Playing with Fire with Tone Rodent - An Interview

Tone Rodent, soa estranho a você? Certamente porque você não esta devidamente interado com o que de melhor acontece no mundo do noise, psych, space, drone e shoegazer no que há de melhor no rastro de Spacemen 3 e derivações, o Tone Rodent deixa um lastro de extrema devoção por onde passa, sem contar o curriculo de shows do caras, vide, The Fall, The Warlocks, The Black Angels, Floorian e desce a lista, ou seja, da para sacar o potencial dos caras. Diretamente de St Louis para qualquer espaço disposto a suportar verdadeiras jam sessions, pesadissimas, com um parede sonora altamente barulhenta ciclica e viciante.

Como o TBTCI tem em Spacemen 3 um de seus tops, não é a toda a adoraração do TBTCI pelo grandioso Tone Rodent e é obvio que mais dia menos dia a tão desejada entrevista iria acontecer, então sem maiores bla bla blas, Tone Rodent.

***** Interview with Tone Rodent *****

Adam Watkins: Vocals, Guitar
Matty Coonfield: Bass, Backing Vocals
Mark Early: Keys, Synths, Oscillations
Jeff Robtoy: Guitar, Backing Vocals
Adam Dick: Drums
Ashley Hohman: Tambourine, Backing Vocals

Q. When did Tone Rodent form, tell us about the beginning…

A. The initial idea of Tone Rodent started in 1999 and really came to fruition in 2000 in Canterbury, England. I was in the midst of my Masters studies in painting at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and I began playing with sounds and layering them in the same way I was painting. It became infinitely more interesting to me than actually painting at the time. So… I began to teach myself guitar and con some other musicians to work with me and when I moved back to the US Tone Rodent was fully born. The plan was to always surround myself with better musicians than I and to play and write within my capabilities. We’ve had several lineup changes over the past 11 years, members have gone on to other projects, but each time new energy and focus comes. We’re a much stronger, cohesive unit these days. It’s really exciting to write music within our band, because I’m never quite sure how or what will come next.

Q. What are the band’s influences?

A. Each member has such varied, obscure and diverse influences it’s really hard to answer in short form. Rock and Psychedelia play a big part, but we all influence each other in our playing and creative process.


Q. Tell us about the recording process?

A. The first record was recorded with Jason Hutto in St. Louis. It was put down as much live to tape as possible with as few overdubs as we could manage. We wanted to try and capture some of the live band in the room vibe. The new Ep featuring Martin Atkins on drums from PiL, Killing Joke, Pigface etc. was recording quite differently. We recorded all of our parts track by track to a click track in St. Louis with Patrick Hunt, then we sent all of the master tracks to Martin in Chicago and he went into his own studio and laid down the drums. He sent the tracks back to us and Patrick took those with him to Pennsylvania and started mixing, producing and putting it all together. He did an amazing job! The songs sound fantastic. And it’s been more than a thrill to work with Martin. Then we sent our raw tracks and Martin’s tracks to Sterling Roswell aka Rosco from Spacemen 3 and The Darkside in London and he started adding beats and oscillations and remixing and flipping stuff around which led to another Ep of songs that began the same, but are completely different. Two companion pieces if you will. I’ve known Rosco for a few years now and we’ve collaborated on some other projects, but this is the first time we did a Tone Rodent project and it won’t be the last.

Q. Describe Tone Rodent sounds....

A. That’s always a difficult question to answer, as our perception is probably quite contradictory to what actually comes out of the amps! We’ve always tried to write songs that are not only fun to play but that we would enjoy listening to. All of the members in the band come from such a wide variety of influences and styles that when we’re all together in a room it’s really refreshing when the sounds and space are created. So back to the question… It’s rock, loud, dirgey, dark, heavy, psyche, shoegaze … I think.


Q. Made a list of your top five albums from all time.

A. From the band, in no particular order:

Primal Scream: Xtrmntr
Hawkwind: Space Ritual
The Sound: Jeopardy
Snowy Red: The Right To Die
The Birthday Party: The Bad Seed E.P.
Chrome: Red Exposure
The Middle Class: Out Of Vogue E.P.
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
Spacemen 3: Perfect Prescription
Brian Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets
The Cure: Pornography
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands

Q. Tell us about playing live.... What’s the feeling.....?

A. We love playing live. The new lineup has come together really well. The old songs are tighter than ever and the new ones sound great live. The crowds have been really responsive. We just played a show with The Black Angels and we took to the stage with tornado sirens going off and a tornado hitting the airport and people loved it.

Q. What do you think about the classic shoegaze era?

A. I love that stuff! I still do. I grew up in a small town outside of Chicago and would go to this record store called Record Revolution and this old Vietnam Vet used to sell me records and for some reason he started selling me shoegaze, Spacemen 3, The Telescopes, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and some Jesus and Mary Chain. It blew me away. I dig the softer side like Slowdive and the poppier/tripper side like Lush and Chapterhouse as well, but I really like the darker side. The Perfect Needle by The Telescopes is one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s really exciting to see a resurgence of bands playing these days with a nod to those bands. The catch is to not wear those influences to prominently on your sleeve.

Q. Which new bands you recommended?

A. There are a lot in our local area that are really dynamic and amazing like:

Bug Chaser
Doom Town
Egg Chef
Glass Teeth
Medical Tourists
and Brain Idea

But we also love,

The Black Angels
Pete International Airport
Fucked Up
No Age
Pissed Jeans
Floorian
The Vandelles
and A Place To Bury Strangers


Q. Which songs by other bands would you like to do cover versions of?

A. Well, we’ve done a version of These Blues by Spacemen 3 that’s on a charity comp called Rock Back for Japan that everyone should check out, there’s like 6 volumes over 80 bands from all over the world and all of the money raised goes to help earthquake/tsunami relief in Japan.

We’ve talked about doing Motorcycle by Love and Rockets, When The Whip Comes Down by The Rolling Stones, Teenage Lust by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and The Shondells and ages ago we did I Need You by The Kinks and from time to time we’ve done Revolution by Spacemen 3.

Q. What are the plans for the future?

A. Right now we’re setting up some dates in the summer and getting ready to go into the studio to begin recording a batch of new songs for the next record.

Q. Any important news to tell us…

A. The next record is going to be a split with Rosco and us. One side our new material and the other side Rosco’s. We’re also trying to get him over to the US to do some shows. Fingers crossed and of course anyone interested in helping out… get in touch!
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Thanks Adam and all Tone Rodent ...

http://www.tonerodent.com/

Lazer Guided Melodies with Slowness - An Interview

Diretamente da ensolarada São Francisco, California, um EP complementamente intenso e fascinante com canções que de cara te jogam para o inicio da Scene, shoegazer classico com nuances de pos punk assim caminham Black & White, Duck & Cover, Slowboat e Little King as quatro magistrais musicas do debut Hopeless but Otherwise, ah sim já ia me esquecendo, esta maravilha atende pelo nome de Slowness. Geoffrey Scott, guitarras e vocais, Julie Lynn baixo e vocais e Scott Putnam bateria e vocais são os responsaveis pelas viagens envoltas de wall of sound etereo e denso, vocalização menino, menina quase soando como um instrumento a mais no contexto climatico do EP, um deleite indispensavel e artefato primordial para qualquer coleção de amantes de shoegazer, pos punk que se preze.

Aproveitando a ocasião, o TBTCI em contato com Geoffrey viabilizou uma entrevista que desde já torna-se clássica aqui em nossas paginas, delicie-se com Slowness.

***** Interview with Geoffrey Scott - Slowness *****

Q. When did Slowness form, tell us about the beginning…

A. Slowness formed with no name during the summer of 2008 in a house I was house-sitting in, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Julie was encouraging me to turn some guitar sketches into actual songs. And our friend Erik would come up to help me with the yard and the animals, and he brought his drums up and we started doing demos in this great big living room.

Q. What are the band’s influences?

A. There are so many. Aside from the obvious independent-alternative rock, we all love jazz and ambient and some classical and electronic experimental stuff too.

Q. Tell us about the recording process for the debut EP?

A. We shared our demos with our friend Conor and he suggested we record with Monte Vallier. We went in with about 11 songs. "Duck an Cover" we engineered on our own, in our rehearsal space, and did overdubs and vocals in our apartments. In the end, seven seemed to work, but after we mastered and pressed a bunch for a US tour, we came home feeling that only four really represented us well. So we re-mastered with Kramer and did a new pressing with new artwork and all. Now we're finally really happy with it.


Q. Make a list of your top five albums from all time.

1. R.E.M. "Reconstruction of the Fables"
2. The Cure "Disintegration"
3. Stereolab "Mars Audiac Quintet"
4. Spiritualized "Lazer Guided Melodies"
5. The Smiths "The Smiths"

Q. Tell us about playing live.

A. We love it. We don't play much in San Francisco because we don't see ourselves as a local band. We did the tour last year and it was great playing every night for three and a half weeks. You get so much better as a band, and it's the best 40 minutes of your day. We just played in March for the first time in nine months with our new drummer, Scott Putnam, and it felt great. Our best shows tend to be in small, dingy basement-like places full with about 60 people. We'll do a mini-tour in July between New York and Washington, DC.

Q. What do you think about the classic shoegaze era?

A. It's very strange because I started playing the guitar during the height of that era, but I was starting to write songs, you know, cheesy stuff with three chords and the truth. In other words, nothing shoegaze. But somehow something shoegazey started coming out when I started recording demos on a two-track cassette boom-box. But Slowness never sat down and went, "okay, let's be a shoegaze band." Scott and I are metalheads at the core, and Julie is a porch musician.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?

A: I'm not really one to have a pulse on the latest thing. When I buy records, I'm mostly digging into the past and gathering what I missed, you know, like For Against or Spectrum, or even super early Rolling Stones. There is so much great stuff that snuck by me, probably because I was the oldest sibling and didn't have many older friends. Most modern music I hear, that has broken through to indie stardom, as in the latest Pitchfork craze, I'm not crazy about, but then there's so much good stuff out there. It's a bit overwhelming in the new age of digital distribution. Most of what we like are bands we've come to know in San Francisco or while touring, like Foreign Cinema, Dead Leaf Echo, and Moonbeams.


Q. Could you explain the songs from "Hopeless but Otherwise" and your inspirations to compose them?

A. "Black & White" I guess is both personal and political. I guess I just realized at the time that the last eight years of life in the US had been been pretty shitty. Ever since 9/11 things have been weird, and things still don't seem right. But then I suppose it was just a case of me growing up. As if dropping the bomb in 1945, or the Holocaust, or the Rape of Nanking were any lighter. "Duck & Cover" is about someone getting out of your life because of choice or circumstance, and you suddenly realize that the relationship was actually poisoning you at the time. "Slowboat" somehow morphed into something completely different than how it began, basically because of Julie's bass line. Thank heavens for it. I had all these verses, but then we stepped back and thought about repeating just the one phrase, plus a few asides in the second verse. It's about the need to change our entire way of life. To start over, rebuild and, god-forbid, actually take care of each other as a society. But before that we would need to see the footage of all the destruction we've caused up until now. Unfortunately, American public schools generally don't do a good enough job actually educating our youth about what's really gone on in our shared history. Take the details of the Civil Rights Movement and the 100 years of Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws that led up to it. Only a few people get educated on subjects like these growing up, so we have a public that is essentially ignorant, or in denial. "Little King" is about keeping your sense of humor amidst all this dark stuff.

Q. Which songs by other bands would you like to do cover versions of?

A. We've only ever performed two covers, but in my fantasy world we'd have these in our arsenal: "A Short Term Effect" by The Cure, "Silver Rider" by Low, "Kahoutek" by R.E.M., "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" by the Smiths, "Leave Them All Behind" by Ride-- but we'll probably do none of them since we're just trying to write and arrange new songs, and practice what we have so far.

Q. What are the plans for the future?

A. We are in the studio now working on what was supposed to be a follow-up EP but we think it might be turning into a full-length LP. It's about half finished. We're doing the tour in July and we're all spending the summer months on the East Coast, mainly in New York. Then we'll come back in September and continue working on the record. It should be done by November or December, but who knows with these things. We're also planning to tour Europe and Japan in 2012.

Q. Any important news to tell us…

A. We have Sean Eden (Luna) playing on a couple tracks for the new LP. We're lucky we bumped into him at Maxwell's last summer at a Feelies show. Oh yeah, and I've written two songs with Julie's six year-old daughter. We only need to wait another 15years before she can go on tour with us and play keyboards. Until then, we'll probably use a few magic tricks when we play live.
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Thanks Geoffrey....

http://www.slownessmusic.com/

Transparent Radiation with Starfire Connective Sound

Al Schenkel é a mente por detrás do barulhento Sussuros e Escarros, além de brother e comparsa dos bons agora o cara ataca com seu projeto Starfire Connective Sound, pancada alucinogena e desconcertante que afeta o fundo da alma, os neuronios também sente o impacto, o projeto de um homem só de Al, vem com um electrotrancenoisepsychspace daqueles de dispensar qualquer tipo de psicotropico durante sua audição, mas se você é como eu um cara vivido e pode se dar ao luxo de misturar drogas tão fortes, então meu chapa, vai fundo que o resultado é mais perturbador ainda.

Another Girl Another Planet with Duplodeck

É pessoal, passando o periodo de provas, feriados, tensão no trabalho, estou em divida com uma penca de gente, e sem muito bla bla bla, vamos começar a salda-las uma a uma sem dó nem piedade, e para iniciar, nada mais bacana do que receber email do brother Edu da Pug Records sobre o mais novo petardo dos caras, Duplodeck, um mix bacanerrimo da sonoridade da Elephant com Sterolab trejeitos shoegazer com nuancas de bossa, soa estranho de cara, mas faz todo sentindo, pega Cool Breeze e Francis Bacon sem conta na cover de Another Girl Another Planet do Only Ones, tipo assim do caralho!!!

Para os amigos de fora do pais, vai o release em ingles:

The only unanimity among the members of duplodeck was their admiration for their compatriot singer-songwriter Jorge Ben. The press once called them the “Brazilian Stereolab” – rather narrow title for a band that also resonated Pixies, Comet Gain and Deerhoof, to name a few. Conceived in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, duplodeck existed from 2001 to 2005 – time in which they wrote a huge amount of songs, but recorded only one never released EP. With new mixing, their self-titled debut now resurfaces with guitars louder than originally planned, whilst its four songs remain incredibly fresh. Pug Records has just made the EP available for free download, also compiling an extended version in cassette. The release has encouraged a reunion of the group – they’re preparing a full-length album for the end of the year.

The cassette B-side brings rarities that not even the band members were aware of. In addition to the EP songs, the bonuses encompass live performances, drunken rehearsals and jam sessions. Towards shoegaze noisemaking or bossa nova harmonies and beats, these tracks escape from the EP’s pop format. Such diversity also shows in the two covers: a Beulah-resembling reinvention of Temptations’ My Girl and an appropriation of the post-punk hit Another Girl, Another Planet, from The Only Ones. More than just drafts for the upcoming LP, this material, despite the inappropriate recording, represents a fair sample of the sextet’s great potential.

Duplo Deck - http://www.pugrecords.com/duplodeck/

Magnificent Oblivion by Fleeting Joys - An Interview

Lembro da primeira vez que ouvi Fleeting Joys, um amigo disse o seguinte, "Renato, você que ama MBV, escute urgente Despondent Transponder do Fleeting Joys....você vai ficar impressionado"....dai lá fui eu atrás do album dos caras, e quando The Break Up começou ficou paralisado, chocado, pensei comigo caralho, isso é puro My Bloody Valentine, meu deus, como conseguiram chegar nessa sonoridade, quem são esses caras......e foi indo até chegar em Magnificent Oblivion e os loops, os vocais, as guitarras o andamento da bateria, eu estava entregue naquele momento e fui completamente abduzido por este album, virou discoteca basica e motivo de devoção, passado um tempo veio o segundo Occult Radiance e mais idolatria e mais tesouros vieram, nao a toa o TBTCI idolatra o Fleeting Joys e enfim chegou a hora de sabermos a historia completa de Rorika, John e Cia, diretamente das mentes destes mestres do shoegazer atual, simplesmente essencial para qualquer amante do genero.

*****Interview with Fleeting Joys *****

Q: When did Fleeting Joys starts, tell us about the history...

A. We met through a mutual friend. Rorika was working at a studio and she would practice her engineering skills on whatever project John had going. We spent a year trying to sonically maneuver into each other's pants! When John first met Rorika, he was impressed because she was “the only girl he knew that had Isn’t Anything and Glider as well as Loveless."

Q: Who are your influences?

A. Besides the albums listed, Johnny Marr, also.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…

A. MBV / Loveless

Velvet Underground & Nico

Sonic Youth / Dirty

Cocteau Twins / Pink Opaque - John

The Beatles / Revolver - John

The Cure / Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - Rorika

Q: Tell us about the Fleeting Joys´ gigs... how do you fell playing alive?

A. It's selfish self-indulgence! Being wrapped in waves of gorgeous chords is such an experience that's hard to describe. It's also impossible to hear yourself sing over it all!

Q. How do you describe FJ´s sounds?

A. We write a lot of songs that are beautiful just on an acoustic guitar, then begin twisting them around, trying different things, flying in parts of other songs until we find it more interesting. It has to convey an emotion first. Then, we begin creating layers of sounds that we'd like to be immersed in onstage.

Q: In your opinion what´s the best FT´s album?

A. Probably the one you haven't heard yet!

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the albuns?

A. We have always had a music room at home where most everything gets recorded. We will go over to Matt's for the drums and do overdubs at home. Our neighbors all hate us! Not really...they find it interesting.

Q. What´s represents the shoegazer classic era to FJ?

A. If you look very closely, you can see a wide-eyed John in the audience of MBV's Austin show at Liberty Lunch (Japanese bootleg video)!

Q. And about the new shoegazer scene all over the world,..which new bands you recommended?

A. So many good things going on..afraid we'll leave someone out!

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?

A. We were asked to do a cover of a "guilty pleasure" recently and that was more fun than you'd think. So many possibilities!! It was a toss up between Evanessence's Bring Me To Life and HIM's Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart...in the end, we blew it all off.

Q: What´s the plans for future....

A. This week, we are finishing a really beautiful song for a compilation that Thomason and Vinyl Junkie are putting out in Japan to donate to the earthquake victims.

Possibly adding another person for live shows. John has been teaching Rorika some of the second guitar parts and she really enjoys that, so we'll see...she just bought a vintage Jaguar. We've just released Despondent Transponder on vinyl with FTHPR in Norway, so hoping to plan a tour over there sometime this year.

Going to South America is something that we've always wanted to do because there was such huge support coming from there as soon as DT was released. The same was true with Japan. So, when we toured there. It was like visiting old friends because they'd all been with us for years!

Working on an EP of new songs. Thinking about releasing them digitally instead of making CDs. Not sure how everyone feels about that? Rorika likes to be able to download new songs often rather than waiting for an album to be released., But, John feels that an album or ep makes a story/impression when it's presented grouped together...even the order of the songs matters...as well as the artwork.

Q: Any parting words?

A. We feel so lucky to have fans everywhere that really support music and us. All we want to do is keep giving them more to love!

**** Thanks FJ!!!!

http://www.myspace.com/fleetingjoys

Movement with Custom Made Music - An Interview with Dave A.

Com imenso prazer apresento aos leitores do TBTCI uma das novissimas e grandes gravadoras da atualidade, trata-se da bacanerrima Custom Made Music, responsavel por nada mais nada menos do que colocar no mercado gente do cacife de Ceremony, SVI, Dead Leaf Echo, Sky Drops, e inumeras outras preciosidades. Capitaneada por Dave A. e sua esposa Chrischa a CMM segue a trilha de grandiosas gravadoras independentes como Factory, Creation, Beggars Banquet, SST, Sub Pop, 4AD e inumeras outras que fizeram da musica alternativa um novo conceito, quabrando tabus do mainstream e indo contra tudo e todos no mais perfeito estilo do it yourself, por essas e outras o TBTCI cai de cabeça e decupa juntamente com Davi A. a fantastica Custom Made Music, prediletissima por aqui.

***** Interview with Dave A. from Custom Made Music *****

Q. When did Custom Made Music start?

Well I officially started Custom Made Music in Fall of 2007. However I started distributing recordings and working with bands around 1988. In High School I had a band that played Cure and Ramones covers and we wrote our own songs too. We recorded a homemade demo and started selling them and trading them at school and it just evolved from there. I'd make copies of our demo and put other local bands songs on the B side of the tape so that people could hear our friends bands too. Eventually I had friends in all the area high schools and colleges passing these tapes around. I started booking shows too. After meeting a few touring bands I started making comp tapes that had bands from other areas on it. Soon I started helping bands distribute their 7"'s and LP's at shows and around 94 I was able to help put some money towards pressing some records for a few bands. I kept up a steady catalog of stuff that I distributed all the way till around 2004. At that time the music industry really changed a lot as far as how labels and distributing music worked. In 2005 I switched gears and focused on running a few music venues here in Virginia. However in 2007 I realized how much I missed putting out records so I started up Custom Made Music and it's been building ever since. So in a manner of speaking Ive been doing this for a little over 20 years.

Q. Do you consider that Custom Made Music is a shoegazer oriented label? What´s the context behind it.....

Well Custom Made Music certainly work with many bands who have a sound that's rooted and influenced by the original shoegaze sound. We also work with bands like The Static Minds who are a straight up rock n roll band along the lines of The Stooges and The MC5 and we have done other punk & garage rock type releases in the past. I release music from bands that really inspire me and it happens to be that I like a lot of music being made by bands who are heavily influenced by the sounds of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Jesus And Mary Chain and others of that era. I however don't limit the music I release on the label to any specific genre or sound.

Q. Who are your influences/heroes?

From a label perspective I'm influenced greatly by Tony Wilson and Factory Records. The attitude and mind set behind that label is pretty much a blue print for any aspiring small label. Other labels that have had a major influence on me would be Too Many Records/Very Small, Creation Records and SST. As far as hero's go I'd have to say my dad George Allison. As a kid I woke up every Saturday morning to music he was playing on the living room turntable and that's what really got me into listening to music all the time.

Q. What´s your opinion about the classic shoegazer era?

I was a huge fan of all of the original shoegaze bands. In high school a friend of mine would tape 120 minutes every Sunday night and Monday after school we'd hang out at his house and watch it. I'll never forget seeing the video for Ride's "Like A Daydream" for the first time. I was definitely hooked at that point and we would anxiously await the next release from each band. That original scene has just been so influential on so much other great music to come out over the years it's unbelievable.

Q. What´s your opinion about the new shoegazer era?

I enjoy listening to many of the new bands out there that have fallen under the shoegaze moniker. Personally I enjoy the bands that put their own spin or add in other influences to their sound besides just borrowing from the bands that where a part of that original time period.

Q. Make a list of your top five records from all time?

Man that's a tough one. How about a list of 10 records that I hold in very high regard.

T Rex "Electric Warrior"

The Stooges "Raw Power"

New York Dolls S/T

David Bowie "Hunky Dory"

The Velvet Underground & Nico

Black Flag "The First Four Years"

My Bloody Valentine "Loveless"

The Jesus And Mary Chain "Psycho Candy"

Brian Eno "Music For Airports"

Roxy Music S/T

Q. Tell us about forthcoming stuff from Custom Made Music...

Well we just released two new E.P.'s one from Ceremony called "Not Tonight" and one from The Sky Drops called "Making Mountains". which are available now. We also just got in some limited edition copies of the Screen Vinyl Image/Rude 66 split 7" which is a release we've been really looking forward to. Then there's a new Screen Vinyl Image 12" single for their song "Too Much Speed" coming out in a couple of weeks. Other new releases include a split 7" from my band Last Remaining Pinnacle & Pan Galactic Straw Boss as well as a new Dead Leaf Echo E.P. called "Verisimilitude" that is a collection of remixes and collaborations. Later in 2012 there will be a new Screen Vinyl Image full length album and a new Dead Leaf Echo single as well as a few other releases.

Q. What´s your favourite Custom Made Music release?

Well they are all favorites and I have different reasons for each one being a favorite. When you put so much time and energy and love into each release, well that release becomes a part of you and that's what happens each time I put out a record. Putting out records is something I'm very passionate about and I honestly can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

And now about Last Remaining Pinnacle:

Q. About your personal band, Last Remaining Pinnacle, when the band starts?

Last Remaining Pinnacle started in 1995 as a solo project.I focused mainly on harsh noise and ambient soundtrack type recordings. Making these recordings was a great outlet for me for a good number of years. I loved seeing how intense I could make each recording. From 1995-2001 I recorded many cassette releases and was featured on a bunch of different compilations from various labels that were released on vinyl, CD and cassette formats alongside bands that ranged from Merzbow and The Locust to Less Than Jake and J Church. Over the years I started doing demos for more "Song Like" material while continuing to do an ambient/soundtrack type cassette release from time to time. In 2009 I got the chance to do a live show and I that's when my wife Chrischa joined me as the other member of Last Remaining Pinnacle. The sounds has shifted to a more dark psych rock/drone guitar based sound since she joined and our most recent song "Students Of The V.U." that's on the upcoming split 7" with Pan Galactic Straw Boss is a reflection of that.

Q. Who are the influences from the band?

Oh there are so many. Chrischa and I just love so much stuff and it all plays in to the music we make. A few that stand out would be Dinosaur Jr, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, MBV, NON, Joan Jett, Van Halen, Replacements, JAMC, The Ramones, The Cure, Def Leppard, Brian Eno, T Rex, The Woven Hand, New Order, The Stooges, The Ventures Arcade Fire, The Shins and so many more.

Q. Tell us about the process of recording the split 7´´?

Our song for the split 7" was recorded by Steven Jordan who is also the guitar player in Pan Galactic Straw Boss. We recorded it all in our house. I had written the basic idea and done a demo of the song a few months earlier an played it for Chrischa. Once we started practicing it for a live show we decided to incorporate more experimental sounds into the basic riff. When we went to record the track with Steven everything just flowed together well and we are really happy with how it turned out.

Q. Describe Last Remaining Pinnacle sounds?

I'd say dark psychedelic atmospheric sounds led by fuzzed out guitar's and almost tribal like drumming. There's also a great amount of experimental sounds going along with the guitars and drums including droning synths and samples that we use to add to the dynamics of the songs. I think we both look at the band as a way to channel out a lot of aggression. It's also a really great thing to be able to do together and I know I wouldn't want to play with anyone else.

Q. When the album comes?

The split 7" with Pan Galactic Straw Boss has an official release date of Tuesday April 26th. There will be a couple of limited versions that will only be available through the Custom Made Music site and at our shows that will come out before the official release date.

Q. What´s the plans for future?

We plan on playing as many shows as possible this Spring and Summer. We are also going to be releasing a split 7" with Cult Of Dom Keller around July of this year. Cult Of Dom Keller are an amazing Psych Rock band from the U.K. We're also planning a couple of other 7" releases and then an E.P. that will feature all the 7" tracks by the end of 2011.

Q. Any Final Words?

Thank you Renato for all your support of Custom Made Music and Last Remaining Pinnacle. We appreciate it very much and thanks to all the bands that work with Custom Made Music and to those that enjoy the records we release.

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Thanks Dave, It´s a pleasure to me....best Renato

http://www.custommademusicva.com/