Depois dos primeiros passos serem dados com o EP "High Stakes", lançado ano passado o quarteto, Centrefold se trancafiou até há pouco menos de um mês atrás, enfim veio ao mundo o debute.
O disco homônimo é shoegaze em sua essência, seu DNA carrega todas as características fundamentais do estilo, mas, o Centrefold injeta na receita, referências captadas de todas as décadas de boa música, seja nos primórdios com Mr. Howlin’ Wolf, seja nas experiências excêntricas com os frippertronics do gênio, Robert Fripp, seja no próprio shoegaze, feito ontem ou hoje, tudo é combustível criativo para o Centrefold.
O disco homônimo é shoegaze em sua essência, seu DNA carrega todas as características fundamentais do estilo, mas, o Centrefold injeta na receita, referências captadas de todas as décadas de boa música, seja nos primórdios com Mr. Howlin’ Wolf, seja nas experiências excêntricas com os frippertronics do gênio, Robert Fripp, seja no próprio shoegaze, feito ontem ou hoje, tudo é combustível criativo para o Centrefold.
E no meio dessa miscelânea toda existe uma unidade, e essa é a força principal do "Centrefold", o álbum.
Aqui serve mais uma vez o seguinte comentário, o Centrefold é uma resposta bem alta no meio dos tímpanos para aqueles preguiçosos que insistem em dizer que nada é feito de bom atualmente....podres coitadas, não sabem de nada.
Escute alto!
Escute alto!
***** Interview with Centrefold *****
Lucas: Centrefold started as a project of mine. I’d discovered some dream-pop and shoegaze bands and had become fascinated with the ways many of these bands experimented with sound texture, noise, modulation, and different ways to layer effects on the guitar. I’d been in several bands over the years as a drummer while also playing guitar in a couple cover bands, and decided I wanted to try and experiment with these ideas myself on guitar. I started coming up with some of the ideas that would become Centrefold songs in 2014-2015, with serious practicing and polishing taking place in 2016 with our first show on July 1st, Canada Day/Memorial Day, 2016. Since then the driving force behind the band has drastically shifted and we all bring something essential to sound of the band. While I’m the primary songwriter, I only create the skeletons and the rest of the band puts the muscles and skin on it. We are also getting much more collaborative in the writing process going forward.
Q: Who are your influences?
Nick: There is a lot of variety in the music we all listen to but for this project, artists like Tesseract, Steven Wilson, King Crimson, Karnivool and The War on Drugs are just some that come to my mind, influencing the construction and landscape i want to bring to the Centrefold sound.
Kieran: Too many to name, but some of the more obvious ones for me are The War On Drugs, Nothing, Smashing Pumpkins, Slowdive, Jim O’Rourke, Pixies, Deafheaven, Kate Bush, Sun Ra, Duster, Kurt Vile, Warpaint, Fog Lake, Chromatics, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, At The Drive-In, Neko Case, Wilco, Elliott Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Julee Cruise, and Howlin’ Wolf.
Lucas: Similar to Nick and Kieran, I’ve gone through many phases listening to a wide variety of music which have all influenced me when it comes to this project in particular. Some obvious influences are bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Diiv, No Joy, Weed, Solids, Title Fight, Oeil, Nothing, Duster, Fog Lake, The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Red House Painters, Tame Impala, Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno, Now Now, Autolux, and Interpol.
Becca: I personally don't use a whole lot of influence. Lucas has taught me everything I know with drumming, and I'm not very skilled or experienced; although I'm learning with every show we do and improving all the time. But I turn to White Stripes as motivation for my drumming. When I started off, I really wasn't that good. But knowing that a really successful and amazing band made it with their drummer starting in the same situation as me made me feel like it was possible for us.
Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Nick:
Interpol - Turn on The Bright Lights
Janek Gwizdala - American Elm
King Crimson - Discipline
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
Kieran:
Elliott Smith - XO
At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
The War on Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Lucas:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Becca:
Pink Floyd - Division Bell
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You
Q. How do you feel playing live?
Lucas: I love playing live. Nicholas and I started playing a number of years ago in a very different band and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve always had at least one active band on the go ever since. For me it’s not only a lot of fun, it’s also a way to relieve stress and express myself in front of a crowd.
Becca: I am always nervous starting off, but I don't think that will ever go away. After about the second song, I'm “in the zone” and it's amazing. It's invigorating, it's energising. It always ends too soon. Kieran: It's lots of fun and a real rush, especially when people in the audience dance with us. I like our shows to be more intense like a rock or punk show than a typical shoegaze show.
Q. How do you describe Centrefold´s sounds?
Kieran: Loud and intense, but still very emotional.
Becca: A chaotic assortment of sounds and effects that comes together to create something deep, emotional, and relatable.
Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Kieran: It took a long time, about a year and a half. It was mostly getting together whenever we could on weekends and evenings and laying a few tracks down. There was a lot of layering different guitar tracks with different guitars, experimenting with different pedals, that kind of stuff. We also experimented with different drum micing techniques, the drum tracks on ‘Break’ and ‘Blank Page’ were even recorded in mono.
Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Kieran: I’d recommend Bridges, Black Market Hard-Tack, Town House, Nicer and Dora, all fantastic bands from Newfoundland.
Lucas: Some more great Newfoundland bands are Ribbon Tied, Fog Lake, Soap Opera, Elictrikompany, and Monsterbator.
Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Lucas: We enjoy covering a variety of artists. We usually learn a couple covers and cycle through them, usually never leaving a cover in our set for too long. It’s a way to keep our setlist fresh and new in between writing new songs. In the past we’ve covered Smashing Pumpkins, The War on Drugs, Nothing, David Bowie, Kevin Shields, Silversun Pickups, and Postal Service/Iron and Wine. There are several artists we’re interested in covering in the future such as The Smiths, The Cranberries, Kendrick Lamar, Slowdive, Warpaint, and Kurt Vile.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
Kieran: We’re hoping to follow up our album with some new material pretty quickly and have a short tour this fall through Canada's East Coast.
Q: Any parting words?
Lucas: We’d like to thank you for showing interest in our band and deciding to interview us, and thank everyone who listened to our music on spotify, bandcamp, youtube, and others. We owe our rising popularity to great music blogs like you guys and awesome fans.
And here's all our links for you guys:
https://www.facebook.com/CentrefoldBand/
https://www.instagram.com/centrefoldjamsnl/
https://centrefoldnl.bandcamp.com/
https://centrefoldnl.com/
