Newspaper Page Text
April 1, 1992
Flagpole Magazine
Page 11
Lush Music
Since the 1989 release of their first EP,
Scar, on the well-known English indie label,
4AD, Lush have received glowing reviews
from both sides of the Atlantic. After the
release of a second EP, Mad Love, in 1990,
a U.S. compilation of previously recorded
material was assembled on the LP Gala.
Their combination of airy vocals and noisy
guitars led to comparisons with acts as
disparent as Cocteau Twins and Sonic
Youth, yet Lush sounds overwhelmingly like
only Lush. American tour dates with fellow
English luminaries, Ride, were followed by
appearances with Jane's Addiction at which
Perry Farrell introduced them to audiences as
“music to soothe the savage beast.'
Spooky, the band’s first full-length LP,
has recently been released in the U.S. with
critical accolades sure to follow. Drummer,
Chris Acland, and both singer-songwriter-
guitarists Emma Anderson andMiki Berenyi,
spoke to me about their music, the English
press, and why they do what they do.
On musical comparisons...
Chris Acland: I like the less obvious
comparisons, we get The Cocteau Twins
throw at us, for obvious reasons; Robin
(Guthrie, of Cocteau Twins] produces, we’re
on 4AD,a girl singer. But I find any kind of
comparison like that a bit lazy. We’ve been
compared to all kinds of things, like Mike
Oldfie'd, and The Who's Tommy. I like the
Sonic Youth one, but I think it’s really diffi
cult. I think some of it is fast, not rocking out,
but I can see the Sonic Youth. I can see
Cocteau Twins as well, but I don’t think we
should stop there. Once you get past that
initial barrier there’s a lot more, which is
really just Lush. It’s what we’ve soaked up
from everything, listening to music when we
were growing up. We’re labelled with all
these bands like Ride, Chapterhouse.
Slowdive, Levitation... I can see some initial
comparisons, but... there are a lot of differ
ences between these bands other than
people saying “It’s all post-[My Bloody]
Valentines' or "post-Cocteau Twins". I get
insulted sometimes when people say "You’re
inspired by these bands". I've been in
spired by bands sir ice I was about 12.1 think
the things that unite all those bands is we’ve
got the same audience. In England, after
punk, there’s always been “indie bands’,
like New Order and Joy Division. There's
always been bands to cater for a particular
type of audience. Our audience is students.
I think that people could see a lot of differ
ences when you get both together. I think
Ride are a bit more dynamic live; they’ve got
a rock out jamming kind of feeling and it is
really effective and with us the emphasis is
more on songs. We don't jam really.
A scene that celebrates itself
Acland: I think it is all blown out [of propor
tion]. We don’t really make a point of hang
ing out with any bands. The English press
picked up on this, they went to see such and
such a band and then made a list of all the
bands that were there. It’s not necessarily
that we went and hung out with these bands,
it’s just that we all still go to gigs because
we’ve always gone to gigs and we do know
“We were just into music.
It was an obvious thing
to do, really
these people, but it always sounds a bit
cliquey and liggy, and it really isn’t like that.
How and why Lush began...
Miki Berenyi: I've had quite some people
who think [Emma and I] were together since
we were about 5, but we don't go back quite
that far. We began playing together when
we were about 18. I mean 3 chords on an
acoustic guitar and one note on a bass. We
didn’t know which way up to hold them.
[Music] seemed an obvious thing to do.
Acland: It’s just if you’re really into music,
you go to a gig and you see bands and the
next natural step is maybe form a band. I
think we all joined because we were ob
sessed with music and it was the major part
— a lot of people grow up really fast and get
into things like “I’ll buy a car’ or have lots of
girlfriends, or get really sophisticated, but
we were just into music. It was an obvious
thing to do really.
Influences and inspirations...
Acland: I used to listen to terrible — well,
great things. They were greatly, terrible,
awfully — I mean we were into punk, which
is sort of good in a way and then ! liked
bands like the Buzzcocks and the new wave
of punk bands like the exploited and then [I]
got into the gothie stuff after that like Bau-
haus and Southern Death Cult. That was
what was happening at the time for teenag
ers and then I grew up in a way and got more
open-minded and started listening to every
thing really.
Emma Anderson: I listened to Cocteau
Twins, Smiths, stuff that was around at the
time when I was that age. [Now] it’s just
really difficult to pick out a few. I like so much
different music. I like everything from Kate
Bush to The Slits.
Musical aspirations...
Acland: [I hope listeners get] what I've got
from it. Hearing a record that is totally bril
liant, you feel really excited. It’s that feeling
of “This is not background music". It's “Wow,
this is absolutely brilliant!" It’s difficult to
pinpoint that feeling, but it’s the feeling that
you get that’s why you listen to music, that's
why you go to gigs and you want to create
when you’re actually in a band that kind of
“God, this is brilliant. This makes me feel
really great."
Anderson: I think that's what makes music
different from reading, or film, or looking at
a picture. I think it’s quite unique, the feeling
that you getjistening to music.
Acland: It’s excitement, when you're grow
ing up, everything is new and the older you
get the more difficult it is to find new things
that make you feel really like “This is new to
me. This is really good." That’s the kind of
thing we hope to achieve. That’s what sets
us apart from the really crap writing in a
formula like the mainstream which is MTV
which is the chart music which is what you
hear on daytime radio. It's not bothered
about writing abrilliantsong or writing some
thing with loads of feeling. It’s writing some
thing that’s got the formula which will sell,
which will make good background music for
people working in an office with the radio on,
or people in a car. It's a diversion, not
something that they’re totally into.
Lush will be bringing their ethereal noise
to Georgia Theatre on Thursday, April 2. Be
there for music at the forefront of the alterna
tive scene.
Lisa McDonald
Pickin’n’Grinnin’
Nathan Sheppard is back after a long retreat into the Virginia
hills where he went to meditate on upcoming material. After
walking all that distance, and most of it uphill, you’d think he'd be
too tired to perform. Guess again. The Nathan Sheppard Band
will be strummin’n’hummin’ at the Flying Buffalo on Thursday and
Friday, April 2 and 3. That’s an awful long time to be playing,
some 48 hours, but the most recent yoga position he learned was
how to correctly hold a guitar for those marathon sessions. Bring
some cheese sticks with you when you go.
IHBMMWWMMWW
1
8
4
KctKys
Pizzeria
^ LuncH
Special
1 Neopolitan slice
M-F 1 salad •
11 to 5 1 soft Drink
$3.00
Includes
tn
Irce Delivery from 12 noon.
353 - 0000
233 East Clayton
Wednesday, April 1
Truely
D angerous
Swamp Band
$ 1.00 mixed drinks
Thursday, April 2
Kinchafoonee
Cowboys
$1.50 Longnecks
Friday, April 3
Disco Night
Saturday, April 4
Nathan
Sheppard
$2. 75 pitchers
Monday, April 6
Dean Dollar
Band
Tuesday, April 7
Normaltown
Flyers
$1.50 hipshots
95 Hoyt Street -
at the old train station
401.549.5052