Interstellar
By wavelength ~ Posted Saturday, May 1st 2004Interstellar is Rob Boak and Denis Dufour. Their music is easy to listen to. It is groovy. It pleases the ears. It soothes the soul. It charts the regions of this planet and others... They recently released their second album, ToSleepToDreamToWake, on Plan Eleven Records. The songs are quite lovely. Finding it difficult to free his ass from chez Moutray, our Blue Co-pilot exchanged e-mails with Rob and Denis.
How has Interstellar adapted itself to the 21st century? ROB BOAK: We haven't changed much at all since the last century. We have a certain way (of working) and that hasn't changed. DENIS DUFOUR: We've gotten into recording in bedrooms with computers, learning jazzier guitar chords, filling out our sound with a four-piece for live shows...
What/who's influencing your current creative endeavors (musically and otherwise)? RB: Toots and the Maytals (Monkey Man), Clinic (Walking with Thee), Horace Andy (Skylarking). DD: It's all over the place, as usual. Lately I've been into the new Squarepusher album, King Tubby, Neko Case playing with The Sadies, Neil Young's Greendale and the idea of telling a story through a grungy guitar-based album, the Swirlies, Dylan and of course, playing hockey.
Describe the relationship between your compositional ideas and visual imagery, specifically photography. RB: That would have to "multiples" '“ basically, I'm interested in coming up with repeating patterns in Interstellar's compositions and in photography I'm interested in multiples of objects. DD: Visual imagery and music can both be used to express similar moods and it's cool when they complement each other. For our album artwork (courtesy of Dennis Vidiac using photos taken by Rob), when we first saw it, it instantly struck that right chord for our music; sort of a dreamy urban collage.
Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine: please comment with regard to your experiences with "rhythm-boxes" vs. drummers. DD: I think drum machines done right can be just as effective and in some cases better than real drums, depending on the style of song. Kraftwerk would suck if they used real drums! Drum machines are nice because they do as they're told and don't have aspirations of playing other instruments. (easy there, Denis!! '“ percussive author) RB: Definitely man over machine for a live experience, but in certain situations and songs drum machines are perfect.
Club kids, dub enthusiasts, psych-out rock'n'rollers '“ how does Interstellar connect its various audiences? RB: Telepathically? It's not a conscious decision to connect with anyone. I'm just into writing psychedelic music; people either like it or they don't. DD: I don't think we would necessarily appeal to purists since we tend to blend various styles of music together. I think we connect more with people who have open ears and varied tastes, i.e. all of the above simultaneously!
To what extent does the remix play a role in song evolution? DD: We've never had any of our tracks remixed but we did have Jeff McMurrich (a.k.a. Infinite Systems) "dub-out" some of our songs, which turned out great. RB: Definitely someone can take a song in a direction that the original composer would never have thought of, though most of the remixes I've heard haven't impressed me much. Most of the time, I like the original better than anyone's interpretation.
How's the Hollywood film-scoring going? RB: Unless it's for Tim Burton, I have no interest in scoring a film... though many have said (after hearing our music for the first time) that they could imagine it on a film soundtrack because it conjures up imagery for them. DD: It would be great to do soundtrack work. I think the music we do is sort of soundtrack-y, anyways. We'd love to do Lost in Translation 2, if Sofia can't get Kevin Shields out of bed.
Your latest record is charting across Canada '” will you be touring? If not, what will you do to nurture your younger female fan-base? RB: We'll be playing out-of-town shows in late summer '“ likely Southern Ontario and Quebec. DD: As for "nurturing" our fans, Rob and I both got married last year '“ sorry, ladies!
BY BLUE CO-PILOT