We continue our journey into the minds of two of Goth Rock's most elite and elusive performers. While Voe gives us "the scoop" on the lyrical content, Scarlet seems more about the inner workings of the music itself. I respect that completely. It makes these revelations all the more interesting to me, in that we are seeing a rare glimpse into the many splendors of AoL, and discovering where various influences lie respectively.
(Laurie) 5. I mentioned in my former article that Angels of Liberty bring to mind Sisters of Mercy for me...in that I liken the sound to something that might have transpired had Pamela Morrison actually hung around and become a more vital creative force within the group, as she did later with The Damned. This is not meant to say Angels in not authentic, in fact, I style them even more genuine in the realms of all things "Gothic" than Sisters were (darker, at the very least, and far more controversial in content, which are aspects that attract me personally, even more). Still, do you yourself get my point? Is that a source of influence? Where you perhaps "channeling" the lost potentialities of what could have been such a divine artistic "coupling", of sorts in the combined works of Pam and Andrew had she taken more interest as he wanted her to?
Voe:
I really like all the concise song structures on first and last, and always this is where I agree with Scarlet on song structures. The production on Floodland is better but there's just something about first and last, it's just truly classic. In the late 90s I worked with Dave Allen who did the production on that. I was writing songs and tv/radio jingles in the late 90s and my manager Nik knew him and suggested him to produce a band I was also working with. I got to spend some time picking his brains which is experience, I guess.
I really like all the concise song structures on first and last, and always this is where I agree with Scarlet on song structures. The production on Floodland is better but there's just something about first and last, it's just truly classic. In the late 90s I worked with Dave Allen who did the production on that. I was writing songs and tv/radio jingles in the late 90s and my manager Nik knew him and suggested him to produce a band I was also working with. I got to spend some time picking his brains which is experience, I guess.
I grew up not far from Monmouth so I did some work in Rockfield Recording Studios with John David from 60s band Love Sculpture. I was aware that the Banshees and The Cult had done some great stuff there so jumped at the chance. It was all old school so, like with editing song structures, you'd cut out slices of tape and fix it with cello tape rather than the cut and paste with digital like Pro Tools etc. A few other friends are professional old school songwriters from the 60s and 70s so I've learned arrangement stuff from them. Most of my influences are from the goth bands I liked and working around studios and other writers. Where I lived there was nothing much other than the SAS base and farms. So alot of musicians would hangout at the Dinosaw Market which was a second hand clothes and record shop that Pete (Overend) Watts from Mott The Hoople used to have. When there's nothing to do local musicians just create their own scenes so they don't go mad from boredom and you learn a lot from each other.
Regards controversial content: Yeah I can't see Eldritch covering Reptilian aliens. I'd give it a listen if he did, maybe I'd even dance too! For me I never wanted to emulate the sisters as a replica. What I wanted to do was something that had the same evocative slightly mystical psychedelic musical feel but I wanted to explore stuff I'm into. I grew up with the X-Files, books of alien channelings whilst under the shadow of black micro dots that were being manufactured by the local Hell's Angels. So its only natural that I should cover subjects that are of personal interest to me. :D
Scarlet :
The Sisters have been the benchmark of what a Goth band should sound like ever since they arrived. We grew up with that Sisters thing as a benchmark and were influenced by it because we like Goth but there were lots of great bands to see. For that reason it makes perfect sense for us to explore things that Eldritch would not have any interest in while utilizing familiar characteristics like ritualistic bass riffs and a drum machine.
The Sisters have been the benchmark of what a Goth band should sound like ever since they arrived. We grew up with that Sisters thing as a benchmark and were influenced by it because we like Goth but there were lots of great bands to see. For that reason it makes perfect sense for us to explore things that Eldritch would not have any interest in while utilizing familiar characteristics like ritualistic bass riffs and a drum machine.
There were also some exciting potentialities of mixing Goth with electro that were missed. In a way we've wanted to travel back to 91-93 and start again introducing some electronica, some sci-fi, and dance rhythms to the occult, guitar mystical side and develop an alternative timeline of where Goth perhaps could have gone in an alternate universe maybe.
Basically we are just doing it our way and with the elements we are interested in which is all you can do really. Both of us also have such a wide variety of influences from psychedelia, soul, 70s glam rock, 80s electro etc. One of the bands we both felt had real potential in the early 90s was a band called Crystal Reign, we really liked their use of 80s electronic with Goth.
Voe :
I collect a lot of really obscure psych records which I torture Scarlet with. I've been loving the Fading Yellow compilation stuff for years. Of the less obscure stuff i like things like Iron Butterfly, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Doors stuff with cool weaving organ melodies basically. Incense and Peppermints with that organ riff sends me to the moon.
I collect a lot of really obscure psych records which I torture Scarlet with. I've been loving the Fading Yellow compilation stuff for years. Of the less obscure stuff i like things like Iron Butterfly, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Doors stuff with cool weaving organ melodies basically. Incense and Peppermints with that organ riff sends me to the moon.
We both love 80s new romantic and synth stuff too and I was briefly involved with the ROMO thing for a while in 95-96. I think the thing that got me with Goth in the 90s though is the intimacy of it. I loved the writing to bands, the fanzines, tape cassettes and getting to see the whole thing up close in the dry ice.
(Laurie) 6. Um...other things! Here is where it gets interesting: Being a avid fan and amateur researcher myself into factual based works of research such as the Holy Blood, Holy Grail series by Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh, I can't help but notice a similar presence of content in songs such as "Black Madonna". Others songs, as well, and perhaps even the overtone (or under current) of the entire Angels of Liberty concept, lyrically, seem to reflect this. They also seem to echo more obscure writers, such as Gerard De Sade in his mingling of these concepts with alien manipulations, as well. Would I be correct in my assumptions, or do the sources of your primary ideologies hail from an entirely different realm, or body of knowledge?
Voe :
Im familiar with The Holy Blood, Holy Grail which I read in the mid 90s. I'm also familiar with the Rennes le Chateau mystery and the Cathars. I'm not familiar with Gerard De Sade. My understanding is that the sacred bloodline of Mary is a dis-info plot also something which the ruling elites can back up their 'god given right to rule' by claiming descendency from the blood line of 'jesus'. However my feeling is that is is based on a seed of truth which for me is the human alien hybridization event and then the spread of those bloodlines.
Im familiar with The Holy Blood, Holy Grail which I read in the mid 90s. I'm also familiar with the Rennes le Chateau mystery and the Cathars. I'm not familiar with Gerard De Sade. My understanding is that the sacred bloodline of Mary is a dis-info plot also something which the ruling elites can back up their 'god given right to rule' by claiming descendency from the blood line of 'jesus'. However my feeling is that is is based on a seed of truth which for me is the human alien hybridization event and then the spread of those bloodlines.
The persecution of the Cathars to take certain knowledge out of circulation so that the church/corporation could gain more control is of interest to me also. Follow that forward and it puts us where we are today: the 'oposame' choice of mainstream religion or atheism, which is stupidity or bust (with no in between or third way) and the ridiculous war on drugs with criminal cartels like the CIA doing the smuggling and flooding the streets with poison. But the myth of the old gods and the star seed origin story is always there haunting us as its written in the DNA though.
The whole christ bloodline thing doesn't resonate with me at all. There is the man, the myth, and then there are all the other similar christ figures. All born on the same day, died on the same day in similar ways and it all ties in with the change in seasons and astrologocal processions. The zeitgeist movie covered that stuff well. As soon as people mention the J word I usually fall asleep, run, or think about something nice like my bunny to compensate for the boredom. That program has just run its course with me. That's why in Black Madonna I wanted to bring the bloodline/grail story right back to hybridization/children of the gods, etc., which I feel is the root seed and cause of all religion and resonates with me personally.
(Laurie) So ends the third part of this wondrous journey into the nether realms of a band that is quickly becoming an iconic fixture of Goth Roth in their own right, Angels of Liberty.
Image Credit : Angels of Liberty, 2014.
For now, I leave you with a personal favorite AoL tune from the album currently in production. To me, Our Tears is the perfect embodiment of all that is quintessentially "Goth Rock"...
Originally published on fullofknowledge.com, March 3rd, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment