The13th AÑO: 4 | NÚMERO 41
UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA
BLACK DOLDRUMS WE LIKE TO PLAN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
[ Interview With Kevin J. Moriarty Gibbard and Sophia Lacroix Landers from Black Doldrums by Diego Centuriรณn. ]
WE LIKE TO PLAN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
London is one of the points where neo psychedelia and rock garage have been reborn with great force, although we can find exponents on the planet as we have been showing them throughout interviews with bands from various parts of the world. Today we are approaching a great new band, Black Doldrums. They formed in 2014, is a duet composed by James Moriarty (guitar and vocals) and Sophia La Croix (drums) and have already released an EP "Exit City Lights" (2016), their debut album "People's Temple" by February of this year. Flooded with a dark and energetic psychedelia, mixed with sounds that come from stoner rock, have taken the first step and we managed to interview them with their debut on the street. Hello Black Doldrums thanks for accepting this interview. And to start with, let's ask them about the beginning. How is the band born and why do they choose the name? Kevin: We’d known each other sometime after having met through music at a psych and garage night. Sophie: We moved to London in 2013 and at an all dayer at the Shacklewell Arms we were pretty much told to get a band together by a man we recently met after 3 years called Bertie. We thought, yeah actually we can do that and got to work on it almost straight away. Kevin: Yeah was strange as we didn’t see or hear from him for ages until he came to one of our shows. Basically I had been writing songs and experimenting with different projects for some time with no real success and it took Bertie in sandals mid-november to suggest the missing piece of the puzzle! Sophie who was right in front of me the whole time.
Do you like to plan everything or do you want to let the energy flow to the place she wants? We like to plan as much as possible to make sure we’re getting our music out there an reaching people. It’s all just natural steps towards what we do. A few months after the release of the People's Temple, how is everything going with him? We’re pleased to say it’s been well received and has sold a lot of copies all over the world as far as the U.S ,Australia and even China. We’re pretty pleased with the album but we kind of like to concentrate on the next thing, the next album or next tour so we keep thing fresh and interesting for ourselves, We’re currently working on a new album and touring soon. You have released an EP last year, and the four songs appear on the album, what differences are there in those songs in both works? They are the same songs but kind of re-imagined and and re-mixed. We believe songs are never truly finished and it’s all just conceptual. How was the recording period of the debut album? Very stressful. A lot of shouting but extremely productive. There seems to be a lot of energy flying around the studio for just two people.
When I see that they are a duet of guitar and drums, immediately comes to mind bands like The White Stripes, The Black Keys, even The Doors (for lack of bass). Have you ever felt the need of someone else? Sophie: Never, not right now anyway, very The debut EP of the band "Exit City Lights" was the first movement in the game occasionally if we’re feeling fancy we’ll drag of chess that means a musical race, where someone up to play tambourine. Kevin: Yeah we first did it in Glasgow with each movement is almost much planned.
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Seb (the drummer from Helicon) was fun having someone on stage with us. We continued doing it on the US tour as it seemed to break the ice a bit. We may consider playing with other people in the future but not until it feels right. Neither of us like the White Stripes and we sound nothing like them so it’s weird when people say that to us. I guess people listen with their eyes too much.
Today with which bands feel more united, by friendship or sonority? Friendship comes first. Something very rare and precious.
What plans do they have for the remainder of 2017 and 2018? We go on tour end of October with 10,000 Russos from Fuzz Club records for a lot of the shows. This time in the UK having played the U.S earlier on in the year will be nice to There are a lot of bands that belong to play our home country more. We also will be what has been called "Neo Psychedelia", finishing our record which will be out in 2018. do you feel part of this label imposed? We do, however I suppose it’s hard to cateThanks Guys!!!! gorize as it can include a wide range of genres and we also are inspired by lots of different types of music from punk, new wave, britpop, psych as well as Goth. I guess we feel a part of it … whatever it is.
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The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA