Into The Haze with Mayflower Madame - An Interview

Diretamente de Oslo, Noruega terra do grande Serena Maanesh e de outras maravilhosas barulheiras vem o já predileto Mayflower Madame, predileto porque puta que pariu, o ep Into the Haze lançado em agosto do ano passado é um estrondoso mix de pós punk, noise shoegazer que chegou de forma avassaladora aos meus ouvidos.

E o epzinho vem dividindo com os clássicos de sempre as audições de forma ininterrupta tamanho o poderio dos caras.

Tipo assim, escute logo.

***** Interview with Mayflower Madame *****

Q. When did Mayflower Madame start, tell us about the history...
Guitarists Rune and Trond started writing music together as teenage glam-punks several years ago. A band was formed, but we had troubles finding the right constellation of band members as our musical preferences changed over the years. Eventually we were lucky enough to meet bassist Petter and drummer Ola J., and the current line-up of Mayflower Madame came into being around 2010 when guitarist Trond started handling the vocals for the first time. All older songs were scrapped; we sorted out a common musical direction, and wrote a whole new set of songs.

Q: Who are your influences?
Everyone in the band has a different range of influences, but we all share a love for Pink Floyd’s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth. In addition, we find inspiration in the darker 80’s post-punk stuff, 90’s noise-rock and shoegaze, and more recent neo-psychedelia.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Pink Floyd – Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
Sonic Youth – Dirty
Clinic – Internal Wrangler
The Black Angels – Passover

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We love playing live! That’s in many ways the most essential way to experience music – it’s more direct and energy-filled than to listen to a recording. It’s so “honest”; it’s just you and the audience, and it’s all about “here and now”. That gives a special sort of tension that can, if the atmosphere is right, result in a tremendous energy that you really can’t reproduce on a recording. For us (and probably for most bands) playing live is the most basic and authentic part of being in a band.

Q. How do you describe Mayflower Madame’s sound?
Our sound can be described as dark and haunting, sometimes ecstatic and noisy, yet always indulgent to the soothing charms of melody.

We also can relate to the following quotes taken from reviews of our debut-EP “Into the Haze”:

"A blend of intriguing dark textures, relentless rhythms and lyrics twisted around what in other ways are really quite melodic tunes." - Spacerock Reviews

“This is brooding, dark psychedelia built on the bones of post-punk outfits like Joy Division, the Birthday Party, the Psychedelic Furs or if you prefer a more contemporary comparison, Interpol.” – The Active Listener

“… a rich blend of early The Cure jangle, The Church at their finest and the psychedelic shimmer of Spacemen 3 during their floatation tank moments.” – Terrascope

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
We like to record the main instruments (guitars, bass, drums) as fast as we can. Normally in just one or two takes. This seems for us the best way to achieve that “live-energy” mentioned above. If the song for some reason still does not sound like we want it too, we let it rest for a day or two before we give it a new shot. Both in the writing process and during the recordings, we don’t like to dwell on each song for too long – we want to keep it sort of “natural” and “raw”. However, after we’ve got the “basics” of the song on tape, we usually give ourselves more time to experiment with melodies, sounds, effects, moods etc. during the recording of the vocals and the additional instruments (synths, extra guitars). In this way, we …

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
You have probably heard these bands before, but we definitely recommend fairly unknown bands like Psychic Ills, The Blue Angel Lounge, The Underground Youth and Lumerians. AND the Norwegian psychedelic greats – Electric Eye!

Q: Which bands would you love to make a cover version of?
We’ve played cover versions of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Red Eyes and Tears” and The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” in the earlier days. That was great fun, but we stopped doing covers now. We feel better directing all focus to our own music. And, when you cover bands you love, the original is usually (always) the best anyway. But you never know, if it feels right, we might do some covers again.

Q: What´s the plans for the future....
We’re currently recording a new EP (which we are really excited about!). It’s going to be even darker and more atmospheric than our debut, and we’re very confident that it will represent the highlight of Mayflower Madame so far. After its release (probably September-October) we will definitely be eager to do a lot of touring – especially abroad.

Q: Any parting words?
Check out our debut-EP “Into the Haze” (available on vinyl and digital), and our newly released music video for the EP’s title track: http://vimeo.com/88606351

And if you like that stuff, you’d be well advised to keep an eye out for our new songs – soon to be released!

Follow us on Facebook etc. and stay tuned.

Thanks for your attention, and thank you The Blog That Celebrates Itself for this interview.

And remember, it ain’t over till the fat madame sings.
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Thanks Trond

http://mayflowermadame.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mayflower-Madame