SUSTAINS

Sustains combine classic songs with face-melting audio. I asked the Californian musician behind this - Alex Gramajo - how he makes his music:

Is Sustains just you?

For the most part, yes. However, I’ve had excellent input on certain songs from people that came into my life, who i give much credit for

How do you get that ultra fuzzy electric guitar sound?

Distortion pedal, Sustain knob 100%, direct line into recording console, Channel Gain 100%. It’s just deep fried guitar

What guitars, amps do you use?

MIJ Fender Mustang, 1995 i think, with a mini humbucker at the bridge. I’ve gone through a few amps, I absolutely enjoy solid state 100 watt combos, Crate, Peavy, Yamaha, or Roland do it for me. Hell, give me a Line 6 Spider, I’ll rock it

What is your distortion pedal of choice?

Big Muff

Do you saturate everything on your recordings ie drums and vocals to make them extra fuzzy?

I try to record drums as clear as possible to pierce through that jungle of noise. Same goes for vocals. As for guitars and bass, i just like to play around with the levels

Who plays drums on your recordings?

When the homie Joe wasn’t on the track, it would be me.

Where do you record?

At home. I’ve gone to studios, but I didn’t feel comfortable. Too much pressure 

What do you record on?

It used to be a Tascam cassette 4 track i picked up from craigslist during high school. Later, i got a Fostex digital 16 track, thats where i got a lot done. I’m not a fan of using computer interfaces or DAW’s for Sustains. I prefer physical knobs and faders in front of me. That’s just the way I grew up.

How did you get your drum sound?

I never use more than 4 microphones for a kit. One for snare/hi hat/crash, another just for the kick, another for ride/floor tom, and maybe one more if i need middle toms or  ambience. Then i pan them out as if the listener is sitting on the drummer’s throne

How long does it usually take you to record a song?

Well it really varies. For example, I’ve spontaneously written and recorded songs, like Coronary, in a few hours. But if I’m really trying to cook, i would do hundreds of takes for one song, let it simmer for months, then come back to it, add more layers, and mess around with the mixes

Any reason why Chase the Wind was digital only and not on iTunes?

I should have given it a proper release. Some record labels were flirting with it, but it fell through. I just ended up releasing it myself, instead of shelving it. I thought it sounded good

What’s the story behind the Chase the Wind artwork?

It’s just Richard Hell’s Blank Generation, but backwards. I wanted to feel like a rocker and i like blue denim on blue. Shout out to the homie Gus for shooting it

Do you play live much? If so, where, and who is in your band?

Not often. When we played, so many people would fill in, while living far away from each other, sometimes having no practice before a show. It was a logistical nightmare. Sustains has gone from 5 members, to 4, to 3, to 2, to 1. Real slacker rock

Some Chase the Wind tracks like Dancing Shadows almost have a 1970s glam songwriting style. Is this just my mind playing tricks on me or do you like music from that era?

I like that era very much. On that track, i was going for T. Rex and early power pop, most specifically The Nerves

Is the car noise at the start of Royal Pine real?

Haha yeah it’s real. I was revving my truck. The song is really just an open love letter to my truck, “Royal Pine” is the scent of the air freshener tree. Man, i really do like driving that thing with no destination, the freedom and romance of it. As for the engine revving in the song, i got that idea from Phil Cordell’s (aka Dan the Banjo Man) Everything Will Rhyme

Nice duelling lead guitars on Heavy Metal Dream. Was there a different pedal used on these?

There were a couple solos on that track, the first solo is the one i did, the other my friend Adrian did. He did use another pedal, maybe the OCD pedal, but I’m not certain

What reverb do you use on things like the lead guitar of Caged Hearts II?

I used the reverb built into my recording console, it was probably a hall reverb. I don’t own any reverb pedals

What organ did you use on Golden Halo?

I think it was a 70s style tone on the Yamaha PSR E313

The sound of Razor Apple is brutal. How did you achieve it?

Distorted bass and guitar, cranked the digital gain on my recording console, and boosted high mid and treble. I like to make it sound sour and spicy

How do you minimize bleed from drum overheads on songs like Book Fair?

I gradually adjust the EQ and volume until it sounds balanced in comparison with the other instruments. But to be honest, i have more trouble with drums being too quiet than too loud. 

Do you record to a click?

No, it’s all natural. If there’s a minor tempo drift, i just leave it in. If i need to queue another instrument, i just keep count with a palm mute on the guitar and edit it out later

Nice one-note piano on God Damn. Is is a real piano?

No, its the Yamaha PSR keyboard. The one note piano jingle is straight out of I Wanna Be Your Dog

What is that weird synth sound on Dissonance?

It was a sound I programmed on the microkorg. I liked the glitchyness of it. It was hardly playable. I had to do a lot of takes for that because the key velocity was random and would not stroke the notes that i needed

What drum machine did you use on songs like Land of Hurt?

I did not use a drum machine. I was hitting the keys of the Yamaha PSR in real time with a drum kit preset

Do you enjoy record everything yourself, or would you prefer someone else to handle stuff like engineering?

Maybe i just don’t communicate well enough the ideas i go for to engineers, but I prefer to do it on my own

Do you have a process for mixing your songs, such as drums first?

Guitars first, sometimes bass, it’s what gives the songs the principle feeling. Then i drum along to the tracks. When i mix i really like to use the stereo channels and pan out the instruments very wide

How do you master your music, any key plugins? 

After i mix a song on the console, i bounce it onto a computer. I mainly just use rudimentary limiter plugins to get it loud and thick before it starts to clip over 0 Db’s. I don’t have any specific ones to recommend, whatever’s free

What music are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a side project and aim to release a video album on VHS. It’s mixed genre, but there’s gonna be a lot of house, techno, trip hop, boom bap. That sort of stuff. I do have some Sustains ideas, but it’s on the back burner for now. I’ve been doing Sustains for like 10 years, i want to explore other things

How did Hidden Bay come to release your Sick Ones record?

They just randomly hit me up and asked if they could do my next release, i said i was down. A few months later, i sent them the tracks. Big love. Check out their catalog. Shout out to Manon

Ever tried sending your music to Teenage Fanclub? I think that they'd love it

Never lol. If i ever tried to send music, it wouldn’t be TFC. It would probably be Brad Laner from Medicine. That dude is a mad scientist 

Best and worst things about living in LA?

Best thing, the open mic at the Comedy Store. Worst thing, the rush hour

Can you surf?

Nope

Best Wipers album?

Youth of America

Dinosaurs or aliens?

Aliens for sure

MISTY COAST

Been listening to Misty Coast for a couple of years now. The Norwegian band create kaleidoscopic sound-bombs that make the universe a bit more interesting. So I asked them how they do this:

Let’s start with an easy question, who plays in Misty Coast and what do you do?

Richard: Misty Coast is Linn Frøkedal and Richard Myklebust. When we’re writing and recording we play most instruments between us. When we’re playing live we’re a quartet, and Kim Åge Furuhaug (Orions Belte) has been our drummer since the start, and he also plays on all our albums. On our right wing we’ve had Linns talented big sister Anne Lise (I Was a King, Frøkedal & Familien) on vocals, keys and guitar. Since she just became a mum we’re super happy that Norwegian indie pop queen, Silja Sol, will join us for the Nevereverending tour. 

What guitars and basses do you use for live and recording?

Richard: For the live performances Linn plays her Rickenbacker bass and I use my Fender Jazzmaster and a modded Jag. When we're recording we use whatever we have at home or at hand. On our latest album we’ve also used Fender Strat, Danelectro 12-string, a Gretsch, Hofner bass, an old mandoline and Yamaha reface synthesisers (YC, CS, CP). 

What amps do you play through?

Richard: I love Fender amps. A Super Reverb or something similar is the preferred weapon. 

Linn: I used to be very picky, and would get disappointed if I did not get a “fridge” ampeg (810). Nowadays I can play on almost everything, as long as it’s powerful enough to carry my fuzz pedals. 

Any special pedals that Misty Coast wouldn’t be able to survive without?

Richard: The Line 6 DL4 has been my trusted friend for years. It’s a multi-delay (now also with reverb for the DL4 MKII) but also a looper. Super versatile. A good friend of ours, Daniel Thornhill, is making some awesome fuzz pedals (and more) under the name Fjord Fuzz. Right now Linn has a Freia on her board and I’ve got the Fenris. We have most of his pedals, and they are all great! 

Linn: We both always have a RAT on our boards. I can’t survive without my Turbo edition. I also use chorus a lot, and would probably not last long without one. I now have a Mad Professor Electric Blue Chorus. We've been extensively using Death by Audio pedals, and I'm particularly fond of the very wild Fuzz War. On one memorable occasion in Trondheim, it caused a bunch of glasses in the bar to tumble from their shelves and shatter.

Richard: I have recently fallen in love with the AC Noises Respira, a multi-tremolo pedal with a shimmer reverb in front. Not sure if I could survive without this one either.

Before you record a song, do you jam it out as a band with a drummer?

Richard: Most of the time we record to a drum machine beat. And not being drummers can make the programmed beat odd, and sometimes difficult to do on real drums with only two hands. Kim Åge is a great drummer, and a hero when it comes to interpreting our drum ideas. 

Linn: We actually create all our music while recording. So our songs usually only exist as a guitar riff or a bass line before we start tracking. And then our drummer is usually the last to be recorded. This is actually a very weird way of doing things, but it works for us. 

Most of your songs are quite dense with lots of tracks and weird noises. How many tracks on average do you have per song?

Linn: It's less tracks than you might think. Before drums (who tend to be all separate mics) I would say that it’s probably an average of 10-15 tracks. We hate working with a lot of tracks and mess, so we always delete a lot on the way. The first time we worked with producer Matias Tellez, he actually laughed when he opened our session for “Strange Girl”. He couldn’t believe all the noise we had created on only 7 tracks. 

Do you find it hard to recreate a studio recording as a live band?

Richard: Not really. You just have to make some hard decisions on what is important for the overall sound. And sometimes learn how to play 2 or 3 of the guitar tracks at the same time. 

We also believe that the live experience shouldn't be the exact same as the recordings anyway. If so, you could just stay at home and listen to the album. The live experience should feel different, closer, louder, more real, and you also have the opportunity for a visual adventure. 

Do you have any requirements for recording vocals? i.e. standing up/sat down, lots of reverb, eyes closed, candles, facing north-east etc…?

Linn: Haha, not really. I tend to sit down and sing into a hot Roede condenser microphone placed on the dinner table. Sometimes our squeaky, old chairs disturb the recordings - or even our neighbour leaving the building - cause the microphone picks up so much. On some of our songs you can actually hear Richard doing the dishes in the background on my vocal tracks. Richard tends to be standing up while singing (often on his tiptoes to reach the highest notes) and we usually record his voice with a classic SM7. 

Loophole is one of my favourite Misty Coast songs. I love the stuttering drums on it. Was this recorded to a click or is it actually slowing down, and was it hard to play against?

Linn: This is one of our favourite songs to play live! I think we actually recorded ‘Loophole’ based on a very simple finger played beat on the drum machine app DM1 on Richard’s iphone. Later on Kim Åge added these super cool, laid back drums. He must have played along to the beat, cause I’m pretty sure we had no click recording the DM1 and the tempo settings in the session must have been completely off.  

How do you get that cool fuzzy bass tone, especially on songs like Strange Girl?

Linn: Ooo, I think we used the Death by Audio’s Fuzz War on this one. My Rickenbacker bass sounds so amazing by itself, and it works perfectly with fuzz, so it does a lot of the work. 

While your recordings sound quite complex, songs like Little Sister sound like classic pop songs. How long does it usually take to write the basics of a song like this?

Linn: I think the classic pop songs are the quickest ones to write. They tend to make sense straight away, and it’s like the arrangement is screaming for that particular vocal melody. I guess deep down I’m a pop head. 

I like the way that the chorus from Berlin Zoo comes out of nowhere, how did you write this song?

Linn: We were actually writing and recording this song while we had an artist residency in Berlin. We’d been passing the Berlin Zoo a few times, and I created this story in my head. The chorus came naturally, and is just us playing with melodies, both in the guitars and in the vocals. At first I tried to sing this song, but it ended up being too sweet. Richard’s voice was a perfect fit.

I love the starkness of the vocals on Galaxy, was it weird to do this without the usual FX?

Linn: We initially recorded this with quite a lot of effects, but then Matias Tellez turned it upside down in the mix and made the vocals sound near and fragile. I think it works very well, and it contrasts with the theme of the song. 

The guitars on the intro of In A Million Years remind me of Brian Eno’s 1970s stuff. How did you get this fuzzy murky sound and it is a bass or an electric guitar?

Richard: The guitar sound is absolutely inspired by Here Comes the Warm Jets! It’s a guitar straight into Emil Nikolaisens mixer in his Malabar studio. Pushed to extreme distortion. 

What’s making that weird swoop-y sound on Do You Still Remember Me?

Richard: Oscillating the Roland sh-2000.

Your new album was recorded in a few different places. What was your favourite and why?

Linn: My favourite location was the island Utsira. This beautiful place is located 11 miles off the west coast of Norway, far out in the North Sea. While taking a break from the Oslo city life, in a place so windy - but still so quiet - we really got to focus on creating music (and fishing!). Most days we catched our own dinner from the sea, and in the mornings we woke up to bells ringing from sheep passing by the bedroom window. At night time we sneaked into the lighthouse, and watched the sunset from the top of the tower. 

How do you get that Flaming Lips-y strings sound on The End of the Beginning?

Richard: A Yamaha Reface CS through a shitload of pedals!

New tracks like The Crossing and Breathe sound like they have less vocal reverb compared to your earlier stuff. Was this a conscious decision?

Richard: I guess we felt like creating the feeling that Linn whispered into your ears. 

Linn: I think vocal reverb works best if it’s not full on all the time. I love the effect when everything suddenly dries up, and I think this also makes the very dreamy, airy parts have more impact.

The bass on Brainchild almost sounds like a cello part. Can either of you play classical instruments?

Richard: Well spotted! It's actually a guitar. At one point when we were creating "Nevereverending," I got the idea to make the guitar sound like other instruments. On "Brainchild," I ran the guitar through a Digiverb with a hard gate on a long reverb, which gave it a cello-like feeling. If you listen to the end of "Hi Goodbye," you'll find an attempt to create brass instruments. None of us play classical instruments, except piano, but we tried to play a real cello on "Take Off/Mess Up."

Have you scrapped any songs mid-recording because they weren’t working?

Richard: All the time! But sometimes we take it up again some weeks later and love it. 

Do all studios in Norway have beautiful wooden architecture that overlooks the sea or a fjord, or is that my misconception?

Richard: Hehe, most of them are in 1000 year old stave churches. 

Linn: ooo, that would be exotic! There are lots of studios overlooking the fjords, but you also find some hidden gems in basements with no windows.  

If Misty Coast could only record or play live, which would it be?

Richard: That’s a very difficult dilemma. I guess I would choose to record. But we LOVE playing live! 

Linn: I would also have to pick to write music and record. 

If you had to add a musician from past or present to become a permanent third member to Misty Coast, who would they be?

Richard: Ringo - great drummer and wonderfully chilled human. 

Linn: Trish Keenan! She’s one of my favourite musicians of all time, and it’s a tragedy that she died so young.

Would you rather do a million interviews or a million photoshoots?

Richard: Interviews

Linn: Agreed!

You can only get one thing on your rider for the rest of your musical career, what would it be?

Richard: Dinner

Linn: I can be scary to hang around if I’m not fed. 

Tea or coffee?

Richard: Coffee

Linn: Same. (Preferably light roast)

Thanks!

Linn: Thank you for a very nice and different interview, giving us the chance to go a bit more nerdy than usual!

Photos by Arne Frøkedal, Johanne Nyborg and Misty Coast

TTSSFU

Manchester-based TTSSFU are great. Big melodies with enough dreamy weirdness to keep things interesting. Anyway, I sent some questions to the TTSSFU Bandcamp page, and here are the answers I got back:

Is TTSSFU just you or is there someone else?

TTSSFU is all me , I record everything alone , write everything alone, mix and master everything alone  because I’m a complete control freak ,plus when you're alone you can make all sorts of strange noises and no one bats an eye , I get embarrassed super easily so a studio is kinda my nightmare .

Do you ever play live? If so, what's the line up?

I just officially got a band together , I’ve stolen basically the whole of Diekiedie , paddy Murphy guitar , reuben haycocks bass , matt deacon synth , Dylan jumpy drums , I’ve known these guys for a while now and trust them a-lot its been a bi push for me to get in a practise room and start this for live , paddy was the one who’s really pushed me to do it and I’m glad because its made me very happy , happier than I thought so i'll be doing shows soon.

You’ve released a lot of new music in the past couple of years. How often do you record stuff?

I record stuff every other day , I write pretty much everyday. I hear ideas in my head all day. I just love music so much to be honest it's probably one of the only 5 things I do like , it's annoying not being able to be a slob and just sit recording ideas all day .

Do you record at home or in a studio?

Home , studio NEVER 

Boring gear question: What guitars, amps, pedals do you use?

I use my dads old fender squire that he gifted me for most the recorded work , and pedal wise I actually just use presets on garage band and fuck around with them until its right to me , live I use holy grail pedal and this £20 behringer awesome “ultra metal “ pedal its fantastic everyone should buy one.

Any plans to release a full length album?

Ep coming out soon , that's 7 tracks ? I've also recorded more stuff to come out after that , there's so many songs but I just grew out of them. I literally have 3 albums, maybe 4 of unreleased shit .

How do you decide which songs to put on Bandcamp vs the usual streaming platforms?

Well if projects don’t stick together and something goes wrong (to me ) they just end up nothing , there was a album “Jesus dream “ that rememebr, California basically all the singles on Spotify was leading up to but I got bored and started releasing for the upcoming EP and now I’ve fucked up the schedule so they just end up on band camp or YouTube , I really care about all the songs so it sucks ass but oh well .

Any reason why there aren’t any physical releases of your music?

Laziness? I guess , I’ve been making to make some cds , I did in fact make a physical cd for Alex g when I met him , he’s the only person currently to have a physical TTSSFU EP and the one he has is Jesus dream which I was on about above ahahahah .

I love the slide guitars on Jed and Yeah Yeah I Do. Any special tricks to getting them to sound so good?

The cheap studio amp preset , with a delay and silver reverb does the trick.

Is that some kind of flanger are you using on the main guitar in Growing Older?

Again it's just one of the presets on garage band for growing older.

At All is one of my favourite songs from the past year. How did you write and record it?  

At all is a pretty ridiculous song , it was about this person I had a crush on for a while and one night we finally got together and i was obsessed with the idea of this thing maybe becoming something then I found out he had another girlfriend lined up so he never cared “at all “ and then I realised I actually didn’t care that much , also I didn’t actually have photos of him on my wall I’m not that weird but it sounded better then saying “I scrolled through your instagram wall” .

Songs like At All and Yeah Yeah I Do have a kind of 60’s melody. Any favourite music from that period? 

I love the beach boys a-lot they are in my top 5 favourite bands , I like the velvet underground a-lot too , and i listen to a lot of French music too , I love the film the dreamers and it has this incredible song on the sound track called “love me , please love me “ by Micheal Polnareff , I’m heavily inspired by stuff like that I love the desperation of it .

Do you use the same keyboard for everything from the organ sound of At All to piano of Remember?

Nope , the organ sound in at all is played on this Casio keyboard my sister to for Christmas when she was like 12 , it was useless for years till I figured out it had the classic Casio sounds and a output ( incredible ) , and the piano on remember is a garage band preset mixed with reverb to make it sound more full and it's a behringer midi keyboard I think it's like £60 or something I bought it thinking it was a synth but I wasn’t disappointed . 

How did you get the nightmare strings sound on Palms?

Again messing with loads of presets they have so many on garageband it's incredible what you can do for free .

Do you ever play some of the most ‘ghostly’ songs like Slips live? If so, how do you do it?

I've been planning on doing slips live when I finally do a show but I doubt it will sound anything like the original track , it is what it is .

How do you ’slow’ your tracks down like with In My Pocket?

I put them in iMovie hahaha just to mess around , sometimes I prefer them slow to the original.

Did you record songs like Little Flea to a click track or did you just go for it?

Just go for it , lack of knowledge on how to record a track without drum structure 

Was it harder to cover Nirvana or Alex Cameron?

Alex Cameron I suppose , I don’t have enough attitude or sex appeal to create what he does on his tracks .

What’s the best place to play in Manchester?

I've played around a lot with my other band Duvet , I think my favourite venue has to be the pink room in yes bar , either that or band on the wall.

Reverb or delay?

Reverb ! But recently I’ve loved a slap delay.

If you had to donate all future millions of your Bandcamp revenues to charity, which charity would you pick? 

Super hard to pick , but I really care about the homeless , because its fucking horrendous thats still going on.

What is the most tedious thing about being a musician - other than doing really long interviews?

Waiting to go on stage if you're the headline act, it's so annoying having to sit and not be able to let loose , you can't really do much , can't drink too much , cant eat too much or you'll feel sick , it's boring but exciting I suppose the adrenaline is there.

Hula Hoops or Quavers?

Quavers : )

NECROMOON

I got hooked on Necromoon the first time that I heard their song ‘Sleepwalk’. However, there's not a lot of information about the band online. So I sought to remedy that by emailing Necromoon and asking them a bunch of questions that range between the obvious and the inane:

Can you let me know the names of the people in the band?

Tessa Brumbeloe, James Wadsworth, Connor Corwin.

What other bands are you in?

James- Swell Time, Thinning, Meat Flowers, Loomspore, and Sundog. Tessa- Soul Crushr. And Connor is- Thinning, Quiet/Creator, and Thumbrider.

The internet tells me that you based in Fort Wayne. What’s Fort Wayne like? Best things/worst things?

Best thing is a supportive art community. Worse thing is Sweetwater. 

Where do you practice, how often and what’s your practice space like?

We practice in Connor’s room, usually twice a week, it’s a band house so there’s constant music going on. It took us a while to figure out the setup of the space but once we found it, we were locked in. 

How do you write your songs? Alone, jamming etc?

I think it varies from time to time, song to song, album to album. One of us will bring something or we’ll all do something together. This album in particular is a lot of collaborative efforts. We were all feeling pretty confident in ourselves in terms of playing. So there’s a lot more that sticks out then stuff in the past. You get better moving forward, but have to kind of have a lid on it that way it isn’t just incoherent nonsense. -Connor

Do you demo your songs before you go in and record them?

Not really, we just rehearse them. We get phone recordings, if that means anything.

Do you mostly play around Indiana? Where’s the furthest away you’ve played?

Furthest is NYC. We actually play Ohio and Michigan more than Indiana actually.

Can you tell me what guitars, amps, and drums you usually use for recording and live?

For live stuff Tessa and Connor use a bunch of pedals, Tessa uses a Vox AC15C2, and Connor uses an older Hot Rod III. Guitars vary from time to time, same with drums. For recording, with this record in particular, Tessa used a JC120 a majority of the time. Connor used a lot of different heads, leaning towards a MIG 50 and an Ampeg Gemini 2. James used the house drums at Earth Analog, it was an older Ludwig set. 

Each of your albums feels fairly different. Do you have a plan of what kind of album you want to make before you record it?

We let the songs come to us. We’ll go in with 12 songs, and maybe come out with 10.  It just depends.

It feels like delay and reverb are a big part of your sound. What are your favourite devices for this?

Behringer Digital Reverb. We swear by those things. Lots of Walrus pedals, lots of EarthQuaker. We’re not incredibly picky. We’re just picky enough. 

When you record, do you play live as a band or overdub each part?

We usually do drums first, bass second, guitars after, etc. Rarely will we do something live.

How many vocal takes do you usually do?

On average like 4 or 5? Depending on the song. 

What are your preferred stimulants/snacks for recording sessions?

Fresh pots, caffeinated sparkling water, jugs of wine, the ganj.

Where did you record I'm So Lucky To Die Here and who recorded it?

We recorded it with our old guitar player, Will Heingartner. We did it in his basement.

What is that keyboard sound on Yuki Onna?

It’s an old Casio preset.

I love the acoustic feel of tracks like Cast and Flowers and Sleepwalk. Any plans for more rootsy songs or are you just going to keep blasting off into oblivion?

There’s acoustic hidden everywhere in Nature Makes Our Graves For Us. Most songs start out on acoustic guitars. But it just depends on what we’re feeling.

Your track ‘Onism’ sounds like a backwards something. What is it?

It’s the chorus of “Sleepwalk” reversed.

‘Warren’ and ‘Mermaid’ were released as stand-alone singles? Any other rare tracks that I’m missing?

There might be a few.

The album Spirit Fair rocks hard. How did you record it?

Also a basement. With Matt Riefler. Lots of heartache, weed, Ace Ventura, Parasyte. It was serious.

I detect some Black Sabbath love on some songs from Spirit Fair like the title track and Exister. Did/do you worship at the shrine of metal?

That’s a big 10-4. We’re all fingers on the hand of doom.

Speaking of metal, what are your preferred distortion pedals/fuzzboxes?

Russian muffs and oddball fuzz pedals. We like the fuller fuzz as the to the shrill.

Boring question but do you use standard tunings? Exister sounds different somehow…

We’ve used a couple different tunings, but Exister is in standard.

Nice clunky bass tone on Night Dreams. Can you remember how you did that?

It’s an analog delay through a pushed Neve preamp.

I think that your latest album - Nature Makes Our Graves For Us - is the most ‘far-out’ in terms of song structure. Do you use wall charts, visual cues, memory or just jam it out?

We do all of that. Whatever feels good, whatever needs to happen. James is especially good at remembering structures and queues.

Where did you record Nature Makes Our Graves For Us?

Earth Analog Studios.

Do you ever succumb to using a click-track for things like the start of Glowing One and Ritual?

We always use a click. Actually the end of Glowing One is a live take. 

Songs like Shoshana almost have a mystical feel. Would you describe yourselves as spiritual beings?

Tessa believes in ghosts. James is a spider. You do the math. 

 How do you get that cool mushy vocal sound on songs like It Was So Good To See You?

Vocal saturation.

The weird echo effect on the big drum in Glowing One messes with my mind. How did you do this?

There’s multiple drummers on the track. Sprinkled with secret sauce.

Nice flanger on Waylaid. What kind of flanger was it?

That’s actually just a fuzz through a JC120.

As far as I can tell, you don’t have any physical music to buy. Any reason?

We just have CDs for now. We’re working on getting more physical media.

Any dream recording studios you like to record at, or producers/engineers?

Honestly we hit our dream stuff at Earth Analog with Zac Montez. But like in a crazy world, probably Brian Eno or Nigel Godrich. 

Would you ever do a live album?

Yeah if the opportunity presented itself. 

Burritos or tacos?

Depends on the day. James is a strong advocate for tacos.

Cats or dogs?

James is cats. Tessa and Connor are team both.

Art or science?

Both.

Pink Floyd or The Doors?

Pink Floyd. Tessa has a Doors tattoo though.

THE BEVIS FROND

I think that The Bevis Frond could be my favourite English band for the past 50 years. So I asked the head Frond - Nick Saloman - some questions about songwriting, studios and sandwiches:

What is that weird pointy guitar you play live? Any other guitars feature heavily on Bevis Frond records past and present?

It’s a Burns Flyte from the mid 70s. Burns were trying to make a comeback and came up with some ‘modern’ designs. The Scorpion, The Flyte and another I think. I used to use an Epiphone 227, which I still have, and also a Fender Jaguar which I had on loan for 22 years until the guy who loaned it to me asked for it back. 

Your dual Carlsbro Stingray amp set up is great, why do you use two heads?

I don’t. They are old temperamental amps which sometimes go a bit mad, so I always have a second one ready in case I need to change them over.

What is the delay unit you use live?

It’s an old JHS box. I got it from an electrics shop in Shepherds Bush many years ago.

I saw that you play through a Marshall Guvnor, a wah pedal and a Boss tuner. What extra pedals feature on Bevis Frond recordings?

Not many really. I have a re-issue Univibe, but I don’t use it much.

This is a boring question, but do you ever alternative tunings? 

Hardly ever. I dropped the G to an F# on ‘God Speed You To Earth’, but that’s as daring as I’ve ever got!

I believe that the new record features your live line-up. How live are the recordings you do with the band? All live, vocals later, overdubbed separately?

Yes, we recorded the band doing all the backing tracks live, and then overdubbed solos and vocals.

Where did you record Little Eden? kind of reminds me of Ragged Glory for some reason. I love how unfucked-with it sounds...

I recorded it at my mate Dave Palmer’s studio in Bexhill On Sea. He’s got a nice, well equipped live room, and he’s a fantastic engineer. He kind of knows how I like to do things and pretty much just gets the sounds I’m looking for.

For Little Eden, I think you did the drums right? Did you record the drums to a click? 

I actually recorded the guide guitar to a click, and then added the drums later.

If you did the drums for Dreams of Flying, how did you know when to start, stop etc? 

I did indeed do the drums. Well, like I said, the track was pretty much finished when I did the drums, so it was kind of obvious where to put them. I’m not a very good drummer (as you must realize), so I try to make it as simple as I can for myself.

What are all of the notes that Dave the drummer uses live?

I have no idea. They’re probably his drum charts I guess. He’s very particular.

How many days does it normally take you to record these massive albums?

This album I did on my own, so obviously it took a bit longer than usual because I was playing all the instruments. I’d say that if I record a double epic with the band it usually takes about 6-7 days to lay everything down, and then probably about a week or so to do the mixes. So I’d say roughly a fortnight, but maybe slightly less. However, I’m kind of unusual in that I know exactly what we’re going to do in advance, and there’s no messing around. I mean I’m not a sergeant major, and everyone can have a bit of time for a drink or a sandwich, but I like to plough straight through with as few stops as possible. I usually go in with the rhythm section and record live backing tracks which will take about 2 days. Then I spend a couple more days with just me & Paul Simmons laying down lead guitars and organs etc, and then another couple of days on my own doing the vocals. Hopefully, that should do it. Obviously, if it doesn’t sound right then, I’ll keep working till it does, but it never takes very long. Mixing is usually quite quick. Once I’ve got a good sound going, I’ll tend to use it for the entire album, and then it’s easier to adapt each song to its own needs.

What was your home recording set up in Walthamstow? i.e. How did you record drums at home without pissing off your neighbours?

It was an old 4 track Tascam 1 Portastudio, which took cassettes! Un believable (to me also) that I recorded about 4 albums on it. And I definitely did piss off my neighbours. However, I never recorded drums after about 7pm or on a Sunday. 

What has been your favourite studio to record in?

I’m not that bothered really. As long as it’s reasonably comfortable and the results are good (and it’s not too pricey) that’ll do for me. I guess Graffite in Bexhill, where I recorded the last few records, is my studio of choice at the moment. It’s nearby, the results are great, it’s very reasonably priced and Dave Palmer, who runs it, is a brilliant engineer/producer and a thoroughly nice guy. I used to record at Gold Dust in Bromley when I lived in London, and that was great too. Mark Dawson, who runs it, is a great guy and we’re still mates.

Where and when is your favourite location for writing songs?

In my living room with an acoustic guitar.

Is there any reason why you don't really do middle eights other than the songs don't need them?

I’ve never really thought about whether I do middle 8s or not. I have definitely done some, but you know, when you’re writing something it just comes out the way it does. I guess, like you suggest, it’s probably because the song sounds okay to me without one.

Can you write songs with other people around?

No, not easily. I usually write when I’m on my own. It never takes very long though. Usually no more than an hour to get a song finished. Occasionally it’ll take a bit longer, but after the songs are finished I always spend ages changing the odd word here and there.

How do you demo your songs if at all?

If a new song sounds okay when it’s completed, I’ll record it on my i-phone, bearing in mind that most songs get chucked in the bin as soon as I’ve finished them. I can always tell when a song isn’t very good, and that’s a blessing otherwise I’d have about 1000 crap songs every year instead of just about 40.

Are your albums usually made up of all new songs or are the songs taken from all over the place?

Mostly new songs, but occasionally I’ll find an old one that I never used and give it another try.

I love your twiddly solos, especially the frilly bits like in Madrigal and the intro of New River Head. Did anyone influence you in this kind of playing?

No, not really. I don’t use a pick and I’m quite into UK folk, so it might be combination of those two things. But I’m quite a melodic player, it’s not all blues licks, so that would be another contributory factor.

If Polymer Records offered £10 million for you to curate a 10-track Bevis Frond Best Of, what songs would be on it?

Blimey, so basically, what are my 10 fave Bevis songs? Well, I guess’ He’d Be a Diamond’ and ‘Lights Are Changing’ would have to be in there, as they’ve been so successful for me. I’d maybe have ‘Stay At Home Girl’, ‘Dreams Of Flying’, ‘Stoned Train Driver’, ‘Day One’, ‘Stars Burn Out’, ‘That’s Why You Need Us’, ‘Stain On The Sun’ & ‘LEB Off’ (which is going to be on the new album). But ask me tomorrow and it’ll be a different ten!

He Had You is one of the best five songs of all-time. I love the interplay between the three people in the song, kind of like She Loves You but better. How did you write this song?

I wrote it the same way as I always write. I sit down with an acoustic, strum aimlessly while singing gibberish, and if I’m lucky, I start getting a tune that I like and a few words that seem to fit. Then it’s just a case of trying to get a song out of it. Mostly, nothing happens, or I might write something that I don’t think is very good, but once in a while a song will crop up that works well. I reckon I go through this process almost every day. But I’m very fortunate to really enjoy having the ‘dreaded’ blank sheet of paper in front of me. I find it relaxing and quite exciting at the same time.

I can almost smell the characters in songs like To The Lighthouse, how fictional are they?

They’re entirely fictional, with the exception of ‘Jesus’ who was a freak who was always at gigs and festivals in the late 60s/early 70s idiot dancing frantically at the front.

House of Mountains melts my mind. How did you make that unholy guitar sound? 

Cranked up the Stingray, whacked the guitar through a few pedals turned everything up to 11, and just went for it.

What percentage of all of the songs on Bevis Frond records could you play from start to finish without making (too many) mistakes?

If I had time to run through them before, probably most of them. If I had to do it without a listen beforehand, probably about 5%. The biggest problem is remembering the lyrics, and I’m quite wordy, so there are a lot remember.

Is there a kind of song you would like to write but haven’t managed yet?

No, I don’t think so. 

What is minsmere sphagnum?

Sphagnum is a rare plant, which can be found in Suffolk by a lake called Minsmere.

Who did the illustrations on the first few albums?

They were by a very talented mate of mine called Cyke Bancroft. A great artist and also a pretty hot musician. We lost contact some years back, but he actually turned up at a Bevis gig in London last year.

What has been your most diva-esque moment of your long and illustrious career?

I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper diva-esque moment. I walked out of an interview in Germany once, when the guy started saying that I sang out of tune. That’s not really very diva-ish though is it?

Would you have rather been in Status Quo or Genesis? 

Status Quo without a doubt. They did some great psych stuff in the late 60s.

What is your favourite chord? 

Chords are all basically the same, aren’t they? As for keys, I like playing in D for the melodic stuff, and E for the more rocking stuff. But, hey, I’ve done songs in G and A too.

What is your take on rave music?

It’s not really my thing, but people seem to like it, so that’s okay with me.

What is your favourite Neil Young album?

It’s either ‘On The Beach’ or ‘After The Gold Rush’. But I really like Neil Young so now I’m thinking the first two, Harvest & Zuma should be there too.

When you are on ‘the road’ what is your preferred service station sandwich? 

I would try and avoid service station food, but if pushed I’d probably go for egg and tomato.