reBlog from Death Trip: Tom Rowsell
Click on a quote to select it...
The cream of the UK lo-fi crop; A Grave with no name, nurtured by the consistently awesome No pain in pop label, have blossomed into a maturity that surpasses their humble origins as mere example of passing musical trend. Their new album ‘Mountain Debris’ is a demonstration of their staying power, the kind of album one plays to arouse a state of emotional and spiritual contemplation. It’s hardly accessible and certainly not as disposable as much of the content associated with the lo-fi riff raff on both sides of the Atlantic. Singer and guitarist Alex Shields, approaches Christmas with a sense of optimism and accomplishment, defending his self confessed egoism as Yule see in the following interview.
How do you feel about Mountain Debris, what do you think people willmake of it?Alex Shields:I have a cool relationship with the record - it's a pretty accuraterepresentation of me as a person, so I both like and am frustrated by it in equal measure - at the same time, I am going to ensure the next LP is even better; I want it to be a total masterpiece.
'Mountain Debris' is kind of all-over-the-place, but that makes perfectsense to me. Some people really seem to get the record, others reallydon't - I read one review of it that said it was "conceptual art" asopposed to music, when actually I intended the opposite - it's supposedto be pure music.
What drives you as a band?Nothing really. I just make music when I feel like it, and it willprobably reflect my mind-state at the time of recording. I'm not gonnasay something for the sake of it, like some post-punk bank trying tosound intellectual, quoting modernist architecture or some bullshit astheir primary influence. That's exactly why I hate post-punk so much.
How do you see yourselves in relation to the increasingly popular lo-fimusic scene in the USA?Well, I don't really want to be associated with any bands who recordtheir music badly in order to be part of some scene - what's more, Ireally can't stand garage rock, it's mindless, meaningless and boring,so I don't feel a whole lot in common with them at all. Believe me, if Ihad some more money I would make the most hi-fi sounding record you'veever heard.
If you could change any law what would it be?None of them seem to intrude on my life too much, and people seem tofind ways to get around the ones that do - I guess growing up as a youngkid, it kind of bummed me out that I couldn't rent some horror moviesbecause I wasn't old enough, but that's about it.
If there is one thing that to you most symbolises the nature of yourmusic, what is it?I am going to sound like an egotist, which I probably am, but I'd have tosay myself - the whole record is either me writing about myself, ortrying to react against myself. I'm super-inward looking, and don't havemuch time for anything occurring outside my own world-view.
What are your plans for next year?Go to the cinema; hang out on my balcony; finish off the second record;play some shows; hang out with friends; have take-out pizza everySunday.
Death Trip, Tom Rowsell, Dec 2009