Chatting with Crash Vegas
(Sound files below from the Aurora/Crash Vegas cd)
Comments:
Michelle: "I like it" was a complete improvisation so it's.. nerdheaven: I really "like it", but I was puzzled 'cuz you didn't choose to print the lyrics. Michelle: Yeah, I got into playing with the lyrics. And not having them scanned like follow the dot. It was more like treating them as their own entity rather than how they are printed on the page. It was like that for Scarborough where I just wrote another piece completely. Again those lyrics aren't printed either... nerdheaven: What's that sound in the song "I like it"? Michelle: It's a guitar, yeah. nerdheaven: ...there's that, there's one particular thing it's got a real crackle to it... Colin: It's a guitar. nerdheaven: And then it comes again but it doesn't come right when you expect it. (laughing) Michelle: Exactly... nerdheaven: OK, here it comes I'm ready for it this time. ;-) You have a really interesting layering of sounds and imagery. I keep on thinking of the water and then you hear this crackle and it sounds like electricity, you put the two together... Colin: That's what it was...electricity. nerdheaven: Neat. Do you see yourself experimenting more with unusual sounds? Like bringing in sounds which are not conventionally heard in music? Colin: Well, I think the approach is not calculated. A lot of it is inspired. Yet from my point of view you usually have a core. If you break a song down to the basic core, like rhythmic or rythmic and chordal and a voice...I don't necessarily have a specific plan all the time. I think we talk about things in terms of colours and moods and perhaps an instrument that might be the best at being able to communicate that. I try and be creative and create a sound that's not necessarily reminiscent of the instrument but that's maybe representative of a mood or a certain energy. Like y'know, you said it sounded like electricity, well that's what it was. And that's more what I'm interested in. Whether you use a guitar, or a drum or anything that has some sound to it. You get ideas, they're spontaneous so you try stuff. I don't always know what the sound is going to be until I'm actually in there and I'm doing it. And I go 'Oh, yeah, OK, well, um, if I do this to the amp or if I put this pedal on and I hit that button, here's what's gonna come out'. And that's a lot of what's on Aurora - stuff that wasn't preconceived. And was more about,'What d'ya think of this?' 'Whoa, that sounds great,' y'know, so... Michelle: The great thing about Colin's playing is we like to leave the sort of standard guitar-based kinda stuff, like it's not what we always wanted to be. And by virtue of the way Colin plays, he can get so many sounds that you wouldn't even know whether it's a guitar. We like to just experiment with different sounds. In 'Beguiling' for instance, I kept saying in the chorus, 'let's have something that sounds like a plane,' yknow, 'Whaaaa.' And Colin's like a 'plane?' So he went out and fooled around and eventually this sound happened that was like 'Whaaaa, boom, boom, boom boom boom,' which to me sounds like a propellor plane landing. nerdheaven: What I wonder is if you hear sounds in the everyday world and go 'That is such a neat sound. That's a sound that I gotta have...' Michelle: Completely... nerdheaven: And then you get really excited and go 'Alright, this is it, this is the inspiration' or perhaps it's not sounds. Perhaps it's something visual... Michelle: It's all of those things really... Colin: Well actually, it's all of that. I mean we have a song called 'You shine bright'...We had this impetus of a song using an acoustic guitar. It was almost like I didn't want to be 'rock guitar-guy'. I wanted to create this real supportive soundscape to the lyrics and the mood of the song - which was about light, energy, electricity and friction and all those things. So for me that track was more about trying to make the guitar be like electricity and saying, 'What does light sound like?' and that's not to sound lofty about it, but when I listen to that track now, I don't really hear electric guitar anymore. It sounds like electricity to me and light. So that's more the kind of place I like to get to with sounds. And hopefully, that's what people get from it. nerdheaven: Do you feel pressured by deadlines? Forcing creativity... Michelle: I like deadlines. There's something about them. Suddenly it's like I know that part of my process is anxiety, y'know. And then I get all freaked out. I've succumbed. There's this friend of mine that's like 'Don't worry, that's part of what you're doing,' I'm like 'Really, really?', 'cuz I always get to the point where I think 'How did I ever do anything before, I'll never do anything again. It's sorta like stalking yourself in a way, or hunting yourself, y'know... Colin: I think it definitely contributes to your being motivated. But I think it is a double-edged sword, 'cuz 'if you feel you've failed in the attempt that sorta compounds your neurosis. 'I didn't get anything I must be a pile of shit and I'm not ever gonna be good again. And then get this little seed and it's like 'Thanks god, I just got it back.' Michelle: But it's never calm. It's never like 'Sure, I'm very relaxed and I'm just writing something', y'know there is always a certain amount of (hands grabbing throat). It's like this gestation thing, whatever it is (choking sound). Colin: The process we've usually done it [songwriting] in has been relaxed. Like we'll sit and do some shit for a couple of hours. And it's like 'Oh, okay, well, let's go and eat something,' rather than 'We've got to work for six hours a day'. It's like, we get seeds of stuff that's on this record [Aurora]... Michelle: We get one seed then go and eat...(laughter) Colin: It's like you wouldn't necessarily have heard [the seed], if you listened to the song as it was in the first couple of hours of creation and then the end result. You'd go 'How did you get from there to there?' And that amazes me sometimes, but I think that I've become more trusting. I really used to worry about that stuff, like 'Oh, here's this thing, I really like it but is it actually gonna ever go anywhere?' and 'What is it going to be?' And now it's like I know when we get something it's gonna be good. It's gonna have a life, whether it'll be amazing or whatever. I'm not as anxiety-ridden. I'm not as neurotic about it all because I know.
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Scarborough (McAdorey/Cripps) (c) Round Rock Music (SOCAN)
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