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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Here We Go Magic
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 24 June 2010
Originally a solo side-project for folk singer Luke Temple, Here We Go Magic expanded into a fully fledged band following the release of 2009’s eponymous debut album. They then went on to tour with Grizzly Bear and The Walkmen, and have just completed tours in the US and Europe with White Rabbits and The New Pornographers. They’ll be back in the UK again for the next few weeks, including performances at Glastonbury and Hard Rock Calling this weekend. Having just released their second album ‘Pigeons’ via Secretly Canadian, we spoke to bassist Jen Turner to ask the Same Six.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started when I was very small. I was kind of obsessed – I would refuse to leave the neighbours house every day because they had a piano. Finally my parents conceded and bought me a stand-up piano of my own, a white one with knobby keys. It was my very first love. I would take the backs of cereal boxes and circle the letters that corresponded to the keyboard. If it was the first or last letter of the word then I would play the black key next to it. I guess it was a flat, unless it was a C or an F. Then it was a sharp. I would make up little songs and use that as the sheet music. I don’t remember anyone being very impressed with that music. And I think the healthy cereals produced the best songs, much to my dismay.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Beavers, beaver houses, foxes, fox houses, and trout. And smoked trout. We all lived on a river in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a road. The house next door was literally a fox house. The people had an extra house and they kept all their foxes in it. They used to howl and cry at night. There was one white fox with blue eyes that limped. She was my favourite. Peter [Hale, drums] would go out to the guy who smoked his own food and bring home smoked trout. We worked in the living room right next to the kitchen. I was engineering and my mouth would water as I rolled tape and imagined all the wonderful things they were eating in the kitchen. We almost named the record ‘Dinner’ because we all looked forward to dinner together every night.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
Well, in the beginning it was kind of hard – we tried first to record the songs we had already been playing live. That proved to be uninspiring, so we quickly shifted to working on new material. Luke would wake up and put together a loose idea of a song on acoustic guitar. We would all play it together and shape it, and then decide how it was going to be recorded best. Lots of times we’d use the four track as pres and hit the tape really hard with the drums. I love that sound. We had a Toft board and a Tascam 38 1/2″ reel-to-reel. The only outboard gear we used was a space echo and the four track! Oh, and something called The Brick, which we used primarily on bass.
I was really proud of how ‘Collector’ and ‘Surprise’ came out, they were the first ones that were recorded fully live – I was so nervous! – and I feel like something very special was captured. The guitar amps upstairs in the bathroom and the bedroom, Luke in the downstairs bathroom, Teen [Kristina Lieberson, keyboards] going direct, me going through The Brick, and Pete just slamming away in the middle of it all. It was like magic – we listened back and I couldn’t believe it.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
All sorts – it’s really difficult to say. We were listening to a lot of stuff… R Stevie Moore, Brian Eno, Kurt Vile, Can, Arthur Russell… umm… Kraftwerk… We had a bunch of mixes from Ethiopia that were pretty awesome, super inspiring… I don’t know. It’s hard to recall everything that we were listening to.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I suppose it would depend on their reaction. I really really love the music, so much, so there’s not much to say.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I think our favorite thing is to play live. We shape each show differently. It’s incredibly spontaneous every night. Some nights are better than others, but that’s the risk you take when you put yourself out there. I personally would love to be constantly touring and creating psychedelic and inspiring shows all the time, so that people can really have an experience with the music. As far as recording, I think we’d like to keep making music in different locations, drawing from a different well each time. This is my very favorite band I’ve ever played in.
MORE>> www.herewegomagicband.tumblr.com
