François R. Cambuzat, Gianna Greco and two companions will perform this Thursday at Le Ministère, as part the Nuits d’Afrique festival. We can already confirm this to the music lovers who will be there: they might look hard, but they will not find anything similar elsewhere, this summer, this fall, this winter or next summer, unless Ifriqiyya Électrique comes back to town. Their musical proposal is that unusual. Cambuzat and his partner Gianna Greco have been taking their insatiable curiosity and anthropological awareness to various corners of the world, for many years. The Ifriqiyya Électrique project is the result of a singular approach that François explained to Pan M 360. It is a mixture of trance, ritual, western tribalism, sonic violence, catharsis, post-slavery and liberation, all with the necessary consistency.
Pan M 360: Hello François! Ifriqiyya Électrique was at the Festival d’été in Quebec City last night, in front of our Assemblée nationale. It went well?
François R. Cambuzat: Yes, the crowd was in the rain at the beginning, but it cleared up. It was really great!
Pan M 360: After the Assemblée nationale in Quebec, you will perform at Le Ministère in Montreal, a venue that has no governmental function despite its name. It will be more intimate.
François R. Cambuzat: Ah yes, we are very eager!
Pan M 360: Ifriqiyya Électrique’s music cannot be easily defined. If I summarize roughly, we hear sub-Saharan slave songs, then Sufi components, and finally the rhythmic patterns and post-industrial textures put forward by Front 242 and their heirs. Please rectify anything I didn’t get correctly.
François R. Cambuzat: Actually, it all started with a trip to the Djerid, the quasi desert of southwest Tunisia. With my colleague Gianna Greco (Editor’s note: the other half of the Putan Club duo, with François), we temporarily settled in a town called Tozeur to shoot a film. We met people from this community, who are descendants of slaves of sub-Saharan origin and still practice a ritual called “Banga”.
As far as the industrial or post-industrial aspect is concerned, it was obvious for us. Because this trance music we discovered in Djerid includes an unheard-of violence. We had pogo-punk in the West, but Banga is on another level. The post-industrial ornaments a la Front 242, Nine Inch Nails and so on, that was a given. It’s very tribal too. Gianna and I keep the baseline, the instrumental and electronic additions don’t change the original structure.
Then it all became a movie, which we put on the Internet. People noticed it, including representatives of festivals like WOMAD, Peter Gabriel’s festival. So we had to form a band without denying our initial objective, that of creating uplifting music. Then, “Ifriqiyya” was the name of the territory of North Africa which the Berbers formerly occupied, and which gave its name to Africa.
Pan M 360: In the West, little is said about the slave trade in the Maghreb. However, it went on for centuries. It is a kind of taboo.
François R. Cambuzat: They don’t talk about it in the Maghreb either, because people are ashamed of it. It lasted for centuries, indeed, and the number of victims of this traffic was far greater than in the West Indies and the Americas. So the Banga is a syncretism, that is, it combines the animism of the people of West Africa, especially Senegal, with the soufic elements. Then, it is a therapeutic ritual in which women participate a lot; it is their moment of total liberation, where the constraints of the sharia are lifted.
Pan M 360: It seems to me an easy parallel, but the Banga evokes Santeria or Voodoo in the West Indies: a mixture of animist and Christian beliefs.
François R. Cambuzat: Yes, it is quite that, this baggage brought by the slaves of West Africa. In Senegal, there is this cult, this therapeutic trance called “n’döp”. It is very similar to Banga and, at the same time, to Santeria or voodoo. These rituals are also similar to what has become techno or dub, in their essence.
Pan M 360: Your songs also take the form of adorcisms, that is to say the reception, rather than the expulsion, of spiritual entities. It’s nice to have music that transcends mere affect or the desire to tap our foot on the floor, and brings the listener back to the spiritual essence!
François R. Cambuzat: Adorcism is for those who participate in the Banga, it serves to bring a spirit into them and then to calm it down. This is always in a therapeutic perspective for these descendants of slaves. This ritual is above all cathartic.
Pan M 360: You launched Rûwâhîne in 2017 and Laylet El Booree in 2019. Can we expect a new album soon?
François R. Cambuzat: We take our time. We are no longer at the age where we are amazed to see our name on pieces of cardboard or plastic! We try to ignore the usual constraints of the music industry.
Pan M 360: I can only support you in this. Then, your two albums are like portable masses or celebrations that we can listen to at will! Thank you very much François and have a good concert at Nuits d’Afrique!
François R. Cambuzat: Thank you! If you’re ever in Europe or the Maghreb, come see us!
Ifriqiyya Électrique will play Le Ministère on Thursday, July 14 as part of Nuits d’Afrique. Buy your tickets here!
Singer-songwriter, producer, and “moccasin-gaze,” artist, Daniel Monkman, recently released his Big Pharma EP. The EP takes on some of the issues surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, mainly, according to Monkman, dolling out the most addicitive drugs to Indigenous people like himself. He learned this after getting sober and began doing his own research.
Big Pharma is about exposing the lies perpetuated by the pharmaceutical industry and Monkman has now made it his job to shed a light on the nefarious origins and manipulations within the system. Musically, Big Pharma sounds a lot like the atmospheric indie-folk of Beck’s Sea Change era or more recently, Morning Phase. He also worked with Cadence Weapon to produce a more hip-hop-focused track. We spoke with Daniel about the quick writing process of Big Pharma, his research on the pharmaceutical industry for an Indigenous perspective, and his love of Beck.
PAN M 360: I really didn’t expect a hip-hop track (“Oil Pastel / Dopesick” ft. Cadence Weapon) on the new Zoon EP, but it really works.
Daniel Monkman: Yeah, that’s that’s what I’m hoping for. Hip hop is a big influence in my life and after I switched schools, I met some punk rockers and kind of went on a different path.
PAN M 360: So you think you could have been a Hip hop artist in a different life?
Daniel Monkman: Oh, totally. And I still can be, you know, I am. I’m getting more into production and writing songs for people that since putting out an EP have done a lot of other kinds of hip hop stuff. Mostly writing music for people. It’s kind of my way to get in on the music stuff going around.
PAN M 360: Is that how you worked with Cadence Weapon on the “Oil Pastel / Dopesick” track?
Daniel Monkman: Yeah that song was totally different. Not totally different but it had more parts and then I kind of simplified it. I did all the music and Rollie did all the vocals. The main parts. I did like backups and melodies.
PAN M 360: Did you guys talk about what the song was about or did he kind of freestyle it?
Daniel Monkman: I gave him the working song title, a demo version of the song, and he just kind of ran with it. I was really interested to see the stuff that he’s talking about based on just this song title that I gave to him.
PAN M 360: And there’s a central theme to the new EP. It’s not in your face, but even just in the song names, it’s about your experience with the pharmaceutical industry?
Daniel Monkman: Yeah. So it was my understanding that back in the day when the treaties were being signed, and my ancestors realized that the newcomers were not going to be leaving, a lot of our ancestral leaders got together and were like, ‘Okay, we got to start thinking about the future of our people, securing our place and society, and making sure we don’t fall too far behind.’ So they devised these treaties and within the treaties, came these certain privileges that other Indigenous people would be able to have. Like we would get free schooling, dental would be taken care of, as well as medicines. And over time, a lot of these things have been changed and manipulated. What I noticed when I got sober, was I started to wake up from the illusion of Canada and all that other stuff, I started to notice that the stuff that they were giving to us for free, or the only stuff that they were offering was the most addictive.
PAN M 360: Like pharmaceutical drugs?
Daniel Monkman: Yeah. And to me, that didn’t feel right. So I started to do my own research and started to uncover some kind of this ongoing genocide. We believe that because we don’t see a lot of it, this ongoing, contemporary, genocide is non-existent, but it’s very much alive. And I experienced that in my hometown of Southern Manitoba. And it was something that stuck with me, ever since I uncovered those truths.
PAN M 360: So you’ve kind of made it your mission as an artist with a platform to speak about these truths?
Daniel Monkman: Yeah to give out a piece of information where I can, and try to educate Indigenous people that may be going down the pill route is not best, and trying to go back to natural ways of healing your body and mind. The pharmaceutical company has such a tight grip on everyone thinking that pills are just the way to go. And there’s a lot of people that will argue be like, ‘Well, the pills work for me.’ And that might be true, but not in the long run. Not in the long run, because the actual healing that needs to happen is like so much more than just taking a pill.
PAN M 360: So why do you think that these subsidized drugs for Indigenous people are the most addictive?
Daniel Monkman: Well, it’s no secret that the Indian Act was to eliminate the Indian and make them part of society so that the government wouldn’t have to caretake for them anymore. But it’s not really caretaking, it’s more just like, paying your rent for a home that you invested in, they invested in Canada. And so the less they have to care take, the more profits they get to keep. What a lot of people don’t know is there’s been a huge trust fund that’s been put aside for Indigenous people. So a lot of this money doesn’t come from tax money, it’s actual money that the government has to come up with them themselves. Canada is a very wealthy country and when you go to a reserve, it’s like a third-world country. PAN M 360: So were you a victim of this system? Before you got sober I mean.
Daniel Monkman: Partly. Addiction was just like the self-medication of being in the system, being in very racist schools, and being picked up by cops randomly just for walking late at night. And in that was post-traumatic stress and not having the right systems in place to help you. I mean, 12-15 years ago, mental health wasn’t a buzzword. So I found other ways to cope and that was substances. It’s amazing that alcohol is so easily accessible, but therapy is not.
PAN M 360: I wanted to talk about the song “Red River.” It kind of puts you in a trance of being awake and asleep at the same time. How did you find that atmosphere?
Daniel Monkman: I bought this old Casio digital guitar one day when I was with my friend. I took it home and I started playing around and I got into this trance of this like riff. And I took it to my close collaborator, Andrew McLeod, also known as Sunsetter. And we just like worked that out at his house. I did most of the instrumentations but he played drums and just like being in the studio is inspiring. It had vocal melodies and stuff like that and was a very pop song. It was like very, very pop. But I decided to take out all the vocals one afternoon and just hear how the instrument sounded. And I was like, well, this works better as an instrumental.
PAN M 360: So when did you write this Big Pharma EP? Was it right after Bleached Waves came out? You also had the OMBIIGIZI project [with Status / Non-Status come out after then.
Daniel Monkman: So this EP was finished very fast. I wrote it like three months ago. Bleached Waves was made in like 2017-18 and in that time, I’ve already recorded an LP Two, and three EPs. But this was the latest one in the batch. I was just sitting at home and recorded in a month. And it was a very fast process. I was feeling very inspired. It was just like Bleached Waves and the songs just kept coming out.
PAN M 360: That’s always nice when you don’t have to look for inspiration. It just comes to you. I get a very Beck Morning Phase, vibe from this EP. And I know you covered him once with “Round the Bend.”
Daniel Monkman: He kind of gave me the whole reason as to why I got into music professionally. Up until that point, it was my belief that I have to go to music school and become a classically trained musician, or I just didn’t even know … it just seemed so unattainable. Until I heard Mellow Gold. And I was like, Oh, well, I can just do whatever I want.
At the age of 18, a young woman from Lavaltrie moved to Montreal to launch her career. She quickly made a name for herself on the Montreal scene, opening for artists such as Milk & Bone, France D’Amour, and the late Karim Ouellet.
Léonie Gray’s voice is both atypical and rich in emotions. Some of her intonations remind us a little bit of Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse. In her music, the 29-year-old artist navigates between pop, R&B, and jazz. For her, music is a necessary therapy, “It’s like breathing, my body needs it,” she says.
Under contract with La Maison Mère, she tackles various subjects through her songs: mental health, feminism, and interpersonal relationships. Last April, the Quebecer delivered Who?, her first album comprising 13 songs, including the already popular “Monster and Echoes.”
Pan M 360 talked with her about her presence at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, her first album, and her creative process.
LÉONIE GRAY: I’ve been immersed in music since I was young. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said I wanted to be a singer. I always had that goal in mind and made it happen. I started performing when I was seven years old. I did every musical audition I could get my hands on when I was in elementary and high school. My father is a musician, so that always helped me. My parents have always been supportive.
PAN M 360: What does creating music mean to you?
LÉONIE GRAY: It brings me a lot of good. It’s a form of therapy for me. Sometimes there are emotions in my life that I haven’t experienced that I can get through by writing songs. I love recording, composing, and getting feedback from people on my songs. Music is a part of me, it is an absolute necessity in my life. It’s like breathing, my body needs it.
PAN M 360: The subjects you address are directly linked to current topics such as mental health. Has the way you approach them changed over time?
LÉONIE GRAY: I think so. First of all, I’ve gotten older and more mature. I’ve been able to apply that to my music. Over the last few years, I’ve realized what I really want to talk about in my songs. I need to have a subject in my songs and most of the time I talk about feminist issues. I talk about it because it is directly related to what I experience as a woman. When I was last at the FIJM, I dealt with lighter subjects than today.
PAN M 360: Other than current events, where does your inspiration come from?
LÉONIE GRAY: My inspiration comes from my own mental health as well as from my interpersonal relationships. I find that the relationship you have with others says a lot about who you are. This is an important aspect to communicate in my songs. I am also inspired by artists like Joy Crookes, from the UK. We deal with similar issues and I love her music. On the other hand, I also like Les Louanges. He has a different style than others and it’s exciting to see a local artist with so much potential to break through internationally. He has fun singing, you can tell.
PAN M 360: How have you evolved since your last participation in the FIJM?
LÉONIE GRAY: Between my last participation and today, there was the pandemic. Like everyone else, I’ve been in my head a lot. I have done a lot of personal work and I am more at peace with who I am and who I am becoming. I’m getting more and more comfortable making music that feels like me and that I want to hear. I don’t just make music to please anymore. I want to be proud of my accomplishments when I listen to myself. Also, I have made room for more vulnerability in my life, and this is reflected in my music. From now on, I give less importance to public opinion and I feel freer in my creation.
PAN M 360: What can we expect from your show this Thursday?
LÉONIE GRAY: People will be dancing and singing, that’s for sure. The show will be on a small stage. So there will also be more intimate moments. I want people to sit on the ground and enjoy those moments. I’ll be singing my entire album Who? as well as one unreleased song. I can’t wait to sing this new song in front of my family and friends. For several years I’ve done run-in shows and I’ve enjoyed seeing people’s reactions to my songs when they hear them for the first time. It gives me a sense of what the audience thinks and whether I like singing it on stage.
PAN M 360: Are there any artists you have seen or are looking forward to seeing at the FIJM?
LÉONIE GRAY: I really wanted to see Tash Sultana’s show. Unfortunately, I wasn’t available. Also, I saw Cécile McLorin Salvant and Kamasi Washington. I definitely want to go see Anomalie concert this Thursday. There are so many shows at FIJM and it seems like I want to go see them all!
PAN M 360: What is the influence of jazz in your songs?
LÉONIE GRAY: Naturally, there are certain chord progressions that attract me more than others. Very often it’s the soulful, jazz-like ones. I mix them into my pop musical structure. Also, using instruments like trumpet and violin brings me closer to jazz. In fact, people often link my vocal tone to jazz. I am often told that I do “pop-jazz.”
PAN M 360: How do you feel since the release of your first album last April? Are you working on any new projects?
LÉONIE GRAY: I’ve been wanting to release this album for some time. When it came out, I was very relieved. The feedback we got from listeners and the media was incredible. It kind of alleviated some of my insecurities. I’m extremely happy with the result. We have a little tour planned until February. It feels good to get back into the pre-pandemic rhythm and do more shows. There are several other related projects that will come in connection with this album. For example, I have a music video coming out soon for one of my songs. Of course, I need to create and I have already started working on my next album. Many beautiful things are to come!
Signed to Hot Tramp Records, Janette King released her debut album “What We Lost” in June 2021. Through the 12 tracks of this first album, the excellent singer mixes R&B, soul, hip-hop and pop. The song “Airplane” is by far the most popular, one year after its release.
At her next concert in Montreal, we can also expect to hear “new songs,” she announces. In addition, the Rest of Canada will be able to see Janette King perform four times, including in Ottawa and Toronto.
Pan M 360 spoke with the Montrealer to find out more about her presence at the Jazz Festival and the possibility of her international career if the trend continues.
PAN M 360: What led you to music?
JANETTE KING: I was born in Vancouver and studied dance and music. When I was young, I did several years of dance. I loved to dance and listen to music. In a way, this sport was my introduction to music. Then I studied Jazz. There, I deepened my knowledge of composition and musical arrangement. At that time, I started singing in a group called Boom Booms in Vancouver. We did shows in the United States, Mexico and even Brazil. Those were great experiences. When I finished school, I decided to move to Montreal. That’s when I started singing solo.
PAN M 360: When you create your music, how do you want it to be received by the listeners?
JANETTE KING: When I create, I want my future listeners to be able to relate to my music. I want them to feel that their own experiences are projected in my songs. I want people to identify with my music and for an emotional connection to be made between them and the music.
PAN M 360: In the past, you have done beat-making. Do you prefer to work with computer production or real instruments?
JANETTE KING: I like the mix between computer production and acoustic recording. I like to incorporate elements of the real world into my music. I feel like the magic happens when you find the perfect musical balance between the real and the electronic. When I hear an instrument and it’s not tuned properly, I can feel different and sing in a different way. That’s the great thing about recording with real instruments, it’s not always perfect. That imperfection is often impossible to recreate. Also, computer production can sound as robotic as it is perfect. You have to experiment and find what you like best.
PAN M 360: We are a few days away from your concert at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. How are you feeling?
JANETTE KING: I’m really looking forward to it. This will be my first show at a jazz festival. I’m honoured to be one of those artists who gets to be there. Many of the artists I admire have performed at the Montreal festival. This is the biggest accomplishment of my career. In the past, the Montreal Jazz Festival has captured my heart many times. I normally go every year. These days I listen to a lot of Robert Glasper, I’m really looking forward to seeing him play!
PAN M 360: What is your relationship with the city of Montreal?
JANETTE KING: Montreal is the love of my life. I love living here. Even though it’s not where I was born, Montreal has become my home. I have made friends with many people here. I love the city. It is full of energy and life.
PAN M 360: What elements of jazz music do you incorporate into your music?
JANETTE KING: I love improvisation. When I’m on stage, I improvise my melodies. I love being able to give the crowd moments that are created in real-time and are never going to be recreated. It’s like it’s exclusive to the moment. That’s what I love most about jazz concerts. It’s very interesting to go to a jazz concert and see and hear things that have never been done before.
PAN M 360: It’s been over a year since the release of your album What We Lost. How do you feel about this project? What can we expect from your next project?
JANETTE KING: I’m really happy with the reception of the listeners. Even after a year, I wouldn’t change a single thing about this album. And I can’t wait for my next one to come out! When I created What We Lost, I really went through a lot of inner workings and worked hard to get the sounds I wanted. For my next project, I’m surrounding myself with people who inspire me, I see them as guides to shape my new music. There will be a lot of retro sounds and synthesizer, I will also be drawing a lot of inspiration from Prince’s music. I hope to have this project finished by the end of the summer.
Before her set at the Montreal Jazz Festival, singer-songwriter, Tami Neilson, spoke with us about working with Willie Nelson, her firery upcoming opus, Kingmaker, and inequality in the country music industry.
PAN M 360: Where did some of the themes for Kingmaker come from? Is it getting better for women in the music industry or just the world in general? I suppose it’s hard to make the case for the US since the supreme court’s decision on Roe V. Wade…
Tami Neilson: I guess I tend to write about what I know and my personal experience, which is that of an Indigenous woman in the music industry. I use my music to keep the conversation of equality for women and people of colour at the forefront. Kingmaker particularly addresses the huge disparity in female and BIPOC representation in country music specifically but it all relates on a broader scale to how we are treated in society as a whole. Those threads have always been in my music but I feel as things grow more dire and equality seems to be taking steps backward instead of forwards, it’s more important than ever to sing the songs of empowerment and encouragement. Taking up space in this world as a woman is a form of protest.
PAN M 360: I get a huge Nancy Sinatra inspiration from the songs “Kingmaker” and Baby, You’re a Gun.” I think it’s because of the string arrangements.
Tami Neilson: The Nancy and Lee albums were a big inspiration sonically for this album, as were Ennio Morricone and Bobby Gentry. I wanted this album to follow the cinematic arc of a story, like a movie soundtrack, rather than just adhering to one style of music.
PAN M 360: You’re originally from Toronto, but live in New Zealand. How is the support for your style of music there?
Tami Neilson: I love the music community here and the arts are well supported by our govt, as they are in Canada- but there is no radio play or mainstream platform for my genre of music (country/Americana) like there is for Pop here. It’s a good thing I can reach my audience directly these days and they sell out my shows and push my albums to the top of the charts…but it would be really nice to enjoy the support that the pop acts get.
PAN M 360: “The King Of Country Music,” seems like a bunch of memories from your start as a musician, singing with Kitty Wells, perhaps opening for Johnny Cash? Is that song about the women behind country music or the women who helped usher in the kings of country music?
Tami Neilson: That song is like a capsule autobiography of my journey in country music since I was a child. It addresses there being a lack of women played on country radio (only 13% of country radio is made up of women) and asks a question that hopefully keeps the conversation of inequality in country music going and makes people reflect on that question.
PAN M 360: “Beyond the Stars” features a duet with Willie Nelson. How did you manage to get his presence and what was it like playing with him live? It must have been life-changing?
Tami Neilson: I still wake up every morning and check my phone to see if our song actually still exists because it feels like it was all a dream. We ended up meeting through his wife Annie when I was supposed to play Luck reunion back in March 2020 and the whole world ground to a halt. They moved the Festival online and I did three songs, beaming in from New Zealand and Willie and Annie were watching. Annie started to follow me on Twitter and interact with me quite a bit but it took a few months before I realized who she was! Our friendship grew over the pandemic and it took me about a year to get up the courage to ask if he might consider doing a duet with me, a song that I’d written about the loss of my Dad. He said he loved the song and said yes. The day he sent his vocals through I couldn’t stop weeping. The thought of what my Dad, a musician who built the foundation of music on which I stand in our touring family band growing up, would have felt and what his reaction would’ve been to Willie being his voice on this song was so overwhelming.
And then, finally, two years later, in March of this year, I got to fly to Texas the week our borders opened in NZ, to perform the song in person with him at Luck Reunion. I made it through the first verse and the chorus, but when he started singing his second verse I was a goner. It was so overwhelming and truly felt like a sacred moment.
PAN M 360: Did you have to change the song at all, key-wise or anything once he said yes and would duet on it?
Tami Neilson: I went into the studio not knowing for certain if he would do it, so took a leap of faith and listened to his latest songs and chose the most common key he sings in. It was a bit nerve-wracking with an 11 piece string section locking it in
PAN M 360: There’s a bit of pageantry in your aesthetic with this album (the glowing dresses and wild headpieces). Has that always kind of been your M.O., bringing more of a spectacle to the classic Americana Country sound and style?
Tami Neilson: My visual creative expression has always been just as important to me as the audio, it goes hand in hand with my music. Like Dolly, Bowie, Prince, Grace Jones…I’ve always been drawn to artists that create for both the eyes and ears. Whether it’s sporting a beehive wig custom made for me by a drag queen on my last album CHICKABOOM or a collection of crowns or headpieces for my new album Kingmaker, my visuals are always part of the story I’m telling. But, more than anything else, it’s fun.
PAN M 360: Would agree that it’s important to use one’s platform as an artist to be political or sing about some of the things they don’t view as right? Kind of like ‘sassing the patriarchy?’
Tami Neilson: To quote Nina Simone, “It is an artist’s duty to reflect the times.”
PAN M 360: How do you approach the live show, bringing these songs organically to life on the big stage?
Tami Neilson: I’m usually a real stickler for being able to recreate what is on my albums so my audience isn’t disappointed, which means I tend to keep things lo-fi and sparse, but when I created Kingmaker in the midst of lockdown, with no touring happening in the foreseeable future, it really freed me to make the album I’ve always wanted to make, without restrictions. Now, of course, I can’t tour with a string section every tour I do, so…we’ll be getting creative.
Vincent Peirani from Nice learned the accordion without wanting to: his father put this strange music box in his hands and didn’t really leave him any other choice. He began by complaining, saying that it was an instrument “for old people”, but nothing helped. And then, miraculously, he started to like it. And playing classical music at that! He won prizes, finished his very solid studies with flying colours, and then took up jazz, thanks to which he now has a reputation that borders on the cult. No musical style is foreign to him as a music lover and, wonderfully, he allows this open-mindedness to blossom in his music. In addition to classical and jazz, he also plays the accordion with flamenco, metal, hip hop, avant-garde, electro and more.
He is at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 4 for two sets in the Quartier des spectacles. He’s coming to present his latest album, Jokers, which is in many ways a turning point in his career. He gave us an interview to talk about it.
Pan M 360: when we read reviews of your albums or concerts, we often see comments like “it’s accordion, but it’s much better than what you think!’’ Is it tiring to hear these denigrating comments about the accordion?
Vincent Peirani : Well, no. You know, I had the same prejudices myself! When my father imposed this thing on me, I had a lot of bad images in my head! It’s old-fashioned, it’s for old people… But I’m happy when people “discover” it thanks to what I do. The surprise is even more pleasant.
Pan M 360: You incorporate the accordion into almost every imaginable style. No kidding, is there any musical genre that your instrument could hardly be linked to?
Vincent Peirani: Honestly, that’s not my mindset. I’m willing to try anything. As long as you can play, you can find a way to express interesting things. Being a musician is a job. It’s our job to find expressive and original ways of passing. Well, it’s true that some genres are more demanding to fit in, but that’s rare.
Pan M 360: For example?
Vincent Peirani: Hip hop. I listen to tons of it, I read about its history, its culture, but I had a lot of difficulty finding the right way to integrate my music and my playing into this universe. I had a rollercoaster ride of emotions when I got into it. Sometimes I felt like I had it, other times I thought there was no point in trying. But the guys I played with would say, “That’s really good,” but I was never happy. Every time I felt I was getting closer, the goal seemed to be getting further away! I have to say that I am very demanding with myself. But now I think I’ve managed to do it. I’m very happy and it’s part of my influences now.
Pan M 360: And yet your classical studies did not prepare you for such eclecticism. When you switched to jazz, did you find it difficult to separate yourself from the score?
Vincent Peirani: Not really. When you play the accordion, at least when you start, you have to play for popular balls and village dances. It’s almost an obligation. My father used to tell me: music is for dancing. I played a lot of things, popular songs, traditional pieces and all that. Through that, I learned to make variations, to ornament the themes, to turn around a bit. Then, when I joined jazz classes, I had to learn the codes, the language, but let’s say that from then on, it was a learning process like any other. The reflexes, I had already developed them in a way.
Pan M 360: You said elsewhere that the hard learning, as you received it, made it difficult for you to play “for fun”. What traces does this still leave in you and in your music?
Vincent Peirani: It’s funny that you should ask me this question because Jokers is an important marker in this respect. When we started meeting as a trio with Federico (Casagrande, on guitar) and Ziv (Ravitz, on drums), there was a clash of visions between them and me. Both of them were precisely performing in the notion of pleasure, of letting go, of relaxed improvisation. I was into control and the absolute preciseness of what was coming. After concerts, I used to say: guys, we said we would do it like this…. Yes, but that was Monday, now it’s Wednesday, they would answer me. Ok, but I had set things up, I had understood, now it’s not the same thing! They would still say: ah yes, but we did it differently, that’s all. Wasn’t it good? Well, yes, it was, but that’s not what we had planned. Oh, and that’s bad? Uh, no…. Then I started thinking, you know. And I changed. They did me a lot of good, those guys. I’m still preparing myself a lot, that’s for sure, and that’s good, but I’m much more in the moment when I step on stage. When we’re playing live, it’s the music of the moment that will be created, depending on the audience, the place, the emotions. I trust them and they trust me. That’s all. I’m much less stressed, and I’m having more and more fun! It eats away at your brain, the stress and the desire to control everything you know.
Pan M 360: Jokers is your first trio album, a format that has scared you for a long time, because of its powerful historical charge. What does it change for you to have successfully tackled it now?
Vincent Peirani: Oh, there’s a before Jokers and an after Jokers, for sure. Partly for the reasons mentioned earlier, but also because the spark that ignited this project was basically improvised. Me and my mates had a repertoire in this trio. Compositions, standards, etc. It was quite jazz, let’s say more traditional. Then, before going into the studio, I told the guys: we’re going to do something else! What? Are you crazy? No, no, it’s OK, we’ll do it like that. I’ve got a different kind of repertoire, more rock, but we’ll do it. And then, we found ourselves in the studio, without having had time to rehearse these pieces beforehand. We’d have a few minutes before the show, I’d explain the idea to them, we’d work on it for a while, then we’d record it! There’s a fragility in all this, but fragility is good. It forces you to be on the edge of your seat. And then, this repertoire is basically the soundtrack of my childhood. That’s what I wanted to play when I was young! Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, etc. Now it’ll never leave me. I’m much more relaxed now than before. I had to make this leap. Besides, I found my way to “tame” the trio : Federico’s guitar can also go in the bass zone. And on top of that, I add some electro effects here and there, some clarinet, etc. It’s a trio, but a bit augmented, let’s say.
Pan M 360: It’s a very nuanced album though. It’s not plastered ‘’hard rock’’ from one side to the other. There are several changes of atmosphere, some ballads that are almost impressionistic ….
Vincent Peirani : Yes. An album is like a book. Each piece is a chapter. We tell a story. But we are not always in the action, or in the suspense, or in the psychological melting pot. A good story must vary the emotional effects and the rhythms.
Pan M 360: How did you choose the covers (there are also some of your compositions on the album)?
Vincent Peirani: I have a notebook, in which I put a lot of titles of pieces that I like. I listen to tons of music. I spend evenings and nights listening to lots of stuff. And when something strikes me, I take note of it. And I put the piece in my phone. When it’s time to think about a new album, I put on my playlist,on random, and then I get caught by pieces that say: yes, this would be good like this, and this like that. It’s mostly intuitive and emotional.
Vincent was pleased to make two recommendations for those who would like to explore the most amazing new generation of accordionists:
Charles Kieny, and his band CKRAFT (trash metal with accordion):
Joao Barradas, fantastic classical accordionist. A rising star:
When GWAR blew “The Horn of Hate,” Pustulus Maximus, the meanest member of the Maximus Tribe was summoned to Earth. Stranded in Antarctica since his Scumship was stolen, Pustulus Maximus has taken the lead guitarist role of the intergalactic alien rock band GWAR, since the passing of Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus) in 2011.
Flattus Maximus returned to his beloved “Planet Home,” never to return to this mudball planet again. Out of respect to Cory, after the character Flattus Maximus was retired, Brent Purgason (Against the Grain, U.S. Bastards, and former Cannabis Corpse guitarist) joined GWAR’s ranks debuting with the band in a video on the A.V. Club, playing Kansas’ 1976 hit tune “Carry on My Wayward Son.”
GWAR has persevered through numerous deaths in their collective including singer Dave Brockie, (Oderus Urungus) – which left the group without any of its founding members. Returning to the killing fields, led by Blöthar the Berserker,2017’s The Blood of Gods was an album that paid respect to the loss of Oderus and the struggles and triumphs that produced the new sound of the band.
The New Dark Ages, GWAR’s 15th studio album and newest record could be the most diverse GWAR record to date. the album’s story involves GWAR, now lost in the Duoverse (“like the multiverse, but it’s a little shittier”), joining forces with a “murderous maven” known as The Cutter and fighting off living monuments and undead soldiers waging a New Civil War. The New Dark Ages is the second GWAR album after Brockie’s passing, and the third album with guitarist Pustulus Maximus writing and performing lead guitar duties.
Speaking to PAN M 360, from their fortress in Antarctica, Pustulus Maximus tells us a bit about the new GWAR record, the companion graphic novel The Duoverse of Absurdity—the importance of fresh blood, and the regression of our species into a new dark age.
PAN M 360:How has Pustulus Maximus guitar style evolved since hearing “The Horn of Hate,” and entering the ranks of GWAR in your debut with the band in Battle Maximus?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Battle Maximus was another healing period for the band, when I had joined they had the majority of the material written. I was able to contribute to tracks like: “I Bonesnapper,” and “Madness at the core of time,” but for the most part, it was kind of there. My initial idea was not to part from the Flattus Maximus style too much at first. Once we were able to do The Blood of Gods, there was more freedom; we were able to write that album as a band together. Today’s GWAR has come into its own sound, our newest record The New Dark Ages, is a continuation of that, another record we were able to write together—this one really has no outside trauma.
PAN M 360:GWAR is currently embarked on “The Black Death Rager World Tour.” It’s a very busy time for GWAR to bring the bubonic plague to us mortals. What can you tell us about this upcoming GWAR invasion and what can we mortals expect?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): This spring tour is a great tour and we are showcasing some songs off the new record, but this fall is when we’re going to debut an entirely brand new show, a new storyline encompassing all the themes and ideas touched on The New Dark Ages. It’s also going to highlight the companion piece The Duoverse of Absurdity, a graphic novel that goes with the new record. This fall is going to be awesome.
PAN M 360:Can you talk to us a bit about The Duoverse of Absurdity; you’re facing off against vomitous incarnations of yourself. Will the new characters from the album or comic, like The Cutter, make their way into the new live shows?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): I don’t think there are any plans for a character like The Cutter making it onto the stage, the idea for her was pretty broad—The Cutter represents taking self-harm and directing it to harm others, which is kind of what GWAR does. We harm everyone else, we don’t harm ourselves. I don’t think there’s any mention of that character in the comics but it was fantastic working with Lizzy Hale (Halestorm) on that song.
PAN M 360:I know Pustulus, that you and Lizzy Hale are acquaintances having appeared on podcasts together. What was it like bringing her into the GWAR fold to represent a character in the universe?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Bringing Lizzy Hale on was great. She’s an amazingly talented human. Her abilities far surpass normal human abilities for sure; she might even be from another world, like us. She was awesome enough to want to do this with us and we definitely appreciate her contributions. She took a very small part of a song and made it huge; we are forever in her debt.
PAN M 360:GWAR has always been a unique collection of artists and musicians. Merged under one roof in 1984 creating art on their own terms, it’s a collective very much split generationally apart. What is needed to continue such a visceral concept and keep things interesting throughout all these years? Is it the belief, love, and voluntary devotion to this art form that keeps GWAR going?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Very similar to Nosferatu or Elizabeth Bathory, GWAR continues to thrive on fresh blood. As long as there’s a good supply we’ll always be able to continue. It’s really one of GWAR’s biggest strengths. Not only are we an art ensemble, but the cast and characters continues to increase. By continuing to bring new and young members into the band we can continue forever. Not to mention we are always guided by the guidance of our elders.
PAN M 360: There has been a lot of heartbreak and devastation in the ranks of the GWAR family. Can we talk a bit about pushing through those darker and tumultuous times as a band and how you’ve got through it as a band?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): GWAR is such a monumental force in all our lives; it doesn’t really become an option to quit. It would be like taking something that’s in every part of your being and trying to reinvent yourself into something new without it, it’s simply not an option. GWAR will persevere through any challenge, any tragedy it has to face, as hard as it may be at any time.
PAN M 360:Across the 15 tracks on The New Dark Ages, there’s an eclectic ability for GWAR to jump between genres while keeping its roots heavy. GWAR has never been a band who’s been afraid of genre constraints, bUT can you talk to us a bit about The New Dark Ages, these songs, and the metal genre of music.
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): The New Dark Ages, as far as stylistically things are considered, it’s all the same to me: Distorted guitar, offshoots of rock n roll, and heavy metal. You can say it’s an eclectic record, that’s fair, but to me, they’re all branches on the same tree. As far as the themes contained there within, humanity has trapped itself with its own technology. In doing so with the rejection of science and the rejection of knowledge, as a race, humanity has returned to the dark ages. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. You’re regressing as a planet and as a species.
Current Lineup of GWAR
PAN M 360:Some concepts Blöthar the Barbarian expresses in The New Dark Ages have to do with lies, liars, and moral ambiguity. Over the course of a few tracks, he expresses how, “lies have become contagious,” how “ancient lies are recycled,” or GWAR’s hate of “Mother Fucking Liars.” How do lies represent The New Dark Ages?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): “Mother Fucking Liar” is a very loaded track. It’s probably the track with the least amount of lyrics but the most serious theme. It’s not only about liars and two-faced political parties, it’s also about humanity’s obsession with cancel culture and not just the black and white view most people have. With cancel culture, you not only shut someone down but you prevent the ability for that person to ever grow by defining a being by a single action. This is fine for us because GWAR doesn’t care about the affair of humans, but we like to point out your flaws and rub your nose in them, which is why that song is important to us. In that respect, it also reflects politicians like Donald Trump and the war on the truth in the media—that you can present someone with evidence and they can flat out deny it, it’s true for both people on the left and right; they’re maniacs on both sides.
PAN M 360: With GWAR’s rich history of killing, dismembering, and maiming people which displease them are there any “Mother Fucking Liars,” getting the axe this time around?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): President Joe Biden is usually the first victim on this tour. He seems to think he can hijack the GWAR show and use it as a platform for political peace. If you are not a member of GWAR and you try to get on stage with us you will quickly be dispatched and your bodily fluids will be on the audience in a celebration of your death.
PAN M 360:Can you talk to us a bit about the humans behind GWAR. In July, GWAR will release a documentary about the human thralls which make GWAR possible.
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): It takes a lot. By watching the documentary, you’ll plainly see how much of each person’s lives this band occupies, which is pretty much all of it. It’s very much who we are to the core of our character. The documentary does a good job showing that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes and there is a human side to it. We are easily dismissed as a costumed rock band. We’re a theatre troupe makings its way in a rock and metal world, playing venues traditionally reserved for rock bands … No theatre or opera house is going to let us cover the hall in blood and guts, it’s really like Monty Pythons Flying Circus for us mixed with heavy and lewd political satire – it takes a lot of creative ideas and creative people to pull together and make these things happen.
PAN M 360:GWAR and the band Ghoul are good friends in the heavy metal world. The last GWAR concert I caught, I believe those maniacs from Creepsylvania opened for you. What did GWAR teach those young axe murderers, and was it fun bringing another band known for their bloodletting on the road with you?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Ghoul is great. They’re a band that apparently never learned all the lessons GWAR has tried to teach them and they’ve repeated the very same mistakes GWAR has made time and again on the road. It is hilarious to watch. GWAR used to tour in a school bus, but it broke down all the time and didn’t go very fast. Ghoul thought it was a good idea to tour in a similar bus and it’s currently stranded in the middle of Wyoming. It didn’t survive one tour. Hilarious—because it’s not our problem, but if it was up to us, we would only tour with Ghoul. They’re more so a heavy metal band, the theatrics are important to them, but they’re not spilling the same amount of blood as us onstage.
PAN M 360:How important is showering to you after a GWAR show?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): It’s definitely important to me. I can’t go a single day without showering—it’s about hygiene and staying healthy on the road. There’s this thing imbedded in some people’s heads that they have to live up to their punk rock street cred and be gross all the time, which is fine but if you’re sick for a couple of days it could cause the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s not just money we put in our pockets, but money to pay for the bus, hotel, production, trucks, etc. In my head, not taking care of your body is a bit selfish, but whatever we’re a rock band—you got to be ready to get your asshole licked at any time of the day so it’s good to take a shower.
PAN M 360:As the human thrall for Pustulus Maximus, I believe you’ve almost hit five years of sobriety. Congratulations on that by the way. Has it been easier to balance your busy work and life schedule with a clear head? How much has that helped you as a touring musician these last few years?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): 100 percent. Thanks for paying attention to that aspect of my life and what I’ve been doing and accomplishing, I appreciate that. I wouldn’t have all the things on my plate if I was still out drinking and getting high. Some people can do it and stay in control others completely lose control. Drinking all those years I was a high-functioning alcoholic, I could still get a lot done but something I couldn’t accomplish as effectively or accomplish all the way to the best of my abilities. I’ve always been in the habit of putting too much on my plate, but doing this now with a clear mind I’ve been able to now live the life I want and everything has improved so greatly. Touring with older people and watching some of your idols fall, made me think about how much I want to do this forever. Being sober and taking care of yourself is a very important step in the longevity of the touring life.
PAN M 360:I read recently that Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie said cocaine and champagne made her performances better during her time with that band. Are there any performance-enhancing drugs GWAR recommends to aid in the bloodletting, not necessarily the human thrall Brent Purgason, of course?
PAN M 360: Is crack cocaine the defining drug in the GWAR mythology?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): It is, simply because Earth is the only place in the universe where you can find crack.
PAN M 360: Does GWAR have an opinion on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): GWAR does not have a political opinion on the Ukraine conflict, other than we would hope the United States and Russia will team up together and bring back the bomb, fast-forwarding humanity’s destruction on the face of the earth.
PAN M 360:What is your take, Pustulus, as the monster with the most skin lesions, on Monkeypox? How do you feel about this infectious virus infecting humanity? Making their skin blister and boil?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Hopefully Monkeypox will be a great sequel to Covid-19 and we hope to bring some back and cultivate it in the United States when we return from Europe this summer.
PAN M 360: Pustulus you’ve personally killed both Santa Claus and Jesus Christ. Does GWAR still celebrate the holiday season after you massacred the two most important Christmas deities?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): GWAR are very much into the spirit of receiving around the Christmas season. We never feel very spiritual but New Year’s Eve is always a good time for GWAR to celebrate and try to cause the potential end of the world. That’s why we have our new alcoholic beverages for sale, there’s nothing planned yet but hopefully, something will be in the works.
PAN M 360:There’s so much going on in the world of GWAR right now. Is there any last thing GWAR would like to say to humanity in these new dark ages?
Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus): Europe this summer, then the USA in the fall. We’ll be recording something secret in the background that we can’t talk to you about yet, but there’s always something new coming out in the GWAR universe.
After “Free Grillz”, a noticed single released last April, Magi Merlin continues her rise with the Gone Girl EP, her most accomplished project to date. For this second EP, the singer-songwriter skilfully and creatively picks from R&B, soul, hip-hop, and house music of the 1990s. The lyrics that the Quebecer puts on it are full and direct. Originally from Saint-Lazare, a white suburb, she addresses her identity as a black woman, ordinary racism, and the anger it arouses. This EP sounds like an emotional discharge (catharsis) allowing the artist to assert herself. On the EP as on stage, the energy of the rapper is explosive.
We spoke with Magi Merlin as she was on tour in Europe. After a European tour with several sold-out dates, Magi Merlin will delight the audience at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (July 8) and the Quebec Summer Festival (July 16). Two dates not to be missed.
PAN M 360: With Gone Girl, you don’t hesitate to reappropriate some hip-hop codes, your energy transpires assurance and confidence, “Free Grillz” and “Children of Fate” both sound more raw: the people who know your previous releases will certainly see an evolution, musically and aesthetically speaking. What (or what encounters in life) led you to take this artistic direction?
Magi Merlin: When it came to this project, I was interested in fully embodying a self-assured, confidently unapologetic character. It started with tracks like “Pissed Black Girl” where I was writing from a perspective of anger instead of sadness (which was my go-to emotion for while) and there was a lot of power in that. For the rest of the songs, “Free Grillz,” “Children of Fate,” and “Milkweed” all have this unapologetic tone. Being able to just write without fear was something that was really inspiring.
“Free Grillz” by Magi Merlin
PAN M 360: I understand the idea of contrast (opposition even) between music and lyrics is central to “Pissed Black Girl.” Why this choice, and what does this creative approach bring to the track?
Magi Merlin: I really loved the fact that the message and music of the track don’t initially feel cohesive with each other but they actually complement each other quite well. At the end of the day, that song is about taking power and using it to speak your mind. expressing discontentment or disappointment doesn’t have to be negative. I liked that the instrumental of “Pissed Black Girl” has this carefree energy. Voicing our anger is step one after that the job we have to do is to let that anger go. To hold onto anger and sadness amongst other heavier emotions weighs yourself down, you can feel angry but after a while, it’s time to dance.
“Pissed Black Girl” – Magi Merlin
PAN M 360: It’s true Gone Girl feels like a mixtape (short tracks with strong identities, interludes), was it intentional? How did you build this EP?
Magi Merlin: I wanted Gone Girl to live within its own universe. I wanted that character that I was trying to embody to live somewhere that I could access easily and that became the Gone Girl project! I suppose I always want my projects to feel cohesive and purposeful the way long-form musical projects often feel to me!
PAN M 360: Funkywhat (producer) and Walid Jabri (director) are longtime collaborators, what can you tell me about your work relationship with them?
Magi Merlin: What really defines the relationships for me is the effortlessness when working together. There is never a point where I feel unheard of or misunderstood. I’m also quite close with both guys on a personal level I think that also plays into things as well. I am able to communicate with them both outside of work and I think that aids in how we communicate as well.
PANM360: On the cover of the EP and in the clip of “Pissed Black Girl” you wear a splint on your middle finger, this detail caught my eye. What’s the story behind it?
Magi Merlin: Haha! well, for the PBG cover art I really wanted to have the title of the song written in flames on the front lawn. The only place that was feasible was at my mother’s house in St-Lazare, outside of the city. I had to borrow my partner’s car to be able to get the team out to St-Laz for the shoot so I took it the night before and had the WORST luck finding parking. The only place I was able to find required me to move the car by 7 am. The next morning I woke up early to move this car, mind you, I don’t drive often especially in the city so I was a bit stressed and stress makes me very distracted. I hopped in the car, looked for the keys, and found the keys (amazing) I’m ready to go. I go to close the door to leave without noticing that my entire ass handwas still outside of the car. So I slam the car door onto my hand. I looked and my finger looked pretty funny. It was kind of stuck in this bent forward position.
I waited another hour or so for everyone to get to my place, which was also around the same time my local Familyprix opened. I went to buy a little splint and the colour ended up matching my makeup. I had convinced myself that it was just a sprain or something it took another two weeks before I finally took myself to the hospital to check if it was actually broken (I was in denial) it was broken, my nail fell off, and everything.
Magi Merlin and her splint
PAN M 360: How do you feel about ending the Gone Girl tour in Montreal? How would you describe your relationship with the city and your audience here?
Magi Merlin: I’m always happy to be home, to be able to play for the people who have been supporting me and my music for years. Honestly, it’s always a surprise to come back home, play, and hear people singing my lyrics with me. It’s a shock every time!! I can’t wait for the next show!
A rising star on the Canadian West Coast, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser and bandleader Feven Kidane is coming to the Casa Del Popolo this Wednesday for a meet and greet with the Suoni Per Il Popolo audience. PAN M 360 noticed her among the many programs of the festival. Her openness to modern jazz and to many other musical styles. Here she talks about her Ethiopian heritage, her deep love of music, her versatility, and her perspective on jazz as a woman of African descent.
PAN M 360 : So you started with a harmonica left by your father and it led you to professional music. What was your state of mind as a child, music wise?
FEVEN KIDANE : As a child, I was surrounded by music always, whether in my head or playing aloud in the car, my room, my parents record player, the TV, you name it. From the age of four I knew I wanted to be a musician (though that took several turns, first starting with wanting to be a singer, then a piano player, then « an electric guitarist », a bass clarinetist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, etc). I will say that I have always struggled in making up my mind, so I suppose it would only make sense that I would be jumping instruments. I was mostly tinkering on anything that would make sound, starting with that harmonica. There was always a feeling that I was onto something, and I realized probably around the age of six that I had a gift. It feels so weird to say that about your childhood self as an adult, but I truly thought at that age that I would be selling out world tours and recording award-winning albums. Through all of the instruments I cycled through as a child, I always had my voice in the midst of it all. I remember trying to copy autotune from music videos I saw on TV in the second grade and absolutely losing it when I nailed a line with my voice. Back then I had no idea what autotune was of course, and I thought that all artists were fantastic singers (boy, was I wrong!)
Music, though, has always lived inside of me. Some of my earliest memories are of intentionally trying to make music.
PAN M 360 : I could read that you love Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, and Ahmad Jamal. Can you add something about those preferences in modern jazz trumpet playing ? Why more Lee Morgan than Clifford Brown? Fats Navarro ? Woody Shaw? Kenny Dorham? Miles? Of course, Lee Morgan was a tremendous player. For piano playing Ahmad Jamal is an ultimate master and for composition and sax playing, Wayne Shorter is a true genius. How did you get into their music?
PAN M 360 : I should have included Clifford Brown from the start, as he is the one that really got me around on the trumpet. Anyone who starts on the trumpet in a serious manner needs to pay respect to Brownie by learning his work intimately. As far as Lee Morgan goes, Lee’s spirit really sang to me on the horn in a very youthful way, which is what originally attracted me. He was breaking out blues on bop in a playful way that was innovative and original. Young from day one until day none. Woody Shaw is actually my favorite trumpet player of all time and my biggest inspiration, but I wouldn’t have gotten to him if not for Clifford Brown. I want to make a big deal out of Clifford Brown because he really is a big deal. In terms of Woody Shaw, he is one of few trumpet players I feel like understood the tumultuous nature of the trumpet and its extrapolation into everyday life. At the time this was said, I don’t think I was deep into the nature of Shaw’s music; however that has drastically changed and I aspire to be at the same level as him if I have the privilege of doing so in this lifetime. For Fats and Kenny, I haven’t gotten to them yet. I haven’t done my full study of these other horn players (though Fats should definitely come soon) in order to feel like I should move onto them. I’m still dwelling and learning from Woody Shaw’s work before I can properly move onto another artist. One of my favorite albums is Miles’ « The Sorcerer ». I think it’s truly a masterpiece. His work is like a breath of fresh air, so melodic. Teaches that even one note can be artistic as long as its done with proper intention. I got into the music of these folks (including Ahmad Jamal, Wayne Shorter, etc) through my trumpet teacher back home in Vancouver, Brad Turner. He had a profound influence on me by introducing me to these amazing Black artists that shaped this entire idiom and pioneered it in such a groundbreaking fashion. At the school I graduated from, cats were passing album titles out left and right, so listening sessions were very common and popular. A great way to be introduced to great music in academics.
PAN M 360 : Not jazzwise, your favorite band is the excellent franco-brit band Stereolab. You also pay respect to the late jazz fusion british guitar hero Allan Holdsworth. From the UK, you also love Genesis when Peter Gabriel was leading. How those musical crushes are landing in your music, consciously or not?
FEVEN KIDANE : This music definitely makes an impact on me in terms of personal relay, songwriting, and performance. My favorite elements of these artists is that they are not afraid of the unorthodox or the strange. They are teachers to me. When I think of Peter Gabriel, not only was he an incredible artist, but he knew how to sell a show to the public in terms of costume, delivery, and message. I think those are some essential pieces to being a musician. It taught me that the avant-garde spirit that lives inside of us all makes total sense, and is wholly relatable. Nobody can be a freak so lost in their own artistry that it doesn’t translate. That just isn’t possible. I relay that same lesson I learned through Peter Gabriel to Stereolab. Taking their tune « Velvet Water », it’s minutes of this shimmery, glistening synth making waves in your ears. Just beautiful. It’s setting a tone, a scene for your mind to prepare you for what’s coming next. One of their influences is Steve Reich, who I am also a big fan of. Repetition, exploration, and sound. Allan Holdsworth, god of the notes, falls into the latter two categories for me. All these artists wanted to (and still do want to) know the full dynamic of their musicianship. I find it very spiritually fulfilling and something I feel very much.
PAN M 360 : I understand that you have some Ethiopian origins, right? Being a big fan of ethio-jazz (Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astake, etc.) I’m curious about your interest with this great modern culture since the 70’s, still very alive today.
FEVEN KIDANE : I love this question. My parents came to Canada in the late 80s and early 90s with a bunch of VHS tapes that they played for me constantly as a little one, so from a young age my ears were filled by an almost esoteric sense of musicianship. That stuff was holy to me. Still is. I am constantly floored by the magic Habesha music brings. There is an undeniable amount of skill that is extremely evident in not only the songwriting, but also the vocals. Habesha Music has always been a vehicle for historical storytelling, painting sorrows and joys in the most visceral way. Even just listening to it makes me feel closer to my ancestors. Music immortalizes past times, and as a Diasporan Habesha person, I find this music a crucial and accessible part of my identity.
PAN M 360 : Being a multi-instrumentalist nowadays is an advantage for an open vision, but as you say, it can also limit you in the music world. How do you see your own development as a versatile instrumentalist and music creator?
FEVEN KIDANE : I love being a multi-instrumentalist. For example, for my solo set at Suoni, I am trying to play some of my electronic music for the first time in a band setting. That alone is pushing my personal limits. I wouldn’t say that being a multi-instrumentalist is extremely limiting by any means, but it certainly tells you the boundaries of what each instrument can do. The vastness of my practice allows me to draw from different sectors in order to think in a different way. There is no cohesiveness to the way I write, not exactly. Each instrument has its own music I make. Altogether it sheds a bit of light into what I find musically intriguing or interesting, and that’s been a joy to self-monitor over the years. It would be cool to live in a world where each instrument I play can fit perfectly into one big vision of music I want to make, but I am just as happy sharing parts of myself with different genres and interests instrument-wise.
PAN M 360: You said that your Beta Test project came out wanting to make an experimental spin on 8-bit sounds. . « When I was a kid, I wanted to be a composer for Nintendo because I really loved the kind of music produced for their 80s video games. » Can we have extra-explanation about the way you managed to bring this inspiration into your own music?
FEVEN KIDANE : The use of repetition and intentional note placements is something I not only learned from SNES video game soundtracks, but also what I learned from the Black American Music (« Jazz ») idiom. I would call that a healthy lesson in musical storytelling. When it comes to my own music specifically, I love how all-encompassing video game music from that era really is. It’s like a bitcrusher hug. Although I can’t execute that exact sound palette at all times because of the genres I spread over, there is still an underlying emotional feeling that is carried along in these types of tunes. Whenever we’re playing an old game from that time, there is usually motion; your character could be swimming, falling, jumping, or speaking to another character. This music becomes the persona of your gaming situations. That’s the stuff I love and aspire to make; music that carries you through the stage that you’re at, but has a clear vision as to where it fits in the soundtrack of your life. I think to execute that vision is a very special thing, and that’s what makes a timeless piece. Every musician should aim for that.
PAN M 360 : Can you briefly explain who are your colleagues coming at Suoni per il Popolo in Montreal this week?
FEVEN KIDANE : As part of the Trading Places program, three of us were sent over (one extra because of this not being a functional music approach during lockdown) from Vancouver. That would be myself, violist/sound artist Meredith Bates, and electronic musician/tenor sax player Andromeda Monk. The three of us are fairly active in each other’s circles back in Vancouver; we’ve shared bandstands and musical spaces quite a few times. Meredith is on the board for Coastal Jazz and Blues Society right now, as well as on the board for VIAS – Vancouver Improvised Arts Society. She’s the artistic director, actually. She’s a person to know, as she is capable of making virtually any sound with her violin setup. Her work is very ethereal, very moving and elegantly liquid. One of the few artists I know who can channel the sound of wildlife and this wild world organically into their work. She is also just a fantastic and friendly person. Andromeda has been involved with Vancouver’s Red Gate Arts Society (a venue that seems to have survived nearly everything, with great success) for a good chunk of years now; I met her over the years there as she was doing sound tech work. I can definitely see how that finite attention to detail, that meticulous study of soundwaves, incorporates deeply into her artistry. She’s brilliant on a synth (I love her on a no-input mixer, too) and strips the DNA of notes to pair together an original sound. I mentioned soundtracks of life earlier, and I very much believe she has a skill in executing such a thing. Her work is so beautiful and emotional to me. She’s actually playing my solo show with me on the 22nd at Sala Rossa; I am pulling in some of my electronic work to do live and she absolutely nailed the sound I was going for (and originally recorded it with).
PAN M 360 : Can you explain the context of playing improvised and composed music with your bandmates ?
FEVEN KIDANE: Depends on the band, flavor, style, if I wrote anything, what the gig is, etc.
PAN M 360: Socalled jazz music was founded and developed by African American artists, 125 years ago. Today, it is considered as a world classical music, embraced by the whole music community. So you are quoted : « If you are not Black, you are a guest to this music, not entitled to it. » Even in 2022 ? Paul Bley, Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, Jozef Zawinul, Danilo Perez, Eldar Djangirov, Steve Gadd, Steve Lacy, so many others are guests? Today, thousands of non Black musicians embrace jazz as a universal language… Can you please explain you thoughts about this ?
FEVEN KIDANE : Yep, even in 2022. Forever it will be that this is Black music, and that anyone who isn’t Black is a guest to the art form. All the greats knew that. Nothing wrong with that! Knowing and owning it propels self-decolonization, which is crucial to playing in this idiom. Black people created an art form that many people of all races were moved and inspired by that came out of collective suffering, a pain so specific that only Black people know what that is exactly like. That is something that can never be separated from music. It all traces back to Black; this is the music of African ancestors. Everything Black people have created has been co-opted by white people and folks of other races. We are never allowed to have rightful ownership of our works. Remembering you are a guest in this music helps to ensure that credit goes where it’s deserved : Black people.
PAN M 360 : Where are your upcoming projects? FEVEN KIDANE : I’m sitting on a halfway completed electronic album right now, as well as writing material to put out a post bop record. Ideally I would like to get in an improvised/free record too. My dream is to release all three of these at the same time. Give me one year! Ha!
Brandon Valdivia is a prominent collaborator and drummer for a number of projects including, US Girls, Sandro Perri, Tanya Tagaq, Sook-Yin-Lee, and more, but with his solo project, Mas Aya, he dissects his own identity as a Canadian-Nicaraguan artist.
He released the Máscaras album back in September 2021, receiving reviews and coverage in big-name media publications like The New York Times for its mesmerizing ambient electronic soundscape style—utilizing flutes, drums, machines, and vocals samples from the Nicaraguan social security protests in 2018. The album also features vocals from his partner, Lido Pimienta, another prominent name in the North American experimental music scene. You can read our review here: https://panm360.com/en/records/mas-aya-mascaras/
Politics has always been at the centre of Valdivia’s solo project, something he believes is his responsibility as a diasporic artist. He comes from a diverse background of music; free jazz, reggae, post-punk, and Toronto’s 2010s experimental music scene, and has made it his artistic mission to talk about the goings-on of the world.
We spoke with Valdivia before his Suoni Per il Popolo show on Sunday, June 19 about his inspirations behind Máscaras, the ongoing evolution of Toronto’s experimental scene, and raising a new household of potential musicians with Lido.
PAN M 360: Your latest album Máscaras is very tranquil and meditative at points, but also seems to come from a place of anger at times. What kind of headspace were you in when you wrote it?
Brandon Valdivia: Do you find that anger comes from specific songs or like the entirety of the record?
PAN M 360: I’d say by the second or third song it’s definitely present.
Brandon Valdivia: Yeah I would definitely say that with the third song “18 de Abril,” there is a wave of anger or I’d call it much more of a forcefulness. There’s always a sort of punk rock energy in my stuff. I don’t even come from punk, but I do come from more intense music. I also have a history with free jazz or very like expressionistic free jazz, like spiritual free jazz, of like the late ’60s, namely, Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. So I always kind of have that sort of like punk/free jazz energy and when I do some things like seemingly very calm and static-like, I definitely have to have the energy bubbling up. So that’s just kind of part of me, who I am sort of as a musician, so I think that’s always there. But I think generally, the headspace I was in felt contemplative, a very looking inwards mode. Like many of the voice samples that you hear on the record, those came after the music was written.
PAN M 360: You mean the samples of the protests in “18 de Abril” for example?
Brandon Valdivia: Yeah that was a result of what was happening in Nicaragua at the time, which was these intense protests, and basically a full, six months, seven months, to a year of action by the people. I had family members getting put in jail for protesting or being near a protest and being turned into, basically political prisoners. And there was the government that was murdering people. And so there was definitely an element, which later came into the music part, of this anger. This sort of like the ‘rage against machine’-like righteous rage, kind of righteous anger. So yeah, it was a bunch of emotions of looking for peace within myself in addition to this rage bubbling underneath.
PAN M 360: So you’re Canadian, but your parents are from Nicaragua?
Brandon Valdivia: My dad is from Nicaragua, yeah.
PAN M 360: So do you feel like you have to tell these stories as you wrestle with your own identity as an artist? You’re coming from this place, but you weren’t actually born there.
Brandon Valdivia: I think a lot of diasporic sort of people kind of wrestle with that in a lot of different ways, or they don’t at all. I went to Nicaragua in my 20s, for the first time, just after university because my sister went there after high school and I saw how much she changed by being in the land for like six months. She didn’t have any sort of like poetic or philosophical kind of insights into what happened, but I did because that’s just me as an artist. I definitely am Canadian, but I do come from somewhere else too. So since doing this record, and kind of representing Nicaragua in a way, I’ve gotten a lot of messages from people in Nicaragua saying how powerful and important it is. Even performing live, when I’m performing with my partner, Lido [Pimienta] there’s even representation in that way, as far as Central America, because Nicaragua is such a small country. It has a lot of cultural output. But it’s not super representative in Canada, even in the US, it’s not that representative. So yeah, there is definitely this sense of responsibility to represent Nicaragua.
PAN M 360: And with the protests happening there at the time, that probably influenced your responsibility to document it in a way?
Brandon Valdivia: Yes, I definitely felt the responsibility to talk about that. I’ve always been political in my art, in my music-making. I’ve always wanted to talk to or either sing directly about protest movements, or resistance movements or have samples from different protest movements or speeches. Like even the media wasn’t covering it [the Nicaragua 2018 protests] that much. But I’m not Nicaraguan and I try to have it be a diasporic representation of what was happening there but also being Latin American within Canada and North America. So it’s a lot and a long conversation.
PAN M 360: So when you were getting your start as Mas Aya was there a lot of musicians making political music in Toronto? I mean obviously, in hip hop it’s always been there, but what about the experimental scene? Was there much support for political music?
Brandon Valdivia: No. Absolutely not. I started Mas Aya back in 2012. I’m a drummer and I’ve been always involved with lots of projects and bands, so it was always on the back burner. So when I started in 2012, that was actually a large part of my own personal sort of political awakening. And again, I’ve always been political, but these insights that I was having felt were super clear. And I definitely felt anger at basically, what I felt was the experimental music scene in Toronto … it was super navel-gazing. And very sort of like, I’ve used the word nihilistic in the past, and I felt like there was an aspect of that, which is also political, but I definitely felt, to be frank, I felt like no one was talking about anything.
I had many discussions about this with other political musicians about how it felt like everyone was on their own privileged island. And that’s not to discount what they do or be negative, but that’s just how I felt. So I felt like I really wanted to put it in their faces. Like, say ‘Wake up, shit’s happening in the world’ and people would just be playing noise feedback shows to like five people. And I would compare it to other scenes I was playing in. I was in a reggae band, I played with a Zimbabwean Bira [ceremony] player and in these noise scenes, there were all these white art students. Toronto is very diverse and it was back then too, so why was it not diverse in the scenes? So yeah, again lots of questions.
PAN M 360: So your music was a response to those feelings then?
Brandon Valdivia: Very much so. I was playing in these DIY arts spots and my music was very political. I was kind of going from this anarchist direction action kind of standpoint. So yeah, anyway, that’s kind of the vibe. I wanted to kind of slap people in the face with politics.
PAN M 360: I think the diversity within the experimental scene has definitely changed and it’s no longer just white guys with guitar loops, but I’m not sure about it being more political now.
Brandon Valdivia: Yeah I do have a feeling that it is changing, but to be totally honest with you, I haven’t been part of a scene for, I’d say four years now. In that time I’ve become a new dad, there has been a pandemic, Lido’s project has us traveling a lot, and then mine on top of that. And we moved to London, Ontario a year ago. So I can’t really speak to it, but from what I can tell on social media and just listening to new music, there are definitely more women now which is fantastic. And I think there is more diversity. I don’t think that people in the 2010s were purposely trying to be segregationists in their music scene, but that’s just what happened. Now there is a younger generation coming and they’re actively making new music.
PAN M 360: The flutes in Máscaras are probably one of my favourite aspects of the album. Just the way they sort of build and take you on this journey.
Brandon Valdivia: Yeah I love the flutes and they are one of the first instruments you hear. My first instrument was the recorder, but I kind of went away from it until I got into Don Cherry. He was using all these bamboo flutes and I was like ‘Woah,’ so I found some quenas which are like from the Indian region and South America and I slowly brought those back into my repertoire. So now I have a good selection of flutes that I play and with my newest record that will be released whenever I’m bringing back the alto recorder. It’s the same and similar vibe as this one [Máscaras] but more organic worlds with flutes, drums, and synths, but the same kind of explorations.
PAN M 360: And for the upcoming Suoni live show, are you playing the flutes and drums?
Brandon Valdivia: What I’m doing now is more of a basic mix on Ableton Live where I’m basically pressing play, and having like some effects, some live mixing, but the focus is on my performing of live drums, performing with the live flute, and I have a synth and have a drum machine as well. I mean, what’s more, interesting and what’s more me? The need to be on a computer, like mixing stuff on a MIDI controller, or be fucking playing drums live on top of my music? I’m more of a drummer. So again, it’s just trying to meld the different experiences that I’ve had. I’m 40 years old so I’ve been doing this for a long time but it’s like finally, in these last few years, I feel like my identity is here.
I’m a slow person in general. I’m a slow learner, I would say in a way, but once I really learn or like something, I lean heavily into it. And I just kind of feel like that’s kind of what’s happening. It’s just I feel like all these past years of playing drums playing in different bands and all these experiences and playing different music, playing percussion, playing theatre, doing soundtracks or doing live doing scores for theatre pieces, all this stuff has kind of built up into what I’m doing now.
PAN M 360: What’s it like being partners with Lido? She’s another musician with her own successful project and you play in each other’s projects, but just having another creative person to bounce ideas off of?
Brandon Valdivia: I mean it’s fantastic. We’re very different but also two very similar artists. I had her playing on my first tape back in like 2012, she would just come and improvise vocals with me, before we were even friends. If you talk about the Toronto scene back then, Lido was like a breath of fresh air to me. Here was a person from Colombia that was interested in experimental music and unapologetically doing her own thing. So now, we’ve been playing together for many years and it just comes naturally. We are both very questioning of things happening in the world, and we came from this punk rock, anti-establishment style. We both like music on the fringes and that’s marginalized and not so mainstream. And just seeing her career take off has been very inspiring because I get to be a part of it as her drummer, which is awesome. She brings a lot out of me and I’ve learned so much from her. But it’s always busy busy busy and we have kids together so this kind of our life.
PAN M 360: Are the kids getting interested in music at all as well?
Brandon Valdivia: Well Lido’s son, my step-son, he’s 14 and he’s really into music. He’s a piano player and just has really great taste, as far as listening to a bunch of different stuff. We have an old version of Abelton on one computer and so he works on beats and we’re definitely pushing that and he loves it. He’ll sit and play piano for hours. Then there’s Lido’s nephew and who loves listening to music but hasn’t gotten into playing yet. And then there’s the baby, Martina, she’s four, and she seems to have a natural sense for music. She comes in and plays and I put effects on her voice and then I’ll play piano and play drums and we just kind of jam and she’s just kind of dancing with the microphone and has attitude. She’s like a little Lido.
PAN M 360: It definitely seems like you’re both sowing the seeds for future musicians who eventually release their own stuff. So you have a jam space in your house in London?
Brandon Valdivia: Yeah there’s a music studio in the basement and Lido has an arts studio in downtown London. But yeah we’re never pushing for the music. It’s only if they want to do it and it seems like they’re all interested in pursuing music. Especially Lucien, the 14-year-old. He seems pretty obsessed with music and reminds us of what we were doing when were teenagers, making and discovering music.
JOYFULTALK is a multi-medium jazz extravaganza from the mind of Nova Scotian polymath Jay Crocker. The project involves massive visual installations, a staggering variety of live and recorded musicians, and sounds that you’d be hardpressed to find elsewhere. Just a month after the release of his newest work, an LP entitled Familiar Science, he’s starting his long journey across Canada to show off this batch of tunes. Starting in Ottawa tonight, he’ll be heading west, all the way to Vancouver, hitting up Suoni per il Popolo on June 14 before, and finishing with the Sweltering Songs Festival in Fredericton, NB on July 15th. As he begins his current tour, I got to chat with Crocker about his life, influences, cross-Canada move, new album, and much more.
PAN M 360: When I listen to Familiar Science, I heard a lot of varying but often pretty clear influences as to where your sounds may be coming from. What would you say are your personal influences that showed up on this album?
Jay Crocker: At the time, I hadn’t really explored the world of ’80s jazz before – some of the more outlier stuff. A good place to start for me was some of Ornette Coleman’s stuff from the later ’70s and early ’80s. I was listening to a lot of Steve Coleman, and lots of ECM (Records) stuff. Yeah know, lots of funny ’80s stuff. I think sometimes it gets a bad rap because of how it sounds – the production of it. It’s kind of an overlooked period of jazz.
PAN M 360: I heard some Chick Corea in there, maybe some John Zorn – some fusiony stuff.
Jay Crocker: Yeah, yeah, totally, definitely. The way we’re playing it live is getting into some pretty heavy fusion territory, which I’m totally fine with. It’s pretty fun and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while.
PAN M 360: The project that is JOYFULTALK would be pretty hard to narrow down to any particular genre. If you were to describe what kind of music you play to someone before they heard it, what would you say?
Jay Crocker: I would say that it’s jazz. I was trying to make a free jazz record but through my own lens and my own experiences. I think that constant exploration is more important than trying to stick to some form. I studied jazz and I was pretty heavy into the improvised music scene in Calgary before I left for Nova Scotia 11 years ago. When I moved out here, I moved to the country, so it was isolating. The last 7 years of my career have been a product of that isolation.
PAN M 360: Would you say that isolation is deliberate or at least self-imposed?
Jay Crocker: When (my family and I) moved out here, we wanted to have a house, and that wasn’t possible in Calgary. My partner and I needed a change. In Calgary I was playing with different musicians all the time, and after I moved I felt like I was really able to find myself and who I was in music. I was able to distill it down a bit more. PAN M 360: The new album has a lot of sax and a variety of string instruments. Which ones did you play?
Jay Crocker: The sax playing on “Particle Riot” and “Hagiography” are samples from recordings I made about 15 years ago of a large ensemble I had. The player was a friend of mine who passed away. I got a few samples out of that. The other sax parts are done by a person out here who got me back into playing jazz. Her name is Nicola Miller. She played the alto and flute on this record.
PAN M 360: One of the songs has a long guitar lead, is that you?
Jay Crocker: Yeah, that’s me [laughs] PAN M 360: So will the sax parts be played via samples when this is performed live?
Jay Crocker: Actually, this time I want to try to play the tunes, not the production if that makes sense. In Ottawa, I’ll have a sax player; in Montreal, I’ll have a violinist who will sit in for a few tunes. I want different musicians to be able to flow in and out of it. It’s a pretty jazz approach as far as the live stuff goes.
PAN M 360: Will the string quartet ever make another appearance with you live?
Jay Crocker: Before the pandemic, I had a whole tour planned with a string section in each city. It never happened but it will at some point.
PAN M 360: What is the primary synth that you use live?
Jay Crocker: It’s a modular synth, so I’m actually playing guitar and controlling the synthesizer with my guitar. Very Metheny, but maybe a little more stoned-out, a little more of a stoner rock vibe to it. With the modular, I can control the pitch and speed of my guitar, depending on what register I’m playing. So the higher I play on the guitar, the faster the tape (playback) is. PAN M 360: Your new music video “Familiar Science” has some choreography. Was this your doing?
Jay Crocker: I had a friend come over and she did some improvised dancing while wearing a morph suit. I rotoscoped it all, took pieces, and looped it to create the choreography. Same kind of idea behind how the music is made: a physical interaction and then a digital manipulation, or sometimes vice versa. PAN M 360: The name “Familiar Science” – what does it mean to you?
Jay Crocker: The idea is getting back to what is familiar to me. That’s why I reached out to a few of my old colleagues in Calgary, fellow improvisers that I came up with. Also, diving back into playing guitar and practicing a lot.
PAN M 360: What is a graphic score?
Jay Crocker: It can be whatever you want to use to create a different interpretation of what the music could be. The scoring system I use is something I developed called The Planetary Music System. It’s an elliptical system based on gearsets. The easiest example is probably like a 2:1 ratio. where one part is being played twice as long as the other. Imagine a circle where the diameter is 150cm. This could be a phrase of 150 quarter notes.
PAN M 360: I, therefore, have to ask, are you a fan of Steve Reich?
Jay Crocker: [laughs] Yeah, that kind of phased sound for sure. Harmony can build in different ways as the piece progresses, and it can even reach a point of no beginning and no end.
PAN M 360: Where in Nova Scotia do you live?
Jay Crocker: On the south shore. An hour and 15 minutes southwest of Halifax. PAN M 360: How would you say Alberta compares to Nova Scotia?
Jay Crocker: [Audible cringe] There’s no comparison. I’m glad to be here, that’s for sure. [laughs] It’s really beautiful here. I’m close to the ocean, and at certain times of the year, especially around this time until late September, it’s kind of a paradise. When we moved out here, I was able to really find myself as an artist. I definitely would have come to a different place had I stayed in Alberta.
Kee Avil dropped her debut LP on Constellation, Crease, back in March, and it’s still melting and contorting minds in the experimental scene. At times, Crease feels like nails on a chalkboard or diving in a pool of alabaster paint. It feels like tiny microscopic lacerations on the mind as Vicky Mettler, quietly takes you on her darkened, obscure journey with buzzing electronics, frenetic guitar, and intimate vocals. It’s an album where you pick up different sonic parts with every listen and it’s unexplainable, sometimes sounding like Frank Zappa’s ambient phase or Bjork binging on methadone.
Kee Avil is playing Suoni per il Popolo alongside the psychedelic backdrop of Myrian Bleau’s moving painting visuals on June 17 at La Sala Rossa.
We spoke with Vicky as she was on tour across the pond about creating Crease, her affinity for creepy imagery, and always evolving her sound, even after the album is out.
PAN M 360: Hi Vicky. How is the tour going so far? You’re in the UK right now?
Vicky Mettler: It’s really good actually. I feel like I didn’t know what to expect. And we were present pleasantly surprised. It’s it feels like it depends on city by city, But definitely, some cities were really interested in the show. We’re doing a bunch of shows with Suuns and then Vienna, Prague and Brussels, and Antwerp and then back home.
PAN M 360: I know lots of these songs on Crease were kind of built from experimental guitar sessions and then recorded and put together within the album. But what about live? Is it pretty like close to the album? Or is there still some kind of like improv or experimentation?
Vicky Mettler: I’m touring solo right now but in Montreal, I usually play with Sam Gougoux on drums, the electronic drums. We built a setup that is like half electronic, using a bunch of sounds from the album. And also he uses a snare, like an acoustic snare, that he runs through pedals. It’s much more reactive, in a way. So it’s like half acoustic, half electronic. And it still like maintains the sound of the album, but I think we’d bring it it pushes it a bit which is cool for live. It’s all pretty close to the album, but now we’re building the sets with transitions and to like kind of build it as a performance of itself. So you know, it’s a work in progress all the time. The idea is to present something a bit different, but that keeps the sounds you know, of the album, so I’m not exactly sure how to do that, but I’m trying things.
PAN M 360: That kind of goes with the whole heart of it too. Like the songwriting on the album was just trying things and building songs over some of the weird sounds?
Vicky Mettler: Yeah, totally. But it’s not necessarily like improvisation, but it’s like … there’s a bit of it … but it’s more like how do you how to present it? How do you make it stronger, basically interesting to watch? And to listen to that in a different context, like a live context. It’s not the same kind of listening at home. PAN M 360: Your vocal style on Crease, that kind of sinister whisper, always seems to physically pull me in towards the screen when I’m listening on headphones. Where did that approach come from?
Vicky Mettler: Yeah, I guess it wasn’t very intentional. I mean, we did work a lot on the vocals, but it also comes to the fact that I’m not a singer … like I’m not a trained singer. So I don’t sing loud in general. But I was trying to find a way to make it intimate, you know? Like it’s sung very, very quietly, but they’re produced loudly, in a way. And that’s, it’s kind of also what we’re trying to do I have to keep that set that sound live.
PAN M 360: And there’s a rhythm to the lyrics too. Like in “See, my shadow,” and “saf,” for example, the vocals play off the drums to give this uneasy feeling. We’re they written like that or kind of edited more in post-production?
See, my shadow by Kee Avil
Vicky Mettler: Yeah I kind of make demos with vocals and guitar and they are usually written like that. But we did work sometimes to make them very rhythmic as you say. Very staccato, to enhance that atmosphere.
PAN M 360: And are the lyrics stream of consciousness or is there a core theme you play off for each song?
Vicky Mettler: Usually it is very stream of consciousness, yes, but I try to present an idea or theme in an abstract way. It often starts that way. I guess it’s finding imagery and whatever, trying to find interesting words and also what words fit rhythmically. There’s no main theme on the album. It’s more each song is its own thing.
PAN M 360: And I suppose the listener can derive their own meanings song by song if they wish.
Vicky Mettler: Yes of course. It’s very abstract, like the music and sometimes it’s just because the words sound cool. I feel sometimes people miss-hear the exact words too which is interesting. I would be surprised if people actually sang along.
PAN M 360: The visual side of the music videos is also a huge part of Kee Avil. And you produce and come up with the concepts for quite a few yourself? Is that also lots of experimentation?
Vicky Mettler: Yes so for the visualizers I’ve been working with Myriam Bleau and she has her own experimental style and techniques. It’s kind of like moving paintings and some will be projected live for the shows. And then there is the “See, my shadow,” which is more of a music video. That was inspired by the artwork really and finding a way to use that mask again.
Drying by Kee Avil
PAN M 360: Yes and that mask is of your face right?
Vicky Mettler: Yeah exactly. I knew about the artist Ariane Paradis, and that is her technique. The silk paper printing and she did a series of the royal family and stuff like that. I saw it a year ago and thought it was pretty amazing. I got an idea to do it with my own face for the artwork.
PAN M 360: And in the music video you are taking pieces of the mask off … it’s quite creepy.
Vicky Mettler: Yes for the album artwork I was trying to avoid the creepiness. The biggest tendency for masks like that is to go for the creepy, horror aesthetic. The album cover could have been very horrific, but with “See, my shadow,” we just went for it. It’s a very creepy song so it made sense. The music has its own atmosphere and that one is definitely the most creepy.
PAN M 360: I feel like your music could work really well pairing with some sort of art installation or something.
Vicky Mettler: I’m actually starting to work on an installation idea. I don’t know if it will be in Montreal. It’s very early stages and researching what could kind of be done. It’s just brainstorming right now. I’ve never done anything like this before so I have to take time and do it well. I really need to start writing more music too, but after the album was released I felt like I had to do other stuff you know? I think I needed to play it live and I like to finish the process a little bit. Because before it’s played live, it’s not, I don’t know, I feel it doesn’t feel finished. It still doesn’t, I know it’s not finished, but it’s still gonna always evolve.
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