"L'OEIL ELECTRIQUE" (France) May 99
It happened close to now.
Pask, Gaze and Kazi travel a lot, play mischievous concerts, record weird albums, create "out of the ordinary" visuals, act in film shorts and compose their soundtracks. Their only concern is having fun.
"Indoor" is a new trip through their hypnotic wacky rock. Dark and delirious.Gaze : Everyone gets involved in the band according to his abilities or what he fancies. We don't question ourselves on the directions we take or the choices we make. Everything establishes itself very naturally. Double Nelson is something precise enough for us to know when we head towards the wrong direction. We don't have any rehearsal studio and that makes things a bit special. Our equipment is in our flat and we play, rehearse, and record there with headphones on. We record everything that comes to hand : a fridge, a guitar, a bass, a keyboard, a drunken friend visiting us. We're not musicians pretending to have "the right technique". Every now and then, we settle in a place where we can make the noise we want to in order to rework on the live versions of our tracks, and also use drums We continually store sound matter.
How did you work on "Indoor" ? It seems darker than your previous albums.
We began collecting stuffs during the summer 97. Then, on January 1st of this year, we transformed our flat into a studio and recorded, mixed the whole stock in 31 days. We did a lot during the nighttime, with headphones on, being very cautious not to have the floor creak when we went to the bogs. When we got fed up with it, we used to go to our local bar (we're café's addicts). It wasn't a dark way of doing things, just a claustrophobic one. And also recording at a ridiculous volume and constantly in the dark leads you to different choices than if you work with earsplitting speakers and amps. Maybe that's why this album sounds a bit gloomy. We're everything but gloomy, yet as everybody we're a bit darker at night.Since the beginning, your music is close to psychedelism. Is it intentional ?
What would be your definition of psychedelism or psychedel,Timesic music ?
Psychedelism rhymes with "getting high". From what I know, the best psychedelic bands were completely "out of it". We're not that kind. We're just suspects. The only "close to my heart" psychedelic thing would be that when listening to our music people would have physical sensations - like pupils dilating or shrinking - or would lose all their landmarks and let themselves go. Yes, in fact it would be cool if DN could generate the effects of a drug ; I don't like reality, I find it boring, desperately stagnant and built on wrong and restrictive bases. Reality is not natural to me, it freaks people out, has them wonder about stupid matters and makes them fearful.Your concerts are different from the work you do when in studio.
What instruments do you use ?
Some tracks are played with three guitars, three basses or just percussions ; we keep our arrangements on Adat. The most important to us is to generate the precise climate we have in mind. We also try and send a maximum of information for the eyes while creating a kind of parallel space-time - to be taken as it comes - without being intellectual ; we hang up canvas, put TV sets in corners, use some lights of our own and give the best we can of ourselves in short, it is very "human", full of flaws and weaknessesit's very pleasant to play at top speed.I'm surprised that you seem to have hard times to play in France !!
Let's say we encounter some difficulties, but, alright... We got out of the country in the early days and we never fought for being present around here. The people who book us in France take risks ; it's not obvious to have big audiences come to concerts. The situation is the same everywhere but, in Germany for instance, it's easier since the tickets are really cheap. It generates more inquiring minds or simply attracts people who get bored at home. Our problem with France also comes from the fact that organizers wonder when or with who they could program us. I really have the impression that this concept of giving a cohesion or a label to music nights is typically French. If you consider things this way, bands that have a personal style can't play here too much pressure. In Holland, you find yourself between a Czech violonist, a Japanese punk band, DJ's and corsican singers. There's no problem for the audience. On the contrary, people are happy to discover musicians or styles they didn't know and react cheerfully. In brief, I have the sensation that the "fan club syndrom" and the gregarious instinct are less supported abroad.Do you think that the State supports the performing arts as they deserve it ?
The State ??? What the hell has it got to do with all this ?! To me, one of the advantages of music is the opportunity to create it in total freedom. I'm almost certain that a musician who is paid for being a musician is not free in his choices. I admit that as far as I'm concerned I find it antinomical and dangerous to be paid for as an "artist". However, making money inside a structure is vital, otherwise it can't endure. Money must be reinjected and therefore implies autonomy. Without it you wouldn't be able to say "go to hell" to all the people who would like to control your creation since they support it financially. Moreover the term "performing arts" makes me quiver. I understand that "technician" can be a job, but not "musician". It would be cool to live on it but there is no sane status for the soul. At the moment the situation is absurd.How do you get by financially speaking ?
We personnally can't cope with the situation but the band is self-sufficient, able to manage itself as well as autoproduce records and videos. I don't advise anyone to follow this way if he intends to make loads of money. Then, if you ask me why we live this way let's say our life is very rich and we wouldn't like to change it for anything.
"491" (France) May 99
The non-conformist trio from Nancy is going round the country again to reinventits music once on stage. A new album "Indoor", released last month on Pandemonium and some questions for the road.
Quick chat with Pask just before departing for "the land of the Cassoulet".
Double Nelson : the desire remains intact.Have you decided to be on the road ?
Being on the road is like being wide awake.
A bit hard at the beginning but afterwards it's on until the end of the night.You live a life of nomads then ???
Not really. It's fun to break the tempo... going away, one day or the other..."Indoor", a new album made at home ?
That was our aim. We generally isolate ourselves in a totally unknown place where we compose. So here we decided to do the contrary ...After good and loyal services have you started a new sonic evolution-transition ?
Good and loyal is not right. New sonic evolution ... we do things and stuffs to keep ourselves busy. From there on the final goal remains extremely remote and that's better this way.We feel that with this new album, you have succeeded
in creating new atmospheres ?
We were sort of lost in our own apartment. Our instinct certainly led us towards new shores. We have to hope they will be welcoming, otherwise we'll be obliged to mess the place up again.Within the margins of the French scene,
isn't your music too confidentially shared or broadcasted ?
Broadcasting is a problem. Yet, we constantly try and do our best to compose hits that you would never get weary of.The leopard cannot change its spots and your live attitude is full of smiles,
extreme saturation or even kitsch ?
On stage it is difficult to have three different persons play the same music without thinking that it could be played better the next day. This makes us laugh and saturation helps us a lot.Are you going round the bend ?
Not at all. "We're somewhere at the bottom of something"Are you torn between disco-night and wrestling ?
Not much but yet they do mean something to us. We have other interests like "Starship Trooper", la mirabelle or when Nancy beats Metz 1-0.Is pleasure the key-word ?
No, desire is.You often redecorate the places where you play with huge canvas.
What is the concept behind that ?
We really like the idea of people feeling as if they were visiting us in our home.What is the part played by machines in your life, or even in your music ?
They'd do well to be as nice as possible, but generally we adapt to them.How do you feel in front of an audience composed of students "under cola"
like at that festival where I saw you?
"How exhilarating it is to discover new worlds, to tread on alien grounds"