Skinny Puppy's Industrial Evolution
Band continues to bang out albums after more than three decades
(Story originally published in Creative Loafing (Charlotte) on Feb. 6, 2014)
Industrial rock outfit Skinny Puppy knows its music unnerves people. It's dissonant, jarring and harshly beautiful. That's always been the point. But according to cEvin Key, co-founder of the Canadian band along with Nivek Ogre, they're not too pleased with the U.S. government's use of Skinny Puppy's music on Guantanamo Bay prisoners — a sort of "musical torture," if you will, to obtain information. One can envision an interrogator leaning over a captive, yelling, "Tell us what you know or we'll turn this up to 10. We've got a dozen discs by the band and..." Well, you get the picture.
That doesn't mean fans attending the band's Feb. 10 show at Amos' Southend should expect to undergo any kind of torture. Skinny Puppy may not get a lot of mainstream airplay, but its records manage to break into the charts and, for more than 30 years, the band has influenced countless electronica and industrial bands and musicians. Nine Inch Nails, check. Ministry, check.
Skinny Puppy is a pioneer of gothic industrial rock and dark electro-dance. Key (drum kit, guitars, bass guitars, synthesizers) and Ogre (vocals, lyrics) formed the band in 1982 in Vancouver. The duo remains the only constant members, with revolving comrades appearing on recordings and tour support. Ogre's distorted rasp and socially inflected lyrics spar with the buzz of guitars, synth, samples and drums to create something eerily organic and otherworldly.
The duo's live shows are sensory overload, with spastic visual images and film clips populating the backdrop and the lights swirling and flashing incessantly. All the while, Ogre paces back and forth on the stage, like a pissed-off, bloodied Rottweiler looking for a fight. The volume, of course, is set close to max. It's multi-layered performance art that's been breaking ground since the early years.
"When we started, we were at the height of the New Wave era," Key says. "There wasn't any techno or hip-hop or industrial music. Interesting to see how the music world has evolved."
Asked how the process of composition happens in his mind, he says, "I've always felt that making electronic music is collaboration with the universe, affected by possibly other sources than your fingers. I don't know if that's auditory hallucination or some sort of expanded electro-magnetic energy that winds up on tape."
With three decades in the rearview mirror, Skinny Puppy continues on the path, unabated by trends. The most recent album, last year's Weapon, is a mix of recording techniques they used in the early years interwoven with New Wave-ish songs that churn into heavy dance grooves before devolving into industrial-strength noise.
Key explained their modus operandi of years past — make a demo and then recreate the demo — but unlike the older albums where they would do a song in a day, the band took its time unwrapping the sound on Weapon. The ensuing tour — on this routing they're joined by drummer Justin Bennett — checks in on all three decades.
Both Ogre and Key have numerous side and solo projects under their belts, along with an Internet radio station, subconradio.com. This is where they play music they dig by eclectic bands and obscure musicians from around the globe. Skinny Puppy even checks in and does live relays on occasion, as they did for six hours from the desert around Tempe, Ariz., while on the current tour.
So far this century, the band has produced several varied works, including the album HanDover, which took a couple of years to release after recording due to their label's business woes and filing for reorganization. "We didn't want to give a record to a label that was a sinking ship," Key elaborated.
Regardless of who puts the music out, or even who is listening, Skinny Puppy continues treading down the long path forward.
Skinny Puppy's industrial revolution
Band continues to bang out albums after more than three decades
(Story originally published in Creative Loafing (Charlotte) on Feb. 6, 2014)
Industrial rock outfit Skinny Puppy knows its music unnerves people. It's dissonant, jarring and harshly beautiful. That's always been the point. But according to cEvin Key, co-founder of the Canadian band along with Nivek Ogre, they're not too pleased with the U.S. government's use of Skinny Puppy's music on Guantanamo Bay prisoners — a sort of "musical torture," if you will, to obtain information. One can envision an interrogator leaning over a captive, yelling, "Tell us what you know or we'll turn this up to 10. We've got a dozen discs by the band and..." Well, you get the picture.
That doesn't mean fans attending the band's Feb. 10 show at Amos' Southend should expect to undergo any kind of torture. Skinny Puppy may not get a lot of mainstream airplay, but its records manage to break into the charts and, for more than 30 years, the band has influenced countless electronica and industrial bands and musicians. Nine Inch Nails, check. Ministry, check.
Skinny Puppy is a pioneer of gothic industrial rock and dark electro-dance. Key (drum kit, guitars, bass guitars, synthesizers) and Ogre (vocals, lyrics) formed the band in 1982 in Vancouver. The duo remains the only constant members, with revolving comrades appearing on recordings and tour support. Ogre's distorted rasp and socially inflected lyrics spar with the buzz of guitars, synth, samples and drums to create something eerily organic and otherworldly.
The duo's live shows are sensory overload, with spastic visual images and film clips populating the backdrop and the lights swirling and flashing incessantly. All the while, Ogre paces back and forth on the stage, like a pissed-off, bloodied Rottweiler looking for a fight. The volume, of course, is set close to max. It's multi-layered performance art that's been breaking ground since the early years.
"When we started, we were at the height of the New Wave era," Key says. "There wasn't any techno or hip-hop or industrial music. Interesting to see how the music world has evolved."
Asked how the process of composition happens in his mind, he says, "I've always felt that making electronic music is collaboration with the universe, affected by possibly other sources than your fingers. I don't know if that's auditory hallucination or some sort of expanded electro-magnetic energy that winds up on tape."
With three decades in the rearview mirror, Skinny Puppy continues on the path, unabated by trends. The most recent album, last year's Weapon, is a mix of recording techniques they used in the early years interwoven with New Wave-ish songs that churn into heavy dance grooves before devolving into industrial-strength noise.
Key explained their modus operandi of years past — make a demo and then recreate the demo — but unlike the older albums where they would do a song in a day, the band took its time unwrapping the sound on Weapon. The ensuing tour — on this routing they're joined by drummer Justin Bennett — checks in on all three decades.
Both Ogre and Key have numerous side and solo projects under their belts, along with an Internet radio station, subconradio.com. This is where they play music they dig by eclectic bands and obscure musicians from around the globe. Skinny Puppy even checks in and does live relays on occasion, as they did for six hours from the desert around Tempe, Ariz., while on the current tour.
So far this century, the band has produced several varied works, including the album HanDover, which took a couple of years to release after recording due to their label's business woes and filing for reorganization. "We didn't want to give a record to a label that was a sinking ship," Key elaborated.
Regardless of who puts the music out, or even who is listening, Skinny Puppy continues treading down the long path forward.
Skinny Puppy's industrial revolution
Talavya Expands Tabala's Range
(originally published on May 9, 2013 in Creative Loafing, Charlotte)
Along with the human voice, percussion instruments hark back to the earliest musical origins of humanity. Banging on things to create war sounds, tribal chants and perform ceremonies has been part of human social connections since, well, the beginning of humans.
Drums are pervasive in every culture. In Indian music, the tabla, two drums which can create multitudes of sounds, have traditionally been relegated as support for singers, sitar players, flutists and court musicians. The tabla is essential to Hindustani music (North Indian classical music) as well as folk music of various regions of the country. They have traditionally provided rhythmic support, but innovators like Zakir Hussain and Talvin Singh have brought tabla out of the background and on occasion turned it into the principal instrument — the lead singer, if you will.
Enter Talavya, a quartet of tabla players who will perform at Queens University's Dana Auditorium on May 11 and evoke ancient Indian rhythms, but at the same time bring the storied percussion instrument to the forefront and further into the international realm.
"Our goal is to present Indian classical music in a contemporary language that can be enjoyed by more people," explains Rushi Vakil, performer and Talavya group leader. "The language of tabla is really graceful, full of different tempos, energies and emotions. All the shades of music can be found in it. Talavya is an idea; a concept originated by my guru, my father, Pandit Divyang Vakil."
During performances, the group works to find a balance between improvisation and fixed portions of the music. "Everything can't be improvised and everything can't be composed, otherwise there would be no originality," Vakil explains. "We can make changes as per the audience wants and we can do something different every time."
But they also want to make Indian classical music fun, since many people find it to be too complex. "Talavya is a sugar-coated pill that makes the other things go down easy," Vakil says. "Then, with this type of sugar pill, people will be attracted to the art of classical music."
One manner in which Talavya increases awareness is through workshops while on tour. "Indian music is a very deep art. It has amazing concepts and ideas behind it," Vakil says. "In workshops, we try to explain some of this in the simplest way possible so the audience is engaged better. Even among Indians, they view classical music as very difficult. So the workshops make the audience feel like participants. You don't have to be specially trained to enjoy classical music."
In skillful hands, the tabla can create myriad jaw-dropping sounds, including a galloping horse, insects chirping, rainfall and distant thunder.
The players in Talavya — Vakil, Sahil Patel, Mike Lukshis and Kaumil Shah — have gone through years of intensive training. All hail from India, except U.S.-based Lukshis. "Michael is highly accomplished and has been coming to India for many years," Vakil says. "He is like a brother to all of us and is a good match for the quartet."
The quartet performs developed compositions interspersed with improvisation, meditative pieces, lightning fast interplay and age-old rhythms, adjusting on the mood of the night and the audience reaction. Heena Patel accompanies the quartet on harmonium, keeping the tempo for the tablas.
They have performed with numerous world music players, while each player is also an accomplished soloist and performer, as well. Rushi Vakil is also a composer and has worked with the Korean National Orchestra, among others, as well as scored music for Bollywood.
(originally published on May 9, 2013 in Creative Loafing, Charlotte)
Along with the human voice, percussion instruments hark back to the earliest musical origins of humanity. Banging on things to create war sounds, tribal chants and perform ceremonies has been part of human social connections since, well, the beginning of humans.
Drums are pervasive in every culture. In Indian music, the tabla, two drums which can create multitudes of sounds, have traditionally been relegated as support for singers, sitar players, flutists and court musicians. The tabla is essential to Hindustani music (North Indian classical music) as well as folk music of various regions of the country. They have traditionally provided rhythmic support, but innovators like Zakir Hussain and Talvin Singh have brought tabla out of the background and on occasion turned it into the principal instrument — the lead singer, if you will.
Enter Talavya, a quartet of tabla players who will perform at Queens University's Dana Auditorium on May 11 and evoke ancient Indian rhythms, but at the same time bring the storied percussion instrument to the forefront and further into the international realm.
"Our goal is to present Indian classical music in a contemporary language that can be enjoyed by more people," explains Rushi Vakil, performer and Talavya group leader. "The language of tabla is really graceful, full of different tempos, energies and emotions. All the shades of music can be found in it. Talavya is an idea; a concept originated by my guru, my father, Pandit Divyang Vakil."
During performances, the group works to find a balance between improvisation and fixed portions of the music. "Everything can't be improvised and everything can't be composed, otherwise there would be no originality," Vakil explains. "We can make changes as per the audience wants and we can do something different every time."
But they also want to make Indian classical music fun, since many people find it to be too complex. "Talavya is a sugar-coated pill that makes the other things go down easy," Vakil says. "Then, with this type of sugar pill, people will be attracted to the art of classical music."
One manner in which Talavya increases awareness is through workshops while on tour. "Indian music is a very deep art. It has amazing concepts and ideas behind it," Vakil says. "In workshops, we try to explain some of this in the simplest way possible so the audience is engaged better. Even among Indians, they view classical music as very difficult. So the workshops make the audience feel like participants. You don't have to be specially trained to enjoy classical music."
In skillful hands, the tabla can create myriad jaw-dropping sounds, including a galloping horse, insects chirping, rainfall and distant thunder.
The players in Talavya — Vakil, Sahil Patel, Mike Lukshis and Kaumil Shah — have gone through years of intensive training. All hail from India, except U.S.-based Lukshis. "Michael is highly accomplished and has been coming to India for many years," Vakil says. "He is like a brother to all of us and is a good match for the quartet."
The quartet performs developed compositions interspersed with improvisation, meditative pieces, lightning fast interplay and age-old rhythms, adjusting on the mood of the night and the audience reaction. Heena Patel accompanies the quartet on harmonium, keeping the tempo for the tablas.
They have performed with numerous world music players, while each player is also an accomplished soloist and performer, as well. Rushi Vakil is also a composer and has worked with the Korean National Orchestra, among others, as well as scored music for Bollywood.
Cowboy Junkies
(Originally published in the March 2013 edition of Saathee Magazine)
When the Cowboy Junkies coax their instruments into a blend of folk-rock, country, somber blues, and splashes of jazzy percussion, the ethereal backdrop is in place. And then vocalist Margo Timmins breathes into the microphone and breaks into song, the canvas is complete. The dreamy music begins its haunting of the listener. Margo Timmins’ voice exudes many moods and the band’s subtle playing can be disarming. They take their time building the song. There’s never a rush. It’s this complete dedication to songwriting and the music that has endeared the band to music lovers for over a quarter century.
The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by siblings Margo Timmins (vocalist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), and Peter Timmins (drummer) along with Alan Anton (bassist). Since their second album the band has also performed and recorded with multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird, whose current role includes acoustic and electric mandolins, harmonica, percussion, and samples.
They’ve released an impressive discography over the years since the 1986 debut recording Whites Off Earth Now. It was their second album, The Trinity Sessions, recorded live in a church with a single microphone that put them on the musical map. The album was a huge hit and is an essential recording for music lovers.
Over the past couple of years, they released four recordings that form the collective known as the Nomad series. The albums – Renmin Park, Demons, Sing in My Meadow, and The Wilderness – form a disparate, yet cohesive whole. The albums range from their traditional, sparse music to trip-hop elements with shuffling beats and percussion along with psychedelic blues. The series includes recordings Michael Timmins made during a trip to China as well as a covers album of Vic Chesnutt songs.
The band is currently on tour and will perform selections from their Nomad series in the first set and the entire classic recording The Trinity Sessions in the second set.
Here’s a chat with guitarist/songwriter Michael Timmins.
So talk about the show you’re doing on this tour.
“First set will be songs from the Nomad series and the second set will be Trinity from start to finish.”
How did you record the Nomad series? Did you record all the songs and then select for each record?
“It was a long process. The first record and each subsequent record had a specific theme. At the beginning we didn’t know what these records would sound like. We only had an idea for the first record. The first record is inspired by my trip to China and a lot of the recordings I did of street musicians. The second one was a record of cover songs by Vic Chesnutt who is a terrific American singer-songwriter who died recently and was a friend of ours. The third record was based on more of an element of our live sound, sort of psychedelic blues and electric sounds that people might not be familiar with our studio recordings. The fourth record the Wilderness is back to our singer-songwriter sound.”
The fourth one sounds more of a cohesive record; do you feel they all have their own sound?
“Well yeah, they all sound different, that was the idea. The fourth record is more reflective of the sound that people are more familiar with our music, much quieter, more sparse. More focused on lyrics and singing.”
So there’s also a book based on the Nomad series?
“It’s already out and we’re really excited and we’ll have if for sale at our shows. It’s another way of interpreting the Nomad series, the writing, there are a couple of essays as well, photos and the four discs are also included. It’s more of an art book as well, like a coffee table book. It’s hard cover and linen wrapped, it’s really beautiful.”
Talk about your approach to recording albums.
“Of course Trinity is about as basic as you can get, it was recorded live to one mike in a church. It was a two track recording. There’s nothing added after the fact. We still kind of record that way, even in our home studio. Not with one microphone but we try to capture it live as much as we can. We try to capture the spirit of the song first and then add stuff as needed.”
What do you feel are some of the positive changes in music and some of the negative changes? You’ve been around for over 25 years now...
“I think a lot of the positive and the negative go hand in hand. The rise of the internet is positive in some ways, there’s a more democratic side to things now, and you can reach your audience more directly. At one point the major labels monopolized how you can reach an audience. Though it is hard to figure out where they are and how to reach them, there’s so many more avenues. And of course there’s the whole file trading thing that’s a negative. There’s a lot of back and forth, positive and negative. The break of the stranglehold major labels had is a good thing, but there’s a lot of negative as well.”
Also there’s so much out there now...how do you get through it all.
“In the old days, you could do your liner notes and that would be it, but today the work involved in maintaining a multi-media website is much harder, there’s a lot of work involved. To have an online complete presence all the time is hard.”
So can we expect any visuals at the show?
(Laughs) “No all you get is us. It’s about the music, not visuals. We’ve also got Jeff Bird with us who plays several instruments, electric mandolin, acoustic mandolin, percussion.”
The Cowboy Junkies will perform at the McGlohon Theater in Charlotte on Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 7:30pm. Tickets begin at $24.50. For more details call Blumenthal Box Office: 704-372-1000 or visit www.performingartsctr.org
Cowboy Junkies Discography
1986 - Whites Off Earth Now!!
1988 - The Trinity Session
1990 - The Caution Horses
1992 - Black Eyed Man
1993 - Pale Sun Crescent Moon
1996 - Lay It Down
1998 - Miles from Our Home
1999 - Rarities, B-Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes
2001 - Open
2004 - One Soul Now
2005 - Early 21st Century Blues
2007 - At the End of Paths Taken
2007 - Trinity Revisited
2010 - Nomad Series, Vol.1 Renmin Park
2011 - Nomad Series, Vol.2 Demons
2011 - Nomad Series, Vol.3 Sing in My Meadow
2012 - Nomad Series, Vol.4 The Wilderness
(Originally published in the March 2013 edition of Saathee Magazine)
When the Cowboy Junkies coax their instruments into a blend of folk-rock, country, somber blues, and splashes of jazzy percussion, the ethereal backdrop is in place. And then vocalist Margo Timmins breathes into the microphone and breaks into song, the canvas is complete. The dreamy music begins its haunting of the listener. Margo Timmins’ voice exudes many moods and the band’s subtle playing can be disarming. They take their time building the song. There’s never a rush. It’s this complete dedication to songwriting and the music that has endeared the band to music lovers for over a quarter century.
The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by siblings Margo Timmins (vocalist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), and Peter Timmins (drummer) along with Alan Anton (bassist). Since their second album the band has also performed and recorded with multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird, whose current role includes acoustic and electric mandolins, harmonica, percussion, and samples.
They’ve released an impressive discography over the years since the 1986 debut recording Whites Off Earth Now. It was their second album, The Trinity Sessions, recorded live in a church with a single microphone that put them on the musical map. The album was a huge hit and is an essential recording for music lovers.
Over the past couple of years, they released four recordings that form the collective known as the Nomad series. The albums – Renmin Park, Demons, Sing in My Meadow, and The Wilderness – form a disparate, yet cohesive whole. The albums range from their traditional, sparse music to trip-hop elements with shuffling beats and percussion along with psychedelic blues. The series includes recordings Michael Timmins made during a trip to China as well as a covers album of Vic Chesnutt songs.
The band is currently on tour and will perform selections from their Nomad series in the first set and the entire classic recording The Trinity Sessions in the second set.
Here’s a chat with guitarist/songwriter Michael Timmins.
So talk about the show you’re doing on this tour.
“First set will be songs from the Nomad series and the second set will be Trinity from start to finish.”
How did you record the Nomad series? Did you record all the songs and then select for each record?
“It was a long process. The first record and each subsequent record had a specific theme. At the beginning we didn’t know what these records would sound like. We only had an idea for the first record. The first record is inspired by my trip to China and a lot of the recordings I did of street musicians. The second one was a record of cover songs by Vic Chesnutt who is a terrific American singer-songwriter who died recently and was a friend of ours. The third record was based on more of an element of our live sound, sort of psychedelic blues and electric sounds that people might not be familiar with our studio recordings. The fourth record the Wilderness is back to our singer-songwriter sound.”
The fourth one sounds more of a cohesive record; do you feel they all have their own sound?
“Well yeah, they all sound different, that was the idea. The fourth record is more reflective of the sound that people are more familiar with our music, much quieter, more sparse. More focused on lyrics and singing.”
So there’s also a book based on the Nomad series?
“It’s already out and we’re really excited and we’ll have if for sale at our shows. It’s another way of interpreting the Nomad series, the writing, there are a couple of essays as well, photos and the four discs are also included. It’s more of an art book as well, like a coffee table book. It’s hard cover and linen wrapped, it’s really beautiful.”
Talk about your approach to recording albums.
“Of course Trinity is about as basic as you can get, it was recorded live to one mike in a church. It was a two track recording. There’s nothing added after the fact. We still kind of record that way, even in our home studio. Not with one microphone but we try to capture it live as much as we can. We try to capture the spirit of the song first and then add stuff as needed.”
What do you feel are some of the positive changes in music and some of the negative changes? You’ve been around for over 25 years now...
“I think a lot of the positive and the negative go hand in hand. The rise of the internet is positive in some ways, there’s a more democratic side to things now, and you can reach your audience more directly. At one point the major labels monopolized how you can reach an audience. Though it is hard to figure out where they are and how to reach them, there’s so many more avenues. And of course there’s the whole file trading thing that’s a negative. There’s a lot of back and forth, positive and negative. The break of the stranglehold major labels had is a good thing, but there’s a lot of negative as well.”
Also there’s so much out there now...how do you get through it all.
“In the old days, you could do your liner notes and that would be it, but today the work involved in maintaining a multi-media website is much harder, there’s a lot of work involved. To have an online complete presence all the time is hard.”
So can we expect any visuals at the show?
(Laughs) “No all you get is us. It’s about the music, not visuals. We’ve also got Jeff Bird with us who plays several instruments, electric mandolin, acoustic mandolin, percussion.”
The Cowboy Junkies will perform at the McGlohon Theater in Charlotte on Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 7:30pm. Tickets begin at $24.50. For more details call Blumenthal Box Office: 704-372-1000 or visit www.performingartsctr.org
Cowboy Junkies Discography
1986 - Whites Off Earth Now!!
1988 - The Trinity Session
1990 - The Caution Horses
1992 - Black Eyed Man
1993 - Pale Sun Crescent Moon
1996 - Lay It Down
1998 - Miles from Our Home
1999 - Rarities, B-Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes
2001 - Open
2004 - One Soul Now
2005 - Early 21st Century Blues
2007 - At the End of Paths Taken
2007 - Trinity Revisited
2010 - Nomad Series, Vol.1 Renmin Park
2011 - Nomad Series, Vol.2 Demons
2011 - Nomad Series, Vol.3 Sing in My Meadow
2012 - Nomad Series, Vol.4 The Wilderness
Swans Never Died
(originally published on September 06, 2011 in Creative Loafing, Charlotte)
Prepare for the sonic assault. When Swans are on the stage, intensity is the modus operandi and music as revelation is, well, pretty much guaranteed.
Swans have risen from the dead. They birthed in N.Y.C. in 1982 during the heady years of Avant rock and No Wave. Around 1997 Swans front man Michael Gira announced, "The Swans are dead," ending a remarkable run for a band that began as sound deconstructionists.
The combo built their compositions slowly, with layered, massive guitar chunks, gut pounding bass, deep vocal chants and drumming akin to concrete blocks dropping from skyscrapers. The intensity evolved over the years into multi-hued, beautiful, downright haunting music, tempered with subtleties of the voice, acoustic guitar, and keyboards.
After killing the Swans, Gira took his guitar, voice and writing to different alleys. Between 1998 and 2009 he fronted the Angels of Light, a band that released six recordings and toured extensively. Apparently it was during one of Angels of Light's performances on their last tour that Gira had an epiphany. The heaviness of a song reawakened the demons. And he decided to reconvene the Swans.
"Coming back to Swans it's been a really liberating experience, because it's like I cut off a part of myself a long time ago," says the 57-year-old Gira in a recent phone interview. "Because it was destroying me I suppose. Now that I've gone through those 13 years and re-embraced it, it's like finding an old friend, or finding my demon brother and finding myself again. It provided a lot of personal freedom and artistic liberation. It's great to be music like this again, the loud music, and the kind of chunks of sound. So coming back to the Swans it just felt right again, it's what I was put on Earth to do, so I'm pursuing it again."
He went back into the studio with new and old members of Swans and Angels of Light and the result was last year's recording My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky. A tour ensued.
The opening track from that record, "No Words / No Thoughts" begins with church bells-like chimes, and then turns dark and towering as the guitars announce the arrival of the Swans.
Buddhist horns and bells add an exotic feel to another track while "Inside Madeline" builds layers till the amps are ready to implode. The blood-curdling "Eden Prison" simply unhinges the listener. A jazzy cymbal and an acoustic guitar, accompanied by a humming chorus, opens the gospel-like "Reeling the Liars In."
This is the essence of the band. It's eerily beautiful, building tension with repetition, slowly chipping away the defenses of the listeners and hypnotizing them into submission. That's the music. What of the words?
"Every once in a while, God will bless me with a song or a phrase just coming out of nowhere. You know just driving or doing something that's not musically related," Gira describes the writing process. "Usually it's an arduous process. I sit there with a guitar, strumming till the words just pop out. I've done so many songs, that you become self-conscious about not repeating things." But it's not all about Gira, as he clarified, "I lead the band, but the band contributes immensely."
The good news for explorers of music, seekers of sound expansion is that the masters are most definitely back. And Gira is stoked. There's already a double-live album in the works and the band is working on a new album, which he says is "very long. I don't know how we're going to release it. It's about two-and-a-half hours long, one song is 30 minutes long. It's a sonic experience; it's not like just grabbing something from iTunes."
The current incarnation of Swans, though, is missing Gira's collaborator from the original Swans, the female balance to the howl of his low-timbre, the ghostly Jarboe. They parted ways years ago and Gira is moving forward.
When asked if there will be any visual things going on stage at the show, Gira erupted in a hearty laugh, "Well I hang myself when I play live."
Swans are, indeed, back.
(originally published on September 06, 2011 in Creative Loafing, Charlotte)
Prepare for the sonic assault. When Swans are on the stage, intensity is the modus operandi and music as revelation is, well, pretty much guaranteed.
Swans have risen from the dead. They birthed in N.Y.C. in 1982 during the heady years of Avant rock and No Wave. Around 1997 Swans front man Michael Gira announced, "The Swans are dead," ending a remarkable run for a band that began as sound deconstructionists.
The combo built their compositions slowly, with layered, massive guitar chunks, gut pounding bass, deep vocal chants and drumming akin to concrete blocks dropping from skyscrapers. The intensity evolved over the years into multi-hued, beautiful, downright haunting music, tempered with subtleties of the voice, acoustic guitar, and keyboards.
After killing the Swans, Gira took his guitar, voice and writing to different alleys. Between 1998 and 2009 he fronted the Angels of Light, a band that released six recordings and toured extensively. Apparently it was during one of Angels of Light's performances on their last tour that Gira had an epiphany. The heaviness of a song reawakened the demons. And he decided to reconvene the Swans.
"Coming back to Swans it's been a really liberating experience, because it's like I cut off a part of myself a long time ago," says the 57-year-old Gira in a recent phone interview. "Because it was destroying me I suppose. Now that I've gone through those 13 years and re-embraced it, it's like finding an old friend, or finding my demon brother and finding myself again. It provided a lot of personal freedom and artistic liberation. It's great to be music like this again, the loud music, and the kind of chunks of sound. So coming back to the Swans it just felt right again, it's what I was put on Earth to do, so I'm pursuing it again."
He went back into the studio with new and old members of Swans and Angels of Light and the result was last year's recording My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky. A tour ensued.
The opening track from that record, "No Words / No Thoughts" begins with church bells-like chimes, and then turns dark and towering as the guitars announce the arrival of the Swans.
Buddhist horns and bells add an exotic feel to another track while "Inside Madeline" builds layers till the amps are ready to implode. The blood-curdling "Eden Prison" simply unhinges the listener. A jazzy cymbal and an acoustic guitar, accompanied by a humming chorus, opens the gospel-like "Reeling the Liars In."
This is the essence of the band. It's eerily beautiful, building tension with repetition, slowly chipping away the defenses of the listeners and hypnotizing them into submission. That's the music. What of the words?
"Every once in a while, God will bless me with a song or a phrase just coming out of nowhere. You know just driving or doing something that's not musically related," Gira describes the writing process. "Usually it's an arduous process. I sit there with a guitar, strumming till the words just pop out. I've done so many songs, that you become self-conscious about not repeating things." But it's not all about Gira, as he clarified, "I lead the band, but the band contributes immensely."
The good news for explorers of music, seekers of sound expansion is that the masters are most definitely back. And Gira is stoked. There's already a double-live album in the works and the band is working on a new album, which he says is "very long. I don't know how we're going to release it. It's about two-and-a-half hours long, one song is 30 minutes long. It's a sonic experience; it's not like just grabbing something from iTunes."
The current incarnation of Swans, though, is missing Gira's collaborator from the original Swans, the female balance to the howl of his low-timbre, the ghostly Jarboe. They parted ways years ago and Gira is moving forward.
When asked if there will be any visual things going on stage at the show, Gira erupted in a hearty laugh, "Well I hang myself when I play live."
Swans are, indeed, back.