quinta-feira, 17 de março de 2016

Senketsu with Rei Clone - An Interview



Quando o EP de estreia dos estadunidenses do Rei Clone chegou até meus tímpanos foi amor a primeira microfonia.

Uma orquestra ruidosa em canções curtas, rápidas, sonhadoras e com os pés no post hardcore mixado em formato shoegaze. 

Sete exercícios exemplares pra deixar claro que o velho e bom shoegaze sobrevive e em grande estilo. 

Rei Clone é avassalador.

***** Interview with Rei Clone *****


Q. When did Rei Clone start? Tell us about the history...
We are pretty new, we started writing back in June of 2015. It was just me (Abe- Rythm guitar/ vocals) and Johnathan Domingo (drummer). In July, Zach Palmer (lead guitar) joined, shortly after we found Nirmal Madhavapedi (Electric Violin). We started getting serious about writting music then, and we were set on finding a female vocalist. After a lot of searching, we found Crystal, who recorded vocals and played bass on our debut EP, and first couple of shows. Unfortunately, we have parted ways with Crystal, but are still on good terms. We found our new bassist/ vocalist Charlie. You can here her on our newest demo recording, Ready to Die on our soundcloud.

Q: Who are your influences?
Our influences come mostly from 90s alternative and punk, but we also take a lot from the Japanese/ Asian shoegaze scene. Some of our biggest inspiration comes from bands like Sonic Youth, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Kinoko Teikoku, Mass of Fermenting Dregs, Hatsune Miku, Slowdive, Radiohead, The Pillows, New Order, Fugazi, the list goes on.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Its hard to put a top five together, especially since we all come from different musical backgrounds, 5 of the albums we talk about a lot are:
Sonic Youth Daydream Nation
My Bloody Valentine Loveless
Kinoko Teikoku Whirlpool
Radiohead Ok Computer
Fugazi In On the Kill Taker

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Playing live is always fun for us, even at smaller shows. In fact, I can say that house shows are probably the best, because of the accessibility to the audience, though, we enjoy playing just about anywhere. I can be a little sarcastic on stage, but that's my sense of humor, and our fans get it. Its just us goofing off, with people watching.


Q. How do you describe Rei Clone sounds?
As far as our sound goes, we really like to blur the line between shoegaze and punk. We have very dreamy, warm songs, with the pace and bite of a punk song.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
When we are recording demos, its very casual for us. Sometimes we will lay down a demo track right after we finish writing a song. The studio is a very comfortable place for us as well, I guess I really don't have much to say about it. I kind of just feel at home, its really not a big deal. I can't really say that we have a process.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
We have a lot of friends we would like to plug, but some of our favorite new acts right now are: Smith+Robot, Whimper, Smoked Solid Dairy, Shut Up Sidney (they're not super new, but whatevs), Big Hand//Big Knife, Hans Geiger, Bad Times (also not super new, but we love Bad Times), the list goes on.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
The band we'd cover, surprisingly enough, is Dead Kennedys. Me and Zach have even talked about it before. Our sound is very different, but me and Zach are both big DK fans.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We have big plans for the future. In June we will be recording our second studio EP, and will be getting started on a full length album. We also want to tour very soon, we are looking at the west coast right now. I think our biggest goal is to tour Japan one day.