A.R.Kane - I felt that was true and it was good to be back by Revista The 13th

The13th AÑO: 3

NÚMERO 27

UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA

[ Interview with Rudy Tambala of A.R.Kane by Diego Centuriรณn. Translated by Marcelo Simonetti. ]

I FELT THAT WAS TRUE AND IT WAS GOOD TO BE BACK

The water jet of the returns within the dreampop and the shoegaze continues recovering bands and sounds that were important at the end of the 1980s and first part of the 1990s. And one of those bands that have regained the luster of his short life is A.R.Kane. Considered by the new generations of bands of both styles as one of their biggest influences. Supported in its splendour by the Cocteau Twins and acclaimed by the press of the time and the current. Magazine The 13th got an exclusive interview with Rudy Tambala, to the delight of lovers of great music that still today dyeing of bright colors the world soundscape. Hi Rudy. Thank you for chatting with me today. Did you decide to return to music to mark your 30th anniversary or was this even something you had thought about? Hi, and thank you. No, I made no plan, it just kinda started to happen. Social media has made it easy for people to connect, and a couple guys (Johnny and Jimmy) reached out to me last spring, asking if A.R.Kane would perform at their Supernormal festival in Oxfordshire, England. I told them I no longer had a band and had not played for over a century, but they were very persistent and threatened to kidnap my dog, so I agreed to play. In truth, J&J were extremely supportive and positive and without them I do not think we would be talking now. I built a band of original Kaners (Colin Cairns and Maggie Tambala), and four others – in total seven players. We started rehearsing a live set and I was hooked; I love playing music, with musicians, and the reaction we received on Facebook and then at the live shows was very positive. We started to receive various offers of shows and recording, we did one other show (MIDI festival Hyeres, France). I took a step back to assess over the summer and decided I definitely wanted to continue, but with a simple line-up – just myself, Maggie and Andy Taylor. We started to rehearse a

new set, more technology-driven, and as our style developed, show offers started trickling in. We now have 9 European shows confirmed and a few in the pipeline. 30 years! It doesn’t feel like the same life, the band is a fresh new thing. I won't dig too much into the past because it's the future what matters, but the past is what makes our present. You've been part of the 80´s and 90´s explosion. What are some of your fondest memories about those days? What are things you disliked about ‘the industry’ back then? Are these things still relevant today? Hey, you’re a journalist, you’re supposed to dig! The A.R.Kane experience was very trippy. It all happened very fast , and looking back I can see that ’86 to’89 were a complete whirlwind of events, people, creativity, confusion, greed, potential, mind-expansion, love, vanity, indulgence, lost innocence, money, ill-behaviour, glamour. Fondly … Ray and Tan Shulman (Gentle Giant) – They discovered us, got us our first deal, produced us and shaped our thinking to a large extent. We would hang out in their London apartment, get high and drunk, listen to music, Ray taught us how to use samplers and synths, played bass on some tracks, and Tan would tell us how cool we were then slap us down for getting too arrogant. Similarly, Robin and Liz from the Cocteau Twins gave us a lot of support and helped us to develop our sound, never held us back, and I think they recognised that like them, we were outsiders in a very white, English middle-class Indie scene. Bad shit happened at 4AD after M|A|R|R|S became a hit – I’d never seen such stupid greed before – it almost killed the label, it ended our relationship with them, but allin-all it was for the best; we signed to Geoff Travis/ Rough Trade, built a studio and made our best work. Indie labels back then were un-professionally run, which was what we liked about them - they still had the punk DIY ethic, but as they grew and scaled, they could not all adapt – the post-punk hippy collective

mentality was full of contradictions and hypocrisy. The alternative was the soulless major label machines. Yuk, even worse. Today everything has changed – digital disruption has amplified the DIY ethic and shifted the balance of power to the music maker and music lover. This is a goodness. Both shoegaze and dream pop seem to be regaining the place they held at the beginning of the 90´s. What do you see as the similarities and differences between this scene now and then? Was there really a ‘scene’? Dreampop most definitely was not - it was simply the neologism that A.R.Kane created to describe its own anti-genre approach to music. That it would become an actual genre is ironic. As for shoegaze, I think that was a journalistic invention, not an actual scene. I don’t remember any shoegaze festivals or parties or magazines and styles of clothing, mannerisms, etc. There was undoubtedly the ‘noise as beauty’ aesthetic from A.R.Kane, Sonic Youth, MBV and few others, but I’d hardly call it a scene. Today there is a ‘dreamgaze’ scene, and it is growing – this was brought to my attention 3 years back when I was compiling the A.R.Kane singles collection for release on One Little Indian. I was shocked, I had no idea there was a whole new generation making this music again. Now there are literally thousands of bands all over the planet making some seriously good noises – it’s heaven! You've really been praised in the press during your career. What do you feel about the press in general since the internet came into play? Interesting that you use the term ‘press’ when in fact there is no press on the internet. This is Macluhan’s rear-view mirror - it keeps us thinking in old categories, stops us from using new media in a new way. We used to get write-ups in melody maker- because MM loved us, NME mostly ignored us. Pathetic really. Today, although there are less sub-editor quality checks now, on the whole I think journalism has improved; the decentralization of power, the political/ editorial restraint of the power-led media channels,

it is all falling away. The Young Turks will eclipse CNN soon. We cannot sit protected in an ivory tower and write whatever we want to, with no regard for truth, without compassion, because now our peers will cut us down on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wherever. We police ourselves and trolls get burnt. Overall, I’ve seen really good writing, superb journalism, with a sense of freedom, responsibility and fairness – very positive. Music has changed a lot since A.R. Kane went on hiatus. Today the rules are different I think. How do you manage with the new technologies? It seems there is much more opportunity but oversaturation. What do you think this development means for musicians today? I’m not sure how much music has changed and I do not agree that the fundamental rules have changed. Go back 100 years; every middle class household had a piano in the parlor but bow may Chopin’s were created? 30 years ago every student had guitar propped up against the wall, but how many Kevin Shields were created? There is a music progression theory well-documented in the book ‘The People’s Music by Ian MacDonald’ that I highly recommend. Same today, we have more access, but a musician is a particular type of creature, and the piano, the guitar, the crack copy of Ableton… to the musician these are radiating a pure energy, a gravitation force, a feeling of unlimited potential. Love. I have a partially expressed geek gene; I tinker with the tech just enough to enable expression through the medium. Since 86/87 I was using sequencers, synths, drum machines, samplers, studio gear, guitar fx etc. so it is not new. The big shift is that it is virtual and compact now. I love that. I recently got Ableton, a pair of Rockit 8 monitors and a Roland JDXi synth - a complete studio for very little investment. But back to musicians today – I think the virtualization of much of our lives has seen the opposite emerge, and so the live performance has grown in value to a lot of people. There are so many new music festivals, I think historically this may come to define this

time we are living through – that and the rise of extreme right ideologies and other forms of retrograde human behavior. The experience of live performance – the discipline, the hard work, the circuit that is created, the simultaneous, visceral, emotional, spiritual, sensual sharing of the moment. That is what humanity needs, that’s what every musician should strive to provide – whether it be to an audience of 10 in a toilet of a venue, or main-stage Glastonbury. Live connect. Returning to the stage ultimately benefits with good chemistry between band members and may also be

accompanied by compositions and recording together? Have you been exploring these options already or will you consider them? You are so right; after the shows last summer I started writing, with the idea of performing and recording with Maggie and Andy. I did a couple rough demo’s but then had a change of heart; I feel now that it is extremely important to play the songs in the live context, to hone them, to share them, to let them grow their own life, prior to recording. I have spoken with one producer in particular that I really want to work with – he shared my feeling and said no hurry. So, no hurry, but the plan is to make some new songs after the summer shows. It was amazing de-

buting the new songs live in Manchester this week – the audience connected. Thirty years have past since A.R. Kane began. How did you feel upon playing your show this week at Manchester’s Soup Kitchen? Same same but different. [laughs]. We were supported by a Brazilian/London band called Sky Between Leaves – they are young, earnest, great musicians, beautiful people. I watched them play and mingled with the audience - I saw older cats hanging out, my age, original fans, and youngsters my own kids age. It was how it always was, and yet that energy of simply being there, it is familiar but always new. It’s hard to put into words. I was a bit nervous, then one cat shouted ‘welcome back!’ and I felt that was true and it was good to be back. Music is endless – we have so much still to explore, to learn, and I really need to get better at live performance – I used to get by with sheer force of volume, effects, and attitude. This is not befitting of an older gentleman. Regarding the upcoming Primavera Sound Festival and Portugal’s variation NOS Primavera Sound, you’ll be playing with many of the biggest names in indie (and not so indie) music today. What are your expectations or hopes in relation to these events? I’m really looking forward to the shows – I like a lot of the bands playing and so am going partly as a fan.

I hope we perform well and have a good laugh. Many new generation bands cite A.R.Kane as an influence. How do you feel about this now that you are once again active on the music scene? I’m flattered, pleased, humbled and ego-lifted. With retrospect I can see why we influence – it is the quirky experimental vibe a lot of our songs had – that unfinished quality, which allows the songs to stay relevant. When I hear people describing a song of ours, how they perceive it, it make me see it afresh, through their eyes, like when a friend visits and you take them on a tour. It is nice to be recognised in an area that you love, it’s very satisfying. I have started working with some new bands; Ummagma, a Ukrainian/Canadian duo, have agreed to a collaboration on a couple songs, and I’ve received some really cool music from other bands that I may remix or produce, or whatever it is one does these days. What are your plans for the next 3-6 months? We play a bunch of shows over the summer. I have earmarked a couple songs for recording, and hopefully this will happen in the autumn. We don’t have a label, manager, or any of the standard machinery, although we do have a great PR company (Shameless Promotion PR), so I have to figure out how this all works. Next year we’d like to play live in the Americas, so we’ll see how things develop,

maybe weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see you!

Thanks to the internet and social media, I have this brilliant opportunity to reach you from our own South American country of Argentina. Thanks so much for your words and your time Rudy! Thank you, it has been a pleasure.

The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA