Since I posted HLFP 04 SOUND EXPLOSIONS (which includes the song Off To Sleep Arachnid by BLEED STONE taken from the album Far From Gone) I noticed that there have been quite a lot of downloads of that first BLEED STONE album. So Off To Sleep Arachnid must surely have been one of the favourite tracks of you blog readers off HLFP 04. In fact it is one of my personal favourites...
Nostalgiac is the second release by Lucas Kane under the name BLEED STONE, and I think many people have been waiting for this one. So here it is - it's another fantastic album - enjoy!
Q: How did you record "Nostalgiac"? Still all instruments played by yourself?
A: With Nostalgiac, all of the same equipment was used as with "Far From Gone": my guitar amp through an Audix i5 microphone through a piece of shit Yamaha interface I got at a pawn shop all recorded in my room. With this album, I had the same feelings at times, writing a lot of the material thinking about my family and friends and the inevitability and incomprehensibility of death. I didn't even know what nostalgia was, I just knew it was a word that reminded me of "nautilus", which was always attractive to me because of the sea. I went to 2 funerals this year, and they were my first ever, so that has been laying heavy on my mind, but I've always been fucked up in the head from thinking about dying and not knowing what is real. Again, more imagery of the ocean and shit. There are some old songs (from before "Far From Gone") that I rerecorded and some B sides from FFG. Alot of the songs are concepts together (Aeroviaphobia+Narwhal Nausea, Opacity+Little Light Battler, etc..)I guess my feelings are always yearning for the past and dreading the future, so "Nostalgiac" seemed to fit as well. The titles for both albums could really be interchangeable because I myself am always thinking about the past and all of the sounds and concepts I have in my head and time/memories have always been a core thought in my mind (which isn't so easy to explain in words for me, moreso sounds). All of the instruments were played by myself in my room, except for the trumpet on "Aeroviaphobia" and "Tremor Wave Aside" which was played by an old friend. All of the music and lyrics were written by myself.
Q: How do you write your songs? What comes first, words or music?
My approach to this album was a bit different than the last and I think that has a lot to do with how much more crisp the production is with this album. I still have this obsession with first takes where I won't even know what I'm going to play or sing and I just play or sing whatever comes to mind at the moment and I will keep that take just for the sake of it meaning something real to me at one specific time. 90% of the takes were done this way. With some songs, I feel that writing out words and fretting and changing them can water them down and not mean at all what I was originally trying to convey. A couple of the songs and the only ones that were actually structured before recording (In Vitro and Disintegration Suicide) are songs I wrote almost a year and a half ago and was never satisfied with how they came out. I have about 5 different versions over the years of those songs and I plan on releasing a Disintegration Suicide single with a few different versions and some live versions. So again, most of the songs were written and recorded within no more than 3 days, but I spent a good 3 months mixing my ass off trying to get all of the melodies that are buried under the noises and fuzz to pop out. There just isnt a whole lot you can do when it comes to recording with $100 dollars worth of equipment; just have to do the best you can with what you have.
Q: Do you still not like to "label" your music? Would it be ok, if people call your music "psychedelic rock"?
I have never liked to label anything and therefore I never will be able to label my own music, but if I HAD to label my music, I'd still say "experimental" and "psychedelic" would be the closest to it. I just get so annoyed when we try to play shows and people automatically come up and say shit about "shoegaze" because to me, that genre has such a specific sound and I feel my music is all pretty different from song to song. I am into so much more music than just shoegaze. Don't get me wrong, I love the genre, it's just one of those genres that is so specific, it just narrows it down too much. I personally don't consider many bands worthy of being called shoegaze because I believe what My Bloody Valentine does should be by itself. When people compare Ride and Slowdive (which I love both) with MBV, it really gets under my skin because I have never heard anyone play a guitar like Kevin Shields. With "experimental" and "psychedelic" there's more room to work with, where you could have anything from Sonic Youth to 13th Floor Elevators to Stockhausen. So yes, I would be fine with "psychedelic rock" being pinned on Bleed Stone.
Q: What is "psychedelic music" for you?
Psychedelic music to me has an aural quality. I have always been attracted to swirling, panning, lush soundscapes of sound. It's just always been something that gets me off.
Q: What's your favourite track on the album? Why?
I wouldn't say there is a theme, or concept to this album, but to me, each song means something different. I'm not going to delve into much of that because I make music for myself and it's personal, but a very big influence in this album was my phobias. I seemed to have developed a bit of uneasiness in everyday life, just existing. I've developed a case of agoraphobia, claustrophobia, and (a term I made up) aeroviaphobia, which is a mix between a fear of heights and flying. I have been having lucid dreams the past few years of flying very high and then all of a sudden stalling and falling to my death. I've found I can't watch TV screens or look at pictures where it's looking over the edge of a building. All of the sampled voices on "Nostalgiac" are black box cockpit recordings I've stayed up countless nights listening to. I calculated it before, but the album has about 600 lives lost in those recordings. Disturbing to some yes, but I'm not trying to exploit. It's more of a tribute, because those people were a situation that has haunted my nightmares for years and I can't imagine how that would be in reality. This is addressed in "Aeroviaphobia". In my mind it starts off as a plane on the ground, then takes off, experiences turbulence, stalls, then crashes into the ocean, filling up with water and heading straight for the sea floor and the next song "Narwhal Nausea", I imagine a bunch of whales and porpoises swimming and playing around the plane as it plummets miles underwater. I can't say I have a favorite song because they all mean something special to me, but what sticks out the most is the last 3 minutes or so of the album, the coda at the end of "Roll Tide". It was the last thing I recorded for the album and 15 minutes before I recorded it I had just found out a good friend of mine had died. I can't listen to it without crying anymore. It's the most powerful part of the album for me.
Q: Is there some kind of "live band" or are you doing a solo gig supported by sampling when playing live?
Bleed Stone is all myself on recordings, but I have friends that help me recreate the songs live. I have played shows solo while sampling, but it's just not the same vibe as live music. I can't let go of myself like I can with a live drummer. Bleed Stone is my life and the only thing I truly care about. For the past 2 years I've been in film school, I have been wanting to get out of here and just tour and write music. I have been tinkering with the idea for years, but enough people have told me I need to focus on Bleed Stone that I'm finally going to muster up the balls to actually do it. After this semester, I plan on relocating to a more accepting area for my type of music. Right now I'm thinking Athens, Georgia; Austin, Texas; or Portland, Oregon, to name a few at the top of the list.
Q: Any future plans for Bleed Stone?
Since I finished Nostalgiac, I've not touched my electric and I've been writing all acoustic and harmonica at the moment. I've become really attached to the harmonica. I'd say the next Bleed Stone album, as of now, is looking to sound a bit different. Folk noise psych :).
Q: The last five records you bought?
My last five records I bought were:
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Neil Young - On The Beach
The Warlocks - The Mirror Explodes
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Ive been so obsessed with him lately)
Televison - Marquee Moon"
(Lucas Kane via email - Thanks for sharing your music and answering those questions!)
Favourite song: In Vitro
BLEED STONE - Nostalgiac (2009)
(mp3-zip, 11 tracks, 66 min, 171,8 MB)
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1 comment:
Nice stuff man!
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