Juan J. C. - What´s Russian Circles all about?
Brian C.-I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out too.
JC.- When I did a Google
search on your latest release ‘Empros’, the first
result was a Russian website. Tell us more about this album.
BC.- That's strange because
Empros is a Greek word. It means "onward". Maybe Google took you to one of those Russian pirate mp3 sites
that gives away our record for free.
JC.- For those who aren´t
familiar with Russian Circles, could you cite a few albums to listen
before jumping straight into your sound?
BC.- Are you asking me to cite
a few of our albums that would serve as a proper introduction to our sound, or
albums by other bands people should listen to before listening to us? If any
readers are hesitant about jumping straight into our sound, I’m not really sure
what i can do to allay their trepidation. They should just toughen up and
listen to Empros, since it's our newest album and therefore the most
representative of where we are creatively at the moment. If you're asking what
other bands people should listen to before listening to us, my answer would be
"none of them."
JC.- How did joining Russian
Circles after playing with These Arms are Snakes affect your playing style and
what did you bring to your current band?
BC.- I had to learn a little
restraint with Russian Circles. With Snakes, it was pretty much full-volume all
the time. I had to learn how to scale things back, how to fill up the sonic
space in a way that was more subtle. Also, a lot of the Snakes material was
originally written around bass lines, so the bass tended to be more of a lead
instrument, with a lot of the bass lines being on upper octaves. It
worked well with Ryan's guitar playing, which typically occupied a lot of the
upper octaves on the guitar. We were the opposite of a heavy band in some
respects, because we played on the upper notes of the guitar more than chugging
around on the bottom frets. With Circles, the material always starts with Mike's guitar parts, and so my job is to help
fill things out in the mix instead of showboating around like some sort of
third-rate Geddy Lee. In terms of what I brought to the band, that's hard to
say. I feel like Colin, the original bass player, was really ambitious with his
bass lines, playing all over the neck and setting loops, and a lot of times he
resided in the same frequency range as Mike, so a lot of what he did kind of
blended into the guitar. When I joined, I wanted the bass to always be
distinctive. Even if the listener isn't always aware that what they're hearing
is bass guitar, I want it to pop out from what Mike is doing. I was less
concerned with things being complicated and busy and more interested in
figuring out how I could find really basic note progressions that could carry
through the whole song. our songs tend to be long and full of changes, so we've
always felt it's important to have repeating themes in the song, so that
there's some sort of cohesion to the material instead of just like "here's
seven-and-a-half minutes worth of riffs we clumped together."
JC.- Russian Circles was born
in Chicago and These Arms are Snakes was a Seattle band. How does this
combination of cities translate into Russian Circles?
Mike and Dave are upbeat,
outgoing Midwestern types. I'm the typical reserved, passive-aggressive Seattle
stereotype. I just left a note on our neighbor's car last night telling them to
fix their starter or alternator or whatever because I’m tired of waking up to
him fiddling with his ignition and revving his engine for 15 minutes every
morning right outside my window and having my whole apartment fill up with
the smell of exhaust. Mike and Dave would probably roll
out of bed and be all "hey man, everything alright with your car?". How
does this translate into Russian Circles? I have no idea.
JC.- What should we expect of
one of your live shows?
BC.- Three guys on stage. Amps
and drums. Loud noises. People taking low-quality videos on their cellphones
that they'll upload to YouTube instead of just living in the moment. People
taking low-quality photos on their cellphones that they'll upload to Instagram
with the Sierra filter and hashtag "showbrag" instead of just living
in the moment. Dudes with beards. Dudes with tattoos. Dudes with girlfriends
who look really bummed. Us doing our best to avoid eye contact
with the crowd.
JC.- ‘Liveinphotos’ is a about
documenting a part of Melbourne life. Is there anything in particular that you
are looking forward to doing in Melbs?
BC.- Drinking Coopers. Last
time we played the Corner Hotel I ate kangaroo and I was surprised by how
delicious it was, so hopefully I’ll do that again. #alcoholism #foodbrag
JC.- What´s the most critical
situation you have ever had while on tour with Russian Circles?
BC.- We were in a pretty
serious auto accident two years ago while we were on tour with Boris in the
states. We were in Louisiana and some guy in a truck rear-ended us going about
50 miles per hour while we were at a dead stop. It totaled the trailer and the
van and ruined a bunch of our gear. It pushed the van off the road and through
about 100 feet of fencing. No one was hurt though, unless you count the gnarly
rashes that broke out on our legs after we all accidentally
stepped in a giant fire ant hill as we were leaving the accident site.
JC.- If you had to pick a band
to go on a road tour with, that would be…
Rush
JC.- Any Australian band that
you would recommend to a fan in America?
BC.- Hack. Particularly their
"Rotten World Around Us" LP. Or Mournful Congregation. Or Drowning
Horse. Or Scull Hazzards. Or anything Charles Tolnay played guitar on.
JC.- Thanks Brian, and good
luck on Friday!
Russian circles will be playing
at the Corner Hotel on Friday 28th September.
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