Mannerisms: The Wavelength Interview
By Guest ~ Posted Tuesday, May 6th 2014
Mannerisms: The Wavelength Interview
File next to: Tortoise, Weather Report
Purveyors of: Post-jazz-rock, sci-fi-funk, astro-beat
People don’t really know what to make of jazz fusion. It sounds like some kind of nuclear reaction bent on world destruction. Mannerisms want to break down that complex formula for you. Call it “fusion for people who have no idea what fusion is.” Wavelength’s Evan Sue-Ping jammed with drummer Dean Wales to find out more.
Do you want to distance yourself from jazz? Would you call yourselves jazz fusion?
Every one has a different understanding of what jazz fusion is and I never want to force them on to the page of what I want it to be. They might think of it as something really noodly or wanky and we don’t really do that. We don’t play things in a jazzy way. There are no solos. No guitar solos in any of the songs. Its more like weird post-rock compositions, but obviously we come from a ‘70s concept of what jazz rock can be.
So you’re trying to push away from the noodly aspect of jazz?
Everyone in the band is an ex-jazzer of some kind. I still don’t know who’s going to like our stuff. The people who tend to like it are people who have never really heard anything like that. They might think that that’s what fusion is. But if they listened to actual fusion they would be like “wow, umm, that is different. That’s not what you guys are doing.”
It’s a bit on the sci-fi tip as well.
Everyone in the band loves synths and stuff, so it kinda has that feel. One of the guys uses a guitar synth. He’s really into the ‘80s Roland technology. We come out sounding like a weird ‘80s new wave band.
A Roland guitar synth? The one with that really weird bar over the neck?
That’s exactly it! From 1984. A 707 guitar synth.
What kinds of looks do you get when you pull that thing out on stage?
Our bass player was at a party and this person he had just met was describing this weird band he had just saw with a Casio guitar. He didn’t realize he was talking to a member of the band. He was like, “that’s my band.”
Do you have any concept as to how this will be received?
I really have no idea. I mean, I want to play some different venues. We can go play the Orbit Room on Thursday and have people enjoy that, but I don’t think we’d sound good on a rock bill. But we might. I don’t know. It’s instrumental. There’s no vocals. Some people have an issue with that. People who like that grey zone between rock and weird electronic or weird grooves might dig it. I’d love to play jazz festivals to see if any one cared. I wouldn’t even call it new jazz. I don’t know if it’s in that kind of vein. I call it distilled fusion. All the moments in fusion that people would gravitate to. Those moments before it dips in to a weird direction. Some times I call it “cold fusion.”
Didn’t you refer to it as “astro-beat”?
I borrowed that from Matt King of Absolutely Free. I used to play in an Afro-beat band and some of Mannerisms’ songs have a kind of weird world music-y vibe to it. I mentioned to him that I wanted to call it “post-Afro-beat,” and he said, “no you have to call it astro-beat,” because that’s what he was calling his band and they needed another band to officially make it a genre.
Who would you consider your contemporaries or do you even care about that? Would you rather stand out in the crowd?
Everyone does things their own way. I mean, I like what Absolutely Free are doing. There’s a band called Swiss Dice, I’m not sure if they’re still around, that were really good. I don’t see us getting vocals any time soon, so if you hate words, you’ll dig us. Like Fresh Snow. They’re the champions of the wordless bands. I don’t know if that’s a scene or what.
Did you choose the name Mannerisms because you had your own specific way of doing things?
The name is the newest thing with this band. There’s mannerisms in your physical manifestation, but there’s also mannerisms in music. A way of doing things, like a unique way. I pitched the name to one of the members who’s an art student and he mentioned how Mannerist was a Renaissance movement. The concept of that was doing religious art but doing weird things with it. Subtle things. Like how weird can you be with a medium. That really sums up our band. Mannerist art would be a picture of Mary holding Jesus but her hand would be gigantic. The perception of what could be done in a form.
Mannerisms also have a hand in OCD and how everything has to be particular. When you’re a jazz musician how much of it has to be OCD driven because it is so precise?
That’s a good point. I’m definitely particular with how things unfold. I’m definitely little obsessive at times.
You seem like a really laidback person. Is it possible to be laidback and highly skilled at the same time?
I wouldn’t say I’m highly skilled. I have something to offer. Within the band I’ve grown in to a kind of focused leader in being particular. I’ve sent out some Buddy Rich-type emails and felt the wrath of it. I’m a perfectionist in a non-perfect way.