The Eden House: Interview

The Duchess: York, 1st March 2012

The Eden House are a rare sort: a studio project drawing in three generations of musicians, taken out on the road and achieving much critical adulation for the debut album 'Smoke & Mirrors'. For the uninitiated, what we have here is a sound incorporating Goth, psychedelia and trip-hop, with a dash of folk, culminating in some seriously unique music. One could even call it 'progressive', but remember to mutter that one under your breath. 

Image Credit: manchesterscenewipe.co.uk

On the verge of dropping their full-length follow-up, with EP 'Timeflows' already on the shelves, here are the architects of that lovely racket – bassist Tony Pettitt [ex-Fields of the Nephilim], guitarist Stephen Carey [ex-This Burning Effigy; Adoration] and legendary Grammy-nominated producer and engineer Andy Jackson [Pink Floyd; Strawbs] – sat on makeshift benches in the less-than-glamorous loading bay behind York Duchess. “Join the club mate” says Tony, handing me a beer; as ice-breakers go it is certainly auspicious, I decline a cigarette and sit down. In truth, being sandwiched between used gym mats with cans of gassy bitter seems a happier home for the veterans than any hackneyed clichés involving willow trees and dry ice. The first in a string of UK dates, the show marks the band’s return to the stage following an eight month lay-off. 


Being back out on the road after a break, how does it feel playing gigs again?

      Tony: I’ll tell you later! No, I think that in an ideal world you’d write a load of stuff, play it live and then go and record it, but we don’t have that luxury; that said, playing live is a definite part of the creative process.

Andy: Having said that, we’re doing a new song tonight which may evolve again by the time you hear it on record. It’s very different to being in a studio; you can’t stop and talk about it when you’re play live – there’s no ‘let’s move the bridge here’.

Steve: Absolutely, the song hasn’t been recorded yet, and by the time we get to record it, it may be a little bit different to how it is now.

Tony: If you’re out on tour, doing gigs one after the other, things begin to take a new form; after three or four gigs the songs really start to come into their own. You get a sweet point after a week or so which we haven’t had a chance to do with this band yet.

Andy: The songs reveal themselves to you; doing this tour will open things up for the new material.

   

      Having worked on a lot separate projects, coming from several areas of music, what keeps you passionate about doing it?

Andy: Well, it’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on really isn’t it!

Steve: It certainly is! There are times when you’re up on stage – it’s rare, but happens a lot within this band – and you get that moment when it all locks together and something happens. You look around you and everything jumps up a gear and it connects, elevates. We’re very lucky with the singers we’ve worked with over the years, that they’re actually proper singers as opposed to the penchant for the low vocal thing.

Tony: There’s a varying degree of growliness really!

Val: For me, I enjoy singing, I enjoy writing, and the whole creative process really; the vibe you get from it is something quite special. I’ve been singing since I was very young and I always thought that was what I wanted to do.
Andy: With the first album it fluked into being all-girl vocals – there were tracks recorded with guys singing it – but it kind of happened by accident. But we’ve seized upon that, and it’s really great.

‘Timeflows’ has received universally positive reviews; everyone seems to have latched onto it pretty quickly. Were you aware of its strengths during the recording?

Tony: Because we had the opportunity to put out an EP, we thought ‘we can go really over the top’, as long as we like. To begin with, we were offered to do a 7 inch vinyl and then that turned into a 10 inch.

Steve: It quite literally went up by inches…

Tony: We worked out that if it was the length of a mini-album, we can get more out of it; more reviews, more gigs and stuff like that, you know?

Steve: It’s remarkable the way the press react to a 7 inch vinyl; it’s like a footnote, it comes out then it’s ignored. Whereas if you do an EP, it feels like it’s leading to something, and in a way it is – we pretty much have the rest of the album together.

Andy: The songs are in varying stages of completion but we’re getting there; we’ve pretty much decided what tracks are going to go on it – the EP was a good way of filling the gap before we release the next full length album.


Having a new singer with Val, are there any new directions that you’ve been exploring with the new material?

Andy: We have moved forward, but then I don’t think it was particularly conscious. ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ was a different nature of project; it was distinctly a studio project, bringing guests in, and now it’s a bit more band-oriented.

Tony: That’s it, ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ actually started off out of frustration, wanting to do something a little bit different to what we’d been doing before; it was for fun, it really was, and it’s just grown from there. Obviously now other people have got involved, different elements, and it really has taken on a life of its own.

Andy: We found Val by a fluke really; she supported us at our very first gig and it was like ‘wow, what a voice’. Val’s great because she’s so technically brilliant – she can do anything, sing anybody’s songs, and do any harmonies – so she’s a great person to work with.
Val: I actually hadn’t heard of them at that time. I got contacted to do a gig with them when they first started playing live, and a year later I was in the band permanently. It wasn’t particularly nerve-racking wirking with them, despite their calibre; I’ve collaborated with a lot of musicians before from different genres and styles, and I knew the work of the individual members, of course, I’m familiar with Pink Floyd, but then who isn’t…

Tony: After Val joined, she made us feel a bit secure in the fact that if it all went tits-up, she can always cover it. Whereas, with Evi and Amandine they’ve both got their own things going on, and with quite strong characters you never knew ‘are they gonna make this gig?’


With such a number of collaborators, is there a certain amount of push-and-pull with the song writing?

Steve: Of course there will be some ideas that you just go ‘I think you should get rid of that bit’, or ‘let’s chop up that bit’, you know?

Tony: Yeah there is, I think we’re each other’s bullshit filter!

Andy: There are no egos about it; if you play something and someone doesn’t like it then that’s fine, we’ll find something else. Or you fight your corner if you really believe in it, but nobody gets upset about it…
Val: When I write, I’ll come up with something, they’ll play to me and I will say ‘there you go’!

Steve: ...there are no pre-Madonnas, which is remarkable if you think about it; it’s actually quite painless!


How did the project come about in the first place?

Tony: It started off with Steve and I – we were both playing in NFD at the time – literally having a few smokes, a few drinks and some jams. We realised it doesn’t all have to be in-your-face 1988, 1989 Goth rehash stuff. The thing is we’ve all got different tastes in music; they meet in the middle, but are poles apart in other ways. We introduced each other to things that we grew up with.

Steve: Absolutely, I’ve learnt to love the Temptations and various other things from him [Tony] and equally there were some Cocteau Twins records that he never knew about!

Tony: Exactly, even though I was on their label; it was really weird; Steve was playing me this stuff and must have just passed me by. I love Liz Fraser’s voice, and for me the stuff she did with Massive Attack is the stuff that I love; I saw them years ago with the full line-up and it was one of the best gigs of my life. Really fantastic!


Andy, how did you first become involved in the project?

Andy: Well, I’d worked with Tony before, doing a couple of Nephilim albums; then Steve and Tony brought me ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ to master. That was the initial coming together, but then they needed a second guitarist going out live; Peter Yates [former Fields of the Nephilim] was going to do it originally, but had to pull out and for some reason they phoned me up, and it was like ‘okay, cool!’. Steve started showing me the parts and I’d play that initially.

Steve: More like, ‘this is what I think it is!’

Tony: I think as well we’re all local to each other and Andy’s sympathetic to the music we do; so it was a more-than-obvious choice. We’ve got a permanent studio set up in Steve’s house, which he’s given his rooms up for – he’s all squashed into one room now.

Andy: We did the Goldtop session to mix it, because obviously I can get the odd blag there [David Gilmour’s studio]. That was just a favour he did for me really!

       

      For Andy personally, working on the Pink Floyd remasters, has it been difficult working simultaneously with the Eden House?

Andy: Only in as much as – like everybody else – going to work and then doing something in the evening.

Steve: He says ‘like everyone else’, annoyingly, it is his day job; his 9 to 5 is going and mixing Pink Floyd.

Andy: I do appreciate that compared with most peoples’ day jobs it’s a lot more interesting but it’s still work at the end of the day.

Tony: Plus, you’ve been doing it for so many years that it’s the norm and that’s just what you do really.

Andy: You listen to it with a different part of your head, and in some ways something you never get the opportunity to do as someone who makes records is listen to it as a fan; hearing it for the first time, you never get that.

Tony: Do you know what, it’s only in the last few years that I’ve been able to go back and listen to the Nephilim’s stuff seriously and objectively. Now I can think ‘oh that’s alright’, or ‘that isn’t alright’, or ‘that goes on a bit…’

They [Fields of the Nephilim] did that gig with the Mission in October, and because I’d got pretty pally with Simon [Hinkler, the Mission] after he’d played with us, he said ‘are you going to come down to the gig?’ I didn’t want to bump into that lot and I wasn’t really interested in seeing them but I watch a couple of songs and thought they were okay; I thought I’d be really pissed off that I wasn’t up there, but I felt ‘I’ve done that’ – I didn’t feel anything. I bumped into Carl [McCoy, Fields of the Nephilim] afterwards anyway, because we hadn’t spoken in a few years, so we had a little chat and buried the hatchet right in the back of his head. No, it was actually alright, I think we’ve just got so many issues with each other that we couldn’t be bothered to talk about it, and we’ve been mates since we were young so it was good to catch up. Making those records were some of the best times of my life, not just because we had some success out of it, but I had so many laughs with them all.
     

      What can we expect from tonight’s set list?

Tony: A variety of material, some ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ stuff, a few things we haven’t recorded yet and of course something off of the new EP; we’ve tried to mix it up a bit.
Val: There will be plenty of the old stuff, and a few bits from ‘Timeflows’. There are a couple of songs in the set that either haven’t been recorded or seen the light of day yet, so there’s a lot of variety.

Andy: We’re actually at the nice stage now that when we write it all out, we’ve got to thin it down, because we’ve got more material than can fit into a set.

Steve: Obviously the first album, when we went out live, people would say ‘right, play for an hour’ and we’d think ‘but the album’s only an hour’. So it’s nice now to have some leeway with that.

Tony: There’s actually one song we’ve never played live; ‘The Beauty of Science’ with Julianne [Regan; All About Eve].

Steve: Yeah that song’s just guitar and brushes, so unless we develop that with a real feel to it, doing it live would be a bit of nightmare.

When can we expect the second album to be released?

Val: Possibly in the summer, that’s what we’re working towards. Things may change of course, but we’ve got an aim there and hopefully we can stick to it.

A Big Thank You!

Thanks to Neil Chapman [Unholy Racket] and Adam Parkin [Parkin Photography] for providing fantastic snapshots of a wonderful weekend at DV8Fest. You can follow the talents of these guys here.
Neil Chapman - http://www.facebook.com/UnholyRacket
Adam Parkin   - http://www.facebook.com/Parkinphotography?ref=ts

DV8Fest 2012: York - the Duchess, pt. 2

Image Credit: Parkin Photography

Saturday 30^th June: The Duchess

Trudging down Fossgate and man did the rain come down. The daytime market, located in National Centre for Early Music, was almost completely deserted with many of the traders sat twiddling thumbs and reapplying smudged eyeliner. The Golden Fleece – as seen on Living TV’s ‘Most Haunted’ and DV8s primary pre-show watering hole – continues to do a roaring trade. Hauled up in Pivni and sipping a draught Framboise Lambic, which is a manly drink, Berlin Black’s Chris Tuke appears relaxed, joining us for a while before heading over to sound-check. Being first on at 6.30pm ensures that only the faithful put down their glasses and wonder across the road, but Berlin Black turn in a confident, assured performance. New EP ‘It’s only Natural’ gets a good airing, and though the songs are perhaps less memorable than those from 2010s ‘Burn it Down’, there are enough hooks to get tail-feathers shaking.


Few knew what to expect from Siiiii – pronounced ‘sigh’ – who proved somewhat musically disjointed on tonight’s bill. Written of favourably by Mick Mercer during the inception in the early 80s, such patronage proved futile to many this evening. Paul Devine’s grumblings about their missing sound check are talked of more than the songs: a real shame when the likes of ‘Is Still’ and new cuts from last years ‘Modern’ have much to commend them. Younger listeners retreat to the sofas while the band climbs toward crescendos that never truly arrive, it is heavy going. Always less quixotic are Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, who have no trouble filling the venue again, despite an empty merchandise stand. Withered and chisel-faced, band leader Chris Reed remains an intense, imposing figure. Spawned from the nascent Leeds scene alongside the March Violets and Sisters of Mercy, the Lorries offer no showy gestures, just a relentless barrage of jagged, spiralling instrumentation. There is pogo-dancing aplenty as new songs fit in effortlessly with classics ‘Monkey’s on Juice’, ‘Beating my Head’ and ‘Spinning Round’. Reed’s vocals are beginning to show their age, but never buckle beneath that throbbing backline. It’s an apocalyptic vision and everything’s gone to pot, ain’t nothing to do but move with it.

Image Credit: Parkin Photography

It may be two decades since an album last graced their catalogue, but the Psychedelic Furs prove they can still cut the mustard with a muscular, driven set, bringing a burst of sunshine to the murky Duchess. Ten minutes late and faced with an increasingly impatient crowd, the Furs storm the stage with a crystalline sound. Since reforming the band in 2000, singer Richard Butler has retained his striking looks and Rod Stewart husk, visibly crackling with enthusiasm and bouncing up and down to the adulation of the crowd; he is the star of the evening and he knows it. Wrestling for the spotlight with saxophonist Miles Williams, Butler leads the band through early tunes ‘Into you like a Train’ and an extended ‘Highway Wire’ with real panache. While ‘Love my Way’ falls a little flat, a swirling ‘India’ practically ricochets from the walls, leaving enough time to gasp for air as a stomping ‘President Gas’ brings proceedings to a suitably sweaty end. Despite some mid-set hiccups and Butler’s amusing similarities to Brick Top – we blame the glasses - tonight the Furs leave their laurels at the door, a feat managed by few now resigned to the ‘heritage’ circuit.

Over on Gillygate, the Hellfire Club and Dead and Buried begin their sonic assault on the senses at Stereo, long-standing DJs Cavey Nik and Garry Hornsby crank out a veritable feast of Goth, post-punk, electro and all things in-between. New acquaintances are plentiful at these club nights: exchanging pleasantries over cups of gassy lager, or telling that bloke in the gents that ‘it’s gonna be alright’ as he evacuates his stomach lining. It’s also the only place one can pull by simply reciting lyrics to German post-punk, but that’s enough on that.

Sunday 1^st July: The Duchess

The turn-out is modest as Partly Faithful get the ball rolling for the final night of DV8 - the weather has come good and most are outside nattering, or enjoying a pint in the adjacent beer garden. Ex-Screaming Banshee Aircrew man Ed Tuke plays the role of Goth ‘n’ roll star very well, his raspy vocals pitch-perfect. ‘Needles’ makes good on their early promise, moving effortlessly from cacophonous intro to stomping Theatre of Hate grooves.

The changeover gave me the chance to mingle with some of the fans. I couldn’t resist discussing the acquisition of vintage Mission t-shirts, Bauhaus tattoos and decorated leathers – you can actually do that, with everyone welcoming and happy to indulge my wide-eyed questioning. Three-piece David R. Black have been operating under the radar for just shy of a decade, so it would be fair to say their boat has sailed, but new album ‘Secret City’ proves such notions mean said all. ‘Chimes’ and the soaring title track rub shoulders with punk riffage in ‘Guacamole’; they are eminently capable of switching gears without sacrificing their core identity. The mixed male and female vocals from guitarist David R and Sarit Black certainly add a unique polish, juxtaposing those spiky guitar shards. Well reviewed by underground and mainstream press, David R. Black sounds like Ausgang channelling the Who. Prick up your ears!



Image Credit: Neil Chapman [Unholy Racket]

Having just released their debut ‘VVV’ EP, London’s Vuvuvultures are stars in the waiting. Androgynous and photogenic, Harmony is the lovechild of Peter Murphy and Agyness Deyn, holding the crowd in the palm of her hand and belting out rockers ‘Strangler’ and ‘Pills Week’ with that wayward tornado of a voice. Rickety synths and an old Fender Mustang provide serious indie cred and a few smiles as the unruly instrument gets its second tune-up in 25 minutes. They are truly commanding, with every photographer and smartphone user scurrying forward to catch a glimpse. Plenty of specialist t-shirts stalk the floor as ex-Factory band Section 25 set up their gear. Since original singer Larry Cassidy’s passing in 2010, daughter Beth leads the band on vocals, synth and percussion. Tracks from their 1984 record ‘From the Hip’ – produced by Bernard Sumner – are the strongest, reminiscent of labelmates the Wake and bolstered by Beth Cassidy’s angelic vocals. New number ‘Will to Survive’ certainly leaves a sickly taste with its woeful greeting-card sentiments. Despite some gorgeous melodies, their aloof stage persona just does not measure up after Vuvuvultures’ ‘in your face’ antics; aside from the odd furtive glance, the band spend the majority of their set looking at each other, it feels like watching your mate’s band fumbling through cover tunes.

Tonight’s headliners need no introduction. The March Violets are triumphant, exuding confidence as they blaze through their back catalogue. Vocalists Si Denbigh and Rosie Garland command the Duchess, combining their powerful harmonies with a thoroughly British, humanising wry wit. Bass player/violinist Jo Moy keeps things solid and allows Tom Ashton’s creative guitar work room to shine. The mechanics overall is rather fitting as he welds discordant bends and early Television into ‘Crow Baby’s neo-psychedelic swirls. ‘My Demons’ makes its live debut tonight, and all signs point to splendid on the back of ‘Road of Bones’ and ‘Dandelion King’. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, Pledge Music has afforded the resurrected quartet the opportunity to record their full length debut, 30 years after their inception – quite unbelievable really, considering their pedigree and vast discography. Reaching a glorious crescendo with‘Snake Dance’, DV8Fest closes with the Violets delighting old fans, and winning new ones. Si’s Japanese monologue in ‘Tokyo Flow’ surely gave things a nudge. Though I continue to hear “last year was better” muttered in hushed tones, and will concede that attendance this year has been more modest, Sherrington’s DV8Fest continues to offer some serious bang for your buck. It’s a chance to make new friends, relive fond memories and dance like hell, all to the tune of 45 bands…with the odd takeaway chucked in.

Image Credit: Neil Chapman [Unholy Racket]

Thanks to: Neil Chapman - http://www.facebook.com/#!/UnholyRacket
                    Adam Parkin - http://www.facebook.com/#!/Parkinphotography

DV8Fest 2012: York - The Duchess, pt. 1

Now into its third consecutive year, few wagered that York’s very own DV8Fest – with its hodgepodge line-up spanning everything from trad Goth to Chap Hop, which isn’t about cricket – could amass the crowds of its two hugely successful previous events, and prove to be a hub for all things alternative. Split across three venues – the Duchess, Fibbers, and Stereo – these cobbled streets play host to four days of live music, markets and club nights; no wellingtons required, just a desire to be different.
Due to my inability to be in three places at once, this review is coming at you from the Hobgoblin Duchess stage, focusing on the roster’s more ‘pointillist’ artists (the ones jabbing at guitars rather than synths).
Thursday 28^th June: The Duchess



Image Credit: Parkin Photography

With the Duchess throwing open its doors at 6.45pm, din-dins time for many, the hysteria present at outdoor events is conspicuously absent. With many attendees troughing pub grub in the nearby Black Swan, the venue is barely half full with show time imminent. Mother Nature has already reared her ugly head; this afternoon’s lightning storm caused widespread blackouts through the city centre, resulting in a considerable delay to proceedings. A line-up shuffle sees the Chapman Family move from 8 to 11pm, after headliners Utah Saints, which understandably confuses punters. Festival organiser/host Chris Sherrington is apologetic and, thanks to his enthusiasm, mile-wide smile and straw hat, the audience is forgiving. Launching into a series of game show hand signals and bushy-topped trees at 12 o clock, he then disappears backstage and so begins DV8Fest 2012.

Bellowing through a sea of dry ice, the Last Cry gets proceedings off to an inauspicious start. The electrical faults have left little time for monitor balancing and any nuances are buried in a muddy mix. Front man Andrew Birch is drenched in echo and reverb, making his lyrics largely inaudible. Fortunately, these technical glitches vanished for Anne-Marie Hurst, turning in a no-filler 40 minutes. Opener ‘Cinder Road’ is a welcome surprise, with original Skeletal Family axe man Stan Greenwood gleefully marching about stage left. Beefier than their studio counterparts, the likes of ‘Lost in Munich’ and ‘Set Me Free’ sound massive, but it’s the inevitable ‘Promised Land’ that gets the biggest rapture. Forgoing the set list, Utah Saints Jim Garbutt and Jez Willis’ 60 minute rave is a DJ masterclass. Getting a full house up on its toes, patrons bumped, swayed and dived as Kurt Cobain mixed with dubstep and Florence Welch went trance. It was loud, it was sweaty, it made your trousers flap, it was great! As the ‘headliners’ leave the stage, the crowd begins to dissipate and the black-clad Chapman Family emerge as something of an afterthought. Despite miniscule attendance, the band is on fine form. Singer Kingsley Chapman was born for the stage, entranced in the rhythmic pulse of cuts from 2011s ‘Burn your Town’. The fuzzed-to-hell bass work on tunes from 'Cruel Britannia' becomes a little overpowering, but the band win through in the end. It has been strange opening salvo for sure, with its fair share of peaks and troughs.


Friday 29^th June: The Duchess

Image Credit: Neil Chapman [Unholy Racket]

With tonight’s ticket prices doubling in price, it is just as well that Thursday’s sound problems have been remedied with attendance up considerably. Openers, York’s own Panda Cubs, are the first real surprise of the weekend; their Factory-whispering sounds finding new fans amongst the DV8 contingent. Following a headline show at the Grand Opera House and an impending BBC session, Christian Silver and the Cubs are moving from strength to strength. Watch them closely. More local boys, Hellbound Hearts fail to draw a crowd with their flannel-shirted post-grunge. Raucous workouts from their new EP bristle with energy, with ‘Sinking Ship’ in particular rivalling anything put out by the likes of Heaven’s Basement. Sadly, their low-end riffing does not translate in the cavernous Duchess, punctuated only by Danny’s powerful buzzsaw vocals. Perennial Goff favourites Salvation suffer no such hang-ups, delighting with their shimmering psychedelic pop. From the line-up that brought you the overlooked album ‘SASS’, the band deliver tight, rocking performances of ‘Diamond Child’ and ‘All and More’, a stripped down acoustic version of ‘The Happening’ is a welcome interlude. Devout followers the ‘Deep-Sea Jivers’ appear to antagonise several spectators, some alienated enough to vacate the premises - nothing malicious of course, just alcohol-fuelled japes, and the culprits soon apologise. Headliners Terrorvision remain a true spectacle, even with ‘that ‘Tequila’ song’. Embracing the ‘lads having a lark’ image that won them so many hearts in the first place, they bludgeon a packed venue with amiable nonchalance. Frontman Tony Wright’s relentless Brit-pop bop is infectious, the crowd stomping their feet to the sing-along crunch of ‘Alice what’s the Matter’ and ‘American TV’. Unashamedly English and bloody proud of it, as ‘Perseverance’ crashes to a close and the band wave their final ‘turrahs’, Sherrington’s point is proven; this is no Whitby knock-off, but a stellar alternative music festival with its own legs, and those legs don’t stop dancing!