Musicadium Blog

Curt Emerton (guitars / bass / noises) – Most people want a simple melody and and a lyric to hang their hearts on, and that’s cool. I love that too. But I think the acceptance for instrumental music is growing. Certainly seeing an instrumental act live, an obvious example being Mogwai, can change your perception about the need for lyrics. It was really heartening to see Explosions In The Sky sell out The Zoo earlier this year. I’m in no way comparing us to them, but you look around and think “wow, people are really into this”. Instrumental music is more of a visceral experience. It really feels that way to me anyway – playing it and listening to it.

What would be your favourite instrumental track of all time?

CE – That’s a really tough question. It would change every week. From the past, the version of “A Saucerful Of Secrets” from Pink Floyd’s “Live In Pompeii” is pretty hard to top. Technically, there IS singing, but David Gilmour is using his voice more as an instrument than trying to get his point across through words. More recently, I am loving a song called “Controle” (sic) by a New Zealand band called Jakob.

If you could collaborate with any vocalist (living or dead) who would you choose?

CE – Jeff Buckley was an amazing vocalist and could suit some of the stuff I am currently demoing. Robert Smith would be another one, although his voice is so instantly recognisable, people would immediately think it’s a new Cure song.

What drew you to creating instrumental music rather than vocal-based music?

CE –The material that is on “Traces” really lent itself to having no vocals. I initially had a hard time convincing even Mat (Wilton – drums/percussion) about the instrumental direction of “Traces”. But it wasn’t a conscious decision to head this way, it kind of just happened. But as we write and play new material, it now just feels comfortable doing it this way. People come and see you, and by the second song, they get where you are coming from. If anything, it allows them to focus on the music more too. But, and I’ve said this before, we’re not saying we’ll never use vocals. You never know…

You have mentioned that the EP ‘Traces’ has a lot of parallels to a life-changing experience that occurred in your personal life. Do you sometimes find music that you have written about an emotional time difficult to listen to or do you feel that the whole process is cathartic and therapeutic?

CE – The process is more cathartic and therapeutic I think. Weirdly enough, given some of the emotional ties to some of the “Traces” material, the songs are a lot of fun to play live. It’s weird balancing act. While you never forget the origins of the songs, you have to move on from those feelings too. Otherwise, you’ll go around in circles.

Where would your ideal venue and location be to play at?

CE – I’ve always loved the Tivoli. It’s a great room and the crowd capacity is just right. Doing something really left of centre would be cool, like playing in a cave! Anywhere where there is a good room and pa, I am more than happy.

And finally, are there any really strange or exotic instruments that you would love to experiment with? Can we expect to hear some kazoo’s on the next album?

CE – I haven’t thought of using a kazoo. That’d be very cool, filtering it through massive washes of delay. I guess a sitar would nice to fool around on too. Something about the sound of those things really gets to me. I’d love to use a toy piano on something. Any instrument in the right situation can work. Mat has some exotic drums at home, and I think he is quietly itching to break out some of those. But I just love playing guitar so much, even though I’m an average player. I’m still pretty keen to see what sounds I can wrestle out of that.