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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Plants and Animals
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 4 August 2010
Taking inspiration from the likes of Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones, Plants And Animals’ sound has been compared to Talking Heads. The band released their first LP ‘Parc Avenue’ in the US in 2008 via Secret City records, receiving a nominations for Canada’s Polaris Prize and gaining praise from Danger Mouse. The band are all set to release their debut UK album ‘La La Land’ on 13 Sep via Secret City, with the lead single, ‘The Mama Papa’, out on 9 Aug. We caught up with guitarist and vocalist Nic Basque to ask the Same Six ahead of their gig at The Lexington in London on 5 Aug.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
As an individual, when I was around twelve, learning Led Zeppelin songs, blues and a few weird scales to jam with my friends. As a band, in university, playing instrumental jams.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Playing together on the road for two years, searching for some new depth and new textures in guitar sounds, exploring with effects, trying to challenge ourselves with tighter song structures and arrangements, listening to lot of different music in the van (from old 60s rock, to Daft Punk, to African jams and new indie bands), the people we met on the road, the places we visited, the life at home with ups and downs.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Usually it starts with Warren [Spicer, vocals] bringing kind of a blueprint map of a song, then we all explore together the structure and arrangement, see where we can take it, what are the best ideas, what makes sense. We spend lot of time in getting good sound for all the instruments, timbre of the instruments being a part of the song arrangement, we track usually two guitars and drums live with a vocal dummy track. We work around overdubs if needed, track vocals and back ups and we are done. We usually sculpt the final details during the mixing process.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
My band colleagues, musicians (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Ali Farka Touré, Daft Punk, David Bowie, classic Rolling Stones and Beatles), Wim Vandeykibus, les Ballets C de la B, theatre from Montreal.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Listen on a good sound system, have a scotch and have a good time or come see us live.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
To play it live, try to get people to discover it and experience it. For the future: tour more, record a new album try new things, challenge ourselves, spend some time at home, use power tools to build stuff, try to do yoga, dance more, spend time with friends and family, jam more with friends and family.
MORE>> www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals
