segunda-feira, 25 de setembro de 2017

We Hold Nothing in Our Hands with Murderbait - An Interview


Já escrevi aqui nas páginas do TBTCI sobre a cena pós punk de Portland ser uma das mais intensas do gênero, vide, primeiramente, o expoente maior, The Prids, sem contar outras preciosidades como We Miss The Earth, Vacant Stares, Sex Park, Shadowlands entre outros.

Agora é chegada a vez do quarteto Murderbait. Sombrios, pesados e intensos, os caras debutaram no ano passado com o caótico "We Hold Nothing In Our Hands". Algo como uma colisão entre Crime & The City Solution e o Blue Angel Lounge.

Psicodelismo sombrio ou pós punk lisérgico em tonalidades escuras, você pode fazer sua escolha. O fato é que o Murderbait é sonoramente assassino.

Se você espera por luz, certamente não é com o Murderbait que você a terá.

***** Interview with Murderbait *****


Q. When did Murderbait start? Tell us about the history...
It started with experimenting with archaic recording methods and sound layering. Several cassette tape recorders, field recordings run through over-saturated effects, and playing any instrument I could get my hands on while lyrically searching and exercising my own personal demons. Although I wasn't raised in a musical family, I've played music for more of my life than I haven't and I don't do well if I'm not creating and playing music. Luckily 2 of my longest and closest friends play in the band, so our combined experiences, history, trust, and shared oddities lends to a cohesiveness that doesn't impose on continued exploration.

Q: Who are your influences?
Everything from developing post punk like Joy Division, early Bauhaus, and the Birthday party to 70s Kraut-rock like Can, Tangerine Dream, and Neu! Spiritualized, Swans, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are some of the more current bands that are on heavy rotation on our record players.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
No More Shall We Part -Nick Cave
Lodger-Bowie
Songs of Love and Hate-Leonard Cohen
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space-Spiritualized
Disintegration-the Cure

That's quite a difficult question to answer, though, and I could name a thousand more that I would never want to live without.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
My favorite thing in life is to experience that border between self and others dissolved. There are few places I've personally found this. Music can be this way, and bringing everyone in the room to dissolve into the collective - no tomorrow, no yesterday - just this. Now. A worship of sorts, but without any illusion of god or dogma. To me that is the epitome of any experience.

Q. How do you describe Murderbait sounds?
We vacillate from somber ballads to noisy hypnotic drone. Like sitting in nature, letting the terrible cruelty and tender beauty of everything it is to be alive overwhelm you to the point of peace.



Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
It depends on the song. The song will dictate how it is to be written-apart from ego. There is a lot of contemplation that goes into every song. Many times it will be written, then abandoned, then rewritten completely different. The recoding process is similar. We'll get some rough tracks of the whole band recording and then decide what instruments and layers need the most focus and take it from there. We do a lot of rough recordings and listen to the a LOT before we land on the final draft. Often, a song is truly transformed in the recording process and we let the song guide us.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
We are fortunate enough to be connected with some really great bands here in Portland through This-A-Way record collective. The Prids, the Secret Light, and We Miss The Earth are a few. I'm also a big fan of Föllakzoid, Lumerians, Blue Angel Lounge, and Chelsea Wolfe.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We've covered Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Prince, and Bob Dylan so far. I'm sure Bowie will be added to this list at some point.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We are working on collecting and saving for recording a few songs with this current lineup. We have the songs, but we want to do it right and that tends to be expensive.

Q: Any parting words?
I wonder at the duality of existence. The beauty found in darkness. The tranquility found on the other side of fear. Walking through the unknown to find that nothing appears to matter and that this is all a waste of time, yet somehow it's all the more special and lovely. These are the themes that keep me awake at night, and are absolutely imperative to our music.
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Thanks

https://murderbait.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/mbaitpdx/