Q+A: Magnetic Island /// w/ mp3 + show info
We’d been fans of Renminbi for a number of years. And in the last year or two, we worked with them on a a few shows. So we were quite interested when the two primary members of the band recently announced they were getting rid of their name and reorganizing as Magnetic Island, seemingly both a new project and a continuation of the duo’s musical evolution. The new group will be playing their first show this Saturday, March 13th, at Fort Useless (presented by StereoactiveNYC); following are a few questions we asked, answered by Lisa Liu and SMV.
The transition from your previous project, Renminbi, to the new one, Magnetic Island, came out of work you did on a cover version of a Lou Reed/John Cale song. How would you say the music of those artists and, perhaps, the Velvet Underground directly influenced your work in Renminbi? And how has it influenced any work you’ve accomplished in the brief time Magnetic Island has been in existence?
The Velvet Underground had a very strong influence on Renminbi. We are huge fans of all their albums, and appreciate how they were able to transition from primarily experimental noise rockers to more melodic songwriters over the course of their time together without losing their edge or identity. In some ways, our own trajectory has been similar.
The VU existed for only a brief span of time, so, despite their sound and lineup changing over those few years, they continued to make music under their original name. For us, we felt that after seven years as a band, the changes in our direction and sound were significant enough to justify a change in the way we presented ourselves to the public, and really a band’s name is its strongest identifier to those outside the band itself.
As for the cover of “A Dream” from “Songs for Drella” – to be honest, we had only minimal familiarity with it before we were asked to perform the song at a tribute for the album. But, being big VU fans and fans of both Reed and Cale as solo artists, we knew it would be an experience we would enjoy and take a lot from. And I think the process of working on “A Dream” sort of reflected for us where we were heading as a band, in the sense that we were taking this very minimalist piece of music and fleshing it out into something that involved more instrumentation, more parts, more players. In many ways, that is indicative of our overall transition right now.
You’ve stated that Magnetic Island is meant to be something like a collective, featuring collaborations with other musicians. Are there any specific musicians you already wish to or have plans to work with? Also, how do you see this affecting the way the project functions as a “live band?” Will the potentially shifting line-up make it hard to play shows regularly?
Starting with the last part of your question first, there is no doubt that functioning more as a collective is going to complicate our existence as a live band. In an ideal world, we’d rotate people on and off stage to join us on the songs they’ve done with us in the studio. But of course, in the real world, that would not be easy to pull off, especially on a regular basis. Instead, it’s likely that we’ll settle on a small group of players who we’ve worked with (and who are fairly local and available) to learn and play all the songs we’ve written and released, whether as Renminbi or Magnetic Island. That way there will be consistency to the live show, but it won’t limit how we work in the studio or what kind of music we make.
Now, as for who we’d like to work with: honestly, the sky is the limit. As is common among musicians in New York City, a lot of our friends are in bands themselves, and so it’s as if there is all this spectacular talent hanging out right in our own backyard, and we don’t feel things need to be limited to, “Well, this is my band and that is your band.” At the same time, opening up this project to collaboration also means we no longer need to be restricted to working only with folks who are local. We’d like to take advantage of the fact that file-swapping in our broadband-saturated world is easy to do, and therefore working with musicians long-distance is no longer the obstacle it once was.
We do have a few particular folks in mind for upcoming sessions, but we’ll probably just hammer things out as we go along. At the moment, we’re working with TJ Richards and Nikki McLeod, who did “A Dream” with us, on a new original track, and we’re also working on a few new tracks with Renminbi’s original drummer, Jenny Johnson (who also appeared on our last EP, “Surface”), even though she is now based in Boston. It’s all about YouSendIt and Dropbox!
This is one of those questions that bands often don’t like to answer and, honestly, we don’t usually like to ask. But playing under a new name in this case seems to be symbolically important, so we have to ask: What’s the meaning behind “Magnetic Island?”
Well, first things first, it’s not related to “Lost.” A few people have asked us about that, and the truth is neither of us has ever seen “Lost.”
Magnetic Island is actually a real place, off the coast of Australia, in the Great Barrier Reef region. It is so named because of its apparent “magnetic effect”: when explorer John Cook sailed by the island in 1770, his compass went completely out of whack, prompting him to conclude that the island must generate its own magnetic force, have its own magnetic pull.
We’ve never been to Magnetic Island, but it is spectacularly beautiful and yet mysterious. We were fascinated by that mix of qualities, and by the idea that the island, if John Cook was right, might have the ability to attract and confound at the same time. To make music that achieves that effect – drawing you in, yet leaving you unsettled, unsure of your bearings – is definitely something we aspire to.
Here’s an mp3 and info for the show on Saturday:
mp3: “A Dream” (Lou Reed & John Cale) by Magnetic Island
Saturday, March 13, 2010
at Fort Useless
8pm – DOORS
8:30pm – Calves
9:30pm – Dust From A Thousand Years
10:30pm – Magnetic Island
36 Ditmars Street, Studio 1
Brooklyn, NY
