I
remember seeing you opening a Wild Beasts gig at Koko 3 years ago,
and I was really impressed! Since then, your career has been boosted!
Are you pleased with how it all turned out till now? How have you
developed, both as a band and conceptually, since you began to
record?
A
lot has changed since those days. I'm pleased about the way things
have gone, we have had the opportunity to travel a fair bit to
perform live and this in turn has inspired us to write more. We have
basically existed in this cycle for the last few years. There have
been some obvious developments in this time, I don't play any
keyboards or anything now, just guitar whilst Daniel is starting to
play sat down with a full drum kit. He has built himself a cockpit of
kaoss pads. Conceptually we are always developing, it may not be as
clear for people to see but I think we are drawing inspiration from a
far wider palette now, Rachel in particular as she is now at the helm
of the lyrics, Daniel and I have become more of an advisory panel in
that respect.
How
did you originally come together and formed the band?
I
met Daniel about five years ago in Brighton. We used to work together
and discuss the state of Post-Rock music in England at that time. We
got working on some stuff together, the drum machine was a real focus
point at that time, Daniel programming it and then writing around it.
I had a very rudimentary understanding of guitar which I deployed as
best I could. We got Rachel in because we wanted a vocal, lyrical
element. And that was that, really.
What
kind of music were you raised on and what was your musical
background?
I
was raised on Tangerine Dream apparently. My Father told me that he
used to play it to make me sleep. I was into music when I was younger
but not really playing it. I failed Grade One piano which is the
lowest standard of exam you can take. I remember being sat there and
the examiner asking me to repeat scales that I hadn't prepared and
just getting frustrated and walking out. I've never been one for
official music tuition.
Your
songs, in general, are incredibly emotive and dark with a gothic
aesthetic and a massive inner power. You are also a band that seems
to be influenced by poetry, supernatural, values of life and
fairytales, like your band’s name or your most recent LP title.
What was the thought process behind those titles and what is the
source of your inspiration both musically and personally?
The
thought process behind our titles varies greatly and they are
inspired by all manor of things. The name of the band came from a
story Daniel and I found. We didn't think about it too much at the
time, I never imagined I'd ever be in a position where I'd have to
explain it to anyone but there you go. I stand by it though, its
mysterious and atmospheric and those are two qualities that I'd like
to exist in our music. Inspiration comes from all over the place,
books and films, just walking around and seeing things. As I alluded
to before we have been touring a load over the last three years and
many of the experiences we have had or the things we have seen have
influenced us directly and indirectly. The song title "Smashed
To Pieces In The Still Of The Night" for example, we saw those
words written on a huge concrete slab of a building in Vienna and
found the words so evocative that they inspired us to write the song.
We looked into it afterwards and the building was called Haus Des
Meeres and was an old World War II flak tower and the words came from
an American artist called Lawrence Weiner.
How
much do your listening habits influence the sound of new records?
What have you been listening to lately?
I
think they probably have some bearing on it but its difficult to know
how much. I think all sorts of things have influenced my guitar
playing because of my ramshackle approach to learning the instrument.
Sometimes I hear something and think, how do you do that? Not so much
because I want to instantly start using that technique or whatever
but just so I can continue to learn and develop as a guitarist.
Recently I have been listening to a lot of Godspeed, Tim Hecker and
Swans amongst other treats. At the moment I'm listening to Alice
Coltrane which Rachel has recommended to me, its great, sounds like
it could soundtrack the old Jason and the Argonauts film, I think its
the harp making me think that.
What’s
the starting point for writing a song? Is there a difference between
the writing process of your previous albums and your new material?
The
songs begin as one idea, riff, lyric or drumbeat that one of us has
and then grow out from there. For the songs we have been writing most
recently we have started out with a guitar part each time, thats
because I spent a few months by myself just working on stuff earlier
this year. I think it'll have an interesting and hopefully positive
effect if all the songs begin life in roughly the same way then there
should be more continuity across them as a whole. We are now writing
in a "live" way too. Before, even demo versions would take
some degree of organising and arranging by Daniel but this time we
are just setting up some room mics and then playing the songs
through. I'm finding it a far more exciting, raucous experience.
From
your debut “Violet Cries” to your recent LP “Wash The Sins Not
Only The Face” you seem to expanding your imaginative and fierce
exploration of sound. Do you have an aim for what you want to do from
the beginning and what comes next for Esben and the Witch?
Certain
aims that we had at the very beginning are still important to us now.
We always want the music to be challenging, intense and atmospheric.
We always want to progress and diversify rather then settle for what
we have done before. Regarding the two albums, the aims have been
very different. We wanted Violet Cries to be a dense and inhospitable
experience at times whereas we wanted Wash The Sins… to be more
accessible and lighter in mood. What comes next… As I mentioned
before we are working on new songs at the moment. Going live and
going big. Also we have recently written and performed a live
soundtrack to an Argentinian film called La Antena for a film
festival in London which we will be repeating later in the year so we
are making sure that all the pieces we wrote for that stay somewhere
in the forefront of our minds.
Were
you ever tempted to leave the gothic melancholy behind and write in a
more uplifting mood?
Ha!
Well I thought that the last album was written in a more uplifting
mood! I think its all relative, to us a lot of the imagery and music
doesn't feel gothic or melancholy, maybe that says something about
the three of us as people?
How
did the remix album of “Wash The Sins Not Only The Face” came
about?
It
came about quite naturally, we had a few remixes done and so we
thought I'd be cool to collect them together in one place.
Was
it your choice to do a remix album and did you choose the remixers?
Do you have a particular personal favorite remix on the release?
Yeah,
it was our choice and we picked most of the remixers. The Dave Sitek
remix came about through our label, apparently he heard Deathwaltz
and wanted to do a mix of it. My favourite is the Teeth Of The Sea
version of Smashed To Pieces… Those guys are a fine band and good
friends of ours. At our show at The Scala in london earlier this year
they joined us on stage to play an extended version of that song. It
was amazing, we met them earlier that day at their practice space,
Seven of us in this tiny room and just jammed it out then played it
later that evening. It went down well so then we just drank a load of
whiskey to celebrate the joyous collaboration!
You
are a member of Matador. On the subject of the DIY route, a lot more
bands nowadays are being forced to go it alone. Do you think that the
lack of investment and risk taken by record companies is going to
have a negative effect on the development of new bands? Do you think
it will have an effect on the quality of recorded music, with bands
struggling to afford descent studios, engineers, producers?
I
don't think that it is just a lack of record label investment that is
causing more bands to do it alone these days, I think its also
because its easier than it ever has been to do it this way. Working
with Matador is great because they are good guys and they allow us
the freedom to work in our own way which I would say is totally
necessary, compromising on that is not good. Even though we are on
Matador we are all still involved at every level with our music, from
the production of the songs themselves to the artwork and the
mailouts. We will never relinquish control of any of these things
because even when you're working with good people nobody knows
exactly how its supposed to be except you.
What
have been the highlights of 2013 for Esben and the Witch and what
would you say has been the defining moment in your career so far? Any
disappointing moments you would like to share?
The
highlight of this year for me was probably the show we played at
Gebaude 9 in Cologne earlier this year. I love that venue, its an old
warehouse, just baron concrete walls, a high stage with a black
curtain and big strobe. It was February and fucking freezing. Before
soundcheck I remember there was just one industrial heater that
seemed to be working through the whole building, you had to stand on
a table to get blasted by it. The show was amazing though,
unbelievable crowd. As for the worst experience we've had, I'm not
sure its disappointing necessarily but I recall once being sat in
Toronto on our first North American tour thinking that we were all
going to have to go home because our driver didn't have a visa. That
was a real low point.
How
do you work to translate what’s on the record live? What’s
different and what’s stays the same?
That
really depends on the song. Some of them translate very swiftly and
easily into their live incarnations. Then some others can be a bit of
a struggle and then some just won't work at all. Light Streams from
the first record, just can't be played live! Much to Rachels
annoyance because she really likes the vocal melody. What we
sometimes have to sacrifice when working on the live versions is some
of the finesse or layered parts. So on record we'll build up noise
using layers of different synths or instruments which we can't do
live so I'll just push the guitar to make that same racket. It means
the songs can take on a more visceral, primal quality which I think
is a good thing in the live environment and allows people to connect
with them better. I'd rather that than using a backing track or
something, I think that can be really boring.
Give
us some hints for the Greek gig. What kind of things can an attending
fan expect?
An
evening of loud sonic adventure. Guitar driven noise and electronic
experimentation. And we might play some of those new songs for the
first time. What more could anybody want?
