AN INTERVIEW WITH DAN SOLO OF...
THE SUPERIMPOSER Who are the Superimposers? - Dan Warden AKA DAN SOLO and Miles Copeland. Shawn Lee has produced our new album ‘Sunshine Pops!’ and since the end of last year has joined us as a 3rd member. How did you guys all meet/get together? - Myself and Miles were both living on the South Coast and met through a mutual friend who, with Miles put on parties where i’d play acoustic sets and Miles would DJ. We started hanging out, playing records, talking music. Almost immediately we started to write music together, mostly instrumentals to begin with which we’d record onto a 4 track recorder and only 3 tracks worked. Have you always been a musically inclined person? - I got into music at an early age, my parents were into Tamla Motown, Stax and The Beatles amongst other things and there was always music playing at our house. I didn’t start writing my own songs until I self taught myself the guitar when i was about 16. I got myself some Kinks music books and stole some ideas. Who are the Superimposers most influenced by? - Individually we both have very broad music tastes, but The Superimposers music stems from a combination of artists such as The Rotary Connection, The Kinks, Brian Wilson, Ennio Morricone, Ronnie Lane, Beatles, Shuggie Otis, Harry Nillson, Style Council, Emitt Rhodes, The Beta Band, Pentangle, Sun Ra, Position Normal along with a lot of Library Music, easy listening albums, some classical, some experimental.....the list goes on. We could never pin point one artist, it’s one big melting pot that naturally influences the sound of our music.
What instruments do you use? - We use as many instruments as we can get our hands on. We used to use sampled loops a lot, play over them and then take the samples away. We like to layer things. The instrument of choice at the moment is the Omnichord, an electronic auto harp made in the early 80’s. It’s a great instrument that also has bass lines and beats and a great strum plate that gives you a lovely harp sound. It’s a very ‘Superimposer’ type toy. I tend to play this at gigs when not strumming the guitar. Tell us about your record label, The Wonderful Sound Libraries? - The record label is called Wonderfulsound, which has been going for as long as the band, roughly 5 years or so. The Wonderfulsound Libraries relates to a radio show we do every now and again and is a library of music that we’ve collected and have loved over the years and continue to add to. We wanted to start our own label in order to have complete creative freedom over what we do and to own every thing we produce and release. Wonderfulsound is Miles and I; we are both the creatives, the admins and the artists. Apart from releasing Superimposers records Wonderfulsound produces music for adverts and film, compiles music for fashion shows and generally anything sound and audio related. Miles also offers a mastering service and recently produced something called a ‘Listen Card’, which is like a London postcard but also contains a CD with a 5-minute whistle stop sound tour of London. Do the Wonderful Sound Libraries host a regular night? - We do a Wonderfulsound night, each month, which currently resides at The 3 Kings public house in Clerkenwell, London. The Superimposers are the resident band. We occasionally have guests along to play and we DJ The Wonderfulsound Libraries in between. Is the entire band involved in handpicking the music for the Wonderful Sound radio? - It can vary but generally Miles will kick it off, then we’ll both sit down and pick out the tunes that we like, get a feel for the running order then as long as we’re happy with the content of the show we’ll post it on our website. Do you ever have clashes of opinions on the choice of music for the radio? We generally share the same tastes. Is there anything/anyone who is most inspirational in the song writing process of the music? - It’s a combined effort. It can start with a song or piece of music I’ve written or a piece of music Miles has written, which together we’ll finish. Same with Shawn Lee on some of the more recent stuff. Do you have any other bands you are involved in? - We have done the odd remix for various people who in turn have done a remix for us. A French band from Bordeaux called Zooey and an offshoot of that band called Lisbonne. Also, Jose Gonzalez and the legendary Ashley Beadle. We’re also
linked with a few bands through live gigs and studio work such as The Occasional String Band, The Sables, Pete Molinari and Colorama. They’re all mates with the same tastes, John Stammers from Manchester is an old friend to us both, and it’s a good scene. You currently are releasing your new album, ‘Sunshine Pops!’, how would you describe this album? - Sound wise and song wise, it’s not a rapid departure from the albums we have previously released, although Shawn Lee’s influence has certainly helped to take it to a new level. The title does suggest a summer soundtrack; we have always been described as the perfect summer band. The Sunshine Pops! title is a play on a the genre of music called Sunshine Pop, produced by certain producers such as Curt Boettcher and artists like Emitt Rhodes. Also bands like Rotary Connection are well known for their uplifting moments. Although not strictly Sunshine Pop, I feel that we do wear our Pop sensibilities with pride and that does come across. There are certainly plenty of ‘Pure Pop’ moments to be heard on the new album. Do you consider each song or album produced as an improvement on the last? - Obviously all bands develop their techniques, whether that be within song writing or production like any artist and I suppose every new album is a reflection of where the band or person is ‘at’, at that particular time. Each album is a bit like a sound diary. Songs will differ lyrically and in their composition, which reflect a progression in musical knowledge and taste that can change from year to year. Would you say your style of music has changed over the course of your journey in the industry? - I think personally we’re starting to achieve what we sonically set out to do. We were limited to what we could do in the beginning more due to a lack of equipment and studio space, but then that was what drew people to us in the first place. It’s hard to tell. I’d like to think we’ve progressively changed for the best.
As you have such a unique sound, have you come across any other bands of today that you have noticed a likeness in? - Apart from some of the influences I mentioned earlier, I reckon we’re pretty unique in what we do, certainly compared to our contemporaries anyway. The new ‘Noon Day Underground’ album has glimmers of what we’ve previously put out and the new album by Colorama touches on moments. In fact we’ve been asked to remix one of Colorama’s new songs so we’re going to have similar leanings in what we do. I think when you’re so close to the music that you do it’s hard to compare yourself to other bands, like when people ask you, what sort of music do you make? I suppose it’s down to the record buying public and the press to suggest that likeness. Where do you see your future in the music industry? With the Superimposers - and individually too? - We’ll keep playing and writing music, we’ll keep putting it out for as long as we enjoy doing it. We’ll continue as we are and maybe explore other projects along the way. I know Miles and I would love to do some soundtrack music and perhaps write for other people. The Library albums that have come out in the last 30 odd years are pretty inspirational, music pieces to a theme; we’d like to do something like that. We already have a side project with it’s own imprint label, Topanga Canyon but it’s pretty underground. It’s a concept of edits of music and songs we have discovered and love, it’s good fun, we’ve had about 4 releases so far and it’s been a good response from those in the know. Have you got any promotional gigs for Superimposers coming up? And where can we buy the CD? - You can buy the new CD directly from our website, www.wonderfulsound.com but you’ll be able to pick it up from most record shops. Check Rough Trade, Sounds of The Universe, Piccadilly and all those good independents. We’ve a launch party for the album on the 3rd July 2010 at The 3 Kings Public House, Clerkenwell, London, an in-store gig at ‘Colette’, Paris early July, a Liverpool gig at The Williamson Tunnels 16th July, more to be confirmed, we’ll be out about so keep ‘em peeled!
Nature Does Nothing In Vain
Photographer: Maria Stijger and Bart Broeze, Hair and Make Up: Maaike Beijer,
Stylist: Wenda Torenbosch, Models: Nadine Kuypers and Lana Lemmer
ISOBEL ROCK INTERVIEW
MANCHESTER . LIVERPOOL . LONDON . LEEDS . GOTHENBURG
POP FASHION SHOOT
Photographer: Emma Gibney Stylists: Paula Hayton, Natalie Mckane Model: Christie Corbally
www.eclecticeccentricity.bigcartel.com
CE 5LE FU BR ASI DE N F IT Y AI FO R A N OT B A D MO LL, RE
Vince Power
presents the 3rd
F E S T I VA L HOP FARM - PADDOCK WOOD - KENT - TN12 6PY
FRI 2 JULY 2010 SAT 3 JULY 2010
VAN MORRISON BOB DYLAN BLONDIE RAY DAVIES
THE DR JOHN AND LOWER 911 LOS LOBOS IMELDA MAY DAMIEN DEMPSEY
WITH MORE ACTS TO FOLLOW
BIG TENT
MUMFORD & SONS SEASICK STEVE PETER DOHERTY LAURA MARLING
JOHNNY FLYNN THE MAGIC NUMBERS FOY VANCE BIG TENT
AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM DEVENDRA BANHART RICHARD THOMPSON PETER GREEN & FRIENDS SWEET BILLY PILGRIM AND SPARROW THE WORKSHOP PARIS RIOTS
TUNNG•JIM JONES REVUE PETE MOLINARI ALAN POWNALL JON ALLEN KILL IT KID
BREAD & ROSES STAGE
THE RUSKINS•POPE JOAN•SYNTH EASTWOOD•HOODLUMS EMPRESS•BILLY VINCENT•THE MINUTES•EIGHT LEGS•WALER•PETER LAWRIE ARCHIE WAHS WAHS•LIZ AND THE LIGERS•EAST PARK REGGAE COLLECTIVE•BRIGID JOKER & THE THIEF•AARON WRIGHT & THE APRILS•STEFAN GALT•ANDY DOCHERTY AL MEDLEY COLLECTIVE•RED ROOM•UNCLES OF FUNK THE COMEDY SHOW
BOB MILLS•SION JAMES•CHRISTIAN REILLY•PAUL HARRY ALLEN•MATHEW OSBORN CARLY SMALLMAN•KEITH PLATT•SUZY BENNET•LEE NELSON IAN COGNITO•JANICE PHAYRE•SIMON DONALD•PAM FORD•ABANDONMAN
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Published By Venetian Vixens Ltd. London, United Kingdom 2010 www.treehousemagazine.blogspot.com