“The Square Outside” is in black and white and it will destroy you. The video is from their new to the US album Vilayer album officially was released in New Zealand in 2009. Kerretta are about to make their US debut this March when the band kicks off their first ever US tour with a show at this year’s SXSW. To coincide with the SXSW performance and US tour, the band will be releasing their debut album Vilayer Stateside for the first time.
Upcoming Kerretta Tour Dates:
March
19 Guero’s Taco Bar Austin, TX
20 Encore Patio Austin, TX
22 Underground Mesa, AZ
24 Bar Pink San Diego, CA
25 The Smell Los Angeles, CA
29 Satyricon Portland, OR
30 Sunset Tavern Seattle, WA
April
1 Cake Shop New York, NY
2 Union Hall Brooklyn, NY
5 Double Door Chicago, IL
6 Replay Lounge Lawrence, KS
8 Larimer Lounge Denver, CO
IRR: Tell me a little bit about Nouvelle Vague. How did it come about?
Marc Collin: It’s a long story. It’s like… I was a fan of new wave when I was young. And after I became a composer, and an artist myself. So a long time after, I just went back to all these songs and just realized that they are really beautiful songs. So I wanted to prove that by keeping only the skeletons of the songs, the lyrics and the melody, and remix it completely differently. In order to prove that songs are timeless somehow.
Most of the time when you do a cover, it is something that is already known as a classic somehow. So I thought it was interesting to cover something that is normally not covered. Like Marian from Sisters of Mercy, Bela Lugosi’s Dead from Bauhaus, Friday Night Saturday Morning from The Specials. Those bands are not covered really. So I wanted to do a tribute to all of these bands in this era, because I wanted myself, to hear these songs differently.
IRR: What has been the biggest struggle with covering some of these groups?
MC: Most of the time it’s really easy because the songs are really good, even if you take I’ll Melt With You, with only two chords, it’s kind of easy. Sometimes, the struggle is that there is a song that I really love, for example Bella Lugosi’s Dead, that it’s not really a song actually. It’s just a little melody, almost no chords, so I have to struggle, and I have to really be imaginative and inspired to completely reinvent the song and try to find the different arrangement, or something completely different.
IRR: When you’re completely reinventing a song, what steps do you take to reach the goal you’re looking for?
MC: I’m trying always to start from something, like an idea. For example, Bella Lugosi’s Dead, suddenly I just get in my mind ‘okay… let’s do this song that could have been recorded ten years before for a movie, maybe a sci-fi aura movie’. And suddenly I get all of these images, the black and white screen… you know. So I just took the song and put the arrangement like the soundtracks of the 70’s.
I just get things in my mind, and suddenly I’m doing it, because I have a lot of things in my studio. It’s not that difficult to take the sound and attack one point, and it’s works like that. And if it works, I start looking for a singer.
IRR: Do you have a favorite song that you want to do?
MC: I’m a big fan of Japan, and their song Ghosts. But I don’t know exactly how to do it now. I’ve tried one or two different times and I wasn’t really happy, so I failed. I gave up. Not too many songs. It’s just a matter of an idea. One day I think ‘Oh! I have to do it like that’. I have to find some links between genres in many ways.
Ghosts, if it had been recorded before in the 20’s with a jazz singer, and we try it like that. It’s just a matter of ideas. There are a lot of bands that I like that are not on the album. There is no Madness, and I’m a big fan of Madness. I did a cover of Enola Gay from OMD that I didn’t put on the album. Also Devo… a lot of songs.
IRR: Aside from the songs that you cover, which artists do you gain inspiration from?
MC: To do a cover, I have to gain influence by something else, otherwise I will do the music like the original. The first album was really Bossa Nova, so I took my inspiration from Bossa Nova of the 60’s from Brazil. The second album I did a lot of research of the Caribbean sound, the mento, the calypso, reggae, ska, all this stuff. Also I’m a big fan of all the soundtracks, John Barry, Moriconi, etc. This new album we’re more into south country and western sound, bluegrass, Johnny Cash, this kind of thing. This is our reference.
IRR: The tour is wrapping up tonight. Do you have any memorable experiences this time around on tour?
MC: Probably the thing that happened that was incredible was Melanie, that is one of our singers, couldn’t come because she was pregnant. She was supposed to have her baby at the end of March. The bass player of the band is her husband. He thought that he’d come do the tour and that it would be okay because it would end on time.
Finally, in the middle of the tour in Seattle, he got a call in the middle of the night saying that his wife will have the baby, so he just quit the tour. So we did two gigs without bass. But it was nice, and went okay.
IRR: You’ve worked with various different artists for the songs on your albums. Are there any favorite artists that you’ve paired with and learned from?
MC: For sure. The members bring me inspiration for sure. When we recorded with Phoebe on the second album, she was already into this bluesy and dark thing. So I knew that she could perform Human Fly, and Bela Lugosi’s Dead, and this kind of track. It brought me inspiration as I adapt my style for artists like this.
IRR: What’s your plan from now since the tour is wrapping up?
MC: The idea is to go back to France and record a new album. We have now an idea to do a special album for America. Telling a bit of the story of punk, from New York Dolls, and maybe even from Iggy Pop, through The Talking Heads, Black Flag, and all of this stuff. We will start soon I think. The idea is to release that next year. So we’re going to tour with this album next year. There are a lot of things to say about American music.
When I was young, punk was English for me. It was in the British movement you know. It was a long time after that I discovered that punk was born in America finally, and that Malcolm McLaren was the manager of the New York Dolls, and that took everything from Richard Hell and imported it to England, with all the science of marketing, invented punk. But he just invented how to sell it in a way. But the roots are really from America, from Iggly Pop and all these bands. Nobody knows it. But it would be nice to say that.
IRR: How come France produces so many brilliant artists? It seems there is a huge influence from France by just the artists that come over here.
MC: We are a bit special, because we’re trying not to copy the English band and the American band, so we’re trying to have our own style. I think we have the audacity, to dare to do things a new way. Nouvelle Vague is a good example of that. I don’t think an English band can do that in the same way. If you think of Daft Punk, and Air, they have this ‘we’re going to do it!’ attitude ya know? We’re going to put these rock beats, and the synth, and we’re going to invent something.
I think in England and here in America, there’s a style, like R&B, Blues, Country, Rock, and you follow something. I think we are more open to try different things, because we don’t have these roots. We don’t have blues and such… maybe just jazz and some things. We don’t have the things to follow, so we just try our own new things and go after it like we have nothing to lose.
IRR: If you had one message to share with the world, what would it be?
MC: That’s difficult to say. Try to keep inspired by music and everything around you somehow. Keep on with inspiration. Because the inspiration that music is bringing to you is really important, even when you’re really young.
This is a video premiere for the new, or somewhat new Netherfriends track “Lead You Through the Misty Fog of Milwaukee Ave”. I like it for it’s non-vain video editing and low budget. High budget videos are so boring to watch now.
Netherfriends is basically a guy named Shawn Rosenblatt and another guy named Justin Fernando. They like to travel. So they are going to 50 States and have plans of writing 50 Songs – one while for each state starting in April, “I will be without a home for one year. It seems the easiest way to get to all 50 states in one year is to avoid the paying bills and rent and make different parts of the country my home base. I plan on touring a ton and being broke forever. I am starting my journey East (Philly) and playing with Mark from the band Hop Along and possibly another friend. Below is the list of dates. If you’d like us to play at your venue/house/party or if you would like to offer up your house so I can write and record a song in it, please message me Netherfriendsbooking@gmail.com.”
The video team at TCSG recently shot a video of the Blacklist Royals playing their acoustic version of the classic Cajun national anthem, “Jolie Blonde” in a Gainesville, FL bathroom at the FEST 8.
The second video from Vampire Weekend’s new album “Contra”, Directed by The Malloys, the video features cameos from Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil’ Jon and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. Enjoy the cheesy cameos! Continue Reading
Icelandic dream-pop band Seabear has released a brand new video for their song, “I’ll Build You a Fire,” in anticipation of their first-ever set of performances in North America! The video is the perfect visual complement to Seabear’s intricate melodies, with its confetti-strewn walk through woods and trippy, awe-inspiring fireworks display. “I’ll Build You a Fire” was directed by Mani Sigfússon, brother of Seabear’s Sindri Már Sigfússon. Continue Reading
Directed by Shout Out Louds bass player Ted Malmros and his brother Tom Malmros, the music video for “Fall Hard” is a colorful moving image which director Ted describes as “A Belgian cigarettes inspired TV-show deja vú…”). Check it out! Continue Reading
1. Tell us about the band?
Gringo Star is made up of Pete and Nick Furgiuele, Pete DeLorenzo, and Chris Kaufmann. We all met in Atlanta, at a Braves game, in the concession line to get some peanuts, or at least my brother and I were. Pete D was hoping to get some crackerjacks but they were out and Chris was getting a hotdog.
We all had sort of known each other before. Got together after the game to hang out and play some music in the basement, and ended up writing the title track to our debut album all y’all.
2. Have you ever been fed up with playing music or with band members, why?
No.
3. What was your first concert experience? Do you remember how you felt once the concert was over?
Bob Dylan at some big Gymnasium at a college in the 80’s maybe early 90’s. I was young. After the concert my ears rang for 4 days.
4. Did you grow up wanting to play music, or when did the whole making albums thing come about and how?
Yep. Pretty much have been playing music with my brother and writing songs since we were 11 or 12. We’ve always been writing songs and singing.
5. What qualifies you guys to be in a band?
It used to be my long hair. Now that I’ve cut it off, I’m not sure I’m still qualified to be in a band, but I can’t seem to find time to stop.
6. Do you have a favorite song you have ever written? Why?
Not really. It changes depending on my mood.
7. What is your greatness weakness as a band?
I think we like songs more than noise. These days’ folks seem to like noise and computer beats.
8. What qualities should a successful label or manager have?
Good PR contacts and lots of money.
9. What’s the scariest thing that has ever happened to you in your life?
I fell off a roof when I was 20. Landed on my head and was knocked out.
Still waiting to see what happens.
10. What’s the first thing you do when the band arrives in a new town while on tour?
We get Coffee and Mexican food but sometimes not in that order.
11. Have you ever had an audience member give you the willies because they kept looking at you all weird?
Once in Portland, for some reason I made eye contact with this guy that looked like someone out of Lord of the Rings. He was short and had long hair, possible fan of dungeons and dragons. Once we made eye contact he started walking towards me.
As he got closer, he was mumbling or chanting to himself and making a weird gesture, almost like he was crossing himself (like a catholic), but not. As he walked within inches of me, every hair on my body stood up, and I half expected him to pull out a knife or something. But he didn’t. He never broke eye contact till he was past me.
12. Have you ever cried while listening to music? If so what were you listening too?
Yes. A song by Dave Davies, off Lola vs. the Powerman and the money-go-round, called “strangers”
13. If you could re-record, or re-write any song of yours what would that song be?
I wouldn’t.
14. What’s the worst place you have ever played a show at, and why?
Some place in Kansas called Kirby’s.
15. In a perfect world how many albums would you have to sell to be happy?
I reckon 20 million would do.
16. What do you guys have planned for the future?
We are getting ready to have our debut album released on a European label called Cargo, we have a bunch of tour dates around the US to SXSW and back, once back from the US dates, we are recording our follow-up album to “all y’all”, then we are going to do some festivals and tour in Europe for the rest of spring and into the summer.
17. What music do you listen to when you are having a bad day?
Harry Nilsson
18. If you had your life to live over again, what one thing would you change?
I would have been a girl.
What were the reasons behind the name “Ghost and the City”?
To be put simply, if you find yourself awake one morning, out of touch with your surroundings and at odds with life, then you will begin to understand the concept behind the name. There is a ghost inside all of us that is displaced by the world we’ve created, this particular world just happens to take place in a city.
I’ve noticed there is a lot of secrecy with “Ghost and the City” is there a reason or some history for it?
We like people not to take too much concern over who we are as people. Our idiosyncrasies and quirks should be taken light heartedly, as they do not matter in the larger picture of the project. We represent a community across many medias and like to be seen as such.
What are the major influences for “Ghost and the City”?
We are a mixture of influences, mainly comprising of jazz/classical backgrounds… we are not one genre nor do we all draw from the same inspiration, it is in this that we find our sound.
How is it working with such a large band?
We all have outside lives, which means there is a lot of coordination done behind the scenes before you see us step out on stage. There is a buzz though…that occurs when we are together in the same room or on a stage…a low hum that you cannot be put into words but radiates through every member.
How do you keep motivated to write music when times are rough?
Unfortunately, most our music comes out of rough times. The moment when life is at its worst, that step out of bed is that much harder, and you’ve drunken yourself silly the night before. We come from a dark place that we hope others can relate with in one-way or another.
What do you think of the music industry in current times?
The music industry is what we’ve made it to be, a dying vision of what we hoped to achieve and that last remnants of an era vaguely remembered by our aging self. We are tired, angry, frustrated but through this there will be change and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Until this moment presents itself, we will continue to play underground in your homes and basements.
What are your goals for the band?
There may come a time when the band is no longer enjoying what we are doing, and when that time comes there will no longer be ghost and the city. However…now is not that time…now is the time to share our music with others and to take pleasure in the process of making art.
Now for some random thoughts…
What is your favorite city?
We have yet to find a city in which we call home, but for the time being, let’s say Denver.
Do you have a favorite venue?
Hmmm, good question…bottom of the hill will always hold a place in our hearts.
Do you have any funny stories about the band?
We have habits of performing Nintendo cover songs behind closed doors; some speak of the Jurassic park theme as well.
Who is your favorite super hero?
The debatable pure “super hero,” the billionaire playboy, the vulnerable and super power-less – batman, of course!
Since we have no new videos to post and the dudes from Cat Party are persistent (Take note all you lazy musicians out there!), we give you their latest Music Video. It’s visually stunning yet simple. But the song, which is not a favorite of mine from them, is an quarter life crisis emo-whine disguised as a 2005 Pitchfork award winner. Enjoy and give us your thoughts! Continue Reading
AM’s video for “Self Preservation” from the album “Future Sons & Daughters” Available in stores now. Album produced by Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields). High Definition (HD) Music Video directed by Blake West. Continue Reading
Danish group Under Byen has released a brand new video, directed by visual artist Sidse Carstens, for the title track off their forthcoming album, Alt Er Tabt, out April 6 on Paper Bag Records.
Stereogum sums it up in their video premiere, “In Under Byen’s new form, they’re without a pianist and their one-time orchestra, which makes things immediately sparer, like the whispered warping and unfurling bedroom-folk abstractions of Islaja or Lau Nau. In a translated statement about its video, director (and visual artist) Sidse Carstens says she’s commenting on ‘how women of today still have to tear down their conception of perfection.’ It’s like an intensely spare diorama installation.”
