For the indie types,... the sweater-wearing, bespectacled, shaggy neo-beats, the purposely shabby-looking artsy spill-outs, the hopeless romantics on the inside but awkward socially graced on the outside...this compilation is a wet dream...
Packed with fantastic pairings like <Feist with Ben Gibbard> and <David Byrne with the Dirty Projectors>...and <Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons) with Bryce Dessner (from the National)>...be still your heart, young neo-bohemian.
Disc 1 This Disc, features the syrupy, sultry vocals of Feist sauntering along with Ben Gibbard's shy, but chilly mid-range ("Train Song"); Bon Iver's "Brackett, WI" cuts a nice balance between his latest EP material and the fuzzy lo-fi charm of last year's terriffic 'For Emma,' Yeasayer displays some indicator of where their upcoming album will be, vibe-wise...less shimmering feedback and Afro/Middle-Eastern-flavored ambiance, less tribal rhythms and more delicate harmonies, clear ringing guitars and vocals upfront; Sufjan Stevens stirs up the bubbling technicolored soup of krautrock, spazz, twee, jazz, post-rock and Thom Yorke-recalling chilly delivery...in some 10-minute mad glory of a jam.
Disc 2 That Disc, brings one of the most interesting Spoon cuts to be heard in a while...("Well-Alright") - a fuzzy acoustic guitar rolls non-stop in a fiery wave under a shoulder-shimmy vocal melody - a song that just about conjures that wide-open road and sunny horizon...yet still feels enjoyably intimate, like your inside some stuffy closet, right beside the band, hunched up under the raincoats. The incomparable style, the beautiful soul and sweat-bedazzled funk style of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings fits in nicely, bringing the brass and a fine groove, right up alongside My MorningJacket and Arcade Fire; Yo La Tengo are their usual hazy/ unobtrusive--yet enchanting selves, with a piano heavy fuzzy ballad. You can get your ambient/electro kicks with wide-eyed swirl-around bleeps and buzzing strings in the 8 minute opera by Riceboy Sleeps; Devastations join up with Blonde Redhead for an eerie and beautiful tune perfectly at home for long night drives or the last call of some dusty whiskey joint for heartbroken extroverts; Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew wraps it up with a sparse, vocal-focused ballad that rests nicely on the slight strum of an acoustic guitar and subtle warble from a synthesizer...
Dark Was The Night is now available worldwide, compliments of 4AD. All of these exclusive recordings and performances were culled by the brothers Dessner, Aaron & Bryce, from The National - who were able to, either by friendship or by the call for community service, collect these staggering ditties to support the Red Hot Organization: an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. From the 4AD site: "Red Hot was founded on the premise that even without a cure, AIDS remains a preventable disease - using music as a great vehicle to rasie both money and awareness for it. This is also the 20th year of Red Hot as well as their 20th compilation." The compilation is available as a double-CD, triple-vinyl and download album (profits go to benefit Red Hot). The list of artists on board:
THISDISC 1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne 2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez 3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard 4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver 5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear 6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly) 7 Tightrope – Yeasayer 8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond 9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet 10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner 11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner 12 Sleepless – The Decemberists 13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine 14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist 15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens
THATDISC 1 Well-Alright – Spoon 2 Lenin – Arcade Fire 3 Mimizan – Beirut 4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket 5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings 6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek 7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) 8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers 9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo 10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch 11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps 12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues 13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird 14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch 15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations 16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew
Metro Times Blowout 12 - 2009 Mar 4th - Mar 7th -
Hamtramck, MI Full Line Up Info~
Every year for the Blowout it’s the same perfunctory rigmarole from the press and the bloggers and the old guard of Detroit rock… They compile a list, or a preview package and they make their “picks” for the annaul Hamtramck-based music festival (the largest local music festival in the U.S.). And, often, these picks are based on whatever free promo they’ve been listening to the most in their cubicles and their cars, or whatever band is the current buzzer on the blog comment boards (for praise or for discredit) or whatever band has the craziest reputation in terms of their live show.
At Deep Cutz, we took a different route – while we have our own opinions and would love to pile them onto the white noise of the internet…, we took ourselves out of the equation and went to the bands who are performing at this year’s festival (line up here).
These musicians, though “on the bill” and “set to perform,” will actually only be occupied for roughly 45 minutes…leaving them the rest of the 4-night-long (Mar 4 - Mar 7) festival to peruse the 20 different bars/venues throughout the humble Detroit satellite of Hamtramck– able to catch their preferences and satisfy their own curiosities amongst the 200+ band line up…
In the coming weeks, we’ll feature exclusive picks, straight from the mouths of the music heads who’ll be up under the lights…be they at the bright blaze of the K of C Main Hall or the dimmer quaintness of Bakers Streetcar…
This week – we feature the plans of Mr. Ryan Allen (of performers Friendly Foes, and also Thunderbirds Are Now!) The Friendly Foes play a “close-out” type set, the headlining spot at the Belmont (10215 Joseph Campau St) on the last night of the festival, Saturday 3/7. Joining them on this admirably balanced bill of rock and rap: hip/hop MC, Smoke - aka The Black Cat (myspace.com/smoke313); indie-pop trio Lightning Love (myspace.com/lightninglove); and rap/r&b artist Leaf Erikson (myspace.com/leaferikson)
Ryan Allen's Blowout Picks:
Wednesday:
There's really no reason not to see everybody at the pre-party. All are awesome in their own special way. Though if I were hard-pressed, my dream for the Wednesday show would be for Child Bite and Silverghost to form a supergroup (Ghost Bite, perhaps?) and cover the entirety of Devo's "Jocko Homo." Plus, that joystick would look cool next to Deleano's drum machine thingy. I don't think Marcie could grow a beard tho... come to think of it, I don't think Deleano could either.
Another dream would be for Outrageous Cherry to play "Our Love Will Change the World" over and over again, because it's one of the most amazing songs to come out of Matthew Smith, Detroit, and maybe the entire universe - ever.
Thursday:
1. Public Pubes @ Trowbridge House - I have no idea who or what Public Pubes is, but I'm in full support of them purely based on their name. There are too many people showing bald genitalia these days, and it's good to see a band making a case for the au natural look. If the play their cards right, they could end up on TMZ or Perez Hilton.
2. The blank time slot in between Rouge Satellites and Deastro @ KofC - ________________________ is going to be awesome. (ed. …was blank at time of “survey” – but now is filled by Satin Peaches).
3. Much Too Much @ Baker's Street Car - These dudes practice in the same space as Friendly Foes, and sound real nice through the door when I'm getting one of those 50 Cent vitamin water's out of the vending machine. They also dress like normal dudes - more baggy jeans and shorts in indie rock, please.
4. Zoos of Berlin @ KofC Lounge - I'm going to show up and heckle them to play a Mas Brus song. Nobody will understand this.
5.Beverly Fre$h @ the Belmont - There's something about white people rapping over flute solos that just really does it for me.
Friday:
1. Allan James and the Cold Wave @ KofC Lounge - AJ is my twin brother, my buddy, and also, maybe, my dad. He also writes real purty sawngs and sings 'em all good and stuff.
2. Running With Panthers @ Small's - These guys have a song called "Drunk As Fuck, High As Hell." Sounds like a good time, right?
4. City Center @ KofC Lounge - Fred Thomas of Saturday Looks Good To Me getting his Animal Collective/High Places/I-live-in-Brooklyn-now thang on. I missed this when he brought the loopy, ambient pain at that sweet-ass house show in Ferndale about a month ago, and I think I'll be drunk enough to want to get my mind freaked out by this around 1:00 am. I wouldn't mind hearing a little "The Girl's Distracted" tho. I wonder what that would sound like with delay pedals and drum loops...?
Saturday:
1. Old Empire @ Baker's Street Car - Labelmates of FF, Old Empire sound a little like Peter Murphy from Bauhaus being backed by "Being There"-era Wilco. Also, dig that synth line in "Sea Captain." Bonus: Alexis works at mall, and so do I! Mall buddies!
2. Lightning Love @ The Belmont - I love their songs, but mostly I love their blog.
3. One AM @ The Belmont - I'll be pretty tied up then, but if not I'd totally want to check out this Friendly Foes band.
Zoos of Beriln headline Thursday night (3 / 5) in the K of C Lounge (Knights of Columbus – 9632 Conant St.) Joining them is the smooth shimmery dance pop of Daniel (myspace.com/lazrusmusic); prog/surf-rockers Devilfish (myspace.com/devilfishband) and sunny pop/rock consortium Blasé Splee (myspace.com/blasesplee).
Will Yates Blowout Picks:
WEDNESDAY I'll probably move around as much as poss
THURSDAY I'm planning to watch Blase Splee at the K of C Lounge, swing over to The Belmont for The Word Play, then come back to K of C for the rest of the night to watch Daniel, The Silent Years, Deastro, and -- if someone will hold up my full-length mirror for me -- myself.
Friday morning I'm going to be catching a bus to meet up with Javelins' tour to SXSW, but if I were still in town my picks might be:
---If you hadn't heard already heard or checked it out…
It'd be worth it to keep your eye (and ear) on this burgeoning label, Five Three Dial Tone - from the boys at Eat This City - who just released a 7" for Deastro, "Spritle"
---Another up-and-coming label, Sleek Speek, will release Mick Bassett & The Martha'sScissors & Suckers EP, this Saturday at the Magic Bag.more info: www.sleekspeek.blogspot.com -- Sleek Speek will also be a label home and/or release-outlet for The JSB Squad and, potentially, The Satin Peaches.
---Millions of Brazilians also release an EP this Saturday at the Pike Room (Pontiac), on, once-again, another new label, Baby Moses records.
random other stuff:
Benefit for the CAID - this Friday:
featuring DJs, dancing, videos and more – (DJs R-O-Z & Lo-fi Bri will be spinning till 2)
$5 for a wrist-band – gains entry to both hosting venues:
"Confucius once said, "Don't grieve when people fail to recognize your ability. Grieve when you fail to recognize theirs." This place has always recognized the creative ability of the children across the street, the DJ from Switzerland, the photographer from Japan, the dancer from San Francisco, the architect from Indiana, the rock band from Cleveland, the sculptor from Ann Arbor. With everyone's help it will continue to recognize the abilities of others. With everyone's help this house will remain a home for everyone to enjoy and to call their own…”
I'm never quite certain where to start when describing Genders… Words like, atmospheric, noisy, invigorating, scary, experimental,... those always swirl up
Along with phrases or snippets like: rooted in or aiming towards some semblance of rock (or the complete deconstruction-of)…
It is a slow burning punk – a pulsation of bass, a splay of guitars, and steady rounding electronics – be it synth blurts or drum explosions (varying from delicate to frightening).
It's all very ethereal, like waking up from a dream. And it doesn't help that it's been nearly 3 years since I last saw them…(Of course, having gone on sabbatical in 2006, the Detroit duo – Jeffrey William Thomas and Evan Wallace Johnson – have not been seen or heard-in-a-live-setting, by anyone else, for that matter, in nearly 3 years). From what I can piece together in my bleary memory – it felt close to what I would imagine as Suicide in their heyday, with more instrumentation and minus, perhaps Alan Vega jumping off the stage and strangling people with his mic chord – though perhaps the duo weren't far from that at the very set I attended.
But,…put simply: a total stimulation…be it discomforting or invigorating, of the senses, through noise experimentation, presented in malleable structures at loud, loud volumes. From 05 – 07, the band had handful of releases – their "most widely distributed" still being There's Something in the Treats (from 05, on Tigerbeat 6).
In the time since 2006, Thomas started fuzz-fried indie/post-punk outfit Gardens with Julian Spradlin and Vincent Mazzola. But over the last few years he's kept in touch with Wallace and the whole crew from New Detroit. (check out: NewDetroitStyle.com)
In fact, Thomas started up his own label, Holographic Resonance – a means for future releases. After spending much of 2008 in dark rooms, huddled at lab tops, arranging massive amounts of old recordings, he's formed a daunting Genders-focused compilation. This Tuesday at PJs Lager House, Genders return to the stage to celebrate the release of 13 moons: "This release is 13 discs long, documenting sounds made by Genders from 2003 to 2006…" reads Thomas' message on the Holographic Resonance home page. "I picked the best material (about 13 and half hours) from a collection of tapes (about 24 hours). Take your time listening to it, no worries……or, don't and go on a marathon."
Milo/Deep Cutz: Could you detail how/when the band got together...how it got started (early on, with shows, recording, etc)…?
Jeffrey Thomas/Genders: "First, there was a project that I started and recorded all myself called Via Employee that played around Detroit and Cincinatti for a while. I wrote all the original material, but got my friends to play with me including my partner in many current projects/adventures, Vince[ent Louis Mazzola]. That's how I met Evan [Wallace Johnson]. Eventually Via Employee started writing music together. Then I started a side project to that called Genders, which was just me and was a lot more noisey, with no guitars. I didn't do that very long and some people left playing Via Employee, so Evan and I just concentrated on playing together just under the name Genders. Ever since then, we've played from 2003-2006 mostly recording ourselves and playing a bunch of shows and put out a few things. Then we got graciously took on tour with Adult. Which landed the tigerbeat6 release."
Milo: What is the latest news/update with Genders, can you detail why you took a break after 2006...(or, 'sabbatical', what-have-you)....and what brought about the return?
JT: "In 2006, we had a lot of plans and A TON of material to work with. We could've put out 4 or more really good solid full lengths at any time. At the same time, that might have been part of the problem, mixed with a not-serious-enough-at-the-time work effort. We would easily just write something new for a show, instead of trying to figure out how to get current songs recorded and released. We had financial constraints/problems. Generally, I know at least for myself, 2006 was a very introspective year, figuring and processing life things. I moved to San Francisco for about 3 months to check it out in the beginning of 2007 and came back. Since then though, things just fell way side as far as playing Genders productivity. I really got in my head what I want to do since then and started playing a different style of music last year which could reflect that, hence Gardens. I also started this 13 moons project last year to compile everything Genders has done and take the best of it. It's done now, and I thought we should play a show and release it. The future after that, we'll see!"
Milo: How did the band change over time, throughout the 00's, in sound, in membership, in approach...compared to when it started.....
JT: "Well, the sound definitely morphed over time. I'd say lyrically, a little more lost and confused back then, to increasingly becoming more aware and optimistic. Musically, at first, a much more general hodgepodge, then adopting some beat oriented music, to sometimes writing with no percussion. We explored a lot of realms. We started as two, then had Tia Fletcher play for a while, then Neal Simms, then back to just us for a while, then with Vince for a little before the split to Cali. Each member addition was really awesome and exciting and then equally liberating once they were over. Our approach has always been a general experimentation and openness to what we found interesting at the time. Certain plants had some effects at certain times more then others as well."
Milo: And…how, if at all, has it changed now, since 2006?
JT: "We're still in the process of figuring that out. It definitely feels a bit nostalgic, because things change and move so fast I feel, at least for me/us. I'm basically representing a vibration I had back then, but I'm getting comfortable with it and interested to see how it comes off and feels further into it."
Milo: Can you detail your connection to the New Detroit circle of artists/friends?
JT: "A lot of us our friends and encouraging and supporting each other. We hang out all the time and love to make music/art. I'm very excited to see what I/we can do in regards to REALLY supporting ourselves, on a bigger scale."
Milo: …Genders was known for atmospherics, for noise, for weirdness, for tenseness, for urgent/freaky/experimental-rock..., the review on your page references Throbbing Gristle or Public Image Ltd... -was this close/fair portrayal of what was driving you, musically, in terms of what influences you drew from?
JT: "At times, yeah, those were something we were into, along with Cabaret Voltaire, Chromatics, Love Life, Augustus Pablo, Tamion 12 Inch, Adult., King Tubby, Detroit noise groups, Caroliner Rainbow, all kinds of stuff. I wouldn't say it was always tense, but probably those earlier releases, like the tigerbeat6 one. Its hard to really sum up our sound with that release, which is the one most highly distributed. That is a big reason why I wanted to make the 13 moons release."
Milo: What inspired the latest release...14 hours, 13 albums...what's the goal or the inspiration behind it...are each of them particularly different or do they play like chapters? What could you say about them? ...and... ...what was it like recording it/editing it?
JT: "Firstly, to better represent us and to compile it and share it in case we didn't do any other recording again. I first started to go through all the practice/jam tapes we've had, which is a big dresser type drawer-full. I was doing it on someone else's computer and months into it, the computer crashed. I bought my own laptop at the beginning of 2008 and worked on it all year. Seriously, hours and hours, days and days at stretches going through and editing the songs. I wound up with a lot of different versions of songs and a lot of ramblings to sift through. I discarded 10 hours of material that I didn't think was that worthwhile and ended up with enough good material to fit on 13 CDs, which I like the number 13. There's almost 13 moons in a year, which is a more feminine way to keep track of time, not to at all discount solar years, just the feminine is looked over. As far as the selection process, that was a couple-month task of placing songs more like in a mix tape style order. Which track flows after another one; I preferred that over the chapter style way. Although, I was conscious of what the feel was for each CD. Also, the 13th CD is all the Via Employee material. And the original solo genders piece is included on the end of disc-12. Other then that, everything is mixed to break up recorded quality and moods."
Milo: So finally, what's coming up next for the Genders?
JT: "…Not sure! Depends a little on how much interest there is, how much we want to spend on in, and how much time we have with all the other projects we're involved in! Probably a more studio style recorded single of two of the songs off 13 moons though."
It’s that point in the winter where debilitating nausea from the monotonous carousel ride of the repetitive ringer of ice, wind, and blizzards starts to set in – but you feel almost defeatist for indulging that callow restlessness. Here we were on the edges of a potential thaw in early February – nobody’s wearing coats and we’re all sautéing slow and comfortable-like, together in the rectangle of PJs Lager House.
Mick and I decided it was time to push open that large, warped, green door in the back of the venue that led out onto the patio. It hadn’t been shoveled in a while; it felt disheveled and neglected. We felt as though we were the first cells of life to flush through the walled slab of concrete since it was probably locked away in late autumn of 08.
Mick settles in, the 21 year old with a perfectly tufted shrub of curls over sleepy eyes, lighting up a cigarette and taking in the starry sky above.
I start talking to Mick about “gypsy folk” and “beat-like” “freak-folk” “showy big/band jazz and jive” and… “New Orleans funeral marches” …
Then we both take a breath.
“Yeah,” says Mick, “that’s kinda what, I think, we’ve gotten known for….around here, for some reason. Well, I guess I know why, with the trombone…”
Mick Bassett, singer/songwriter, guitarist, pianist, leads a quartet of adroitly talented musicians known as The Marthas. Bassist Jesse Shepherd-Bates, guitarist Gordon Smith, trombonist Allison Young and drummer Eric Roosen: all equally young, “everyone is 21-ish…” and equally creative, but all uniquely trained, squishing their own distinct footprint into the ever-malleable mud lot of the Marthas’ mad method. “Five…different personalities,” says Mick, “in the band, and personally I highly respect everybody as a musician. I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes; just let them try and be creative. Everybody brings what they do best and brings it into the band, and it just turns into whatever it turns into…”
Bassett met Young (and Smith) while attending Wayne State University. “’You play trombone?’” he regales his first meeting with longtime friend, Young, who he says was the first official member to join, “’Okay! That’s good enough!’” The trombone adds such a woozy flamboyance, with its bleated, sultry sway – combining with the fact that whenever Mick sits down to a piano to start a song, he can’t help but slide into the swing of ragtime – then this act, increasingly turning heads throughout the fall and winter, is becoming known for smoky jazz flavors and ostentatious goth-folk stomps. But it’s not somewhere Mick or the Marthas plan on settling…not for long.
“That’s kinda where it is now,” says Mick. “I don’t know if that’s where it’s gonna be next time. I’ve been writing a lot lately and I’m kinda getting away from that, a little bit…Not intentionally trying to, I just…that was something I did for a little while and it was good. I’m too restless to try to do one thing or stick to one thing. As soon as I feel like somebody’s got us pinned down, I like to try to do something different.”
Where it is now, the sound, the band…this “swing-y kinda feel,” this jazz-inflected folk with intricate instrumentations from shredding acerbic guitars to upright bass to snaky trombones to driving rock-n-rollers…is currently captured on the band’s latest EP, “Scissors and Suckers,” to be released Saturday (Feb 21) at the Magic Bag on Sleek Speek records.
“I view [Scissors and Suckers] as a stepping stone,” said Mick, who studied English at Wayne and at University of Michigan. The EP was recorded at drummer Roosen’s home studio, lovingly dubbed Detroit, Hollywood Studios – an experience and set up Mick valued. “[2007’s Here’s The Whirlwind EP] is kind of an angst-y, like, we-don’t-really-know-what-the-fuck-we’re-doing-kind of a thing. I feel like we didn’t capture what the songs were about at the time, because we were recording at a studio and there was a time-frame. We didn’t have time to work on everything.” Whereas, with Roosen’s set up, they have all the time they need. “Eric’s been studying, like mad, how to record. We learned as we went, we had to go through dozens of pieces and we figured out how to make them sound right.” Now, they can record whatever/whenever they want to…
The band formed properly in early 2007. Bassett, a former member of sunny-pop/garage-rock quartet The Dollfaces, had met bassist Bates when both of their old bands (for Bates, The Satin Peaches) shared bills throughout 05-06. Roosen was a close satellite in the Peaches orbit of friends – and was introduced to Bassett by Peaches’ singer George Morris in Ann Arbor, late 2006. Morris added after their meeting, “…’you guys should play together.’” Now, with a drummer (Roosen) and a trombonist (Young), plus all the songs he had been working on as the Dollfaces were starting to wind down, Bassett was more than ready to start a new project.It wouldn’t be much longer until Bates (who had left the Peaches in 05) to join on bass – with guitarist Smith (who Bassett knew from Wayne and from a church choir in which they sang together at the time) joining in late 07/early 08.
The band toured in the Spring of 08 and performed local festivals through the summer, including CityFest, Detour’s Rock City and The Blue Moon in June. Bassett said it would take the miraculous discovery of a surplus of funds before the band can go back out on the road (to the south and east coast, as they had done back in 08), but that until then – they would be building up the fan base around Michigan, in cities like Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Albion. Bassett added that since there’s currently no touring plans, he may return to U of M to finish that English degree.
“I’m trying to picture you in a poetry class,” I say.
“Oh, it’s not pretty,” he laughs. “I never had a career plan. I did English because I like reading and I think that I’m inspired as much from reading things as I am from listening to things. I never pictured doing anything…college-y, like science or anything like that…”
Musically, Basset points to Mingus as a sea-change for his inspirations as a songwriter and music appreciator. We also come to Mingus when I ask him where he gets all this brassy, brazen jazz stuff… “[Mingus]’s The Black Saint and the Singer Lady changed my whole perspective about music. I had played jazz before, in high school, that’s where I was introduced to jazz. But when I got Black Saint and the Singer Lady I was like, ‘these are the things I hear in my head!’ It just feels like a roomful of guys that are just completely high on making music and totally out of their minds playing shit they probably don’t even know where it’s coming from…”
This sort of unhinged gonzo glory carries into not only Mick’s perspective of his relationship to the music he makes, but also to the chemistry, the interlay between the band, as collaborators in the writing process and in live performance.
We talk about some of the more fiery rock-leaning ensemble pieces of the record. The flow has consistently been: Bassett often presents the skeletal structures to the band, and each member fills in the gaps with their own signatures. But on Scissors, there are also solo recordings of just-Mick and his guitar, or his piano – chillier haunts and trilling freak-folk balladry. I ask about one song, the side-to-side eye-rubbing acoustic warble of “You’re My Chaos.”
“It’s not about a relationship, but its…kind of any true love that you have,” says Bassett. “Not even just a woman or any person, but like a love for anything—music. It’s you’re everything, it’s both your blessing and your curse. It’s the full spectrum of feeling, because I think what I was also writing about was…my relationship with art. Art, it’s the same thing that makes me poor, it’s why I have to eat shitty food, it’s why I go mad and walk around at 4 in the morning, trying to figure out what my life is for… But, at the same time it’s also like, worship…of being a human and experiencing life. It’s the goods and the bads, the highs and the lows, the love and the hate…”
This notion comes up again when we discuss the live show…something even Morris says he isn’t sure exactly how they do it…To which, Bassett answers, you have to “embrace chaos.”
“You guys look like 5 individual spinning tops,” I say to Bassett out on that slightly chilly patio. Morris has joined us with a pint of draft beer, coming to the Lager that night to see Bassett perform solo/acoustic. Bates is not far behind and soon we’re all sitting under the stars together. “You’re all up there in your own worlds, it looks like…”
“We don’t really spend much time talking to each other,” sais Bassett, “about what to do. If it feels right, then we go with it. We obviously care about the parts and everything, but we try not to be too critical about it because…there’s 5 different, completely different personalities in the band.”
Bates throws in his two cents: “Mick comes with the songs and Roosen plays the drum part and then I try to combine the drum part with the bass. And then Allison and Gordy throw their shit on, everybody is playing in completely different styles, making one kind of…it’s like a well-oiled machine. But the machine is built with…silverware, by a mad scientist…named Spartacus Frenzy….and Spartacus Frenzy has built this machine…Sparacus Frenzy’s well oiled machine.”
“I think I have the best headline of my career,” I assure.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Bassett submits. “It all really comes down to Spartacus and whatever he wants to do. Don’t ask too many questions and you’ll end up with a decent song. Embrace the chaos. That’s all it is anyway, just play music.”
The band will continue playing shows around Detroit in Michigan. Bassett already has pushed into new genres and flavors for the next batch of songs and plans on releasing a full length in the summer time. Scissors and Suckers is the third official release from Bassett and Bates self-run label, Sleek Speek.
2 / 21 - Magic Bag
(bathroom photo: Thomas Matich; live photo: mike milo)
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