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The Black Angels - Manipulation
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 We are at the Portsmouth Pyramids, where The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are playing tonight, but I am here to see their compatriots The Black Angels, on their second European tour of the year.
The Austin sextet, Nate Ryan, Alex Maas, Stephanie Bailey, Christian Bland, Jennifer Raines and Kyle Hunt have released, what is probably the most intoxicating and interesting album of the year in the UK.
Having wanted to interview these guys since last year, I finally get my chance tonight, when I spend some time with Alex, Christian and Nate.
Having just witnessed another great performance from The Black Angels, actually leaving The BRMC trailing far behind, we talk very little about music considering that there are so many other important subject to talk about...
Florence: Another blinding show tonight, here in Portsmouth.
Thank you guys. Of course you are still touring your latest release, ‘Passover’ so let’s talk about that to start with.
I was particularly attracted by the political message of ‘Passover’, denouncing the war and the sending of young men to kill and be killed.
Do you accept that this was a rather political record?
Alex: Yes there are some political undertones in there.
Florence: Undertones?
I thought that it was much stronger than that.
How long ago was the album written?
 Alex: At the time the album was written the war was the main thing occurring in the news and our lives and it still is but on the overall I think that ‘Passover’ is a generalisation of how we see life and it might encompass what is occurring now. It’s a very broad scope of how we perceive the world.
Some of these songs were written in 2004, that’s when “Black Grease” was recorded. That’s already three years ago, it’s crazy!
Christian: It’s crazy to think about where that song fits on the record as opposed to the other songs. “Black Grease” to me doesn’t have a political thread and yet it’s cohesive with the record.
Alex: We first started recording with Ross Ingram in August 2004 and then we didn’t record again until November of that year with Erik Wofford and then we just did “Doves” which was a test song that hasn’t made it to this album but might be on whatever we release next. So, many months passed between recording sessions and different things were happening in our lives at each point. We didn’t just go in the studio and go bang! It took a long time, eight months at least.
Florence: Mixing politics and music has been done before, so many times. Why do you think music is such a good medium to pass that kind of message?
Christian: I think that it works and it sends a message in ways that are not obtrusive and overbearing. It probably started with family rituals where different clans had songs talking about their lives.
This is good because so many people listen to music.
It has always been around, politics and music.
I don’t think that we set up necessarily to do that but it came through that way and it’s our understanding of the human condition.
Florence: You talk about “The First Vietnamese War” which is very relevant to the ‘second Vietnamese war’ we are witnessing right now, so did you try to reach out to people and point out the parallels between then and now or did you just want to get this off your chest?
Alex: Probably both. For example, going to school and meeting classmates...I’ve ran into several who have an apathetic attitude to anything recurring outside of their own bubble! So one of the main things with the songwriting was to burst their bubble and expose people to the entire globe instead of just staying inside their own little world where they can just get lost. I think that you see that a lot on MTV with shows that totally promote that kind of attitude, like “Sweet Sixteen Birthday”.
 Christian: I can’t believe how much bullshit is on that fucking channel.
If only they were doing something real with their time and money!
Can you imagine how much fucking money goes into that network!
It’s insane and people just love it.
Alex: It’s just a reflection of the American culture now.
Florence: Unfortunately Europe has caught up with you on that one.
Alex: As we wrote ‘Passover’ we thought about the Vietnamese war to make a reference to the Irak war but what about Africa...
We’re thinking about concepts we could have missed and could be on our next record. Africa is a huge example but it’s just one spot, I mean you can’t tackle them all. You can only do what you can staying true to yourself and still make music that means something to you.
Florence: I don’t think that MTV wants to educate anyone if they did then they wouldn’t have any viewers left!
Christian: They want to keep people dumb!
Florence: Keeping people dumb, especially in the States, has never bee n more essential than since 9/11 and the aftermath actions of the Bush administration. We need more guys like yourselves who can say it like it is.
Alex: I agree and if you can say anything interesting or add value to it then maybe someone will latch on to it and look at things differently.
However I think that a lot of people are ‘preaching’.
Christian: And you should never tell people how to live their lives.
Alex: I have people in my life, very close to me who try to do that and I just tune them out. Music gives that language a different understanding and it also includes escapism, which is a different kind of power that it has. People just tune everything out when they’re at a show and are just kinda dreaming.
Florence: There is a real darkness to ‘Passover’ that’s so fitting to the subject matter.
Alex: It’s a dark world and our whole idea was to say something important. If you’re given a power to pass a message to people then it should be positive, something opening people’s eyes.
Then again there Ú are so many distractions in this world, you’ve got video games, television, the movies and everything else. I really don’t blame people for their lack of interest in what is happening around them. Really you shouldn’t blame somebody for their ignorance.
There are a lot of Americans who are ignorant and really it’s not their fault. Maybe we are not taught the right things. I am not standing up for America at all but maybe the values start at home but it’s not ingrained in their minds enough like it is in Europe and other parts of the world.
Everybody knows that there is a lack of culture in the States, which goes with the lack of caring for worldly things, because there is so much stuff right in front of you.
 Florence: What about a next Lp?
Have you already been working on that?
Christian: We’ve already recorded fourteen songs, in May 2006, a month after ‘Passover’ was released!
We did that pretty quick.
Florence: Does song writing come easy to you or were you just in a good place, with material just flowing out?
Alex: It depends upon the situation but I would say that it’s fairly easy.
Christian: When the group gets together creativity flows.
Nate: We bounce off each other. Someone brings an idea to the table and it becomes something very quickly, a song that we’ll play the next day if we have a show.
Florence: Wow! What a show off!
Nate: It’s about keeping things dangerous. It’s like you’re a little bit scared of doing what you’re doing yourself and you’re not exactly sure of how it’s gonna turn out. There is a little tension there that hopefully comes out to the crowd.
Alex: I agree man!
Sometimes we look at each other and think: “Yeah! this is ready to be played tomorrow. “ and it’s a brand new song. We get on stage and just go for it.
Florence: With your second album, did you find yourselves in a situation again where there is some sort of theme.
Alex: On the record here, ‘Passover’ developed over so many months, that it wasn’t a thought out thing where we thought: “ ok the theme here is gonna be war! “ , it naturally developed into something and I think that the second album we put out will do the same.
What it will be we don’t know but there will be a theme.
Florence: How long do we have to wait before we get anything new from you guys?
Christian: Well this is the plan. As we said, in May 2006 we recorded fourteen new tracks. What we are looking to do, hopefully in October/ November of this year, is release, maybe seven of those songs.
We still need to get into the studio and perfect them, make them sound exactly how we want to.
That’s the goal for this year and then we’re hoping to come back over to Europe a ¹nd England, to tour that once it’s released and at the same time ‘Passover’ should be reissued on a different label and on a bigger scale so that everybody could hear it.
 Alex: A mini album would be a nice bridge between ‘Passover’ and the next album in 2008.
Our second album is really gonna blow people’s socks off!
Florence: Are we talking different sound, direction...?
Christian: It’s definitely a Black Angels’ record but we’ve been listening to many new things since our first album came out, new bands have come into our lives
Florence: We’re gonna need names Mr Bland.
Christian: Ok! One of my favourite current band, which I happen to be supporting right here, is Psychic Hills from New York. They’re amazing and they sound like the year 2045. So they’ve definitely been an influence on us, another one is Gris Gris, The Dolly Rocker Movement from Australia and Silver Apples is another big thing we’ve been listening to recently, Suicide ¯.
Alex: Not forgetting The Brian Jonestown Massacre, great music but also what they stand for. They were some of the first people to say: “fuck everybody we’re gonna give away our music for free! ”.
That’s very prophetic, no one had done that at the height of the music industry when everyone was making tons of money, they were giving it away and that was insane. They do what they want to do and still create good music.
Florence: Once you have removed from your life the hold money has over you, you can experience total freedom. Money always pulls your strings.
Alex: Detaching yourself from money is the Buddhist way.
If we had that ingrained in American society, our country would collapse. Christianity, as we know it, promotes money, you give money to get a better relationship with God etc etc. But there are positive things with that. It helps built the economy of the United States!
Florence: Talking about money, It’s fair to ÷ say that in some countries, France notably, your record wasn’t as widely available as you probably wished, seriously curtailing its sales potential.
How did you translate that?
Nate: It doesn’t surprise me, but sometimes I see guys like James Morrison whose records are sold in gas stations...this guy sold two million records talking about his sick dog at the back of his yard.
Florence: Miaow!
Does this feel a little soul destroying to you?
Christian: It just makes sense of how the world works and how things are operating. That’s what we hope to be able to expose and show to people that that’s how things are and it shouldn’t be that way.
Florence: Since the beginning of this Millennium and the whole obsession with “reality” TV, culturally we have entered a very ugly period in the history of .........mankind!
Nate: It’s amazing to see how George Orwell predicted in ‘1984’ what the world would be coming to.
Alex: He was a prophet.
Florence: We were warned but we still did it!
Nate: Exactly and that’s what usually happens with a prophet. They’ll tell you what’s gonna happen but people just disregard it.
Alex: It’s usually too far out at the time.
It’s unbelievable and then it becomes reality.
Christian: We have video cameras everywhere, just like he talked about.
Florence: In London more than the rest of Europe put together.
Someone must be watching us right now. Good job we’re not doing anything we shouldn’t!
Christian: It’s presented to the populace as being a preventative measure against.....I guess the word now is ‘terrorism’, or anybody who could hinder the way of life that you are living. It’s for the citizens’ good that you should be documented at all times, because if something goes wrong we need to know...
Alex: What happened...
Florence: Yeah! So now you know what happened what are you gonna do about it?
Christian: Nothing but as long as we know what happened all is well!
Florence: This is your second time playing shows in Europe since the beginning of 2006. Are you starting to feel at home?
Alex: It’s a great opportunity for us to be opening for these guys, The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and before that The Black Keys.
Christian: It seems that here people are a little more enthusiastic about the music. I don’t know how to compare that because starting in America it takes many years to develop, but I do feel that whenever we’ve come here people have been accepting. After the shows people always come to us and are like: “ Wow that was amazing! “
Alex: Realistically I don’t know how long it would have taken us to ever play in front of that many people. Probably as long as it took these guys, [BRMC]. In America, on the first Black Angels’ tour we might have been lucky if there would have been six or seven people in the crowd, and if all of them or some of them bought merch. giving us $70 to get to the next town.
Florence: Not wanting to twist the knife, I don’t think that seven people constitute a crowd, also isn’t that kind of struggle good for the soul?
Alex: Yes that feels the best because it means that you’ve actually worked for it. It feels like you’ve built something yourself, with your bare hands.
It’s weird for us to come over here but it’s a different environment we are glad to jump into.
Christian: Here we are thrown in front of a thousand people, back home we play for a group of five!!
It’s like we’ve skipped a couple of chapters.
Florence: Would you have a message to the world?
Alex: People need to get their minds out of the gutter as far as the kind of music they are listening to. I’m not trying to say that everyone should listen to us but there is a lot more music than what people are aware of, or is pushed down their throat.
It’s given to them on a plate and people are lazy.
Christian: People let ClearChannel or somebody else decide the kind of music they should listen to, instead of delving into it themselves.
Alex: People need to do more research on the internet and see what information they can get. See what is true and what isn’t.
Don’t believe everything they tell you!
People should read more too.
Christian: I’ve always liked what our forefather from Austin, Rocky Erikson said. It’s that you need to open up your mind and let everything come through. If you can do that then you are not shutting out any ideas and you can best assess the situation. Let every angle come at you and then make your own decision.
Nate: That’s so beautiful! You should always keep a blank page on everything. Even if you think that you’re right.
Christian: You’re watching NBC, they have an angle that they’re coming at you with...be sure to check out what other people have to say about the issue before you put judgement upon it .
Alex: That’s for every country and especially America!
Words and Pictures: Florence ACHERY
www.myspace.com/theblackangels
www.theblackangels.com |
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