NO.3 - W14
ELLIPHANT Y ∆ C H T | Y E L L E | WA R PA I N T | T H E D R U M S D AV I D S U Z U K I | N AT H A L I A P I Z A R R O | R O M I N A R E S S I A
West Edmonton Mall Level II, Phase III 587 521 8338
Contents NO.3 - W14
Georgie NO.3 - W14
Publisher & Creative Director NATHAN MARSHALL
Associate Publisher AARON PEDERSEN
Fashion Director MICHAEL MENEGHETTI
Copy Editor JUDE ZUPPIGER
Contributing Writers NIKKI FOTHERINGHAM, GLEN LEAVITT, ROL AND PEMBERTON, AMANDA PURDIE, OMAR REYES, KRIS SAMRA J
Contributing Photographers JARED BATISTA, NEIL MOTA, PEDERSEN, MATHEW SMITH
Contributing Interviewers FULL COURSE, FELIX FUNG, IRVIN WILLIAMS
Advertising JESSICA CL ARK
Special Thanks CRISTINA ACEVEDO, KARA CHOMISTEK, FULL COURSE, ALEXANDRE ALEXANDRE DESL AURIERS, MARIE-CL AUDE GUAY, MAX HURD, VALÉRIÉ L ALIBERTÉ, CASSY MEIER, MODE MODELS, SNAP GALLLERY, NICKOL WALKEMEYER, ARTISAN VISUELLE
Contact GEORGIE MAGAZINE 222 - 9662 101a Ave Edmonton, AB, Canada T5H 0A7 info@georgiemagazine.com | www.georgiemagazine.com facebook.com/georgiemagazine | twitter.com/georgiemagazine instagram.com/georgiemagazine FOR ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES info@georgiemagazine.com
Self published by Georgie Magazine Inc. Opinions expressed in this issue are the opinions of the authors and do not nessesarily reflect the opinions of Georgie Magainze. 2014 © Georgie Magazine. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Printed in Canada.
GEORGIE
musician
NATHALIA PIZARRO “You know, when a shark stops swimming it dies.” Nathalia Pizarro is talking about her incessant need to create. And as the charismatic frontwoman of Vancouver band Chains of Love, head of Manimal PR, and fine artist (a.k.a. TIT), it’s fair to say this is one hastily swimming shark. Following the release of Chains of Love’s Misery Makers Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and a hectic period of touring, Pizarro is taking a welldeserved break from life on the road. In the meantime, she’s adding more creative pursuits to her already long list of projects – one of which is art. “It’s something I started doing again because I wasn’t really playing music or performing, which is such a huge part of my life. I decided to find a way to channel my creativity in a different way.”
WORDS —19—
BY
Amanda Purdie
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
Pedersen
GEORGIE
musician
space. I think it’s what’s spawned my curiosity about a lot of different things.” Pizarro credits her strong work ethic to her “extraordinary” mom (“really the only female role model in my life”), who singlehandedly raised her and her brother. “It’s not like she could afford to take me to guitar lessons. She did what she could, but she inspired me to take care of my own things. My happiness is my own responsibility. I can’t wait around for someone to pay for it.”
For a woman so overflowing with creativity, it’s hard to imagine Pizarro ever considering a more traditional career path. But around the age of 21, she said, “Fuck it – I’m not going to do music any more. I’d been hustling since I was a teen and I wanted to do something so removed from the arts to take a break.” She set out to become a vet and even applied to a biology degree program. “I remember doing homework in the studio and he [Felix Fung of Chains of Love] was like, ‘What are you doing?’” It was the wake-up call she needed to continue following her true passion. It’s yet another example of Pizarro’s diverse intellectual interests and talents. “It’s hard to feed everything, but I do have a fascination with science, especially with physics and
—10—
BY
Pizarro, who admires a long list of female artists – including Cosey Fanni Tutti, Billie Holiday, Mama Cass, Janis Joplin and Ronnie Spector – would like to see more women in music. “More female producers. More record label owners. More women behind the scenes.” So, what’s next for Pizarro? She’s currently working on an “offthe-cuff” music collaboration with an LA-based producer, but she’s keeping tight-lipped about it for now. And her art will continue to evolve as she experiments with new mediums, like Photoshop and illustration. But I get the sense that Pizarro’s work will never be done. “As an artist, you can’t just show up to work nine-to-five – you have to really clock in your hours and consistently show up for your art.”
STYLING
Pizarro’s “day job” is running the PR division at Manimal, the LA-based record label behind artists like Warpaint and Bat for Lashes. It’s something she loves doing, not only because it’s a way to stay connected to the music industry, but it’s also made her into a more “gracious” artist.
Having such a strong female influence undoubtedly helped to shape Pizarro’s views on gender equality. “Feminism to me means respect for women and honouring the female. I really believe in a matriarchal society. I pray that one day things turn around for all of us humans and things become more neutral.”
Raelene Ann Marie C L O T H I N G Holt Renfrew
Feminism to me means respect for women and honouring the female. I really believe in a matriarchal society.
GEORGIE
musicians
WARPAINT WORDS
BY
Roland Pemberton P H O T O G R A P H Y
On the cover of their new album, the members of Warpaint are superimposed over each other, coalescing together in a smoky haze designed by bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg’s husband, the director Chris Cunningham. Eponymously titled despite not being their first effort, there is a sense that Warpaint have come into their own since 2010’s The Fool, developing a refined sense of self-discovery after
BY
Neil Mota
gaining drummer Stella Mozgawa and spending two and a half years touring between albums. I chatted with Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Lindberg and singer/guitarist Emily Kokal outside their tour bus in Montreal a few hours before they took the stage at the Corona Theatre. “The whole thing about self-titled and even I guess the
—11—
GEORGIE
musicians
There was something about all of us doing this together. Going away with each other was about rediscovering ourselves as friends, as a band, what’s going on inside of us without all the distractions.
album cover is that we are more of a complete unit with Stella and this is the first album that we’ve written with her,” explains Kokal. “From the ground up, from the very beginning so it was really new,” says Jenny Lee Lindberg. “She came in the band, she helped us record the album The Fool and then we went on tour but writing with her was put on hold, in the sense of making a new album, for those two and a half years basically.” “There was something about all of us doing this together. Going away with each other was about rediscovering ourselves as friends, as a band, what’s going on inside of us without all the distractions.” After the aforementioned epic tour that took them to Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury and beyond, the band decamped to Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California to record the demos that would eventually evolve into Warpaint. “We rented a dome and we were out there for almost a month and we just setup a little recording studio there and we made demos,” said Lindberg. “It’s what we needed after touring. [Going to Joshua Tree] was like the flipside of that.” “It’s so stark out there, there’s not a lot of people. It’s so much sky, really trippy looking, like another planet. It’s
definitely inside the music. We played every day with the door open into this crazy open desert space so you’re gonna adapt to your surroundings and play into your surroundings. It was a collaboration.” Produced and mixed by the renowned mainstream pop architect Flood with additional mixing from Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame, Warpaint finds the band’s individual elements emphasized. In opposition to the peripheral role it took on The Fool, the drumming here is clear and insistent, often recalling the texture and rhythm of sampled hip-hop breakbeats on songs like “Hi”. Electronic sounds figure in more prominently (a frosty synth bass melody anchors the spectral stomp of “Biggy”). The songs are less plaintive and more direct, providing a more dynamic backdrop for the richer, more present sounding vocals of Kokal and Theresa Wayman. “This album is definitely more stripped and I think it’s easier to point out. This one’s a little more simple and those things are more noticeable. The last record was all in,” Lindberg said. “That’s the thing about Flood that is different than how we intuitively mix our demos is that we just put everybody up front,” says Kokal. “It’s kinda like ‘we’re a band, here’s everybody and what they’re doing’ and Flood’s like ‘you’re gonna barely hear this guitar back here...’ ” There’s an undertone of tension to the songs on
—12—
GEORGIE
musicians
I think it’s just what happens when we get together and when we play music. I don’t think that we have any pre-conceived notions of what it is that we’re doing when we go in there.
Warpaint, a constant push and pull that rests in the framework of every song, from the Broadcast-like space pop of “Teese” to the high octane funk punk of album highlight “Disco//Very”. During the latter song’s bratty mutant disco assault, the drums drop out and the band sings in unison, “I need room for everyone! / I need to take a break!” It feels like a statement on the challenges of life in a band, a traveling living situation that requires patience and cooperation. “I think it’s just what happens when we get together and when we play music,” says Lindberg. “I don’t think that we have any pre-conceived notions of what it is that we’re doing when we go in there...” Kokal interjects, “It’s the sound of compromise!” “We’re also really moody,” continues Lindberg. “And I think that we make music and write music depending on what kind of mood that we’re in.” “There’s also elements where somebody might wanna really push it and like bang, bang, bang it while someone else wants it to barely be heard,” said Kokal. “That’s part of what forms our sound sometimes, the compromise of ideas.”
—13—
GEORGIE
—15—
musician
GEORGIE
musician
YELLE INTERVIEW
Full Course
BY
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
Neil Mota
Yelle is an exciting French band with burgeoning international acclaim. Recently signed to Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe label, they recorded their most recent album, Complètement Fou, in LA. We sat down with lead singer Julie Budet (known simply as “Yelle”) to chat about the band’s American tour and how, despite singing in French, they’re able to connect with a North American audience through whimsical tunes that incorporate art and fashion. Add to these admirable talents an irrepressible sense of fun and you have the best French export of the year.
G—How’s the tour going so far? Julie Budet—Great. We just stopped a few days ago in, we stopped by Boston and then New York, Washington and Philadelphia. We’re just at the start of the tour but at the moment it’s really cool. We’ve had a good response from the crowd. G—How’s has America been treating you? JB—Really good actually. It’s weird because we are singing in French so it’s been a bit of a mystery how people connect to us. They don’t understand the lyrics but they are still enjoying the music, dancing and having fun at the show, so that’s cool. G—Do you feel any pressure to record in English due to the fact that you have a huge North American following and are signed to a new record label (Kemosabe Records)? JB—No, absolutely not. We have always wanted to continue singing in French and [the label] didn’t pressure us for an English recording. I think they realized that our following was OK with us singing in
French. The appeal is that it’s something unique and different from what our audience is normally listening to. G—How was the transition from being independent to signing with a label? Do you still retain creative control? JB—Actually, it’s been really easy because [creative control] was a condition when we started working with Dr. Luke. When he asked us to be part of Kemosabe Records, we were interested because it’s a strong group of people working for you that you can trust. Since the beginning, Dr. Luke told us: “I want you to have the freedom to do what you want. I really like your music and the whole package of music videos and aesthetics, so I want you to keep it. I don’t want to transform you whatsoever. I want you to be free to do what you want.” That was really cool. G—Speaking of the whole package and the look, how important or how big of a role does fashion play on your brand and who you are? JB—Actually, it’s really important. Even if it’s not the most important… I use it as a way of expression.
—16—
GEORGIE
musician
JB—Yes, but I think I’m full of extremes. I can be really shy and quiet and in contrast I can be totally ‘ah’, crazy. But I need both parts. It’s a real balance in my life.
I really like playing with clothes on stage, in my life and at photo shoots. For me fashion is a real game. It’s not serious at all. It’s an expression of people and for me, even if it’s not a character on stage it’s my crazy playful side. I like to do strong, sometimes silly and crazy things with my outfits.
G—How do you think L.A influenced your album? JB—It’s really sunny there and I think it brought about a new energy. It was full of rich emotion and strong feelings. I don’t know how to express it, but it was also simple and efficient.
G—Can you explain the artistic concept behind Complètement Fou? JB—For Complètement Fou we wanted to have a strong connection between the American and French culture. We realized that popcorn may be a link between the two. We had this idea about having my face in an ocean of blue popcorn. We then worked the corn idea into our new music video. That explains the giant corn I’m riding like a horse. There isn’t a deep message – it’s just crazy, weird and colourful. G—Speaking of bridging the gap between Europe and America, you recently moved to L.A. and that is also where your new record was recorded.
Life was pretty normal while we were there. We would hang out with Dr. Luke, eat sandwhiches and go to movies. I prefer the normal life. We can have a strong connection without artificial things around. G—Now that you’re working with Dr. Luke and your image is grander, it’s nice to see you still remain humble and low key behind the scenes. JB—My parents raised me that way – to do whatever I want, but do it with passion and conviction. My father is a musician, not a star but just living his life like he wanted to live it. It’s not about money but about being happy.
JB—I didn’t move to L.A. We spent a month recording there. I really wanted to live the Los Angeles life. It was inspiring but I wouldn’t want to stay there long.
I’m so happy I travel around the world with my music. It’s important to remember the roots of what you are doing.
G—Why is that? JB—It’s too much for me. Paris is the same. I live in Brittany, in a little town called Saint-Brieuc. It’s close to the sea and small. I prefer the countryside; it’s important to be close to nature and not to live in the city. G—That’s interesting because your music is very urban, which is a bit of a contrast for you.
G—Do you have any expectations that you would like to meet with this album and tour? JB—Being on tour around different countries is the most important. I want to share my music and connect. Of course I’d love to play bigger venues and touch more people. I feel really happy and I don’t need that much outside of the music.
—17—
HAIR + MAKEUP
BY
Alexandre Deslauriers S T Y L I N G
BY
Cristina Acevedo
GEORGIE
—18—
musician
GEORGIE
artist
ROMINA
RESSIA W h a t D o Yo u H i d e ? Romina Ressia is an Argentinian-born photographer
Georgie spoke to Ressia about her series, What Do
whose work is influenced by a lifelong appreciation
You Hide?, which explores the human propensity to
for classical art and a fascination with modern-day
conceal certain aspects of our true identities in order
behaviour. Driven to explore the ways in which the
to play a certain role, avoid judgement or meet others’
human disposition has evolved throughout the ages,
expectations. The subjects of these meticulously staged
she’s known for blending contemporary societal themes
portraits have their faces camouflaged by vibrant,
with Renaissance-style imagery. The end result is a
loudly patterned textiles, in what is a metaphorical
portfolio of strikingly modern photos somehow also
visualization of the need to fit in – even if it means losing
reminiscent of classic works of art.
sight of who we really are.
WORDS
BY
Glen Leavitt
—19—
GEORGIE
—20—
artist
GEORGIE
—21—
artist
GEORGIE
artist
My ideas come always from the same place: society & the modern world. I love to analyze and represent how I see society nowadays. I thought camouflaging was an interesting way to show hiddenness. Something that can be considered a dark feature in humans with a colorful or bright aesthetic.
G—Where did the idea for your What Do You Hide? series come from and what is the significance of camouflaging your subjects with mixed patterns? Romina Ressia—My ideas always come from the same place: society and the modern world. I love to analyze and represent how I see society nowadays…its behaviours. And, regarding camouflaging, I thought it was an interesting way to show hiddenness. I found it interesting to show something that can be considered a dark feature from human beings with a colorful or bright aesthetic. G—Do you think there is a difference between the identity roles that women play in society versus men?
And always what I was more attracted to was classical art. I love their perpetual beauty, their palette, the details, the stories behind them… I love the fact that you don’t need to know any concept behind them to appreciate their beauty. G—How have you found the response to your work? Are you ever surprised to discover people interpreting your work in ways you had not anticipated? RR—Responses are always great! Even when people get angry about some pictures (like my Not About Death series), I love their interaction. They are never neutral and that is the best thing we, as artists, can look forward to happening.
RR—I think the roles we play in society are different from one person to another – not [because of] gender but for a personality matter.
And regarding the interpretation, of course it surprises me every day. I don’t want to limit people’s interpretation about my photographs; just a little idea of what inspired me to do it is enough. The idea is they can create their own links with the pictures... that is what art is about.
G—The costumes and staging in your work often evoke classical painting. Can you tell me how the history of art enters into and shapes your work?
G—Is the distinction between painting and photography something you are deliberately questioning or playing with in your art?
RR—I have been an art lover since I was a child. I used to enroll in all the drawing and painting courses, and when I was around eight I asked my mom to start photography classes but [at that time] they had no courses for children.
RR—Well, my work is a reflection of our contemporary art. I get inspiration from real people, the world and some contemporary issues. In that way, I think my
—22—
GEORGIE
work has a strong sociological content... I like to show people’s behaviours and reactions in front of the modern world. Then I represent those ideas with my personal style, which is very influenced by art. I am an art lover, in all its forms, and I am mainly passionate about classical art. G—Can you tell me how you find your models, and how your collaboration with them typically proceeds? Are they generally familiar with your work beforehand? RR—It depends on the project and the special needs. Sometimes my models are real models from agencies and other times I shoot with people that I know (friends or friends of a friend). And yes, in general they
artist
know my work beforehand.they know my work beforehand. G—What can you tell me about your interest in incorporating elements of contemporary pop culture and consumer culture within a classical context? RR—Those projects were inspired by the fact that, despite the advances and technology humanity has today, there is a longing [for the past], when things were more natural and handmade. Things used to be made with great materials [intended to last] for a long time, while today everything seems to be disposable. Then I asked myself how Renaissance people would have done it today and I showed it by mixing those periods through the images.
—23—
GEORGIE
— 24 —
artist
GEORGIE
musician
ELLIPHANT Amanda Purdie P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y Neil Mota WORDS
BY
“I’m very chill,” says Ellinor Olovsdotter from her rented house in LA. “I’ve just been sitting here drinking coffee and smoking too many cigarettes and enjoying the beautiful weather.” Olovsdotter, the Swedish-born artist better known as Elliphant, has good reason to chill. Since the 2012 release of the infectious “Tekkno Scene”, she’s been on a fast track to stardom. Her video for “Down on Life” fetched over two million YouTube views and attracted widespread praise – including from Katy Perry, who tweeted, “One of the most badass music videos I’ve seen in a long time.” In 2013, she released her self-titled debut EP and signed to Kemosabe Records, the star-
studded label with producer extraordinaire, Dr. Luke, at the helm. With the release of her first studio album, A Good Idea, as well as an EP in April 2014 and another EP six months later, it’s fair to say things have been more than a little hectic for Olovsdotter. “This year I haven’t even had time to think. It’s been crazy.” Elliphant’s music is an unlikely blend of pop, grunge, hip-hop, and reggae, which says a lot about Olovsdotter, who’s determined not to be pigeonholed into a certain genre. “I can never really make up my mind. Music is still a new thing for me.” And about that patois sound that comes through on tracks like “Music is Life” – it’s
—25—
GEORGIE
—27—
musician
GEORGIE
musician
The American music scene is the ruler of commercial music in the world, so it’s important that people like Lorde and Charli XCX and even Iggy Azalea that are not American-made girls – are here.
not a deliberate attempt to mimic the Jamaican dialect, although she does have an appreciation for it. “The thing with that island and the language that they create is people can make up their own words for their own crew, for their own family, and they do their own twist on English. That’s what they do. And that inspires me a lot.” “One More”, the titular track from Olovsdotter’s latest EP release, features fellow Scandi pop rebel, MØ. A pared down departure from Elliphant’s characteristic brand of club-worthy, big beat tracks, it’s a nod to female friendship that perfectly captures the feeling of wishing the night could go on forever. For Olovsdotter, MØ was an “obvious choice” for the track. The duo connected through Facebook a couple of years ago and have since become fast friends. “I don’t have too many music friends. She’s one of the few I’m close to who I knew I wanted to collaborate with.” The accompanying music video, directed by Tim Erem, is exactly what it looks like – two girls getting wasted in the back of a cab, singing about sleazy bars and skipping out on work. But somewhere in between the whisky slugging, cigarette smoking, and pissing on the street, there’s a kind of tenderness, perhaps because it all looks so believable. According to Olovsdotter: “It was like a cool family project that had the right energy. I think that’s why it gets so much attention – because it comes from a very natural place.”
As a ballsy performer with an androgynous edge, Olovsdotter is a breath of fresh air in an industry saturated with strategically moulded female artists. “It’s a powerful time for women,” says Olovsdotter. “When I grew up I had Missy Elliott, and I had Aaliyah, I had Gwen Stefani – they were, for me, very powerful women. But I read about how they got fucked by their record labels and were in a very vulnerable situation. And I think now that’s changing – I hope so at least.” Olovsdotter, who recently made the move to LA, says: “The American music scene is the ruler of commercial music in the world, so it’s important that people like Lorde and Charli XCX and even Iggy Azalea that are not American-made girls – are here.” She describes her new home in the sun as somewhere well-suited to her love of the outdoors. “It’s a lifestyle I don’t really have yet but it’s my goal to have. I need to make time for that – going to the beach, surfing, climbing – even if I never had routines or structure in my life, ever.” What drives Olovsdotter is the modest hope of someday having a farm where her kids can grow up surrounded by nature, and a genuine, deep-rooted desire to make the world a better place. “It’s the best feeling giving back. But it’s not easy. The world is not constructed so that it will be easy for humans to do something. But it’s important for my evolution.”
—28—
GEORGIE
musician
If someone had said two years ago that I would be here, I would have just laughed in their face. I still worked as a waitress.
and my other friends working outside of the music thing involved. That’s been a really weird feeling, that you suddenly have a new life.” It’s only now that things are really starting to feel real. With her first full album in the works, she says: “I’m at a point right now for the first time where it’s like, ‘Whoa’ – people actually like my project and it’s really the time for me to focus.”
It’s been a “surreal” couple of years for Olovsdotter, whose foray into music happened rather serendipitously – the result of drunkenly grabbing the mic at a party in Goa and catching the attention of an Indian band. “If someone had said two years ago that I would be here, I would have just laughed in their face. I still worked as a waitress.” For Olovsdotter, coming to terms with her quick rise to success can sometimes lead to moments of selfdoubt. “Sometimes I feel like I got everything too easy, like I don’t deserve it or something, you know? I have dreams where I give birth to babies and it doesn’t hurt, and everybody just stands around and looks and I have to pretend that it hurts but it doesn’t.” At the same time, getting to where she is today hasn’t been without sacrifice. “I left my world and I went into a new world, so it’s been very hard to keep my family
And focusing she is. The move to LA isn’t entirely motivated by nature and sunshine. According to Olovsdotter, “It’s because I know I’m going to get shit done here.” With plans to release an album in 2015, she’s hoping to develop as much in the studio as she has on stage over the last two years. “I just want to be more free like that in the studio.” She’ll also be turning her attention to Save the Grey, her social project aimed at saving grey animals. The concept arose from Olovsdotter self-identifying as a ‘grey’ personality, and the realization that all of her favourite animals – like wolves, sharks and elephants – are also grey. Talking to Olovsdotter, it’s clear she’s a woman on the cusp of something big – and you can’t help but root for this maverick with a big heart. “It’s never been my own love for music that inspires me. It’s the love that I get from people for my music. That’s who I am. I’m a sucker for love.”
—29—
HAIR + MAKEUP
BY
Alexandre Deslauriers S T Y L I N G
BY
Marie Claude Guay
GEORGIE
—30—
musician
GEORGIE
musicians
Y ∆ C H T
INTERVIEW
BY
PHOTOGRAPHY
Irvin Williams BY
Mathew Smith
—31—
GEORGIE
musicians
YACHT, sometimes stylized as Y∆CHT, and derived from Y.A.C.H.T., is an electro dance band out of Los Angeles. The stylistic variations of the band’s name are telling and meaningful. The first is associated with a carefree lifestyle – boating in the sun. And judging by Y∆CHT’s music, music videos and design language, this isn’t far off. With their cheerful melodies, and the vibrant colours and playful scenes captured in their videos, Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, who front the band, seem to live a stereotypical life in California’s sunshine.
However, unpacking the Y∆CHT acronym casts a political and critical shade on this idyllic picture. The acronym comes from an alternative school called Young Americans Challenging High Technology, which Bechtolt attended as a teenager. For a band that embraces and experiments with a wide variety of technology, it’s a genesis story that no longer fits. What it does convey is an ongoing underlying complexity. Bechtolt and Evans approach each song and album holistically, concerned not only with melodies and sound, but design, philosophy and occasional political activism.
G—Your latest singles “Where Does the Disco?” and “Works like Magic” have a fresh new sound. Can you tell us a little about what these songs are about and how they came together?
G—Is it safe to say that the new singles are a good
Y∆CHT—We love singles because they allow us to treat a song like a complete product. From the inception of each single, we think about its visual identity, what multimedia treatment we can lend it, and what online (and offline) experiences we can design around the song.
soon as we finish a song, we’re ready to move onto
representation of the sound for an upcoming full length album? Y—It’s never really safe to say that. Pretty much as
“Where Does This Disco?” and “Works Like Magic” are two sides of the same feeling, in a way. The former is about love and compact discs – obsolescence of the heart and of a medium – and the latter is about sex and computers. We’re interested in the places where technology and the human body interact. The third song on our upcoming EP is sort of a coda to those questions: the wasteland that remains after the interaction turns to consummation and then burnout.
the next sound, the next experiment. We take pride in shedding our skin and trying on new ones. We believe that’s what keeps us from becoming complacent and calcifying creatively. But the themes – of technology, humanity, language, and emotion – will likely stay the same for the rest of our tenure on this Earth as the entity called Y∆CHT. G—You recently developed an app called “5 Every Day” which recommends five interesting things to do in LA every day. Is an app something that’s always been on your mind to build or was this borne out of a need you saw?
—32—
GEORGIE
Y—It’s something we wanted to exist. We moved to Los Angeles three years ago, and it took a while for us to get our bearings and find our people. Now we can share our discoveries – the things we love about this great, often-underestimated city – and help support the artists, musicians, shopkeepers, institutions, and places that have made our time here so special. 5 Every Day is an online tool, but it points outwards and encourages spontaneous exploration and engagement, something we think is really important. People are often so disconnected from their city, walking around with their noses in their phones. This is something you can stick your nose into that actually tells you to look up and all around you! G—You have also released a cool new line of sunglasses in collaboration with Chilli Beans. Can we expect more Y∆CHT fashion collaborations to come in the near future? Y—When someone approaches us with a project, our biggest consideration in deciding whether or not to take it on is: what can we learn from this? We had no idea how to design sunglasses. Not pragmatically, not creatively. We knew that we would learn a lot from the process, and we took it on completely – learning the language, learning about materials, making renderings, approving samples, making adjustments, art-directing the graphic design and the collection lookbook. Now we have all these great sunnies that came right from our brains and into the material world – a basic kind of magic – and we know a ton about the production of this specific kind of object. It’s another skill set for our toolkit. In the end, projects like these inform everything we make going forward. They expand our creative scope. G—Y∆CHT has a strong sense of style and fashion. Where or from whom do you pull your fashion inspiration? Y—There’s a character in the William Gibson novel Pattern Recognition, Cayce Pollard, who is so vehemently allergic to brands that she pays a locksmith to file the
musicians
Levi’s logo off the rivets of her jeans. All her clothes are just minimalist “units,” outside of time, outside of place, completely impossible to pin down or categorize. There’s something endlessly compelling to us about that idea. G—Y∆CHT seems to be one of those bands that you can’t easily categorize visually or sonically due to its strange and beautiful diversity. As a band there must have been many risks taken to carve out your own musical path. Are there any risks you can think of that would attribute to your uniqueness as a band? Y—Every few years, we dismantle Y∆CHT completely. In 2006, Y∆CHT was just Jona with a laptop. In 2009, it was Jona and Claire with a laptop and a video projector, climbing in the rafters. In 2011, it was five people in tuxedoes. In 2014, it’s a four-piece rock and roll band. Some versions of the band are largely unrecognizable from the vantage of the present day, and our early records have very little to do, sonically, with what you might hear at a Y∆CHT show right now, but we’ve never changed the name. We just trust that it will all make sense in the rear-view. G—Lastly, the trust section on your website is something I haven’t seen before on another band’s website. Can you explain what’s behind Y∆CHT’s ideology and the Y∆CHT Trust? Everyone has an ideology, even if that ideology is just “rock and roll will never die.” Ours isn’t much more complicated than that, at its essence: we believe in radical self-empowerment in a media landscape of democratized technologies. The universe is infinite, which means any of us can lay claim to being the center of the universe. Everyone has a right to write their own holy books. We can be our own gods. We can share our vision with the world – we have the tools to make that possible. The only catch is that the same is true for everyone else, and so we have to respect one another’s visions.
—33—
GEORGIE
—34—
musicians
GEORGIE
—35—
musicians
GEORGIE
musicians
THE DRUMS INTERVIEW
BY
Roland Pemberton
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
Neil Mota
Following a freewheeling debut record and the dark synth explorations of sophomore album Portamento, The Drums are back with Encyclopedia. We met up with Jonny Pierce and Jacob Graham in Montreal to talk about escapism, early electronic film soundtracks and their muscular new album.
the greater world that the idea of idealism never even
G—I associate The Drums with the Beach Boys, not just with the tone or the sound, but how it’s balanced with lyrical content that is not always upbeat. Occasionally, you hear things about water in the songs but I never really took that as a literal thing. To me, I saw it as a metaphor for losing or gaining idealism. Would you consider yourselves idealists?
crossed our minds, you know? [We were] so cut off that it was more like escapism. Kind of like, ‘If we’re not part of the world, then let’s really not be part of the world.’ JP—But, you know, you do touch on something when you say that. When we wrote the song, “Let’s Go
Jonny Pierce—I think we certainly, at the time we wrote those songs, would consider ourselves escapists. We were living in the middle of nowhere, in this small town in Florida called Kissimmee, and we were writing these songs and recording them. We were dirt poor. I had to ride my bike 20 miles each way to my job where I sold shoes. But we were also doing really sort of dreamy things. We found a little wooden canoe type boat and went down this little stream that was near our apartment complex. We found ourselves in an orange orchard and we got out and just spent the whole day there.
Surfing”, we wrote it and recorded it the day Obama came into presidency. We were just so thrilled, along with everyone else. It’s one of those things that was such a big thing that, even though we were in our little weird orange orchard bubble, it obviously registered with us. That song is about that more than anything else. G—The enthusiasm in that song is palpable. I feel like one of the most exciting things about music is that you can try and replicate a feeling and when people listen to it, they get that feeling from it. JP—That song was about finally being able to breathe and feel a little carefree, like, ‘Okay, everything’s gonna
Jacob Graham—I think we felt so disconnected from
be okay!’
—36—
GEORGIE
musicians
When we got together to start this record, we were like, ‘What do we want it to sound like?’ and [Jonny said] he wanted to make a really gritty, trashy guitar record. And I said, ‘I want it to sound like a glorious synthesized soundtrack’...So we just decided to take those two completely opposite ideas and smush them together.
G—I read an interview with Jonny in the Quietus where he was talking about “Let’s Go Surfing” and he said, “There were literally a few shows where I felt like throwing up on stage if I had to play it again.” Listening to the new album, I’m wondering if you still feel like that because I noticed you’re whistling again.
on Portamento, one of our B-sides was simply called “Wendy”. That kind of music has always played a big role in what we do but this record we really wanted to make that apparent. We shut stuff off, we don’t listen to bands. The only thing that we really were inspired by, other than visuals, is soundtracks.
JP—[Laughs] Yeah, but this whistling is so much more unsure of itself.
JG—When we got together to really start this record, we were like, ‘What do we want it to sound like?’ and [Jonny said] he wanted to make a really gritty, trashy guitar record. And I said, ‘I want it to sound like a glorious synthesized soundtrack,’ like The Sound of Music with a synthesizer or something. So we just decided to take those two completely opposite ideas and smush them together and say, ‘That’s our new sound, that’s gonna be Encyclopedia.’
JG—For a long time, we were kind of like, ‘We just recorded this funny, weird song on a whim when literally nobody was paying attention to us,’ and then it took on this life of its own. And we were like, ‘Wait, that’s not quite us!’ JP— ‘Hold on, we’ve got eight other songs – we just put this one out first!’ JG—When you’re pushed out into the whole world and that’s your identity, it’s just a little unsettling. Now we’re kind of on the other side of that, where that song has lost its power. It’s like singing Happy Birthday to somebody. G—This new album is a major departure sonically, especially with the production. Things are more upfront. I notice a lot more presence of synth. It reminds me of early electronic film soundtracks, like Wendy Carlos on A Clockwork Orange soundtrack. JP—You nail it when you say Wendy Carlos; she’s a huge inspiration for this record. As a matter of fact,
G—In the past, people have tried to categorize you with certain bands and I felt like there were more obvious touchstones with your previous albums. But with this one, it’s harder to pin down. With this combination of two styles, there’s not a lot that I can think of that matches up with it. JP—We’ve been hearing that a lot, [people being] not sure how to classify this record. For us, that gives us the ultimate joy. JG—I think a lot of reviewers take it as a negative though, which is crazy to me. They think that we’re really lost right now, and we feel like we’ve really found ourselves.
—37—
GEORGIE
—38—
musicians
GEORGIE
activist
DAVID SUZUKI WORDS
BY
Omar Reyes
PHOTOGRAPHY
There is no denying the urgency in Canadian writer Shane Koyzcan’s poem “Shoulders” when he asks: “How do we save the world? We lay in our beds, curled into question mark, wondering what can we do? Where do we start? Is hope a glue crazy enough to hold us together while we’re falling apart?” Sitting transfixed in Edmonton’s Winspear Centre is a sold-out Blue Dot Tour audience eager to hear the answers to these questions. David Suzuki, the preeminent scientist, activist, and host of CBC’s The Nature of Things, is calling upon ordinary citizens to support an amendment to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to include the right to a healthy environment. What Suzuki is proposing isn’t something new or audacious. More than 110 countries have incorporated environmental rights and responsibilities into their constitutions. Canada is an “international laggard” on this front, according to environmental
BY
Pedersen
lawyer David R. Boyd, a leading voice advocating for the explicit inclusion of environmental rights in Canada’s constitution. The coast-to-coast Blue Dot Tour is part spectacle and part rally. It gathers a myriad of musicians, local leaders, Aboriginal Elders, and other well-known Canadians such as Koyzcan who lend their voices to spread the message that a change in the constitution will require the voices of individuals, municipalities and provinces. During Suzuki’s stop in Edmonton, I had the chance to sit with him over coffee and pastries and ask why, at 78 years old, he would attempt something so ambitious. “I’ve been involved in environmental issues since 1962, and we celebrated all kinds of victories: stopping dams and drilling for oil in [caribou calving grounds], and taking oil down in super tankers down the coast. We stopped them all and said, ‘Yay! We won!’ Thirtyfive years later, the same battles are
—39—
GEORGIE
—40—
activist
GEORGIE
activist
In the issues I’ve been involved in, musicians are among the first to say, ‘I’m with you’... But it’s more than musicians… We’re not going to win this battle as environmentalists. We need a much bigger tent.
—41—
I have grandchildren, and I know that the world they’re growing up in is nothing like the world I grew up in... It’s my obligation to them to do everything I can. I have no illusions. I’m one person. But I want to feel that when I die, my grandchildren will be there and I’ll be able to say to them, ‘I tried the best I could.’ That’s all you can ask.
being fought again, exactly the same battles, and so I said, ‘Look, we’re losing.’ We didn’t shift the way we see ourselves in the world.” Embarking on this tour, Suzuki says, is “the most important thing I have ever done.” When asked how he hopes to overcome the political and economic resistance the initiative will face, his response was not at all defensive. “This is beyond politics. You know, the environment should be every party’s issue. And so what this does is it gets us away from both politics and economics. We’re now saying: What are the most important things to us as a society, as a species? And forget the economics [and] politics, but what is the most important thing that keeps us alive?” Suzuki reasons that it is in the hands of average citizens of this nation – not just politicians and CEOs – to protect the air, soil and water we depend on. According to Suzuki, one segment of the population that seems to understand this is musicians. “In the issues I’ve been involved in, musicians are among the first to say, ‘I’m with you.’ And I keep asking them, what the hell is it about music? I asked Bruce Cockburn what is it about music? And he hasn’t been able to answer – no musician has told me.” Yet, artists like Feist, k-os, Patrick Watson, Tanya Tagaq, Neil Young, and many others flock at the opportunity to do what that they can. Suzuki adds: “But it’s more than musicians… We’re not going to win this battle as environmentalists. We need a much bigger tent. So
issues of social justice, hunger and poverty, these are our issues.” The inclusion of First Nations people is something very important to Suzuki. “I’ve been working with First Nations now for 35 years, and they have taught me everything. I mean, I give them total credit for changing the way I look at the environment. And we’ve established very deep relationships with them. In fact, I’ve got two Haida grandchildren.” Suzuki understands how the realities of hunger and poverty are connected to the stewardship of this land. “I think that the [David Suzuki] Foundation is very unique because built into our mandate is [the notion] that we must work with First Nations communities. Not to help them, but as equal partners to support each other. And that’s been very, very powerful.” At this point in his career, you might expect to see Suzuki settling down rather than taking on the biggest project of his life. But then you realize how personal this mission is for him and you come to understand that he’s looking beyond his own lifetime. “I have grandchildren, and I know that the world they’re growing up in is nothing like the world I grew up in. Well, that’s pretty shitty stewardship if you ask me. So it’s my obligation to them to do everything I can. I have no illusions. I’m one person. But I want to feel that when I die, my grandchildren will be there and I’ll be able to say to them, ‘I tried the best I could.’ That’s all you can ask.”
—42—
THE HEAT PHOTOGRAPHY STYLING
BY
BY
Pedersen
Cassy Meier
Olivia - track suit - LUSH (Simons) crop top - SUKA (Bamboo Ballroom) head scarf - DKNY Charlie - jacket - LUSH (Simons) tank - SUKA (Bamboo Ballroom) bra - KENSIE (Simons) baseball cap REASON (Simons) track pants - STELLA MCCARTNEY FOR ADIDAS (Simons) necklace + earrings (Simons)
—43—
GEORGIE
—44—
fashion
Olivia - dress + head scarf - DKNY shoes - DKNY belt + jewellery (Simons) Charlie - jacket - ANTHONY VACCARELLO (Simons) bra - CALVIN KLEIN (Simons) skirt - CANADA GOOSE (Simons) shoes DKNY —45—
GEORGIE
fashion
Charlie - tank - STYLE STALKER (Simons) bandanna - DKNY necklace + earrings (Simons)
—46—
Olivia - dress - KENZO (Simons) jacket - MUSTARD SEED (Simons) necklace + earrings (Simons)
Olivia - tank top - TWIK (Simons) shirt - JACQUEMUS (Simons) sweats - DKNY necklace + earrings (Simons) shoes - DKNY Charlie - sweat shirt - MAURIE & EVE (Simons) biker shorts - SUKA (Bamboo Ballroom) panties (over shorts) - H & M shoes - DKNY
GEORGIE
fashion
Charlie - bra set - LOVE STORIES (Simons) dress - LUCY PARIS (Simons) jacket - DKNY X CARA DELEVINGNE (DKNY) necklace + earrings (Simons)
HAIR
BY
Simone and Toma (Fuss Salon) M A K E U P
BY
Katie Matson M O D E L S Olivia Billsten + Charli Elber
—50—
BLANC PHOTOGRAPHY STYLING
BY
BY
Jared Bautista
Kara Chominstek
dress - MALORIE URBANOVITCH coat - LAMB’S LAUGHTER (Paul Hardy) bag - BURBERRY (Nordstrom) mittens - PAUL HARDY
GEORGIE
fashion
jacket - VINCE (Nordstrom) sweater - BAND OF OUTSIDERS (Nordstrom) shoes - TOP SHOP jacket (around waste) - T ALEXANDER WANG (Nordstrom) trouser - CHELSEA 28 (Nordstrom)
—52—
turtle neck - MALORIE URBANOVITCH (gravitypope) blouse - PAUL HARDY coat - FREE PEOPLE (Nordstrom) sweater (around waist) - VINCE CAMUTO coat (on shoulder) - VINCE CAMUTO (Nordstrom) shirt - MALORIE URBANOVITCH
sweater - MALORIE URBANOVITCH (gravitypope) cardigan - MICHAEL KORS (Nordstrom) cardigan - MALORIE URBANOVITCH (gravitypope) trouser - 3.1 PHILLIP LIM (Nordstrom)
jacket - T ALEXANDER WANG (Nordstrom) dress - DEX (Nordstrom) stole - LAMB’S LAUGHTER (Paul Hardy)
GEORGIE
fashion
turtleneck - HELMET LANG (Nordstrom) cardigan - MALORIE URBANOVITCH (gravitypope) coat - ARMY YVES SALOMON (Nordstrom)
HAIR + MAKEUP
BY
Lucy Morris M O D E L Sam Ypma (Mode Models) —56—