Questions & Answers

10 Questions For The Manic Noise Maestro Of Belgium’s Cacophonous Mindfuckers… SKISKA SKOOPER

Posted on by JL

Discover up & coming bands in 10 questions…

Belgian’s rowdy high-voltage powerhouse SKISKA SKOOPER just launched their deranged
debut album, titled UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER. Only 4 songs, including an apocalyptic
46-minutes escapade, titled ‘Introvert Party‘ as the brain-cracking closer. Either you have nasty anticommerce balls or you just hate making a boring career in music, or both of course, in order to release such an otherworldly & demonic record. Their raw racket is certainly not as shocking and alien as Lou Reed‘s Metal Music Machine but I’m sure this wicked three-piece had the same psychotic mindset as the late King Of New York when creating their anarchist pandemonium. Only, compared to Reed‘s arty farty cock-up, you
can actually listen and even lose yourself completely in Skiska Skooper‘s fucked-up, sonic disorder. Hallelujah, I really dig this mind-crashing shit! Next to Skiska Skooper‘s digital chaos Sonic Youth sound like harmonious pussies. Let’s try to find out some more about these noiseniks and talk to manic frontman Mathias. But first, to start the acquaintance properly, we will watch/hear the group’s hair-raising steamroller ‘Pink Harlot‘ right here…

Hello Mathias, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!

1/ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“We wanted to make a tribute to Siska Schoeters (note: a Belgian radio DJ) by using her name, but our violinist is quite spastic, so when trying to type in the name on Facebook,
it all went horribly wrong.”

2/ I read on your Facebook: “SKISKA SKOOPER is the musical
equivalent to a kick in the face.“ Should we be scared?
“Yes.”

3/ Your brand new debut album is titled ‘UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER’.
Who or what is that shifter?
“A shifter is the mechanism under the stage in an arena that makes everything spin around. That way all the people get a chance to look at us from our good side.”

4/ What’s the LP’s front sleeve image about?
“We tried to combine all the topics from the songs in a single image.
Failing that, we just picked the last drawing in our friendship booklet.”

5/ What the hell is going on? on last track, the 40+ minutes
‘INTROVERT PARTY’ jam?
“We tried to create the absolute radio hit. Guess we failed.”

6/ Which movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen when playing a concert?
“‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, because everything
can be a love story with a bit of imagination.”


Introvert party massacre…

7/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
“Aqua. That way when we start playing our cover of ‘Barbie Girl‘,
she can get on stage with us and sing along.”

8/ Any special rituals before going on stage for a show?
“I always drip gasoline over my guitar, so, at the highlight of the set,
when I ask people to put up their lighters, the show really gets lit.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front
door would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“John Lennon. When he opens the door, I’ll just shout “Here’s Johnny!”
and run away screaming, leaving him standing in awe.”

10/ Future plans for SKIKSA SKOOPER?
“We are about to release our greatest hits vol. 9 next month. If you’d like to pre-order it, you can always send us 5 cents and a yellow popsicle and we’ll put it in the mail for you.”

Thank you, Mathias, for the horror-ific chat.
May the road rise with SKISKA SKOOPER!


Leatherface… unmasked

Time to smash your old furniture to pieces
Here’s the accompanying soundtrack in full
Stream/buy UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER…


.
SKISKA SKOOPER: Facebook – Instagram

SKISKA SKOOPER: Facebook – Instagram

10 Questions For Belgium’s Shimmering Guitar Pop Threesome… VVYNN

Posted on by JL

Discover up & coming artists in 10 questions…

10 April 2018

vvynnnnn

From Belgium here’s VVYNN (read = win). A most promising sonic trio from the carnival
city of Aalst. “Three born-too-late Generation X’ers combining hope, fear and passion on their musical journey” claims the band. A threesome of gifted youngsters to Turn Up The Volume‘s ears, producing amplified guitar pop with a healthy dose of rousing adrenalin, balancing between Kristin Hersch‘s ardent Throwing Muses and Tanya Donelly’s starry-eyed Belly, but less polished. VVYNN’s youthful swagger is injected with passionate vocals, glimmering guitars and a vivacious, pushing rhythm engine. Before talking with Angie (vocals, guitar), Jonathan (drums) and bassist Koen let’s get in the right mood with ‘Sirens‘, an excellent cut from their newest EP…

Hello VVYNN, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…

1/ What’s the story behind the band’s name and who came up with it?
Angie: “After a long time searching for a band name we liked, I ended up googling ‘celtic names’ (don’t ask me why, I don’t know) and I was sold by the boy-name Wynn. Written in capitals it looks really good and it’s short and powerful. We ended up writing the band name with 2 V’s instead of a W because there is a hotel/resort that’s called Wynn and
they own the rights to distribute music under the name ‘Wynn‘…”

2/ When did you know: “this is how we want to sound, this is what we want to tell”?
Jonathan: “I would say that the sound comes from my experience as a guitar player, especially listening to a lot of grunge when I learned playing the guitar 14 years ago.”
Angie: “At the beginning the overall thought was ‘we want to play rock, hard but still melodic’. We’re still searching for our own signature sound.”
Jonathan: “When It comes to the lyrics, it starts with simple conversations about life.
From these conversations, we always find a good subject to write about.”
Angie: “The lyrics are all a bit dark, a lot of them are about breakups, the fear
of growing older and trying to make sense of our own little world.”

3/ The sleeve of 2016 debut EP CRUMBLE looks poppy and tasty while the tracks are quite raw and vigorous. Any secret connection between cover and music?
Angie: “No, we wanted artwork that was a bit bizarre. At that time we were thinking about shooting a video clip with a lot of food and we bought these old cookbooks with ridiculous menus and pictures of food. Claire who did the artwork just started making collages with the pictures. And that’s why the sleeve of Crumble looks like that.. but, except for the word ‘crumble’, there is no connection with the music.”
Jonathan: “I just really wanted a lobster somewhere in the design.”

4/ Second EP ‘Lux’ sounds more melodic than the first one.
A conscious decision or a natural evolution?
Jonathan: “I think this was a really natural evolution. Since Koen joined the band, it was possible to write songs with an extra layer. Before, the guitar had to play the lower and higher regions which made it almost impossible to do a guitar riff like on Sirens or the break on Shewolf. Now with a really flowing and sturdy bass it is possible to have a different approach to musical creativity.”

5/ I’m always intrigued by records’ artwork.
What is the image of LUX about?
Angie: “Fear and being trapped.”

6/ Which movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen when playing a show?
Koen: “Wow, weird question. I’d go for a David Lynch film, just for the eeriness.”
Jonathan: “Batlle Royal by director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Koushun Takami,
I just love the story. The government forcing youth to kill each other until only
one survives. It’s one against all: life sometimes feels like you’re in a free-for-all.”


Big in Japan…

7/ What’s on the stereo when driving to a gig?
Angie: “I’m not driving so I can’t choose 😉 but I guess most of the time it’s anything but rock music. I actually like to listen to pop music and do some dance moves in the car to get rid of the nerves.”
Koen: “I think we quite match in music taste so everything between jazz and rock, pop, indie. In my car you can also hear the heavier genres like hardcore. Music in my car goes from Django Reinhardt to Nasty.”
Jonathan: Mostly music we don’t play ourselves: GoGo Penguin’s new album is on repeat, Phronesis, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Snarky Puppy’s ‘We Like It Here’ is one of my favorites, Special Others, Lite. So in my case a lot of instrumental music.”

8/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
Angie:“Patti Smith. Not only for playing shows together but also
because I think she’s a really interesting person to hang out with.”
Koen: “Nothing But Thieves.”

patti
Great company…

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front
door would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
Angie: “Janis Joplin, the first queen of rock”
Koen: “Django Reinhardt or Jaques Brel.”
Jonathan: “Probably Layne Staley of Alice In Chains.
Not only for a selfie, but to have a jam maybe.”

brell
Vive La Belgique…

10/ What’s the next step for VVYNN?
“The next big step will be a full album but you’ll have to wait for that a little while!
In the mean time, we’ll be playing shows as much as we can.”

Thank you all for this interview!
May the road rise with VVYNN…

Music, maestro, please!
Here’s the LUX EP…

.
And… the CRUMMBLE EP


.
VVYNN: Facebook

10 Questions For The Charismatic Frontwoman Of… THE SPECTORS

Posted on by JL

Discover up & coming artists in 10 questions…

From Belgium here are up-and-coming pop daydreamers THE SPECTORS. This swirling
4-headed outfit just released their second longplayer, titled OOH AAH AAH. A sunlit record dominated by glimmering melodies, multi-layered guitar electricity and highly catchy choruses with frontwoman Marieke Hutsebaut‘s sensitive vox in the middle of the ecstasy. Their songwriting formula is simple, yet highly effective. Pop-ular music, ladies and gents, is about elevating tunes infiltrating the listeners’ hungry ears and putting a big smile on their faces. And that’s exactly what The Spectors do. Marieke will tell us a bit more about it all, but before starting the chat let’s get in the right mood with newest single off the album. Here’s radiating gem ‘Only You‘…

Hello Marieke, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…

1/ Is the band’s name in any way related to famous 60s
wall-of-sound producer Phil Spector?
“It is definitely related to Phil Spector. The band name follows
the ‘60s tradition of band names starting with ‘The’.”


A genial Spector from the past…

2/ This is the group’s second album, but with another line-up than the
debut LP. Is it a new start for you too, personally, Marieke, as an artist?
“In a way it is because I feel like I can really do my own thing with this new line-up.”

3/ The new longplayer’s title ‘OOH AAH AAH’ sounds jubilant,
even sensual. What’s the story behind it?
“It is based on the opening line of Borderline, one of the
songs on the album, which starts out with ‘OOH AAH AAH’.”

4/ Who did the front sleeve’s artwork and what
was the inspiration to do it the way it is?
“My dad came up with the idea for the album title and the artwork.
Some people will love it and some people will hate it. The motivation
for the album’s artwork was to shock people with its brutal simplicity.”


The magic of simplicity…

5/ Is ‘Borderline’, one of the album’s singles, about yourself, Marieke.
If so, can you share with us the emotions that led to this song?
“I wrote this song after going to London with my boyfriend at the time. I suffered from
a terrible food poisoning after eating some bad sushi. Because of that I was very weak
and tired and had to rest all the time. He thought I was boring, so he dumped me after London. It’s quite funny when you look back at it.”

6/ If the band was an animal, which one would it be?
“A flamingo. Probably because I’m in bed now and my sheets have
flamingos all over them it’s the first thing that popped into my head.”


Pretty in pink…

7/ Which movie would you pick to visualize the new album
on a big screen when playing a concert?
” ‘Neverending Story‘. It’s one of my favorite movies ever and
I think our dreamy pop songs would go very well with it.”

8/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door would
you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“I would probably never ask an artist for a selfie because I know they
already have to do that all day long. I think I’d just leave them alone
altogether and would only speak to them if they actually wanted to
speak to me.”

9/ The band that’s on top of your dream-list to do a world tour with?

10/ Future plans for THE SPECTORS?
“Playing a lot of shows and start recording
the next album as soon as possible.”

Thank you for the interview, Marieke.
May the road rise with THE SPECTORS!

Here’s OOH AAH AAH in full…

.

Album available on iTunes

THE SPECTORS: Facebook – Instagram –  Twitter

10 Questions For Manchester’s Glamorous Guitar Popsmiths – Meet… ALTAR FLOWERS

Posted on by JL

Discover thrilling artists in 10 questions…

3 April 2018

ALTAR FLOWERS are heartfelt guitar popsmiths based in that legendary sonic city of Manchester. They write heartfelt, lifelike songs about love, death and all mixed emotions
in between. Amplified musings about real emotions and human experiences, colored with a glamorous touch caused by poetic guitar lines and tempting male/female vocals here and there. Musically they bring The Human League‘s catchy electro romanticism and Pulp‘s high-quality pop songwriting to mind. After their excellent 2016 debut album i.d.s.t the band just returned with magnificent 4-track EP Performance. Time to talk. Before doing
so, with frontman (guitar/vocals) Jay Gibb, let’s get in the right mood. Here’s ‘Dead Leaves‘, the compelling opener off that fresh extended play…

Welcome Jay Gibb at Turn Up The Volume!…

1 / What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“Have you seen Batman Forever with Val Kilmer? The scene where Edward E Nigma is
coming up with his name for The Riddler… like that! We got it from a heavy metal band-name generator. We liked it in a very tongue-in-cheek way but I liked the idea that the exact same decorative flowers on an altar would oversee loads of different occasions
and celebrations like ‘love’ in marriage, baptisms, morning mass repenting, and
of course, death!”

2/ “Love.Death.Pop.” Does these three words on your Facebook-page
indicate what ALTAR FLOWERS is all about?
“In 3 words, yeah. We’re very much one extreme or the other but at the same
time working within our boundaries which is the pop element, and most bands
seem to say the opposite. Which is probably why we’re better than most.”

3/ I’m always intrigued by records’ artwork. What’s the story
behind the image on the new ‘Performance’ EP’s sleeve?
“It was very last-minute to be honest but I dig it. We spent a lot of time on another
cover that got over-complicated and smart-arsey, so in the end I just thought, fuck it,
it just needs a visual to look how it sounds. I’m very lazy like that. But no underlining meaning, no.”

4/ The band released excellent debut LP “i.s.d.t.” about two years ago.
What does the title stand for and which track is the group’s favorite?
” ‘i.D.S.t’ was written all over every wall, park bench, even carved into trees round our way in the 90’s when I was a growing up. It stands for ‘If Destroyed Still True’, haha. Like a kind of a ‘statement’ of everlasting eternal forever, ever and ever and ever love between young teens whose relationships lasted a whole 3 weeks. My favourite track is ‘So Happy‘. We played it live in a church once, it was truly, truly beautiful. One of ‘them’ moments, ha.”


.
5/ Many big bands (The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Happy Mondays etc…)
came out of Manchester. Is the city still that buzzing place for alternative music today?
“I don’t wanna sound like a dick but I wouldn’t know to be honest. So, probably not.
I don’t get out much, so, for all I know it could be absolutely buzzin ‘n’ ravin it’s fuckin
tits off. Put it this way, a promoter sent an email to us just before a gig saying summut
like “Right you guys, tonight, I want the bands to be talking and buzzing with each other from start to finish to create a party atmosphere” that probably says it all.”

6/ Which movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen when playing a concert?
“ ‘Robocop’. Part man, part machine, innit… or maybe something like
Weird Science or a John Carpenter movie. Though to be fair, he did his
own soundtrack music which was fuckin’ boss. He’d laugh at us.”


Special guest at Altar Flowers’ next gigs…

7/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
“Probably, Poison or Skid Row . One of those fun bands from the 80’s with big massive vodka swimming pools and disposable Lamborghini’s, innit. Or Elton John, I can watch
his tantrums on Youtube for hours. I’d love to wind him up, cut the heads off his flowers
or put a fake shit on his piano or summut.”


Altar Flowers’ world tour ambition…

8/ Manchester City or Manchester United?
“Man U obvs.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“Cher in the 60’s was a proper fit. I’d fancy my chances
aswell, definitely.”


Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere…

10/ Future plans for ALTAR FLOWERS?
“I feel like we’ve probably spent too much time in the studio,
so probably just to get out, and do it live a bit more and to just
be wonderful… we’d like a 2nd ep out, before the end of the year,
but we’re taking it all as it comes for now I reckon. It’s all good
in the hood at the minute.”

Thank you for this interview, Jay.
May the road rise with ALTAR FLOWERS!

Here’s new EP ‘Performance’ in full…


.
ALTAR FLOWERS: Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
Debut album ‘i.d.s.t.”: stream on Bandcamp


Love.Death.Pop.

(promo photos received via band)

10 Questions For Steamy Synths Punks… KUDZU

Posted on by JL

Discover up and coming artists in 10 questions…

From Springfield, Missouri here’s… KUDZU

KUDZU is a steamy two-piece engine. Mark Gillenwaters (vocals and guitar) and Seth Goodwin (vocals, synth, and drum programming) produce hectic-synths-punk-firework
that is both mind-blowing and sticky as top glue. The duo just released their new album DEFEATED. A fulminating 9-track fireball of electronic pandemonium. Thrashy, resounding and head-twisting. A couple of dreamy, reflective songs give you here and there time to reload your batteries and dive in again. An overall cutting achievement. Enough reasons
to have a chat. Let’s start the acquaintance with Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite smack on the LP. Fasten your seatbelts ’cause here comes ‘Burn Yourself‘…

.
Hello Kudzu, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…

1 / What’s the band’s name about?
“It’s an Asian vine that is invasive to the United States’ south. It was sold as a way to stop soil erosion, but it grows really fast and climbs houses, trees, shrubs, anything and kills any plants by shading them. It’s pretty shitty in the states but also it looks cool written down and we like short snappy names for things.”

2/ When did you know: ‘this is how we want to sound,
this is what we want to tell the world’?
“It was a process of trying a lot of different things and settling on something that felt true as our voice. We settled into post punk and synth pop and for inspiration for lyrics from personal experience.”

3/ Brand new, explosive album is titled ‘DEFEATED’. Who’s the beaten party?
“It’s probably us, or everybody. We tossed a few different ideas around that I can’t remember but ‘Defeated’ so perfectly describes the vibe we got from touring the
States in 2017. Everyone was in kind of a daze after the election and it was strange
seeing different communities deal with the consequences of having a reality tv star
for president.”


“America: you’re defeated”…

4/ Which song would you pick as your signature track so far?
“‘No Backbone‘. It was one of the first songs we wrote and kinda set
the pace for all the others.”

https://soundcloud.com/kudzu-kudzu/no-backbone
.
5/ If KUDZU was a politician who would it be and why?
“Probably Stubbs the Cat aka ‘Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska‘.”

6/ What movie would you pick to visualize the new album
on a big screen on stage when playing a show?
“I’ve been meaning to rewatch Pink Flamingos so I’d have to go with that.
The only downside is we wouldn’t be able to hear all the fantastic writing.”

7/ Whether The Simpsons live in your hometown – Springfield, Missouri – or not,
tell us who your favorite character is in the series.
“I think Matt Groening based Springfield off of a town in Oregon but I totally thought it was the same place as growing up. I’ll go for Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure. Phil Hartman really made both of those characters hilarious and it doesn’t hurt that the show had some of its best writers when he was on the show.”


Attorney at law Lionel Hutz delighted with Kudzu’s love”

8/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
“Hannibal Buress.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“Arthur Brown, seems like he’d take a good selfie.”


Arthur’s on fire…

10/ Future plans for the band?
“A music video for ‘No Backbone‘ is in the works and a slew of
shows/small tours. Maybe we’ll finish another album soon too…”

Thanks for the chat guys.
May the road rise with KUDZU…

DEFEATED in full right here…


Album available on Bandcamp

KUDZU: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

(promo photo on top received via band)

10 Questions About ’88 Tuned Piano Dreams’ For All-Around Composer And Multifaceted Musician… GARETH SAGER

Posted on by JL

Discover thrilling music and its maker(s) in 10 questions…

From Edinburg, Scotland here’s multi-instrumentalist/composer/songwriter GARETH SAGER

First things first: this is no interview about Gareth Sager‘s post-punk-funk achievements with Bristol legends The Pop Group, nor about his other, early 80s, avant-garde adventure Rip Rig + Panic featuring a young Neneh Cherry. No, this interview is about mister Sager‘s classical solo album that Turn Up The Volume discovered during last Christmas fake jingle bells business days. A transcendent, gracious and overall unwinding piano longplayer titled 88 TUNED DREAMS that feels like a mind-massage every single time I play(ed) it.
Let’s start this Q & A with one of the highlights off the LP to put us in the right mood to
talk with the author afterwards…

Hello Gareth Sager, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…

1 / How different is Gareth Sager, The Pop Group’s guitarist, from
the musician that made a classical piano record last year?
“I’m pretty much the same guy, it’s just using different colours of sound to express different emotions. It is a pity the world feels the need to enforce classification. It encourages people to narrow down what they listen to. I hope most folk find music
they can enjoy in all categories. For me with rock music I tend to need to play with
a really great drummer, the whole thing rides on the drummer!”

2/ Your fascination for classical music goes a whole time back. What inspired you to make the gracious ‘88 TUNED DREAMS’ album so many years later?
“Yes I have been playing the piano since I was 6, so I have always written stuff at the piano. I built up enough pieces that stood on their own as solo compositions rather than songs. There are actually a lot of pieces recorded that didn’t make it onto the LP. I just had this amazing opportunity to record in Studio One, Abbey Road on the great piano there.”

3/ The LP’s cover intrigues me. If Keith Moon was still alive I would have thought that he threw a burning piano out of his hotel window. Why this image?
“I always like images that express being in the moment and a burning piano falling
from a tall building is a perfect way of expressing this. It’s the moment we’re living in!”

4/ I’m counting 14 tracks yet the record’s title reads: ’88 TUNED DREAMS’.
What and/or who inspired you to name the album that way?
“There are 88 keys on a full-sized piano and the piano has been called
88 tuned drums by jazz musicians.”

5/ The longplayer was recorded in the legendary Abbey Road studios. Didn’t that stimulate you to do some Beatlesque piano sequences and what was the overall feeling to work and play in that monumental place?
“It was totally fantastic, the biggest studio in Europe with me on my own at one of the best pianos in Europe. Though I didn’t let the ghosts of the past creep into my mind and didn’t let any of the magnificent histories of the studio affect me. I just got on with it!”

.

6/ If you had the opportunity, which movie would you pick to visualize your
tuned dreams on a big screen, behind you, when playing the LP?


“Orphée by Jean Cocteau”

7/ Suppose you can take ‘1’ classic and ‘1’ rock album with you
to an uninhabited island, which ones would you choose and why?
“Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony because there’s so much going on
and ‘The Last Second of Normal Time’ by C.C.Sager because
there’s so much going on!”


Another Sager side …

8/ If you could travel in time which classic master would you transfer to the
present to play a grand concert with in the ‘Royal Albert Hall’ in London?
“Franz Liszt or Duke Ellington.”

9/ Frank Zappa or Beethoven?
“Beethoven. I prefer interviews with Zappa,
apart from his work with Captain Beefheart!”

10/ What comes next, Gareth? The Pop Group, more tuned dreams
or do you have other plans?
“I am about to release a trash rock LP called ‘Juicy Rivers’ by Gareth Sager and the Hungry Ghosts and then there is a second LP recorded at Abbey Road with a quartet of tenor sax, cello and bass. The logical thing would be to put the latter LP out now after ’88 Tuned Dreams’. The folk that got into ’88 Tuned Dreams’ will possibly find the trash rock LP a
lot heavier! But luckily I just like good music and I’m not that logical!”

Thank you for this interview, mister Sager…

Sit down, folk, dim the lights, relax,
here are 88 Tuned Dreams…


.
GARETH SAGER: Twitter – Spotify – Bandcamp


Tuned passion…

(promo photos – received via Gareth)

10 Split Questions For Punk Misfits ‘CHUPA CABRA’ And ‘NO FRIENDZ’ – Smashing Split Album Out Now!…

Posted on by JL

Discover up and coming bands in 10 questions…

Here are two punk-spirited desperado bands, respectively from North Wales and
East Of England. CHUPA CABRA and NO FRIENDZ are sexually ambiguous trash
rockers with the right DIY attitude and a middle finger for the establishment.
Confused but confident youngsters who picked up a guitar and formed a band
to scream out their frustrations and burning anger. They’re here to entertain you
and themselves with shattering uppercuts and crazed stories. Imagine outlaws
Fat White Family‘s confrontational spirit and The Fall‘s sonic chaos. HELL YEAH!

Last Friday these rackety cowboys released a split longplayer (6 songs each) via Thrashmouth Records. A hefty powerhouse of a record packed with loud and
clear eruptions from both sides. Intoxicating riffage, nasty hooks, explicit lyrics,
bluesy reflections here & there and tons of scream-along choruses. It feels like
both bands have the same mission: survive this mad world with a grin on their
faces. Let’s have a closer look at these two up and coming gangs with 10 split Q’s…

From North-Wales welcome… Tayt, Nathan and Hayden from CHUPA CABRA

1/ What the hell is the band’s name about?
Tayt: ” When I was a young boy, I went to visit my brother in Argentina whilst he was on
his gap year and I was viciously mauled by the legendary chupacabra. The band is a mere homage to my many, many years of work researching the chupacabra.”


The legendary goat-sucker creature called ‘chupacabra’. Reported to live in the Americas…

2/ Who’s King Leech?
Nathan: “All of the people in my songs are you.”
Hayden: “Some bastard. The lord of slugs. The baron of all worms.”

Here’s the king of slugs…

3/ Who came up with the idea to split an album with another band?
Nathan: “Well it was Luke at Trashmouth Records really. It’s a thing they used to do back
in the day, split records and that. You still get a lot of split singles but Trashmouth have brought back the split record. We think its dead cool, good way for both us honorable friendz in No Friendz to get stuff out there. Big ups Liam and Luke, vive la France.”

4/ Who’s the guy on the cover of the album?
Hayden: “All of the people on the cover of the album are you. Nah, we don’t know. We work closely with Datamosh, they do all our graphics/visuals and we’ve done a few events with them. We played their exhibition, there was a huge wall made from cardboard and hazard tape, we played behind it and through the course of the set it was cut apart by men in lab coats and stapled to the gallery walls. There was a dude there watching a plant all night. The plant was on wheels. Weird stuff. They did the video too, check it out.”
Nathan: “They’re really cool guys, Paul and Guy from Datamosh. Paul looks like all things must pass era George Harrison, cool.”

5/ If the band was a horror movie which one would it be?
Hayden: “Rubber. The protagonist is a tyre. A masterpiece.”

And from Cambridgeshire, East Of England here are… NO FRIENDZ

1/ Are the band members no friends or does the band has no friends or both?
“……………………………….” (no answer, no idea why. Whatever next please)

2/ ‘Ballad’s chorus goes like ‘I’m useless, I’m a mess’. Is that why you formed a band?
Angus: “I formed a band because it’s better than getting a worthless degree and to fall into the 9-5 doledrum. I’m broke and homeless, but I’m in charge. Call me naive cause it’s true.”

3/ Your songs on the LP come after Chupa Cabra’s songs.
Did they win the toss?
“Wasn’t my decision mate. Conspiracy.”

4/ Will you do split gigs with Chupa Cabra too in the future?
“Dunno really. Quite hard considering we live 200 plus miles away from each other.
Up to the ingenuity of promoters. I’m usually busy trying to buy Morley’s.”

5/ If the band was a war movie which one would it be?

Thanks Chupa Cabra & No Friendz for the split chat.
May the road rise with your earsplitting hullabaloo…

Split LP out now! Stream/purchase right here…


.
CHUPA CABRA: Facebook
NO FRIENDZ: Facebook
TRASHMOUTH RECORDS: Facebook

10 Questions For A Kaleidoscopic Psychedelia Gruppo Without Frontiers – Here’s… JUJU

Posted on by JL

Discover thrilling artists in 10 questions…

From the beautiful city of Palermo in Italy, here’s… JUJU

juju

Experienced and eclectic singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist GIOELE VALENTI
is the ingenious mastermind behind spellbinding psych collective JUJU. Valenti is not
only an exquisite musician but also a fascinating, broad-minded human being with
a multicolored vision on mankind’s past, present and future. The way he combines
astonishing soundscapes with profound reflections on our troubled planet is nothing
less than remarkable. Last year Juju released OUR MOTHER WAS A PLANT LP. A trippy
work of transcendent vibrations. From cinematic Pink Floyd echoes to Hawkind‘s spacey escapades and some king-sized Massive Attack jams in between. After seeing/meeting signor Valenti last month in my hometown Ghent (Belgium) where the band played an impressive set we got in touch for this interview. Let’s start the acquaintance first with
one of the highlights of the LP…


.
Welcome Gioele at Turn Up The Volume!…

1/ You were in several bands before, Gioele. When and why
did you start the JuJu project ?
“Back in 2015. The reason is always the same, I think: to make music without frontiers.
In this case, I just wanted to say something on the migration of masses we’re facing in this
particular historical moment. Sicily is one of the poles of the crisis, in the Mediterranean, we have been defined as the ‘gate of Europe‘… a term with a very ambiguous semantic value, because it could conceal a discharge of responsibility from a political point of view. Anyway, I think that migration of bodies, languages, symbols are a very fertile soil
for an artist’s imagination.”

2/ What’s the story behind the project’s name?
“Juju is a West African word. It refers to a system of belief. JuJu can be a spell, can be incorporated objects, amulets… It sounds good, with its powerful witchy meaning. I love playing with symbols.”

3/ When did you know “this is how I want to sound, this is
what I want to tell the world”?
“Mmm, it’s quite hard. Riding on a highway with God as co-pilot, facing the hell of passion and the transcendence of a free-form spirit. I’m a songwriter, and I’m a drop in an ocean, so I’m just following the path of my predecessors, with a light in my head and an abyss of shadows behind. Sorry, I know it may sound a little naïve, but I cannot define myself better than this.”

4/ Only two months in the new year and I already saw two great Italian bands play Belgium (Secret Sight and JuJu) and I interviewed two (The Bankrobber and Japan Suicide). Is that a coincidence or is a new Italian wave on its way to conquer Europe?
“When I hear “conquer” I’m scared. It has to do with a tradition with which we have
to break. I feel closer to the spirit of Renaissance. Sweetness, otherness proposal, brotherhood in the beauty. As an Italian, I can only claim an aesthetic supremacy
over the pettiness of politics. Anyway, it’s great to see great Italian bands around,
sure.”

5/ Which song would you pick as Juju’s signature track?
“‘In A Ghetto’, I think. It’s the one with my friend Capra Informis from Goat at the djembé.
I think it incorporates all the magic I’m just trying to express with JuJu. I hear on that track the feminine power of soil and a mood that is close to a Mercurial point of view. The transformation is the point. We are all living in a ghetto, in a way. Call it drugs, sex, technology… we are not free as human beings. It’s sad.”

6/ What’s the story behind the album’s title ‘Our Mother Was A Plant’ and how is it related to the music and to the image on the LP’s front sleeve?
“I was reading a lot of beat literature. I love the lysergic aspects of life, and I think that we should demonstrate more respect for plants… they are very ancient beings, more powerful than we think. The relation with the cover instead is more subtle. If we’d be able to expand our consciousness over a routine world, we would find a deep connection. No separation, no sexism, no racism, in a word brotherhood. There’s a Maya greeting called ‘In Lak’ech’, it means ‘I am another yourself‘. The ‘A Chosen Few’ was the first motorcycle club made by black people. They opened to white people. I think that is a very successful experiment of integration. Al those meanings mixed together make sense to me. Tout se tient, they say in France.”


Artwork album…

7/ JuJu’s music covers a whole range of psychedelic genres and is influenced by several decades of mind-expanding music. Is it also a reflection of your private record collection?
“Definitely. I love music and I live through rhythm. JuJu is a tribute to the great music
I have grown up with. From Mozart to Joy Division, Tom Waits, John Zorn, Dead Kennedys, Misfits, Billy Idol, The Cure, Janis Joplin, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Telescopes, Procol Harum, The Doors, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Angelo Branduardi, Ligeti, Ennio Morricone, Grieg
and so on and on…”

8/ What movie would you pick to visualize JuJu’s music on
a big screen on stage when playing a show?
“Lord Of The Flies, 1963. The human being is flexible and adaptable.
The deepest fears are the same everywhere.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The hard part would
be to explain the concept of a ‘selfie‘ to the master of portraits!”


Selfie-portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

10/ Plans for 2018?
“I’m desperately planning to not make plans! As Woody Allen
once said:’If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.'”

Many thanks for this highly interesting and rich interview, Gioele!
Mat the road rise with you and Juju…


.
JUJU: Facebook –  Twitter

(concert pics by TUTV!)

10 Questions For Biblical Sound And Vision Explorers From Sweden… EYEMOUTH

Posted on by JL

Discover up and coming artists in 10 questions…

From Sweden, here’s… EYEMOUTH

EYEMOUTH is a fascinating 3-piece out of Gothenburg (Sweden) that creates mysterious goth pop magic. Atmospheric, cinematic and spiritual soundscapes that have an impact on your ears, your senses and your soul. Their richly layered symphonies are mystical, biblical and transcendental. Last November they released their debut album A NEWLY PLANTED GRAIN. An inspiring work of reflections on the meaning of humankind. An intriguing and entrancing journey. Let’s meet these sonic explorers in order to get a greater picture of their identity and their music. Here’s a highlight from their first LP to start this encounter…

Hello Eyemouth, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!

1/ When, how and why did the band form?
“Marcus and Joakim played together in another band, in Gothenburg, called Estrange, which gradually turned to other musical directions and become a very different band. In 2014 this had gone so far as to lead to the formation of the first incarnation of Eyemouth. After a couple changes member wise, and with the addition of Håkan to the band in 2016, you can call us Eyemouth M-II.”

2/ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“Marcus, who is interested in theological texts, read something about a beast with a horn with eyes like eyes from a human and a mouth speaking great things in the book of Daniel. Many seem to interpret this as the antichrist, but you could also see the whole context as a part of yourself. From that perspective, it also follows many of the themes in our songs.”

3/ When did you know “this is how want we to sound, this is
what we want to tell the world”?
“We’re always working hard to get the sounds and the atmosphere to match the tension in our songs. So I don’t know If we do have a sound. I think it shifts from time to time. We just do what feels right and what makes us get the most out of it. A red thread could be that we always seem to strive towards a more organic sound, on this album by focusing more on the dynamics between the drums and the bass. But then again, some songs are almost drone-like in their structure, so we could probably turn either way in the future.”

4/ What inspired you the most to make new album ‘A Newly Planted Grain’
and is the title a reference to a new world in the making?
“As usual many things derives from bad habits and memories, a longing for clarity together with thoughts about the childhood, the past and the fear of what´s coming. In short, the endless searching for meaning probably. It´s hard to describe things like these in detail, and I´m not sure it should be done really. But without going to much into this, much of the inspiration in these songs could be said to come from the circles of thoughts concerning guilt, death as both terror and a salvation, the urge and feeling that something can be done to fix everything, the recent death of a friend and so on. In a way, everything that happens and occurs in life is inserted in a framework of thoughts and perceptions of how I believe things are or should be.”


Striking artwork for the new album…

5/ What movie would you pick to visualize the new
album on a big screen when playing a gig?
“Maybe Tarkovsky’s Stalker would be nice. I haven’t seen it on a big screen so… would probably be standing with my back to the audience, watching the movie through the whole gig!”

6/ If the band was an animal, which one would it be?
“Don´t know really … a badger maybe? Because they´re said to never let go, ha ha ha.”

7/ What’s the signature track so far for EYEMOUTH?
“A couple of tracks from our previous EP´s comes to mind, like ‘I Remember’ and ‘The Rise Of You’. But, thinking of this more closely, maybe the song ‘From A whisper To A Scream’ from our new album is a much better choice. It kind of merges our former sounds
with our new ones, and it feels like it points out our direction onwards in a way too.
‘The Legacy Of Nature’ also comes to mind for the same reason.”


.
8/ How hard/easy is it to translate the record’s orchestral sound onto the stage?
“That´s a tricky one! Guess we can´t really. So when the time comes, we have to re-arrange the songs to make them more … not straightforward maybe, but in some ways more to the point and with more focus on the foundation with the drums and bass guitar in relation to the vocals. Much of the background noises and drones and such may have
to give! Then again, maybe that is all that will remain.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“Always loved Swedish artist Bo Hansson, so maybe that´s the one? But I probably would chicken out anyway, never been able to deal with my idols in anyway whatsoever.”

10/ Plans for 2018?
“We´re actually in rehearsing mode right now and are looking for gigs. At the same time, we´re talking about new songs and will be writing material for this in the near future. The mood and feeling within the band have never been better, so we´re really looking forward to see what will emerge from these slightly twisted minds of ours.”

Thank you for this interview…
May the road rise with EYEMOUTH!

A NEWLY PLANTED GRAIN in full…


.
EYEMOUTH: Website – Facebook – More Eyemouth Magic on Bandcamp

(band photos via promo pr agent – Eyemouth)

10 Questions For Italy’s Spellbinding Post Punk Force… JAPAN SUICIDE

Posted on by JL

Discover up and coming artists in 10 questions…

From Italy, here’s… JAPAN SUICIDE

JAPAN SUICIDE is an invigorating Italian collective, formed in 2010, that produces
a monumental, pitch black sound influenced by dark post-punk greats Joy Division,
The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other kindred spirits. Their new album titled SANTA SANGRE shows how this band turns their idols’ sonic vision into blood-curdling vibrations of their own. The new record feels like a sci-fi voyage into a mysterious obscure darkness. Grand compositions, spellbinding orchestrations, and symphony-like reverberations take you to another, fantastical galaxy. Enough reasons
to talk to singer/guitarist Stefano Bellerba. Let’s start first with a splendid highlight off
the new longplayer…

Hello Stefano, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!….

1/ When, how and why did the band form?
“We formed in 2010. Matteo and Leonardo were in the same high-school and we have a mutual friend Luca (the author of our artworks) who told them about me, Stefano. After some years we met Saverio. To play music is better than work and at least you get free drinks.”

2/ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“The band’s name comes from Mishima Yukio aka Kimitake Hiraoka (note TUTV: a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, film director, founder of the Tatenokai, and nationalist who committed ritual suicide in 1970)”

3/ When did you know “this is how want we to sound, this is
what we want to tell the world”?
“‘We Die In Such A Place’, our previous album, has been our first record made with awareness, while probably we still missed a real own voice. ‘Santa Sangre‘ moves to other sides than ‘We die in such a place’, and also I think that there’s something like an identity that can be recognized, maybe still in development and threatened from the roots, even
if it’s a thing that needs the people’s opinion. What I like is that in our music you can find different things, from a soundtrack to a pleasant melody to sing. And I think about how to improve all of this.”

4/ In the past two weeks I saw two excellent Italian bands play in Belgium (Secret Sight and JuJu) and I interviewed one (The Bankrobber). A coincidence or a new Italian music scene traveling around Europe?
“Well, I don’t know if we can talk about a ‘scene’, but for sure there are many bands that play the kind of music that appeals to people outside of Italy.”

5/ Which song would you pick as the band’s signature track?
“A Mood Apart (from the “‘We Die In Such A Place’ LP) ”

6/ What does the new album’s title ‘SANTA SANGRE’ actually mean?
“It means holy blood and it’s the title of a movie by Chilean filmmaker
Alejandro Jodorowsky.”

7/ In what way is the new record inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s
movie and Roberto Bolaño‘s novel 2666?
” The movie inspired Matteo to develop the aesthetic concept for the album. I think the result is a work that is dense, coloured, touching, freaking and also happy or at least eager. The lyrics of the opening track are directly related to 2666, to the movie’s scenery as well as to the novel’s idea of evil, that also inspired the tone and direction for all the lyrics.”

8/ If the band was an animal, which one would it be?
“A protist or a Schrödinger’s cat.”


Japan Suicide’s alter ego…

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door would
you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“I don’t make selfies (lol). But I would like to go out and see how certain artists work,
such as Brian Eno, Jonny Greenwood and late Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi.”

10/ Plans for 2018?
“We want to play the new album Santa Sangre live in the world
and also record some new stuff.”

Thank you Stefano for this interview,
may te road rise with JAPAN SUICIDE!

Here’s brand new album SANTA SANGRE (great artwork) in full…


Available on DiscDogs and Bandcamp

JAPAN SUICIDE: Facebook – You Tube – Twitter – Instagram