Revista The 13th N° 57 (Interviews)

AÑO: 6 | NÚMERO 57

THE 13th UN A REV I S TA I M A GI N A RI A

GOODBYE MR MACKENZIE LUIS MOJICA WE MELT CHOCOLATE

ÍNDICE ENTREVISTAS GOODBYE, MR MACKENZIE

06 LUIS MOJICA

16 WE MELT CHOCOLATE

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[ Interview With Martin Metcalfe from Goodbye Mr MacKenzie by Diego Centuriรณn.

Photographs: Karen Lamond, Andrew Barr, Kate Garner and Martin Becker. ]

GOODBYE MR MACKENZIE: FULL CIRCLE: GOODBYE MR. MACKENZIE, ANGELFISH AND THE FILTHY TONGUES

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There exist bands that we did not previously know, either due to geographical distance or lack of information for different reasons, "Goodbye, Mr. MacKenzie" is one of those bands for us in South America. Hailing from Scotland, perhaps they didn’t have the same global impact as bands like The Jesus And Mary Chain or Cocteau Twins, to name just a few. That is why it is particularly interesting for us today to discover this music now and recoup these stories, which are little known abroad.

It returns to the present with new strength, but with a rich history unknown on this side of the planet. Taking advantage of the edition of a remastered version of their debut album "Good Deeds and Dirty Rags" and the celebration of their 30year anniversary, we communicated with GMM frontman Martin Metcalfe…

Hello Martin and thanks for agreeing to speaking with us today.

It is difficult to start and not mention that Shirley Manson was one of your band members and that she pretty much got her start on the musical stage with Goodbye Mr MacKenzie.

Am I wrong? What do you think of her musical career? Did you think she was going to become what she is today?

We had no idea that she would become such a household name around the world and I don't think she did either.

She did a lot of hard touring/recording and press work with Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and then Angelfish which put her in a great position when she got the offer to work with the coolest and most famous producer in the world. He saw her performing with us in Chicago when Angelfish toured the USA and thought she was worth giving a try as a singer for Garbage... It worked. A lot of hard work and a bit of luck made her what she is now.

What was her reaction to learn about your band’s anniversary tour and album reissue?

I think she was very happy for us to do it but couldn't get involved. Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie was a big part of her musical life but Garbage is much bigger. She was touring in the USA when we did the shows and couldn't have managed to fit us in. To be fair I think she's outgrown the role she had in Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie so it would seem weird for her to do backing vocals it might have been weird to add Angelfish songs as the UK audience is not familiar with that album we could also do some duets but there's a limit to how many of those a band can perform ton a night.

What do you recall about the moment that you decided to form Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie? How did you all meet up and decide to collaborate?

There was no 'decision', the band evolved from 2 different bands from our

small hometown of Bathgate. There was no manager guiding us. The only 'decision' like that I was ever involved in was when myself and friends heard punk bands in 1976 and said 'let's form a band!!'. Those friends and myself were between the ages of 13 & 15 and none of us could play any instrument.

Bathgate band number one formed from that decision. After that I met Derek Kelly & his band. Those guys attended a different religious school from my lot and eventually both bands merged in around 1979. We were all still under 18 at that point. Then there was a few years of writing bad songs and playing bad gigs before we got a break in our early 20's.

When I first heard your band, I looked for a reference between my musical knowledge and felt your music was closer to INXS and The Waterboys. If you had to describe

Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie’s music, what would you say?

Those references are probably reasonable for our 80's material and we were in fact listening to the Waterboys but we were most definitely NOT listening to INXS. We came out of Post Punk and into an era where the studio engineers had taken over the mental hospital (recording studios).

They were cleaners. They cleaned all the sounds up and that's probably why INXS spring to your mind. In 1984 when we were starting to record our demos, digital samplers were an exciting new tool that most band had no idea how to operate and unfortunately music became a bit plastic in the hands of the 'cleaners'. Our lyrics on the other hand were not tainted by technology and still had a challenge at their core. We rarely or never sang about love. We always made our lyrics socially relevant (at least to us). In around 1990 we started

to seriously review what we were doing and ended up making music that was nearer the Pixies, Nick Cave or some the Grunge bands that came later. I accept we're best known for our Good Deeds lp which did suffer a bit from 80's production but I think it's a pretty good record none the less. It seems that some of the kids really love that sound now so I'm not going to argue!!

I heard an interview with Robert Plant who's first LP was recorded during that time and he described digital recording

as being 'in it's infancy'. That's a good way to look at it.

Today social networks have changed the way that bands get their music known to the masses. How do you feel about social networks as a tool for your own band’s promotion?

There are pros and cons. I actually quite enjoy Facebook promo etc. at some level but it can be all consuming.

Social Media wants our attention, it wants to steal your time and control

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your focus. It's designed that way. It can be an uncomfortable relationship, they are like a lonely person in a store who wants to sell you something (which is fine) but then keeps you in the store chatting to the detriment of the rest of your aims and relationships; for money of course. The more they can prove to their advertisers that you are glued to Facebook or Twitter the more money they make. I can be sucked into the trivia and distraction which is bad for me. Very occasionally I'm a 'clickbait' sucker and end up in a vortex of bollocks. Of course it's great that we can communicate with people all over the world but so can every other band.

The playing field is still what it was and money talks. The joy of something 'going viral' without big money behind it is still about as likely as Donald Trump saying something honest (It does happen but generally only when it's beneficial to big business).

Please tell us about your label? Is it Scottish as well?

Our label BLOKSHOK Records was set up in 1994 to release our first full 'Indie' album which was called '5'.

We're very proud to have that label.

We've released around 10 albums on it. All our own material. We'd love to release other artists but we have too much going on to give it the time it needs.

it was a great building and magic environment. We never realized it was where our heroes Bowie & Iggy recorded Heroes & Lust For Life.

We were there in November 1989.

Our manager phoned the studio around 6pm and said the Berlin Wall is coming down tonight!‌ The us & studio owners and technicians though 'it can't be true' There was no political build up to it. It was a surprise to the world. We had been recording very late at night and going to be around midday... starting work around 2pm... So 10.30pm was 'dinner time to me... I said to the band and engineers I was going to head out for food and might take a walk past check point Charlie just in case there was any truth in the message. When I got there the place was mobbed. I stood in a huge crowd of people watching the East Berliners walking freely through the check point.

It was amazing. The end of the cold war. I remember thinking 'we're safe from nuclear war'. A journalist took a photograph of the crowd & I was in it. A massive advertising board of the photo stood in Berlin for a few years in the 1990's & I was on it. The city was crazy from that day. It was packed with visitor who wanted to experience being a part of the wonderful feeling. East Germans who spoke no English hugged us and gave the victory signs. It felt that everything in the world could be positive now. That was the end of a poisonous version of Communism in Russia. True capitalism died in the 2008 crash and things are looking scary again. I'll never forget that feeling though. Hope and a brotherhood of sorts.

Some time ago on your Facebook page, I read a story about the Berlin Wall. Can you share this with our readers?

Oh yes! Another brilliant time for us.

We were recording our second LP in Berlin in Hansa Ton Studios nicknamed What is the connection between as 'Hansa by the wall'. We found that Goodbye Mr MacKenzie, Angelfish place when we were looking around and The Filthy Tongues?

Berlin for a good studio. We thought The connection is really myself, Fin

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Wilson & Derek Kelly. We have played bass drums & guitar in all of these bands & we have all have a love of alternative and even at our most commercial there has been some level of uncompromising behavior. In the 80's we wanted to emulate what Bowie had done in the 70's . He brought Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and other radical unknowns into the households of the world. We wanted to bring Nick Cave & The Pixies into mainstream consciousness, through our twisted pop. If I'm honest I'd say we just didn't have his genius so it didn't happen. I think we were the 1st band to cover a Nick Cave song “Knockin' On Joe'. We saw that he was in fact a great classic songwriter. His music in The Birthday Party had been so noise driven and out there that nobody in the mainstream could recognize that. I

loved the noise he made and his version is like a 'Hillbilly Heroin' delivery of that song. I could hear a classic blues torch song in there.

Tell us, in broad strokes, when and why you decided to reform the band and tour again?

I decided to do a solo gig to celebrate the record's 30th anniversary. I honestly thought that no-one else (even Kelly & Wilson) would want to. Big John had told me he had MS and couldn't play guitar any more. Rona had settled down raising a family and told me she hadn't played keyboard since the band split up 25 years ago. The odds were against us. John persevered through his condition. He still has all his guitars and somehow we managed to get it together and make it work. From Fin

saying 'yes' in mid-January it took us Well artists are never satisfied with around 14 weeks to get it together. their work & I think I've kind of outlined Pretty amazing considering John lives my feelings & in my first answer but in Amsterdam. there's another element to it but there's another maybe more spiritual The release of the remastered thing about hearing old works. We've version of ‘Good Deeds and Dirty become aware of music as kind of time Rags’ is approaching. How was it to traveling technology. When people listen to this material again 30 years come to the gigs they are transported after it was released? back to a time of freedom and fun. It

may be 'rose tinted' but there's no harm in it. It's a time to reflect on the good things in your life I suppose. I had a similar feeling when listening back to the record. I remembered how it all happened. In December 1987 I was claiming unemployment benefits and thought I might get nowhere with music; by March 1988 I had a major record deal and for the first time in my life (it seemed) a proper wage. By June 1988 myself and Shirley Manson were flying to Munich, Germany courtesy of Capitol Records, to meet a prospective producer who had worked (among many others) with Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Queen. I hadn't been abroad or even on a plane since my only trip outside the UK (aged ten) to Majorca on a short school holiday.

Now I was flying through a thunder storm with jagged lightning flashes all around which I'd only witnessed in Hammer Horror films, but it wasn't frighting, it was a feeling of total excitement. We looked at each other in disbelief at our good fortune. It was a beautiful experience and our producer Mack was a really nice, funny guy. His stories about Keith Richards, Brian May and John Bonham were hilarious.

When we were recording with Mack, Keith Richards came to visit the studio and had a party. Big John helped him remember how to spell his name when he was signing the visitors book. It was a great time for us and that's what I thought of when I heard Good Deeds & Dirty Rags again.

To round up, what are your plans for the near future?

We've enjoyed these gig so much we are going to do a few more this year.

We're going to play in England/London and a few more dates in Scotland

finishing with our sellout gig at the Glasgow Barrowland near Xmas. After that who knows what lies in wait for Goodbye Mr Makenzie. It seems a shame to not record one final album but we'll see.

Otherwise Kelly, Fin & myself will continue with our current band The Filthy Tongues. It looks like we can't face putting our instruments down yet.

There's plenty to write about too these days. The chaos in the subject matter of good deeds seems to have turned from what was a kind of fictional dystopian dread into reality. It's time to imagine a solution and turn that into reality.

Thank you for the opportunity to ask these questions, and hopefully this is not our last interview with Goodbye Mr Mackenzie.

Goodbye Mackenzie dates November 2ndNov,Middlesbrough,Westgarth Social Club 8th Nov, London, Dingwalls December 13th Dec, Dunfermline, PJ Molloys 14th Dec, Cumbernauld, Submarine Club 15th Dec, Dundee, Beat Generator 20th Dec, Glasgow, Barrowland 29th Dec, Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh

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[ Interview with Luis Mojica by Benjamín York. ]

LUIS MOJICA: A MOST PERSONAL AND INTIMATE EXPERIENCE

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With a pure and enigmatic countenance, comes from Woodstock, Luis Mojica, and we present his new and third album, "How a stranger is made", which will be released on October 4. And there are already some advanced videos, but we have been impressed by both his music and his beautiful video "The Ranger", so we communicate with him and talk about everything ...

Hi Luis, thanks for agreeing to answer our questions. And I start putting together this interview on Monday and although it's not 13, like the song on your album "The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon", but we're doing this interview for The 13th.

To begin, let's talk about how you got started with music, when did you start taking the first steps in music?

Music was always in my body, yearning to leak out. I studied cello at 8 years old, but my shyness would have me quit so no one had to watch or hear me. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I watched a Joni Mitchell documentary and began writing songs on the guitar and then the piano. Still, it would take me 10 more years from there to ever let anyone hear my work and perform it.

What made you fall in love with the piano?

I was writing songs on the guitar in a style that was heavily influenced by Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. I had no interest in the piano until a friend gave me a CD called “Boys for Pepe” by Tori

Amos. That opening track, “Horses”, would completely change how I wrote music for good - even how I felt about music. Her playing and composing, especially on that track, had no limits and was so grand in composition and sound, yet extremely personal and intimate. I was granted permission in that moment to find my own inner sonic landscapes that I just could never access on the guitar. My mother bought me a piano soon after and then I found myself writing songs that emotionally transcended my guitar songs. The loudness, and size, of the piano forced me out of my musical closet that the guitar afforded me. I had to sing louder, develop a wider range, and be seen. It would be a whole decade before I would perform, but the piano catapulted me into sharing my music.

Let's talk a little about your great vocal recording, tell us about this.

Did you study this or are you just a natural talent?

I’m as untrained as they get. When I was really little, like 8 years old, I would imitate pop songs I heard on the radio with perfect pitch but I was too shy to

sing. When my voice changed I gave up on singing. When i started writing in the guitar I whisper-sang and developed my lower range. The piano pushed me to developed my upper range and falsetto. Then one day a Jazz vocalist who was helping me access more of my range said: “Do you realize you have a 3+ vocal octave range”? I didn’t know what it meant but I loved how it sounded. Singing more me is primitive and intuitive. I follow whatever wants to come out- beautiful or embarrassing.

compose? Do you always compose on the piano?

Yes, I always compose on piano and it’s always different. I don’t read or write, so it’s a very intuitive process.

Sometimes it’s an improv and my hands are being led by some inner feeling and then I have to memorize and recreate what came. Other times I have a firm concept or I can hear it in my mind.

“The Ranger”, for instance, was in my head upon waking from a dream.

In 2015 you joined Rasputina, What is it like for you when you but you had already released

"Anaesthesia", your first solo recording, prior to this? Tell us about your time with Rasputina.

I asked if I could open for them in 2014.

They were playing at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY. She said yes and I was thrilled. I performed new songs, as well as some from Anaesthesia, solo on a loop pedal. She liked my sound and invited me to join the band. I beat boxed, looped percussion, played keys, and sang backing vocals for Rasputina for the next 5 years. I would tour every major city in America, meet thousands of incredible fans, and begin my independent music career with my first studio album "Wholesome", which was funded by fans and sold out after a year of touring with Rasputina. I learned so much from that band. Melora Creager is a force of nature. Authentic as hell and so fun to play with. She keeps it loose, unrehearsed, and in the moment. My stage fright and any fear of messing up have vanished since playing with Rasputina.

Love With The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon," released in 2015.

Tell us about this recording.

That is a very special and strange album. I had been given the book "The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon" by Tom Spanbauer. The book is an incredible fiction novel about a small town in 19th century Idaho that's home to a pink house full of women, cowboys, and a two-spirited Indian boy lovingly named "Shed". It's a powerful concept about masculinity, spiritual sexuality, and gender identity that is unparalleled to anything else out there. The author founded this concept called "dangerous writing" where you find characters inside of you that you would be ashamed of. Parts of yourself that you don't identify with but parts that exist. I made my record based on that writing approach. The album was recorded live on an upright piano in and old 19th century house that used to be an inn, alongside the Platte Clove mountains of West Saugerties. It's an unhinged, explicit journey through my Among your works there is an own gender identity, sexuality, and album that you recorded many years self-realizations as an unorthodox man ago, called "The Man Who Fell In myself. I was really happy with how it

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turned out and I've dreamt of performing it live, in drag, with 3 doo wop singers.

One song, "Cowboys", made its way onto my upcoming release.

"Wholesome" is another of your works and perhaps the most homogeneous, but where you explore more certain vocal games.

How do you define this work?

Homogeneous is the best way to describe "Wholesome" after my first two releases. "Anaesthesia" and "...

Moon" were very experimental and shaky, but in a raw and beautiful way.

"Wholesome" was my first studio album I made after two years of touring in Rasputina. The songs were shorter, tighter, and less expansive. I was joined by 12 other musicians who arranged and performed over my piano and vocal tracks, so the album was largely collaborative even though I wrote and composed all the music. The album was about leaving NYC for Woodstock, NY and the reveling in the natural world.

It's truly an ethereal, ecstatic album about freedom.

We are very close to the release of your new album “How a Stranger Is Made�, and you have already given a taste of some of these tracks. What is it like to be near to the release date and how do you reflect on this album?

It is so exciting. I say this album took 32 years to make because it is a direct product of a lot of healing work and self-realization. This album is my most directly personal and intimate to date. All of my previous albums were steeped in such myth and heavy poetry that one could not tell a thing about the subject matter. This record

is more naked, more direct, and better produced. I spent 5 years writing the song and almost 2 years recording it.

I'm really happy with it and so excited to share it.

One of the advances is The Ranger that has a beautiful video. Did you work according to a certain concept?

Tell us more about this video...

The concept of the song is how we project things onto others. In this case, I'm projecting onto men. I've had a lot of beef with men, spent most of my life more feminine and sensitive, I never felt like I fit into the "club". I've since healed most of that, and this song was part of that process. Kelly Merchant is a friend of mine and a very talented photographer. This was her first music video. I gave her the song and she directed and wrote the script.

The concept was, essentially, these evolving characters of my psyche. I begin in a medical corset, confined, and lacking color. As the video moves on I begin embracing the Ranger and my self, integrating the two, and the clothing becomes more looser, more comfortable and I'm breaking free running to find these parts of myself in the forest of my mind. I end with sleeping peacefully as light and rainbow prisms gently merge around my head, coming together and mixing.

Finally, thank you for the possibility to ask you these questions ... and knowing that the new album is coming ... hopefully we will talk again... So our last question has to do with the future... What else are you planning for the rest of 2019 and into 2020?

I will be playing some local shows this

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year and then I plan on touring all over the country with my drummer Evan Adams throughout most of 2020. I also have some music videos I plan on making and releasing in 2020. I'm looking most forward to connecting with the audiences on the road.

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[ Interview with We Melt Chocolate by Benjamín York. ]

WE MELT CHOCOLATE: LET THE SEDUCTIVE FRAGRANCE WRAP YOU

From Florence (Italy) these shoegaze waves arrive under the name of We Melt Chocolate with their selftitled debut album, where they display their influences in an overwhelming and sensitive torrent. A new band comes to us from Italy and as always happens we want to meet them, so we contacted them and they told us.

Hi guys, thanks for agreeing to conduct this interview ... for us everything that comes from Italy always catches our attention and you are no exception...

To start ... I would like to introduce the members of the band.

Hello! We Melt Chocolate are: Vanessa lunar voice and easy keyboard, Enrico melt guitar, Lorenzo dream guitar, Marco fuzz bass and Francesco space drum How was the band born?

We were formed in 2013, but we all are sort of musicians who have been long time part of the Florence “scene”. Some of us were in Evanicetrip and Shades of Blue, more or less the same project with different singer and guitarist. When Vanessa came back from Belgium we were ready to build up a new project.

Today they already have their first album on the street ... What do they feel about it?

We’re very very happy and excited, it took a long time because we wanted to find the right sound (or the sound that we like). We’re happy because we have a great label “Annibale Records” and a great promotion agency Kool Thing, to work with them is very nice. We recorded the album through different sessions but finally we made it through

Talking about influences would be the easiest question to ask ... if you wish, you can tell us about them ... but I would like to know what sounds you like and are not represented in the band's sound.

Our influences are shoegaze bands, of course, like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride. We love the wall of sound but also noise pop and bands like Sonic Youth. Not to mention New Wave bands like The Cure and You are born in 2013 and just published Joy division. your first work, although before you have released EPs, demos and some versions ...

(Vanessa) I don’t know actually…i’m in love How would you summarize what happened with Spacemen3 so maybe we should put in these first five years? some “space” in the songs? Ahaha We did a lot of rehearsals…ahahaha…we composed quite a few songs and we also (Lorenzo) Personally I love the Beatles the played several gigs.

Stones the Velvet U. the Byrds and the 60's in We finally decided to reorganize all the general, i think it shows in our music though materials willing to publish something official. a bit. I'm also a big fan of soul music, that We all have boring jobs so the whole process probably is not represented in our sound at went quite slowly but we finally made it, yay! all.

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(Enrico) I grew up with post-punk and with shogaze/dreampop I reached out my ideal harbour.

just need to leave yourself in the melody and the rhythm. Don’t rush just enjoy the feelings that the music give you.

How long did it take you to write and record these songs?

Like we said, it took a quite a lot of work: we usually play a sort of “jam session” and we record what we play. If it's good enough and (mostly) if we remember how to play it, then Vanessa listen to this recordings and add vocals and lyrics.

Usually some of us start with a riff and then we all start playing for countless hours. The moment you feel that something is emerging from the rough noise is always exciting like the very first time!

Maybe the best presentation are our singles Everjoy and 12hours…they also have videoclips so the experience is at 360° (Lorenzo) I love this lyric from Girls Names: Bury me in a wall of sound. That is a good description of our sound.

(Enrico) A blend of loud noise and calm/soft moment, just an apparent contrast whereas they are just the two side of the same coin.

Beyond the album, do you already have new songs? Do you plan a release of new For those who don't know We Melt songs or videos?

Chocolate, how would they explain its (Vanessa) Yes! We’ve almost a new album sound? And with what song would they ready..ahaha…let’s see what the 2020 will appear before a new listener? bring to us. We could be faster probably if we (Vanessa) I think our sound is like a perfume, had more time to dedicate to the band. “let the seductive fragrance envelop you”. You

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(Enrico) Well, I wouldn’t exact say “almost ready” but we definitely have some new ideas floating around.

Roberto Schoepflin and Giuliano Billi for the videos, Gabriele Doria who recorded us, Rebecca Squilloni who also helped additional recordins, and of course our friends and What are the plans for the remainder of supporters. the year?

We’re looking for concerts, we would like (Vanessa) We are going to have a new to play a lot not only in Italy but in Europe video ready soon! It’s so funny to do videos!!! also, maybe we’ll be in Japan next year…

Who knows…Let's see what happens, you (Enrico) I wanted to add a HUGE special can contact us what are you waiting for?? thank you for Renato Malizia and his TBTCI: without his incredible dedication, enthusiasm Finally and thanking the kindness and the opportunities he has offered to lot of of answering our questions ... Is there bands (including us) we probably won’t be anything you want to add that I have not here answering to your questions. asked?

Thank you for having us!

He also definitely helped the surface of the We also would like to thank all the people so-called italogaze scene (amazing bands involved in the making af the album: Matteo like rev rev rev, stella diana, in her eye, etc).

Magrini, who helped us a lot mixing the album, We might be playing some gigs along some of Karl Skivington with his mastering class, them in the near future, crossing my fingers!

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The13th

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