English Translation:
Rockerilla-Italian-Magazine
CULT WITH NO NAME
Sorprendenti ed eleganti
di Matteo Chamey
- So ethereal, your sound is a mixture of experiences, I feel something spiritual... What's your religious creed or your state of mind creed?
Erik Stein - It's certainly a mixture of all sorts of experiences and influences, but then that is the only possible thing 'modern' music can be these days. There are no new types left to create, only ones left to steal from and abuse.
Jon Boux - Very good to hear! I grew up with a great deal of "church" music and played a great deal of organ music early on, so hymns and religious songs were my beginnings. Although the religion didn't stay with me, the music has and I am heavily influenced by classical composers that focus on religious music - Arvo Part, John Taverner, Gabriel Faure.
- You combine piano with vocals and rhythm elegance and refinement, this is a reflection of your life?
E.S. - We just try to play to our strengths. Elegance and refinement can be beautiful, but they can also indicative of obsessive qualities ... the endless (and pointless) pursuit of perfection. We were friends long before the band started, which means we're very relaxed in each other's company. The atmosphere you create in is bound to get recorded alongside the very notes themselves.
- What's your musical influences?
E.S. - I suppose if you were to look at our individual and collective DNA, it would include The Stranglers, Brian Eno, OMD, Tuxedomoon, The Residents, early Elton John, The Blue Nile, The Nits, Arvo Part. I think you can hear bits of all of them, and many many others, in what we do. Two important differences between us are that I collect obscure post-punk records (the more obscure the better) and Jon has this minimalist classical thread.
J.B. - I have Erik’s eclectic tastes to thank for a great deal of music that I’ve got into since CWNN formed. In fact, when I think of it, some of the acts that I’ve found through Erik now influence me a great deal, particularly The Nits. I guess I do give the music its more ambient / minimalist slant – I’m greatly influenced by sparse piano music in the vein of Roger Eno and Harold Budd.
- Two and some LP Various Artists LP, what do you want to transmit with your music?
E.S. - There's no particular message we want to get across. Music is a terrible way to communicate messages anyway.
J.B. - I love the idea that once a record is out there, the listener takes ownership and can put their own interpretation on the song. Erik doesn’t always tell me what his lyrics mean but they all speak to me in their own way and perhaps even in a way that he didn’t set out to do – that’s the power of music and song.
- You are not the classical UK band, you have a really deep cultural baggage, the sound of piano is the most classical element for music, give us one reason to listen your music.
E.S. - We're definitely not a typical UK band, I agree. My heritage is actually German and Jon's is French! A lot of our influences are non-British, which I think has contributed to us sounding like we're from 'elsewhere'. The world is so much more interesting than the world you live in. One reason to listen to our music? Because we're not Oasis, but sound like 'una oasi'.
- The song "Hands, Two Touch" is something great, it sounds like Gary Numan ..
E.S. - Thanks for the compliment. I can see what you mean actually, the way my voice sounds in the chorus. Interestingly enough, a very good friend of ours said that he thought it sounded a bit like 'Hurt' by Nine Inch Nails. Gary Numan is a big influence generally, although I'm not so into the heavy industrial music he makes now.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment