playing for those that cannot access concerts elsewhere is very meaningful and important. I love playing and recording with musical partners that I have a long friendship with, as it makes the whole experience more personal and gratifying. 

PAN M 360: Where are you based? 

ANGELA PARK: I recently moved from Toronto to London, Ontario, which happens to be where I was born and grew up. I currently teach piano and collaborative piano at Western University. 

She is a founding member of the JUNO Award-winning Made in Canada Ensemble and the renowned Mercer-Park Duo with cellist Rachel Mercer. Rachel and Angela performed with violinist Yehonatan Berick as part of the AYR Trio from 2010 to 2020.

PAN M 360: As we can observe, piano duet with cello is something that you know very well. So let’s talk about the piano-cello duet: Do you still perform with Rachel Mercer? 

ANGELA PARK: Yes, Rachel and I still collaborate extensively as a cello-piano duo. I met Rachel in 2006 and she continues to be a huge inspiration and important friend and musical partner. We also have other collaborative projects in the works. 

PAN M 360: Is this collaboration with Brian Manker a long-term collaboration? 

ANGELA PARK: This is our first recital together, and I certainly hope to do more in the future! Brian and I are playing in a piano quartet formation this summer in Ahuntsic, along with violinist Andrew Wan and violist Sharon Wei. 

PAN M 360: Can you tell us how and when you began playing with Brian Manker?

ANGELA PARK: I met Brian when I lived in Montreal around 2006, and I had a chamber coaching with him around that time that is still memorable. We played the “Trout Quintet” together many years ago in Westben, and a highlight of that concert was playing with Brian. He brings so much vibrancy and beauty to the music. I am very excited to be collaborating with him for this Pro Musica concert as a duo. 

PAN M 360: Do you have some other gigs for piano-cello duets?

ANGELA PARK: Rachel and I have recitals coming up in the next season mostly in Ontario (KW and Cobourg). 

PAN M 360: What are the specific qualities of this duet with Brian Manker?

ANGELA PARK: Brian brings such a positive energy to everything, and his playing is so effusive and full of colour. I will certainly be inspired by these qualities and I know it will be an invigorating experience. 

Here is the MTL setlist:

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.19

Bohuslav Martinů, Variations on a Slovak theme, H.378

Vítězslava Kaprálová, Ritournelle for piano and cello, op.25 

PAN M 360 : Can you please comment on each piece?  What are the specific challenges for the duet and each instrument? 

ANGELA PARK: This is a beautiful program that displays the cello and piano in a soulful way. The Kaprálová and Martinu are new works for me, and I am thrilled to discover them. The Kaprálová is a bright and energetic work and I hear the influence of Martinu, who she studied with. I have always loved Martinu and the way his chamber music comes together so uniquely like clockwork. This work also has some amazing melodies and dance-like themes. Rachmaninoff is fiendishly difficult, but so worth it to bring this dramatic, deeply expressive work to life. 

PAN M 360: What are your ongoing projects, concerts or recording sessions?

ANGELA PARK: I have upcoming performances and recording projects with violinist Scott St. John and Rachel Mercer featuring the music of Kevin Lau. Other collaborations I am excited about include playing concerts with Sharon Wei, Rivka Golani, Susan Hoeppner, James Campbell. Rachel and I are also a trio with violinist Mayumi Seiler, and I have piano duo projects with Stéphan Sylvestre. Upcoming solo events include recitals across Ontario.

Angela Park received her Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto and her doctorate in piano performance from the University of Montreal. From 2011-2014, Angela was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she taught the woodwind accompaniment course. She has performed in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto. Angela has recorded with cellist Rachel Mercer and the Made In Canada Ensemble, and has recorded various projects for the Enharmonic label in Bloomington, Indiana. In 2021, her album “Mosaic” with the Made In Canada Ensemble won a JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year. She has won numerous awards and honors including the Grace Welsh International Piano Prize in Chicago, the Canadian National Music Festival, the Honens International Piano Competition and the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona. 

Principal cellist with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 1999, Brian Manker pursues a diverse musical career as a performer and teacher. In addition to being a frequent performer with the OSM, Mr. Manker is a member of the Juno- and Opus-Award winning New Orford String Quartet. A professor at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, Mr. Manker also initiated the Beethoven Project and founded the Adorno Quartet in 2007, which aims to perform all of Beethoven’s quartets in their original context: a private salon. In 2010, he recorded the Bach Suites for Solo Cello. Brian Manker plays a cello made by Pietro Guarneri of Venice c. 1728-1730 with a bow made by Joseph René Lafleur c. 1850, courtesy of the Canimex Foundation.

PROGRAM:

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.19

Bohuslav Martinů, Variations on a Slovak theme, H.378

Vítězslava Kaprálová, Ritournelle for piano and cello, op.25

Indoor presentation: Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. at the PHI Centre

Webcast (on demand) from May 29 to June 12

Information and tickets, it’s here.

The music scene in Montreal, circa 2007, welcomed a new unorthodox, one-of-a-kind chamber music quartet whose members went on to collaborate with artists such as Arcade Fire, Hey Rosetta, The Barr Brothers, Sarah Pagé, Chilly Gonzales, Patrick Watson, etc. This quartet is called the Warhol Dervish String Quartet, and is more of a collective—a rotating cast of chamber music players, that in the beginning, cut their teeth in punk rock DIY arts venues around Montreal and now often tour as the strings section for a number names in the music world.

Violist and director of Warhol Dervish, Pemi Paull, has been with the collective since day one. Along with the collective, his performances over the next few weeks are during a concert series called Beethoven Mystique. The concert series is a collaboration between Warhol Dervish and local acts Paper Beat Scissors (Mar 23) Katie Moore (April 20), Brad Barr (May 1), Sarah Pagé (May 11), and Thanya Iyer (June 22). The idea is to put new life into the last string quartets of one of history’s greatest composers while conveying the synergy and potential of chamber music and contemporary music artists. 

PAN M 360 spoke with Pemi Paull ahead of the second Beethoven Mystique show, about the inspiration behind the concert series, choosing which artists to feature, and the gradual shift of acceptance for chamber music and contemporary collaborations in North America. 

Beethoven Mystique Concert Dates at La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
Wednesday, April 20th – Quartet No 15, Op. 132 + Katie Moore
Sunday, May 1st – Quartet No 14, Op. 131 + Brad Barr
Wednesday, May 11th – Quartet No 16, Op. 135 + Sarah Pagé
Wednesday, June 22nd – Quartet No 13 and 17, Op. 130/133 + Thanya Iyer

PAN M 360: Hey Pemi how are you today? 

Pemi Paull: I’m OK. Sorry, my voice is a little off today ‘cause I’m on the tail end of COVID. I just got back from touring on Monday with another group and like half of us got COVID.

PAN M 360: That definitely seems to be the reality of touring nowadays. Which group was that?

Pemi Paull: Ensemble Caprice. It’s a baroque music collective. So we lost a singer at the beginning of the tour and then a trumpet player and yeah, it was COVID. Some of the people in my Warhol Dervish group were on tour as well, and five of them got COVID last week as well. 

PAN M 360: I guess you’ll all be cured by the times of the shows though? 

Pemi Paull: Yeah we’re gonna be super vaxxed by then. Have all three of the vaccines plus a case of COVID. So super immunity.

PAN M 360: So is Warhol Dervish like a rotating cast of players?

Pemi Paull: Yeah it’s a collection. It’s always been a collective, but there are certain core members in the string quartet and it’s flexible because we’re all over the place all the time doing a million different things. For this performance, we have four violinists that are rotating between shows.

PAN M 360: Where did the initial idea for this concert series come from?

Pemi Paull: Well we first made contact with theatre La Chapelle when we did a run of shows in 2017. And we talked about doing a series of concerts around some themes. I’ve always wanted to do a Beethoven cycle all my life. I’ve played all the Beethoven quartets and that’s the type of music that allows me to express myself as a classical player. These quartets are at the top of my musical repertoire. 

So the theatre came back to us to do these shows and then COVID happened and I proposed five concerts around the five late Beethoven string quartets. Those pieces are like at the summit of chamber music, but they can be quite dense and profound so the idea was to be to experience these quartets with little breaks where people in the Montreal indie community play. The idea is to make the whole time listening to the music as enjoyable and flowing as possible, especially for people who have never heard them before. 

PAN M 360: And how did you go about choosing with Montreal acts would be accompanying which quartet?

Pemi Paull: Well we’ve always collaborated with people outside of the classical world and made many musician friends along the way. But it’s different for everyone. Like Katie (Moore) is playing her own music and choosing her program more in reaction to the fact that we’re playing Beethoven’s Opus 132 rather than the other way around. So we play the quartet and then Katie performs a solo set she’s heard the quartet before, but I’m not even 100 percent sure what she will play.

PAN M 360: So it’s going to be pretty spontaneous?

Pemi Paull: Yeah and like when we did it with Tim (Paper Beat Scissors) it seems like it went even better than expected. Because I think the pacing is really good, where you have that kind of like really high-intensity chamber music that is very visceral, but it doesn’t last very long. The release comes without having to sit there for two hours. It’s very complimentary. 

Katie Moore is performing with Warhol Dervish on Wednesday, April 20

PAN M 360: You and other members of Warhol Dervish have classical, Conservatory training behind you. Has it been hard to kind of leave that when collaborating outside classical music?

Pemi Paull: The culture has really changed. There’s a lot more collaboration now. But I think for me,—I think I’m the oldest person of the Dervishes—I’m a real Gen X guy. There was a big separation when we were young, growing up with classical music and what it represented and what popular music represented. But I think our group was made up of a lot of people who probably had band aspirations, but we started out on string instruments, and the journey with stringed instruments invariably leads you into the classical world, at least at some point. We started at this anarchist art gallery called Zeke’s as the house band. So we were playing pretty independently, booking shows at La Sala Rossa and keeping away from the classical music world. It was easier to operate as a sort of band and play the music we wanted to. 

PAN M 360: So back then, was there kind of a disconnect between you guys and your peers who were playing classical music in a different setting?

Pemi Paull: I think that everyone thought it was cool for the most part, but there is definitely an element of classical music that is all about status with fancy instruments and fancy education. And the way you promote yourself is with that fancy notoriety. But as soon as you start working with bands and things like that, people recognize you because of capitalism. It’s like ‘Oh, we have heard of the bands that you work with’ even more than our own repertoire. It’s just a different way into people’s consciousness.

But there’s a classical world that only wants to have chamber music with competitions and rich kids going to expensive music schools, and you know, it’s a very rarefied field. So I think in North America, it’s really changed. And I think it’s a lot easier to be who you are if you’re trying to promote your own group. And what you are is fine, but there’s also parallel to that—a network of concert series, and competitions, like a classical music establishment of chamber music—and we only have a peripheral amount to do with that.

PAN M 360: You mentioned fancy instruments and you yourself have a viola from the 18th century correct? 

Pemi Paull: Yes so I do a lot of historical performances—which is to say that we play on old instruments and try to recreate the sort of conditions of 18th-century performance. So like using older bows and instruments and everybody in our group does that. Actually, Montreal is a pretty big centre for historical performance. 

But yeah I bought a French viola that was built in 1789, the year of the French revolution, and the guy who built it was a revolutionary who got guillotined, so it has a great story behind it. It’s had a lot of mojo put into it and it’s my main instrument. 

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