Interviews – Page 14 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E16: BIG|BRAVE

BIG|BRAVE is an experimental music trio based in Montreal, Québec, Canada. Formed in 2012 the group has taken the approach of utilizing instruments on hand to craft sounds and explore musical expressions that suited a style of musical storytelling that is widely dynamic with a tranquil center. Its early forays into minimalist folk and ambient music transformed as the group of necessity adopted new equipment in the making of its sounds resulting in a blend of high and low volume that served its core of vulnerable minimalism. During the course of the band’s existence it has been embraced by a wider heavy music community and its songwriting often considered within the realm of doom when its performances and compositions don’t fit neatly into a specific genre even the large umbrella of post-rock though fans of both of those styles will find much to appreciate about BIG|BRAVE’s output. In 2021 the group released a collaborative album with The Body, a duo often associated as well with doom and extreme metal generally but whose own musical roots are broader as well, called Leaving None But Small Birds, an eclectic work of experimental folk music that probably no one outside of the bands would have expected coming out of a collective work. In 2023 BIG|BRAVE released nature morte, a collection of six songs that seem to have the quality of folkloric tales about the perilous and precarious state of the world around us, “the consequences of trauma” and interconnected themes of “the subjugation of femininity in all its pluralities.” It is a challenging record but not one without an element of catharsis and the beauty of stark truths manifested in creative expression.

Listen to our interview with Robin Wattie and Matthieu Ball of BIG|BRAVE on Bandcamp and go see the trio at Ghost Canyon Fest in Denver at the Hi-Dive on Sunday, August 13, 2023. Ball also performs a solo set the afternoon prior on August 12 at Mutiny Information Café for the matinee section of the festival. For more information on BIG|BRAVE please visit bigbrave.ca.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E15: Many Blessings

Many Blessings in 2021, photo by Tom Murphy

Many Blessings is the long-running, solo noise project of Ethan McCarthy. The latter is perhaps best known to the world outside of Denver as the vocalist and guitarist of extreme metal band Primitive Man. But McCarthy has long been one of the pivotal figures in Denver underground going back a couple of decades. He first came to prominence as a member of grindcore outfit Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire and he ran the DIY space that was the downtown location of Monkey Mania that transitioned into Kingdom of Doom under his stewardship. McCarthy has always exerted a benevolent influence in the Denver scene as someone who hosts shows, books events and as an ambassador within and beyond the Mile High City who not only ran Kingdom of Doom but spaces like Funhouse and Aqualung’s Community Music Space in addition to booking shows at Blast-O-Mat before it turned into Seventh Circle Music Collective. His musical output has bridged the worlds of metal, noise and experimental music of various kinds including one-off noise projects, death doom bands Vermin Womb, Death of Self and Keep. Many Blessings represents an evolution of McCarthy’s exploration of a more harsh noise end of that musical leaning with processed vocals and electronic components that allow him an outlet of self-expression not dependent on anyone else’s input or timeline or availability. It is also his most prolific musical endeavor to date with dozens of releases. In contrast to his more ambient solo noise concern Spiritual Poison, Many Blessings has gritty texture and a darkly cathartic reflection of the brutal and ugly aspects of our civilization. McCarthy has also made a bit of a name for himself as a visual artist and these days releasing that work through his Hell Simulation moniker with his evocative creations gracing flyers, album art, tour posters and more.

Listen to our interview with Ethan McCarthy of Many Blessings on Bandcamp and catch him live at Ghost Canyon Fest this weekend at the matinee show at Mutiny Information Café on Saturday, August 12, 2023. Many Blessings also tours internationally so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch a performance sometime down the line if you’re not able to make it to Denver for the fest. For more information on McCarthy and his visual art and other projects the best portal of contact is likely via hellsimulation.com.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E14: Heet Deth

Heet Deth is a noise punk duo of drummer/vocalist Julia Bard and guitarist/vocalist Laila Eskin from Chicago that formed in 2018. Its musical style, as manifest on its 2021 album Heet Deth HOORAY! might be described as an unhinged and noisy, mutant garage rock infused with a deep sense of play and informed by sharp social commentary. Expect a raw, unvarnished, righteous clamor but not without its own sophistication of self-cultivated style that taps into camp science fiction for the content of its lyrics and its live performances. Fans of the reckless and scuzzy, lo-fi glory of Royal Trux, Lost Sounds and The Cramps may truly appreciate what Heet Deth is doing.

Listen to our interview with Heet Deth on Bandcamp and follow the group at the links below. Catch Heet Death live at Ghost Canyon Fest on Friday, August 11, 2023 at The Skylark Lounge for the first night of the festival. For more information on the band and to keep appraised of its doings, please visit heetdeth.com.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E13: Savoy Brown

Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, photo by Arnie Goodman

Savoy Brown was one of the pioneering bands of the “British blues” scene of the 1960s going forward. It’s sound though it could be described as blues rock had a faithfulness to the roots of that musical form that took that style and form to craft a prolific body of work that demonstrates the great versatility of style and emotional range of blues. Obviously the lineup of the band changed greatly over the years and for a brief period included Bill Bruford before he found long-lasting fame as a drummer in Yes and King Crimson. But the main force behind Savoy Brown has been from the beginning in 1965 to the end in 2022, guitarist and vocalist Kim Simmonds. Under his leadership with critical input by other band mates including early on Chris Youlden. It wasn’t until late in the group’s career that it found its most enduring and longest-lasting membership when bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm came on board full time in 2009 having worked known Simmonds for more than a decade. It was this crew of musicians as a trio that worked on and finished the recording of the final Savoy Brown album Blues All Around which came out on February 17, 2023 on Quarto Valley Records. Simmonds, however, had passed on December 13, 2022 from cancer just over a week after his seventy-fifth birthday. A creative triumph the record reflected Simmonds physical limitations later in his career as cancer took its toll on his body but those limitations pushed him and the band to experiment with their methods and in doing so took the songwriting in a bit of a new direction. We had a chance to speak with Grimm and DeSalvo about the making of the record, their origins as musicians and their late, great bandmate.

Listen to our interview with Garnet Grimm and Pat DeSalvo on Bandcamp and for more information on Savoy Brown and to purchase the new record as well as other merchandise and prints of Kim Simmonds’ artwork, please visit savoybrown.com.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E12: Stella Rose

Stella Rose released her debut full length album Eyes of Glass LP on May 19 via Yves Rothman’s KRO Records. The daughter of a famous pop star, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode fame, Stella Rose might have been given a pass for following in his footsteps as a songwriter and musician herself and resting on those laurels but even a superficial listen to the album and its early singles made obvious that Rose has forged her own creative identity beyond any advantages she may have had growing up. There is a thorny grit to the songs and a dark moodiness and intensity that has to come from self-cultivation. Visually this aesthetic has been given dramatic form in the three music videos for the singles from the album thus far in the treatments for “Angel,” “Muddled Man” and “Jane.” Rose has been performing live shows over the past couple of years and the footage has revealed an artist who has quickly established an individual musical vision that has continued to evolve even beyond the recording of the album. It is perhaps facile to compare to her to the likes of PJ Harvey but a bit of that raw energy and poetic sensibility (she got her start songwriting through her poetry and other writing) is part of Rose’s appeal as is her facility with combining the aesthetics of rock instrumentation and the electronic and though not obvious her instinct toward exploring more experimental newer artists Jenny Hval (as we discuss in the interview) is reflected in the creative directions each song takes.

Listen to our interview with Rose on Bandcamp and follow the songwriter at the links below.

Stella Rose on Instagram

Stella Rose on Twitter

Stella Rose and the Dead Language LinkTree

Stella Rose on TikTok

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E12: Brian Krumm

Brian Krumm is the frontman of Chicago-based Americana/alt-country band The Great Crusades and like most musicians at the beginning of the pandemic lock downs he found himself with ample time to think, consider and stew about the state of things and contemplate about the future of his chosen path in life. So in an effort to stay sane he drank a shot of whiskey every evening at 5 p.m. and tried to write a song. 25 days later he had 25 songs and over the course of the next two to three years he identified 11 that he could shape into an album and develop the material with band mates and other musical colleagues. The result is Just Fade Away, released as Brian Krumm and his Barfly Friends, out now on Pravda on digital, 12” vinyl LP and CD as well as streaming platforms. The record is a deeply introspective and poetically observed set of songs that get into an assessment of one’s life and one’s shortcomings, triumphs and the moments of joy that illuminate existence. Fans of Tom Waits will appreciate Krumm’s vulnerable rasp and the frank and witty storytelling is reminiscent of the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Warren Zevon.

Listen to our interview with Brian Krumm on Bandcamp and connect with the artist at the links below.

briankrumm.com

Brian Krumm on Instagram

Brian Krumm on Twitter

Brian Krumm on Facebook

Brian Krumm on Bands In Town

Brian Krumm on Songkick

Brian Krumm and his Barfly Friends on Pravda Records Bandcamp

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E11: Brenda Sauter of Wild Carnation

Wild Carnation circa 1996, photo courtesy the artists

Wild Carnation formed in 1992 with Richard Barnes, Chrstopher O’Donovan and Brenda Sauter. Though all members of the band had been in Speed the Plough, the latter, lead vocalist and bass player, had performed with The Feelies and The Trypes (as well as others) and the new band would have some roots in the intricate guitar melodies and layered rhythms of the better bands out of the indie underground of Haledon and Hoboken, New Jersey. In 2023 the trio’s 1994 debut full length Tricycle was released on digital, CD and vinyl via Delmore Recording Society, the renamed Delmore Recordings label that issued the album initially. The energetic jangle pop of the songs and Sauter’s beautifully expressive vocals recall a sound of that era of which one hears echoes in Flying Nun bands, Elephant 6 and of course Yo La Tengo with the mix of tenderness and intensity, of irresistible melodies and emotional nuance that a certain vintage of indiepop embodied perfectly and which seems somehow even more relevant for the current era when that level of elegant songwriting and attention to sonic detail seems like something the world has finally caught up to more so than in years past.

Listen to our interview with Brenda Sauter on Bandcamp and to listen to Tricycle and keep up with all things Wild Carnation follow the links below.

wildcarnation.com

delmorerecordings.com

Wild Carnation on Facebook

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E10: David Heatley

David Heatley is a cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer and musician whose comic work has appeared in or on The New Yorker, The New York Times, Mome, Kramers Ergot and McSweeney’s. His high school band Velvet Cactus Society had a couple of records out on Shimmy Disc in the 90s and for his 2008 graphic novel My Brain is Hanging Upside Down he recorded a soundtrack under his own name including a cover of The Ramones song from which he borrowed the title. He has also been a member of the band The Bischoffs. In 2021 he launched his animation production company Dream Puppy, Inc. and a television show based on his 2019 graphic memoir Qualification is currently under production by Gaspin Media. In March 2023 Heatley released his latest album If…, a collection of songs that seem to explore the concept of love, requited, not so requited, potential, as manifest in one’s life and the implications of that feeling in one’s life and how it affects how you live it. Its baroque pop and bossa nova sounds sounds like something from an earlier era but its sensibility and treatment of the subject matter is very modern and tinged with the kind of self-awareness and at times a touch of irony but never about love itself. In this interview we discuss his music and his life as an artist and his influences including his connections with the legendary Providence, Rhode Island DIY space Fort Thunder.

Listen to our interview with David Heatley on Bandcamp and follow the songwriter/artist’s doings on his website linked below where you can listen to the new album in its entirety.

davidheatley.com

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E09: MIIRRORS

MIIRORS has its roots in a happenstance meeting between Brian McSweeney and Shawn Rios in 2001 on an airplane that sparked a long friendship around music that lead to the formation of a band. The group started with the aim of creating an album rather than working toward a debut live performance giving it the ability to develop and grow organically from a recording project duo into a full five member bend that it is today with the inclusion of Dmitri Rakhuba, Andre Miller and Patrick Riley. During the early pandemic the band had no pressure to be a live act and made it even more practical to germinate the material so that the debut album Motion and Picture (released March 24, 2023) emerged as a fully realized work of ambitious songwriting that reflected influences of sonically detailed shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive and experimental art rock/pop outfits like Broken Social Scene and Lake Trout. Cinematic in the scope of its soundscapes Motion and Picture explores the full range of amplified emotions we’ve all experienced the past several years and is now available on digital and vinyl. And in the wake of the release of the album the group has been playing live shows throughout the Midwest.

Listen to our interview with McSweeney and Rios on Bandcamp and follow MIIRRORS at the links below. Also included below are the band’s music videos released as another dimension of the expression of the music.

miirrors.com

pravdamusic.com

MIIRRORS on Facebook

MIIRRORS on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S3E08: Ghost Canyon Fest

Ghost Canyon Fest organizers (L-R: Brian Dooley, Cory Hager, Jeremy Brashaw and Sean Dove), photo by Tom Murphy

Ghost Canyon Fest is “A Boundary-Pushing DIY Music Festival” that runs August 11-13 across three venues. The event germinated as an idea among friends in the bands New Standards Men, Moon Pussy and Almanac Man who attended and/or performed at events like PRF BBQ, Caterwaul and No Coast and felt there was enough interest and enough mutual connections among bands well outside of Denver to hold a viable, like-minded festival in the Mile High City. In year’s past Denver hosted multiple festivals of strongly focused curation like Goldrush Festival, Transistor Festival, Denver Noise Fest, DAD Fest , Ultra Metal and in Boulder Communikey among others but left field sounds are largely not included in most other festivals in Denver. Ghost Canyon Fest in its inaugural year of 2023 goes to some length to shine a light on those sounds in a more high profile way including a mention in a recent issue of The Wire as a festival of note. If you go, expect to see stars of local and non-local noise rock, post-metal, noise and experimental dance and drone including BIG|BRAVE, Quits, Masma Dream World, Big’N, Church Fire, Pleasure Venom and of course the projects of the event organizers. For a full list and a schedule of events please and to purchase passes for the weekend or single nights visit the Ghost Canyon Fest website. At the site you can link to curated playlists created by various artists performing that weekend. This interview includes a conversation with Jeremy Brashaw (New Standards Men), Cory Hager (Moon Pussy), Sean Dove (Almanac Man) and Brian Dooley (Almanac Man).

Listen to our interview with the organizers on Bandcamp and look for our interviews with various artists performing at Ghost Canyon Fest in the coming weeks.

Ghost Canyon Fest website