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BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About LOTD
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Portland, Oregon is a city teeming with musicians. On any given night, the paper is filled with countless options for live shows. Just choose your flavorJazz, Bluegrass, Rock If youre lucky, you may even stumble upon that rare occasion when you can catch a live show by a band called Grails. The Portland quintet began as the pet project of guitarist, Alex Hall, under its previous name, Laurel Canyon. They are an eclectic bunch of musicians creating music that can be described as both evocative and honest. Grails have just released their second album Redlight on Neurot Recordings and have returned from a month long tour of Western Europe. Recently, I ventured across town to a low-lit Southeast Portland bar where I met up with Alex Hall and Bill Slater (piano). After our two hour interview I left with my cheeks aching from laughter. Alex and Bill delivered comments of distrust amongst bandmates and slander against those who werent there to defend themselves, but in the end, it was obvious that they all have the utmost respect for one another and that they are as talented as they are entertaining. LOTD: Tell us a little about the backgrounds of the band members prior to forming Laurel Canyon. Bill: Its an open-ended question, Im not sure if I have time for such complicated questions. Raised by wolves, our violin player was indeed raised by wolves. Hippie nomad wolves. Crack addict wolves, indeed. (He leaves to resume waiting tables) Alex: Were kind of a classic Portland band, in that all of us are from different places. As people, were all radically different. Its another thing that gets played up on a lot, but its actually kind of true. Were all very radically different. Were not one of these bands that all grew up together or that were all college buddies. We dont even like each other. (laughs) Im kidding, we get along very well actually. Bills from Little Rock, Timothy is from Baltimore, Emil, the drummer, is from North Carolina, Zak is from Louisville. I was an army brat, so Im not really from anywhere. So, were all from all over the place and grew up listening to all kinds of different things. So basically what were doing represents whatever common ground that we all have musically. The band that Bill was in before was a Replacements-type pop band. Emil does a band called the Holy Sons. Which is just him in his bedroom smoking pot and recording. And Zach also does a solo thing called Harbor. But other than those two things, those are the only things going on right now. LOTD: What was the driving force in forming Laurel Canyon? Alex: It was kind of on a dare. At the time I moved to Portland in 96, things were pretty quiet. But then, about four years ago, things just exploded with bands and art groups and galleries and venues, etc. Anyway, a friend of mine, Brad Adkins, started a thing called the Charm Bracelet, where he would get a night at some venue and show short films, have bands play, art installations, that sort of thing. You know, eclectic. I happened to be taking advantage of Brads recording equipment at the time, and he basically coerced me into putting together a band to play his first Charm Bracelet show. He introduced me to Emil [Amos, drummer], who was also taking advantage of Brads recording equipment, and I recruited another friend of mine and we played. It was just two guitars and drums. And the thing ended up being packed out, and the reception was great, and we just went, Well, I guess were a band. Timothy [Horner, violin] was the clubs soundman at that first show, and he approached us afterward about joining. And it just went from there. It was very accidental. LOTD: How did you come to be signed on with Neurot? Alex: Its an unsolicited-demo Cinderella story. I sent the label a CD-R of most of the recordings that ended up being Burden of Hope. And I got a call from Steve Von Till (Neurot Recordings honcho, Neurosis mainman) about a month later, saying that he wanted to put it out. This sort of thing doesnt happen very often. It was pretty shocking. LOTD: You have released two albums on the Neurot label, Burden of Hope and Redlight. Its difficult to speak about any particular song, as each album flows as one piece. Please tell us a little about the inspirations behind the albums. Alex: Well, we started recording Redlight before Burden even came out. The two records represent this non-stop recording schedule where we were just perpetually writing and recording, going into the studio every couple of months for two years. So there wasnt really a gap in between the records. We just kept going, all at the same studio, with the same engineer. I think Redlight represents a shift toward a more democratic way of working. Its more fractured stylistically, and thats why. LOTD: What other bands inspire you? Alex: Thats hard to answer; were all into a lot of different things. I mean, well, quick example, we listen to a lot of folk music. The first track Dargai on Redlight is a traditional Northumbrian bagpipe song. Richard Thompson is a guitar god. Hes fuckin Jesus Christ on the guitar. Hes fuckin amazing. On one of his early records from the 70s, he did a guitar arrangement of Dargai that we really liked. Anyway, we just try to learn from all good music. I guess the stuff that were inspired by most of the time is from the past. I dont buy that many new CDs from current bands. Dont get me wrong; there are plenty of things going on now that I really like, but were always kind of digging for the roots, looking for those unadulterated, un-fuck-with-able golden nuggets. LOTD: Youve just returned from a European tour. Are there any memorable moments (high and low) that you are willing to share? Alex: We had an amazing time. It was really, really great. Just kind of a long blur of hookers and cheese. We played in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and we did a week in the UK. LOTD: What are your reactions to how your music has been received by audiences, both in the US and Europe? Alex: Its been received unbelievably well by most critics. Its a bit harder to gauge audiences - not that many people approach a band after a show to tell them that they hated it. My reaction to this? Well, its always nice to hear that people like what youre doing, that theyve had some kind of emotional response to it. But its important not to fixate on it, I guess. Not to depend on it in some way. LOTD: Currently, it seems that there are a few side projects going on for the band. (The Black Sabbath tribute album and some recording that you did for Southern Records.) Are there any other projects in the works? Alex: Yeah, there are a few things. We did a Black Sabbath song for a Black Sabbath tribute album on Temporary Residence. We recorded it at the same time we were working on Redlight. We also did an EP sort of thing for Southern Records in Europe. They gave us an invitation to go into their studio in London for a day and do whatever we wanted. Its supposed to be the first in a limited series. Were super excited about it; it came out really well. Its a trio of psychedelic rock covers from the early 70s: Flower Travellin Band, The Byrds, and Gong. That should come out sometime early next year. Were also working on another limited release for Neurot of a radio show that we played in San Francisco back in May, a really great radio station called KFJC. That one also might have some Quicktime videos comprised of some footage that Zak shot in Europe. LOTD: A few of you are members of different bands. Do you have any issues with scheduling between the other bands and Grails? Alex: No, its not that bad. These days its really just Holy Sons and Harbor. Weve found creative ways to sort of marry the two. On the last tour, Emil opened a bunch of the shows doing Holy Sons, and Zak opened a few of the shows doing his Harbor stuff. It can be tricky, because theres a somewhat limited amount of time out of the year that any of us can devote to touring. LOTD: The first two albums as Grails have been strictly instrumental. What made you decide to do instrumental music? Alex: Its funny that when people talk about us, they always say instrumental music but, yet, so much of the worlds music is instrumental. So much of folk, jazz, classical, whatever.but we are a rock band, and I suppose that once youre in rock territory, its strange to most people to not have vocals. Bill: Theres a rock stigma involved in instrumental music that we dont feel especially comfortable with. Certain bands that youre frequently lumped in with, but dont especially sound like we do. Alex: But to answer your question, the first music that we did when we started playing together was stuff that I was working on, which happened to be instrumental, so we just set off in that direction in the beginning. LOTD: Are you not a good singer? Alex: No, Im not. I can do some showtunes pretty well, though. Ill do some Les Mis once the tape recorder stops. LOTD: Do you have any long-term goals for Grails? Bill: Not to implode. Alex: Not to kill each other. Bill: The easiest answer for that is to evolve and not to get hung up on anything circular. Alex: Just to keep making music that is, for us, satisfying and engaging, and to keep going back to Europe and getting free cheese and beer. Bill: When I think about Grails, I get most excited about the future of Grails. Alex: I think were just now sort of hitting our stride. Bill: The territory, intellectually or whatever, seems most exciting for whats still ahead.
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