A month or two back I reviewed an album called Death Birds by Oregon based experimental band House Of Badger. I was mightily impressed and curious about the visual elements of the band's live shows. I contacted lead singer Amanda Kelly and asked her about not only their shows, but the inspiration behind Death Birds, and of course the band's future plans.
Living in France I haven't had the opportunity to experience a House Of Badger 'live' show, I would think that would be a fascinating evening. Please, can you try and describe how you set about creating an audio-visual show?
The live show is a contrast of technical drumming, and musicianship, with ethereal overtones and sonic transitions from song to song. While our show is improvisational, we can sound exactly like the album, when we want to. The video could be described as 'abstract machines'. It consists of stark urban landscapes, natural landscapes, and industrial, human-made artifacts. All of these elements evolve and blend with special effects and motion graphics.
While the songs are tightly structured, every arrangement is open to improvisation at any moment. Due to the improvisational nature of our music, I am currently working on technologies to synchronize the video to our music, rather than playing to video, like a lot of bands do.
Were there any bands that inspired this approach?
The point of this band is to do whatever we want. Because I'm the singer, I end up coming up with a lot of the melodies, but everyone in the band has artistic expression. So I can't speak for everyone. Radiohead's use of Max/MSP software came to my attention in 2007 albeit long after they started doing it. Musically, I really admire their musicianship and use of space and melody. I've been influenced by Stereolab for a long time, and I grew up in the 80's, so those sounds are hardwired into my brain.
How did the songs on Death Birds develop?
I can't exactly verbalize how it happened. Sometimes it was Liam (McNamara) on his acoustic and electronic drums, and Charlie (Gallipeau) on his bass guitar, Theremin effects, and moog synth and between the 2 of them, 4 or 5 instruments being played simultaneously, then I would turn it into a pop song. Sometimes it was me at 4 am with an acoustic guitar.
Does the visual image come first - or does the visual representation arrive later to illustrate the music?
The music always comes first. My video art, however, has been driving new music out of me in my solo project. It's definitely more abstract and electronic. I do video installations in collaborative, multimedia performances. There are a few shows coming up, check out abstractmachines.net. That's me.
How has the Death Birds album been received?
It's surprising to us how much people like this record. We have received some excellent reviews. We had only played together for 10 months when we recorded it, and everyone except me, including our producer Rob, was sick when it was recorded. People would throw up in the bathroom and then lay down their tracks. It was recorded very quickly, probably 10 days total. It was our first record. A Romance of Numbers will be better.
What is the audience reaction to your shows. What feedback do you get?
A lot of people think we play to sequencing/programmed music. Menomena has also mentioned that a lot of people think they play to sequencing, when they just create a lot of sound for three people. A lot of people also think we hire a video artist or videographer. The video installation is much more stark and modern/postmodern, than psychedelic. It's all digital. It definitely looks nothing like 'trippy' or 'psychedelic' video. A friend described the video as 'metropolitan' looking. ha!
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