#right before the mortal instruments press tour

[simon-x-billy]

Robert Sheehan honored by University College Dublin’s Literary & Historical society, 2013

[girlrottn]

the 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐹𝐸𝐶𝑇 night for a 𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖉𝖞 ──

╰ °✧ ( MARGARET QUALLEY, CIS WOMAN, TWENTY-THREE, SHE/HER ) : — ❝ here comes ECHO CLEMONS to help guide the tour !  they’ve lived in deadmore for twenty-three years and do know that the myth is true. besides helping guide you all today, they are also a knife thrower at the deadmore grand carnival  !  they’re known around town for being adventurous, courageous, foolhardy, and impulsive. they’re said to give off  the sound of roller skates against pavement, curious glances, unmade beds, and autumn leaves stained with blood vibe. some people suspect that they're hiding that they recently joined the cult worshipping the deadmore monster. hopefully the town and tourists don’t find out ! ❞

howdy !! i’m spence, ur local weirdo with unhealthy obsessions w southern gothic shit & vampires !! i’m here to introduce you to my crazy baby echo uwu even tho she’s a little bit evil and a lot a bit weird, she’s not shy at all so feel free to hmu with any and all connection ideas you may have !!! i’m also in the process of getting a wc page set up for her so i’ll make a post linking it when i do !!!

TRIGGER WARNINGS for very brief mentions of death, violence, stabbing below the cut

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒: a rose by any other name would still have thorns.

full name: isabel lynn clemons nickname(s): echo, izzy to family only age: twenty-three date of birth: march 21 gender: cis woman pronouns: she/her orientation: pansexual panromantic religion: raised southern baptist, currently a member of a cult worshipping the deadmore monster occupation: 1/2 of a knife throwing duo at the deadmore carnival / circus, occasionally picks up gigs in the deadmore cabaret at right hand casino in the off season

character & aesthetic inspiration from: rose summerspring ( bad times at the el royale ), donald ray pollock’s ‘ the devil all the time ’, gillian flynn’s ‘ sharp objects ’, every kaleo song asdvadf

𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓: resurrection is natural to beautiful things; a flower dies in autumn to be reborn in spring.

        isabel clemons was born on the first day of spring in deadmore, georgia. her dad’s side of the family, the clemons’, were an old money family, with roots laid down in deadmore just about as far back as it was founded. and he was expected to keep it that way ─ stay in the town, start a family, continue the tradition that his ancestors started generations back. which is why when he and isabel’s mother, a mississippi woman with strawberry blonde hair and a scowl that could knock a hog dead, had trouble conceiving for a number of years, he was terrified he would disappoint his family. but time, perseverance, and a healthy amount of prayer must have done the trick, because after four years of trying, they finally saw that little blue plus.          little isabel was a miracle, it seemed, so she was treated as such. from the time she could toddle, she was handed everything she could ever want. but along with being spoiled, as her parent’s only child, a lot was expected of the girl from a young age. she began ballet when she was four, violin when she was six, always made it to the finals in every spelling be, and only received one b in her entire school career. she had a strict curfew, wasn’t allowed to date, and her parents carefully cherry-picked each of her friends. well mannered, soft voiced, legs crossed, chin down, ladylike. she never lived the life of a teenage girl; instead she existed as some unreachable ideal ─ something to be bragged about, doted on, and appreciated from afar. it was only a matter of time until she snapped.          when fall of her senior year in high school rolled around, isabel made the first decision she had ever made without her parents’ expectations in mind. after months of silent contemplation, she decided to forgo sending in college applications. of course, she didn’t tell her parents about it until they confronted her, asking about the lack of letters they had been receiving in the mail and wondering if she was hiding the results. she explained to them what she had done, and that she didn’t want to go to university at all, and unsurprisingly it resulted in an enormous fight. for most eighteen-year-olds yet to finish their senior year in high school, being disowned and kicked out by their parents would be a tragedy, but for isabel it was liberating.         she went wild, embraced her newfound freedom. she was reckless, and did things without thought for the first time in her life, even changed her name to something she thought sounded more fun. it didn’t take long for her to lose her grip on reality, to become a hedonist who thrived on adrenaline. maybe that’s why it was so easy for her to say yes when the deadmore grand carnival’s knife thrower ( i may end up putting a wc up for this character so hmu if ur interested !! ) needed a new target girl. she giggled in the face of death in a way that only an unhinged teenage girl could. and she never stopped.

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓: the rose discovers she is an instrument of war

        in the years since echo impulsively took on the role of target girl in the carnival’s knife throwing act, she has picked up the skill herself ( her dedication seems to be one of her more redeeming qualities these days ), and the two performers know act as one another’s targets throughout their set. and given her volatile and impulsive nature, it wasn’t difficult for her to be drawn to the cult living in deadmore’s underbelly. she’s always had morbid fascinations, especially about the hushed whispers of the monster that the townspeople keep satiated. inevitably, those fascinations along with her inclination for the grotesque have led her straight to the cult, which she has promptly devoted herself to entirely despite the short time that she’s even known about it. 

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘: i want to kiss a god or two on the mouth.

echo is usually pretty nice upon first glance ; she grew up being pressed hard to be well mannered, and it isn’t something that immediately dissipated as she grew out of the persona her parents had made of her. 

beneath the surface, though, she can be snide and she loves messing with people for no good reason. no joke. like, fucks with tourists and tries to scare them all the time, tells them she’s a vampire or a ghost or something and pulls a whole rouse just because she thinks messing with people is funny. 

also has a nasty habit of spreading gossip.

an enormous flirt. she never really did it before, because she wasn’t allowed to date so she just tried to steer clear, and now she’s making up for lost time. *mushu voice* she’ll flirt with you, she’ll flirt with your cow, she’ll flirt with your whole family

undying interest in things she was sheltered from as a kid, most notably chaos, violence, and anything grotesque. eats the shit up. straight up you could stab her hand or some shit and after she got over the pain, she’d just stare at it in fascination. not really averse to death, a late bloomer when it comes to the idea of mortality, doesn’t really subscribe to it. enormous god complex.

all that said, she’s pretty easily manipulated a lot of times, largely because of that same sheltered upbringing. she’s seen a lot more in the past couple of years than most can handle, treating everything like it doesn’t matter and life is just a dream-state she’s stuck in helps, but it also means it’s not hard to get her to go along with what other people want (as long as some kind of benefit for her, no matter how trivial, is presented). pair that with some wild impulsivity and nonchalance about danger and death and you’ve got a fun combo baybee

i’m gonna stop there because i’ve already written waaaayy too much... if you read this whole thing u truly are my hero wow... but that’s my baby !! catch her roller skating around deadmore being nosy in everyone’s business. call her isabel and she’ll slap u ! feel free to come scream at me if u wanna do things with her, thanks for coming to my ted scream goodnight

[onestowatch]

Q&A: “Country Soul” Band Whitney Talks Touring, Breakup Advice, & New Music

Spearheaded by singer/drummer Julien Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek, Chicago-based band Whitney embodies an ever-evolving headspace for the two talented artists. 

Accompanied by a five-piece band, the duo self-identifies as “country soul”--an eclectic label that encapsulates their genre-defying, under-the-radar sound. Ehrlich, who began as the drummer for Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Smith Westerns, and Kakacek, a guitarist in the latter, lay the groundwork for Whitney’s melancholy-yet-uplifting sound. 

Max Kakacek helped us navigate Whitney’s winding path to present day, with a critically acclaimed Light Upon The Lake album under their belts and all seven members headlining world tours, performing at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Shaky Knees, and more.

OTW: How did Whitney initially form?

Max: We met in Oregon, while Julien was playing for Unknown Mortal Orchestra and opening for Smith Westerns. He was around 19 and I must’ve been 21. A few years later, when he wasn’t doing UMO anymore, I called him up because we had hung out, drank and whatever you do when you’re young on tour. UMO had been opening for Smith Westerns for two or three months, and so I called him up and said “Do you wanna drum for Smith Westerns?” and he said yes, so he moved in with Cullen (Omori) and slept on our couch for a while. Over the next year we became really close friends, and after Smith Westerns broke up, we were just buddies who were working on our own single projects. I was making some weird, kind of crappy solo music, and one day we made a song together, almost as a joke just messing around. It ended up being something we really liked and from then on we just started working together. 

OTW: In the early stages when Whitney first formed, what steps did you take to make sure that it remained an individual force apart from your previous work?

Max: An important thing to know is that we didn’t really sit down and have that conversation. I think that we had been out of those bands for long enough that we weren’t going to make songs that sounded like previous projects. Of course Julien’s voice is very different from Reuben’s or Cullen’s, so that was obviously an easy distinction to make. Especially in the very beginning, our recording process was very limited--they were very lo-fi, folky, country songs, and I think what inspired us was that it was so different from the stuff we were making before. But we never really sat down and had a conversation that was like, “We should go in this direction because other projects that we’d been involved in did this.” I think it was important that we never had that conversation, because that puts you in a weird headspace, comparing yourself to previous things that you’ve done. 

OTW: Understandable. So, who is Whitney anyway? 

Max: I’m not really sure at this point--it kind of changes around. When the band first started, we used the name as a way to get perspective on songs we were writing outside of ourselves. I don’t think we ever gave that character any sort of real life characteristics. It was just more of a tool for us to use if we got too close to a song, if we were working on something for a long time and lost perspective on what it sounded like, or a way for us to back up and take a look at it from afar. 

OTW: We’ve often seen you guys described as country soul or folk soul. What does “soul” mean to you in the context of your music?

Max: At the very beginning of Whitney, we were both obsessed with these weird lost recordings by people like Abner Jay and Jim Ford. The soul of the recording came from the idea that they were never found, and existed in this weird music vacuum of bands that should’ve probably been much larger than they ever became. The music was lost and people now reissue it and find it. We were pretty obsessed with that idea. 

OTW: We’re big fans of the label you guys are on, Secretly Canadian. What is it like being a part of that and how have they shaped your career?

Max: Everyone who’s a part of it is awesome, especially when we were first starting out, and they first signed us. We pretty much talked to them every day.

OTW: How did you find them? 

Max: They found us--we had a good friend that was working for them. They heard our demos and then brought us to Bloomington where the label’s based. We played a show and the only attendees were people from the label, and the next day they sat us down in this really bizarre, semi-official room, and told us they’d like to buy our record. All of us were super excited and happy, and then moving forward from there, we didn’t really have management until after the album was completely recorded. So every step of the way we were talking with them about mixes and artwork that we liked, and they were very easy to deal with without needing a manager. Whereas with a lot of labels, you need someone as a liaison between you and the label, but for us it was just really easy to talk to them and trust them. It was nice to develop that relationship very early on. 

OTW: What other band members and instruments are involved in the live show right now?

Max: Julien plays drums and sings, I play lead guitar, Print Chouteau plays rhythm guitar, Will Miller plays trumpet, Josiah Marshall plays bongos and bass, and Malcolm Brown plays keys. We’ve got a sound guy that travels with us named Charles Webb, who’s just the man. It’s been pretty much the same crew since we’ve started. No one’s left, so since day 1 of touring this has been the group. 

OTW:  Are they all involved in recording the music, or is that just you and Julien?

Max: Yeah, they are all involved. Julien and I give a rough kind of skeleton of what we think the instruments should do. Usually, a lot of songs we play live before we record them, and as we keep playing them each part kind of takes its own meaning. Everyone gets to put their own spin on what they play, and when we go to the studio, we play it the way that we perform it live. 

OTW: How has the tour been? Have you seen a good reaction? 

Max: The tour’s been great so far. We’re doing a 90 day tour--60 days in America and 30 in Europe. We started in April, and we’re almost done with the first third, where we performed at Coachella, and we did a lot of other dates down the West coast. We’ve been to the West coast three or four times at this point and we’ve made a lot of friendships, so we got to see all of our homies that we’ve met from being on the road. And a lot of us have family out there, so it’s been kind of a breeze. We all got to see Kendrick Lamar at Coachella which was amazing. 

OTW: That’s legendary. Anything in particular that you’ve learned from this tour?

Max: We should’ve known this a long time ago, but I was talking to a buddy Kevin Morby who’s also a musician, and he gave us the tip to try and drink 100 ounces of water every day before a show. So we’ve all been trying to do that, and then you can pretty much do whatever you want at night. (laughs)

OTW: Oh is that right? Has it worked?

Max: So far so good. 

OTW: You’re playing a ton of festivals in the U.S. and overseas. Are there any in particular you’re most excited for? 

Max: I think a lot of them are ones we haven’t played yet. Lollapalooza will be a homecoming show for us, which will be awesome. Osheaga I’ve never been to, and it’s legendary for certain reasons so we’re excited to go there. Primavera I played when I was 19, that’s in Barcelona and it’s an amazing festival, and right now we’re actually on our way to one called Fortress Fest in Dallas/Fort Worth, and it’s the first year of the festival. So it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to festivals that’ve been around longer. 

OTW: Now back to the album Light Upon The Lake. What song do you personally connect with the most, and which would you say you most enjoy playing live? 

Max: I think it kinda changes on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis for both, but I think “Light Upon the Lake” is the most personal to me. As far as live goes, at the moment it’s “Follow,” but again I think that’s pretty much per show, you’ll have a show where a certain song will play really well. “Polly” is usually a favorite of mine now too; that song is really fun to play live. 

OTW: I know “Polly” is a song that deals with one of your breakups. What is your best breakup advice? 

Max: Drink 100 ounces of water per day. (laughs) No, I’m joking. I’m not sure. Me and Julien are kind of going through breakups right now. We’ve had like a year of touring, and we’ve had girls that we’d been seeing and after a year of touring, things have gotten really hard. So we’re both dealing with that, and I think the vibe is to try and block them from all social media and not look at anything they post. Try to just block them from your life for a little bit before you can go back and talk to them again if you want to.

OTW: That’s good advice. So what’s next, have you started working on any follow-up to the album? 

Max: Yeah, so we just recorded a couple covers that were released really recently. Tight now we’re playing a new song live that we’re all psyched on; it doesn’t really have a name yet, we’re still figuring it out. So we have about two and a half songs done. We have three weeks off in July where we’ll be writing, and then we have all of September off, and Julien and I are going to live in this cabin off of Mt. Hood in Oregon to write. We’re starting to get back to writing, but our tour schedule is pretty hectic. Whenever we’re not on tour, we try to put our heads down and get to work. 

OTW: Who are some Ones To Watch artist on your radar that you predict will break in the next couple years? 

Max: Well she’s just gotten a lot of press and was just on tour with us, her name’s Julie Byrne--she’s a singer-songwriter and she’s absolutely amazing. When we pick opening bands we try and pick people who we think are awesome and who we’d like to get into a bigger audience, so right now we’re on tour with good friends with a band called Golden Daze. One of the guys is an old Chicago guy and went to school at the same time as I did, so we’ve known each other since then.  

[tripstations]

Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains in Madrid

If you are a fan of Pink Floyd and happen to be in Madrid before mid-September, I’d highly recommend taking a trip out of the city centre to visit the Pink Floyd Their Mortal Remains Exhibition located in Feria de Madrid.

I first heard about the exhibition during a visit from my parents to Madrid. My dad has always been a fan of theirs. When I was younger, I generally reacted to their music as most children do to their father’s beats, with general disgust.

But as I have aged, my musical taste has expanded (my waistline is in a similar situation) and now I love a lot of their music. Some of it is still a little too weird, but on the whole, I would happily say I enjoy Pink Floyd.

On the other hand, my dad has been an avid fan of the band for over 50 years! So how would we both react to The Pink Floyd Exhibition? Is it just for the fans or can the casual observer also get a kick out of the experience?

What is the Pink Floyd Exhibition?

The exhibition is a musical journey in the form of documentary footage and personal effects from the band’s history including many rare and previously unseen items. It tells a story from the formation of the group and their weird stuff to the more melodic era and their madcap musical theatre concerts of the ’80s, right up to their reformation for the Live 8 concert in 2005.

Having seen success and received great feedback while in residence in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, it was decided to take the Pink Floyd Exhibition on tour. After leaving London, it has been to Dortmund and Rome and has now landed in Madrid. Where it heads to next is currently unknown, so you only have until 15th September 2019 to give it a visit.

The official website describes it as “an audio-visual journey through 50 years of one of the world’s most iconic rock groups, and a rare and exclusive glimpse into the world of Pink Floyd. It features many previously-unseen objects collected over the band’s eclectic history.”

It even goes a step further to include a quote from a British newspaper “almost as good as seeing the band live”.

Now, that’s some pretty lofty expectations being set right there, so how did it go?

Buying Pink Floyd Exhibition Tickets

It was a spur of the moment decision to pay a visit as my dad had seen it advertised while wandering along Gran Via the previous day. He suggested we checked it out, so I hopped online to check out the tickets.

The tickets were listed on their website at €19.90, but after the usual additional fees they throw in, the total cost ended up at €42.20.

When buying the tickets, I had to specify our arrival time that is broken down into half-hour slots. A nice touch is that the times are colour coded based on popularity, so you can try to aim for a quiet time. If you miss your slot, the website does say they will let you into the next available time, which based on how busy our visit was, shouldn’t be an issue.

Getting to the Feria de Madrid

The Feria de Madrid is a huuuuge exhibition centre, and The Pink Floyd Exhibition takes up just a tiny corner of it. While we drove there, it is also easy to reach by Metro on the pink line, number 8.

I have found this handy map that points out exactly where the exhibition is in the Feria. It would have been pretty helpful for me had noticed it before we visited, I wasted 10 minutes driving around looking for Pink Floyd Exhibition signs that didn’t exist.

If you are driving to the Feria de Madrid, there is plenty of parking (€2.25 per hour) close to the exhibition. I was able to find street side parking quite easily for free. But, it is worth noting I was visiting on a Sunday, if you are visiting mid-week, then these free spaces will probably be a lot harder to come by due to the number of offices in the area.

The Pink Floyd Exhibition

As mentioned, I am certainly not an avid fan of the band. I have a passing interest, the kind of guy that may listen to a best of album now and again. My dad, however, he has been a long time fan of the Pink Floyd, owning pretty much all of their records and also getting to see them live at their peak.

A shipping crate archway painted yellow and black like an oversized lego wasp marked the entrance. With the Madrid sun blinding us outside, we could bearly see what we were walking into.

As my eyes adjusted from the sun to the darkness of the exhibition room, I could see three staff waiting, staring at us. My eyes took just long enough to adjust to make it feel somewhat awkward.

Once my vision was restored, we handed over our tickets and the lady explained to us (in English) that we need to turn the WiFi off on our phones, which was strange, but we did as requested.

As we worked our way around the optimistically set up queue ropes, many surrealistic giant inflatables loomed over us. I later found out they were part of Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour.

As we passed into the next section, there was a small desk to pick the audio gizmo, and a different staff member to explain to us that there were no numbers, wander freely and the gizmo will connect to the correct audio as you look at a screen. Suddenly it made sense why I wasn’t allowed my WiFi on.

The exhibition began with some classic posters and press clipping before introducing us to the Pink Floyd Family tree. This graphic showed the band through their various lineups and other bands or projects that spun from group members. As my dad pointed out, it was interesting how few of them we had ever heard of.

Once we turned the corner, we were into the central part of the exhibition, which was broken down into various time frames. It has a window displays containing lots of paraphernalia relating to the band at that period.

Close to each exhibit were TV screens running various documentaries with band members and associates talking about what they were doing at the time and other stories. While I found it interesting, I did find it difficult to digest as I jumped from one screen to the other. I also found the audio sometimes struggled to connect or tuned into the wrong thing, which led to confusion, but on the whole, they were well-presented displays.

As we slowly made our way through the ’60s and ’70s, we entered a room where there was a floor to ceiling display of the band equipment with a documentary talking about how the ideas and experiments they were performing with music. Also, to the side of the room and my one of my favourite things, a mixer set to the band’s song Money where you can play around with the different instrument levels, fading and get a little experimental myself.

When I finally dragged myself away from destroying one of the band’s iconic hits, I turned the corner to see a replica of the giant wall used on one of their tours and more of the stunning inflatables. This section talks about the bands desire to do more than just concerts and how they came up with the concept of musical theatre. The Wall was the concert my dad attended, so for him; it was a trip down memory lane. For me, it was interesting to learn about how the band nearly brought Heathrow to a standstill with a giant inflatable pig! A little different to these days where it is drones you have to worry about.

Finally, there are a few more displays from their more modern work before building up to the highlight of the exhibition, the immersive experience which is “almost as good as seeing the band live”.

So was it? No, I mean I haven’t seen them live so I cannot compare, but having been introduced to the concept of musical theatre about 15 minutes earlier, this was a massive let down.

My expectation was some clips from the iconic The Wall concert, maybe a medley of there tops songs, but all it is is Comfortably Numb from Live 8 and a video of one of their early hits, Arnold Layne, about a man who pinches underwear off clotheslines.

While the volume was nice and rib vibratingly loud, and the guitar solo is pretty epic, I was expecting better for the grand finale.

Finally, as always at these kinds of things, we had to exit through the gift shop. Both my dad and I were feeling good and felt like we would buy something. He wanted a t-shirt for sure while I can always spend money. However, the prices were something else. While I understand, there is always a premium when buying souvenirs at an event, charging €30-40 for a t-shirt and €40 for the event souvenir book, needless to say, we both left empty-handed.

So did it live up to the expectations?

Well, I’m writing this one week after going, and I’m still unsure. The exhibits and information there are fantastic and look stunning, and any Pink Floyd fan or even those with a passing interest in the band will enjoy the exhibition. However, in my opinion, the way it was presented with the auto-connecting audio didn’t work as well as I think they hoped. While it is old technology now, I still feel that the old audio guide style of tapping in a number would have been a better way.

The audio presentation also means that you end up with your headphones on all the way around, taking away the feeling that it is a group activity. Again, numbered audio guides negate this as rather than a continual stream of information, you can do it in your own time.

The videos just felt like a chopped up documentary, and by the time we were halfway through, I’d given up on them thinking if I care enough, I’ll watch a full documentary about the group on another day.

However, that said, the displays were fantastic, I loved seeing all the concert inflatables, and I learnt a lot about the band. The whole of the past week I have found myself listening to Pink Floyd, the stuff I know I like and trying some of their other stuff too.

I came away with a new appreciation of the group that defied definitions while my dad certainly enjoyed his trip down memory lane. But would I say it was value for money? Not really, I think for what it is, €10 – €15 would have been a fair price, but if you have a love for the band or a dad that loves them, then you will undoubtedly enjoy it, but don’t think about the price.

Final Words

As he features quite strongly in this post, I thought I’d leave the final thoughts to the old man I call dad:

When sitting in a mates house after school in 1967 listening to Pink Floyd’s debut album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, you wouldn’t have thought that 52 years later these masters of psychedelic music would still feature in my life. But Floyd like many other bands from the period are still played regularly in my household. So when visiting my son in Madrid recently and seeing the “Experience “ advertised I had to drag my little boy along!

It’s a fascinating insight into the band covering each of the band’s albums chronologically from Piper at the Gates of Dawn to the final tribute to Richard Wight, The Endless River. You get the story of the album told by the band, producers even the album cover artists.

There’s plenty of guitars, drums, keyboards and amps to drool over as well as the larger than life recreation of LP covers. I also found the story behind the staging of The Wall fascinating as I saw the show at London’s Earls Court.

There probably isn’t anything new to learn for a Floyd devotee but having it all under one roof does mean you can indulge yourself and I hadn’t heard the story of the flying pig. The one that crash-landed in Kent after breaking away from its tether over Battersea Power Station during the photo shoot for the Animals cover.

However, one question still remains unanswered, and we’ll never know, would albums like Dark Side of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall have been made if Dave Gilmour hadn’t replaced Syd Barrett?

I also feel I must throw in that I was also disappointed with the finale if you are going to create a large screen experience let’s have more than two tracks!

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[houstonlocalus-blog]

Acid Angels in Arizona: An Interview with Body of Light

Body of Light. Photo: Kaleb Marshall

  In recent years, when Arizona’s experimental music realm rears it’s head, you are met with an entirely new world of talented individuals creating something enviable that artists are tracing their lines around. In steps Body of Light, a synth duo comprised of Alex and Andrew Jarson, two brothers that helped solidify the emerging Arizona music scene. Body of Light exhibits style and power, with swelling synths, the throb and peal of electronic drums surrounding hungry, searching vocals, further showcasing tracks that could surely be a staple of dancehall nights for years to come. Free Press Houston exchanged words with the Jarson brothers prior to their performance at The Secret Group on Friday.

  FPH: Last time you were in town was a bit over a year ago with High Functioning Flesh. That was a fun show, and seemed like a promising tour with label-mates. This time around, you are visiting with Black Marble and DRAA, two bands I personally have been enjoying very much recently. Incredibly solid tours back to back. How has the tour been so far?

Andrew: It’s been a blast. Every show has had great crowds. They always seem to be very energetic, and we’re a pretty energetic band so that helps the shows in the long run. Black Marble had already been on tour for I think 20 something days before we met up with them in NYC, and it can be awkward starting a tour like that, but we had an amazing sold out show in NYC and that really set off the whole tour. Chris and Oliver from Black Marble are truly great guys and we’re blessed to tour with people we get along so well with.

Alex: We’ve been having the best time in the world. Nearly every show has been packed with people and the crowds have been very responsive to both bands. That’s all you can really ask for. We love touring with Black Marble. They’re amazing people and I’m kind of bummed we only have like 9 days left.

  FPH: Alex, we met in 2013 and you gave me a few Body of Light (or Bodi of Light) cassettes, as well of other written works of yours. Older tracks like “Wayside City,” which were catchy dirge-pop hits, could have remained a lifelong direction, but then the LP Let Me Go comes around and seems to have realized a clear path for the band. Was this a natural evolution, or is this something you eventually wanted to work towards?

Andrew: I’d say it was certainly a natural evolution, we actually wrote Let Me Go not too long after we put out the Limits of Reason tape in 2014. I’d say the biggest difference between the two is that we had the intention of having the LMG tracks mixed professionally, and the songs did go through some gradual changes during the time between it’s released. Once we got Ben Greenberg on board to mix the record, the songs really took shape into something we had wanted them to be from the start. We had already envisioned Let Me Go as our first real LP, so he brought it to a level, to a platform that we felt we could build on as a band from here on out.

Alex: I’m very conscious of when I’m writing the same thing over and over again. We’ve never been that kind of a band. So when we went into writing this album, I wanted it to be different. We wanted high energy tracks that came off in a powerful way, especially live. But I also wanted it to feel hollow, yet emotional to the listener. Ben really helped push us to mold these tracks and I’m really grateful for his input.

  FPH: Mentioning earlier your written works, you are both heavily involved and helped create Ascetic House, an incredibly influential creative collective that has produced some of the most noteworthy music of the past few years. How did it all begin, and do you still have the same creative input as you did before?

Alex: It starts much earlier than the name, you know? We were all going to shows, like anyone else involved in underground music. Eventually, people moved and things felt like it needed a bit of a push. We all got a bit older and wanted to have some influence with our output. We came up with the name, I think, in 2011. We released music we enjoyed and really pushed ourselves to grow and learn. The creative input is still the same. If anything, we have more control now as it expands.

Andrew: I moved to Tempe in 2009 and lived on Alex’s couch. I was making music constantly at the time on my Akai 16 track recorder, usually in the corner of the room that I had made into my little makeshift room, if you could really even call it that. I was pretty socially awkward at the time — I was 18 and I had gone to punk and hardcore shows with my brother for a while before then, but hardcore was never my thing at all, and I never really met anyone or anything like that. So I felt maybe like a bit an outsider. But moving to Tempe, I got the chance to see these amazing punk and indie shows at these great DIY spots like The Manor, Yobs, Eastside Records, etc. and I met all these great people like Danny Pupillo, Nick and Steve Nappa, JS Aurelius, JR Nelson, and way too many others to reference. We all realized we lived within blocks from each other, and as we started forming all of these bands with each other, and seeing so many amazing acts, that was really how Ascetic House naturally began.

  FPH: Translating from being a part of the punk community, Body of Light puts on a very entertaining live performance, and utilizes an intriguing aesthetic. I know Alex used to carry a leg bone with him on stage while performing, which is great in my book. Tell me a bit about that.

Andrew: The bone era was about right when I joined the band. So I had seen him perform as Body of Light and understood what the performance was supposed to be. I never wanted to distract from that, I found my way to provide support and let him do his thing. His performance evolved from there on out, and at the same time so did my stage setup and the structure of the set.

Alex: I found this bone in a field and for some reason, I thought it would be fun to perform with. I would hold it in the air as if it was an instrument of its own, or a wand. I was experimenting a lot with my surroundings then. The idea of mortality was becoming ingrained in my mind. I think that idea terrified me and having that with me gave me a sense of peace. It didn’t matter. On stage, we were the ones who had control. When I felt like it was the right time, I threw it off the stage at a show in New York. It shattered into a million pieces. I still have a small fragment in a box somewhere.

  FPH: Both of you are involved in solo experimental electronic projects (Memorymann, Blue Krishna, etc) and seem equally capable behind the gear. Has there ever been a shimmer of an idea to try performing a track with your positions swapped?

Andrew: Body of Light is a collaborative project, It’s not like I’m the songwriter and he’s the singer/lyricist. Sometimes he will write the basis of a song and I will give musical input, and sometimes I’ll help out with lyrics or vocal melodies. Just because we have roles on stage doesn’t mean we need to follow them in the long run. Not sure if I would ever do lead vocals at this point, but I wouldn’t rule anything out. I’d love to do some backing vocals sometime, which we’re working on in practice. It’s that natural blood harmony, you know?

Alex: Yeah, roles are always changing. We have plans for him to get on vocals, perhaps on the next record. I’d like to play more live, if I ever stop running around on stage.

  FPH: Besides the musical influences that stick out almost immediately from listening to your tracks new and old, what else in the creative world influences you for songwriting, performance, recording, etc. 

Alex: There’s just too many bands and artists to name. I’m mainly influenced by the people that are close to me. Sometimes it has nothing to do with sound at all. Someone could do something and it produces a thought. The sound just comes from the emotion behind it. I’ve found that touring and traveling in general influences my music the most.

Andrew: Some of my biggest influences in terms of production from the past come from the Modern Soul and Funk world, like Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam, Prince, etc., but I also love the pop productions of Scott, Aitken, & Waterman, Bobby Orlando, and Freestyle bands of the past. Stuff I love to listen to on the radio. As far as modern influence I really like the recent releases from Danny Wolfers/Legowelt, especially the Smackos stuff. I’m also a huge fan of some of our friends work, such as Glochids, High Functioning Flesh, and SURVIVE.

  FPH: The LP from Dais made it’s way across quite a few 2016 Best Of The Year lists. I’ve seen great tours and shows showcasing you as well. What is next for the band?

Alex: I love our last record a lot and it’s really exciting to see how much it’s been listened to. We got to go play in Japan, tour the US twice, and meet so many amazing people. I never expected anyone to care, so it’s a huge blessing to be able to do this with my life. We’re going to finish this tour and jump into writing a new record. I think it’s time.

Andrew: I’m really excited to write when we get home from this tour. We have both got a lot more gear and production equipment since the last record, and I spent a lot of time building up my studio to work in a very hybrid ITB/OTB way. We’re also planning on some tours and have even bounced around the idea of adding another live member to the band. So there’s a lot on the table and we’ll see where it takes us.

  Catch Body of Light at The Secret Group on Friday, June 23. The night will include Brooklyn’s Black Marble headlining, with DRAA from Tempe supporting. Pick up a copy of Body Of Light’s LP “Let Me Go” on Dais Records from the band, label, or local vendors Deep End, Wired Up, or Vinal Edge.

Also, catch up with the sonic innovations of Ascetic House at www.ascetic.house

Acid Angels in Arizona: An Interview with Body of Light this is a repost

[londontheatre]

Thisbe, from Door Ajar Theatre, is on tour nationally from Tuesday 21st February until Saturday 25th March 2017. Press Night is Wednesday 22nd February at Gerry’s Studio, Theatre Royal Stratford East at 8.00pm. (Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes – no interval)

Fourteen years have passed since the fateful night Thisbe’s parents, Helena and Demetrius, were lost in the woods. The only thing they remember is waking up completely in love with one another. But as their love becomes obsession, where does this leave their neglected and confused daughter, Thisbe?

Cue the prankster Puck and his fairy flunkeys who love nothing more than to meddle with the mortal world. With the promise of solving all of her problems, they lure Thisbe into the woods where it isn’t long before she finds herself embroiled in their roguery. Intoxicated with magic and adventure, has Thisbe gone too far this time? Can she stop her family falling apart? And does she even want to? Featuring creatively integrated BSL (British Sign Language) and with an original score, this play is full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality.

Thisbe is written by Samantha Sutherland, directed by Roberta Zuric, musical direction by David Hewson, BSL interpretation by Jennifer Wilson, and is produced by Euan Borland. Thisbe premiered at the VAULT Festival 2016.

“Thisbe’s tale starts from where Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream left off. We revisit some familiar characters but focus on Helena and Demetrius’ daughter Thisbe. I had been scribbling ideas about the fate of Demetrius and Helena since I performed in A Midsummer Nights Dream when I was 11. It struck me then (I was playing Helena) that her happy ending didn’t quite feel right. Demetrius didn’t love Helena through his own volition. It felt like an unfinished story”, said Thisbe’s writer Samantha Sutherland.

“Door Ajar’s Thisbe is a fusion of a magic, music and levity which reminds us why Midsummer’s is so much fun while still feeling totally new. Comic and heartfelt performances from a multi-talented, character-changing, instrument-swapping cast keep the energy going throughout – a real joy to experience“, said Mat Burt VAULT Festival Director.

Thisbe Rehearsal

Samantha Sutherland recently took time out to chat about the production. This is what she had to say.

Q: What was it about Demetrius and Helena that inspired you to want to write about them and their daughter? Samantha: I performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when I was 11. I played Helena. I remember thinking, ‘this ending doesn’t feel right’! Hermia and Lysander’s love is organic and authentic yet the love that Demetrius feels for Helena is manufactured by mischievous fairies! I started to wonder… what would their marriage look like years later? Would Demetrius’ love still be as potent as at the beginning of a relationship? Or would the spell mature? And so the character of Thisbe was born – their daughter. These questions are answered by watching her side of the story.

Q: How has the story evolved since its inception? Samantha: The biggest development for us has been the insertion of BSL (British sign language) integration. Our cast member, Jennifer Wilson interpreted a single performance for us at Vault Festival last year. Despite only appearing for the one performance her work left a big impression on us and we agreed that if we were to resurrect the play, we would want Jennifer to be fully integrated into the piece as a character in her own right. BSL is so visually stimulating and creative, a form of communication that lends itself so well to poetic devices such as Shakespeare and actor-musicianship. We think we have a killer combination going on!

Q: What can you tell us about Thisbe? Samantha: Thisbe is the story of Helena and Demetrius’ daughter. Told by an ensemble of 6 actor-musicians with BSL interpretation, the style is larger than life, playful and quick-witted. Actor-musicians play the characters but also play musical instruments – bringing the story alive through song and music. The show examines the different types of love, coming-of-age and most importantly answers the question – can Helena and Demetrius’ magic-induced love last?

Q: How excited are you to be bringing the show to Theatre Royal Stratford East? Samantha: Very excited! We think that Theatre Royal Stratford East program very exciting pieces of work – supporting new artists and writers. We are honoured to be among these companies.

Q: How do you think the production relates and reflects society today? Samantha: Coming-of-age stories will always be relevant because there will always be teenagers that are angry with their parents! And going on their journey to adulthood. How does it feel to have responsibilities for the first time? If you were given the choice to change your life for the better but with the consequence of hurting people close to you – would you take it? Thisbe is faced with this dilemma. And as a generation, our attitude is more open towards different types of love – magic-induced or not, can romantic love last?

Q: What do you want the audience to take away from the production? Samantha: We want the audience to leave humming the Thisbe music with a skip in their step and some magic in their hearts! To be pondering romantic love vs. companionable love and feeling satisfied that the question left hanging at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been answered.

CREATIVE TEAM Written by: Samantha Sutherland Director: Roberta Zuric Musical Director: David Hewson BSL Interpretation: Jennifer Wilson Producer: Euan Borland

LISTINGS DETAILS Door Ajar Theatre presents Thisbe Run time: 1 hour 15 minutes (no interval) All performances are BSL interpreted. Tues 21 Feb – Sat 25 Feb 8.00pm (Matinee on Sat 25 at 3.00pm) Theatre Royal Stratford East Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN Tickets: £10/8 http://ift.tt/O5EoIK

Door Ajar Theatre information and details http://ift.tt/2ksxBkc

http://ift.tt/2lbCfrA LondonTheatre1.com

[houstonlocalus-blog]

Acid Angels in Arizona: An Interview with Body of Light

Body of Light. Photo: Kaleb Marshall

  In recent years, when Arizona’s experimental music realm rears it’s head, you are met with an entirely new world of talented individuals creating something enviable that artists are tracing their lines around. In steps Body of Light, a synth duo comprised of Alex and Andrew Jarson, two brothers that helped solidify the emerging Arizona music scene. Body of Light exhibits style and power, with swelling synths, the throb and peal of electronic drums surrounding hungry, searching vocals, further showcasing tracks that could surely be a staple of dancehall nights for years to come. Free Press Houston exchanged words with the Jarson brothers prior to their performance at The Secret Group on Friday.

  FPH: Last time you were in town was a bit over a year ago with High Functioning Flesh. That was a fun show, and seemed like a promising tour with label-mates. This time around, you are visiting with Black Marble and DRAA, two bands I personally have been enjoying very much recently. Incredibly solid tours back to back. How has the tour been so far?

Andrew: It’s been a blast. Every show has had great crowds. They always seem to be very energetic, and we’re a pretty energetic band so that helps the shows in the long run. Black Marble had already been on tour for I think 20 something days before we met up with them in NYC, and it can be awkward starting a tour like that, but we had an amazing sold out show in NYC and that really set off the whole tour. Chris and Oliver from Black Marble are truly great guys and we’re blessed to tour with people we get along so well with.

Alex: We’ve been having the best time in the world. Nearly every show has been packed with people and the crowds have been very responsive to both bands. That’s all you can really ask for. We love touring with Black Marble. They’re amazing people and I’m kind of bummed we only have like 9 days left.

  FPH: Alex, we met in 2013 and you gave me a few Body of Light (or Bodi of Light) cassettes, as well of other written works of yours. Older tracks like “Wayside City,” which were catchy dirge-pop hits, could have remained a lifelong direction, but then the LP Let Me Go comes around and seems to have realized a clear path for the band. Was this a natural evolution, or is this something you eventually wanted to work towards?

Andrew: I’d say it was certainly a natural evolution, we actually wrote Let Me Go not too long after we put out the Limits of Reason tape in 2014. I’d say the biggest difference between the two is that we had the intention of having the LMG tracks mixed professionally, and the songs did go through some gradual changes during the time between it’s released. Once we got Ben Greenberg on board to mix the record, the songs really took shape into something we had wanted them to be from the start. We had already envisioned Let Me Go as our first real LP, so he brought it to a level, to a platform that we felt we could build on as a band from here on out.

Alex: I’m very conscious of when I’m writing the same thing over and over again. We’ve never been that kind of a band. So when we went into writing this album, I wanted it to be different. We wanted high energy tracks that came off in a powerful way, especially live. But I also wanted it to feel hollow, yet emotional to the listener. Ben really helped push us to mold these tracks and I’m really grateful for his input.

  FPH: Mentioning earlier your written works, you are both heavily involved and helped create Ascetic House, an incredibly influential creative collective that has produced some of the most noteworthy music of the past few years. How did it all begin, and do you still have the same creative input as you did before?

Alex: It starts much earlier than the name, you know? We were all going to shows, like anyone else involved in underground music. Eventually, people moved and things felt like it needed a bit of a push. We all got a bit older and wanted to have some influence with our output. We came up with the name, I think, in 2011. We released music we enjoyed and really pushed ourselves to grow and learn. The creative input is still the same. If anything, we have more control now as it expands.

Andrew: I moved to Tempe in 2009 and lived on Alex’s couch. I was making music constantly at the time on my Akai 16 track recorder, usually in the corner of the room that I had made into my little makeshift room, if you could really even call it that. I was pretty socially awkward at the time — I was 18 and I had gone to punk and hardcore shows with my brother for a while before then, but hardcore was never my thing at all, and I never really met anyone or anything like that. So I felt maybe like a bit an outsider. But moving to Tempe, I got the chance to see these amazing punk and indie shows at these great DIY spots like The Manor, Yobs, Eastside Records, etc. and I met all these great people like Danny Pupillo, Nick and Steve Nappa, JS Aurelius, JR Nelson, and way too many others to reference. We all realized we lived within blocks from each other, and as we started forming all of these bands with each other, and seeing so many amazing acts, that was really how Ascetic House naturally began.

  FPH: Translating from being a part of the punk community, Body of Light puts on a very entertaining live performance, and utilizes an intriguing aesthetic. I know Alex used to carry a leg bone with him on stage while performing, which is great in my book. Tell me a bit about that.

Andrew: The bone era was about right when I joined the band. So I had seen him perform as Body of Light and understood what the performance was supposed to be. I never wanted to distract from that, I found my way to provide support and let him do his thing. His performance evolved from there on out, and at the same time so did my stage setup and the structure of the set.

Alex: I found this bone in a field and for some reason, I thought it would be fun to perform with. I would hold it in the air as if it was an instrument of its own, or a wand. I was experimenting a lot with my surroundings then. The idea of mortality was becoming ingrained in my mind. I think that idea terrified me and having that with me gave me a sense of peace. It didn’t matter. On stage, we were the ones who had control. When I felt like it was the right time, I threw it off the stage at a show in New York. It shattered into a million pieces. I still have a small fragment in a box somewhere.

  FPH: Both of you are involved in solo experimental electronic projects (Memorymann, Blue Krishna, etc) and seem equally capable behind the gear. Has there ever been a shimmer of an idea to try performing a track with your positions swapped?

Andrew: Body of Light is a collaborative project, It’s not like I’m the songwriter and he’s the singer/lyricist. Sometimes he will write the basis of a song and I will give musical input, and sometimes I’ll help out with lyrics or vocal melodies. Just because we have roles on stage doesn’t mean we need to follow them in the long run. Not sure if I would ever do lead vocals at this point, but I wouldn’t rule anything out. I’d love to do some backing vocals sometime, which we’re working on in practice. It’s that natural blood harmony, you know?

Alex: Yeah, roles are always changing. We have plans for him to get on vocals, perhaps on the next record. I’d like to play more live, if I ever stop running around on stage.

  FPH: Besides the musical influences that stick out almost immediately from listening to your tracks new and old, what else in the creative world influences you for songwriting, performance, recording, etc. 

Alex: There’s just too many bands and artists to name. I’m mainly influenced by the people that are close to me. Sometimes it has nothing to do with sound at all. Someone could do something and it produces a thought. The sound just comes from the emotion behind it. I’ve found that touring and traveling in general influences my music the most.

Andrew: Some of my biggest influences in terms of production from the past come from the Modern Soul and Funk world, like Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam, Prince, etc., but I also love the pop productions of Scott, Aitken, & Waterman, Bobby Orlando, and Freestyle bands of the past. Stuff I love to listen to on the radio. As far as modern influence I really like the recent releases from Danny Wolfers/Legowelt, especially the Smackos stuff. I’m also a huge fan of some of our friends work, such as Glochids, High Functioning Flesh, and SURVIVE.

  FPH: The LP from Dais made it’s way across quite a few 2016 Best Of The Year lists. I’ve seen great tours and shows showcasing you as well. What is next for the band?

Alex: I love our last record a lot and it’s really exciting to see how much it’s been listened to. We got to go play in Japan, tour the US twice, and meet so many amazing people. I never expected anyone to care, so it’s a huge blessing to be able to do this with my life. We’re going to finish this tour and jump into writing a new record. I think it’s time.

Andrew: I’m really excited to write when we get home from this tour. We have both got a lot more gear and production equipment since the last record, and I spent a lot of time building up my studio to work in a very hybrid ITB/OTB way. We’re also planning on some tours and have even bounced around the idea of adding another live member to the band. So there’s a lot on the table and we’ll see where it takes us.

  Catch Body of Light at The Secret Group on Friday, June 23. The night will include Brooklyn’s Black Marble headlining, with DRAA from Tempe supporting. Pick up a copy of Body Of Light’s LP “Let Me Go” on Dais Records from the band, label, or local vendors Deep End, Wired Up, or Vinal Edge.

Also, catch up with the sonic innovations of Ascetic House at www.ascetic.house

Acid Angels in Arizona: An Interview with Body of Light this is a repost