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ON THE COUCH WITH: School of Seven Bells

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Congratulations on your debut album, how does it feel at this point in your music career?
Alley: I’m really proud of it as in I’m really amazed at how positive the reaction has been. The response has been so amazing. It’s just really good.

Access All Areas.net.au: You guys have just finished the South by Southwest festival, how was it?
Alley: It was crazy. It’s funny because we did five shows in four days. We thought we were really like, hardcore. But we ran into bands that had done like, nine shows. It was really fun because all of the shows that we did were for Houston crowds and we were really lucky in that way…

Access All Areas.net.au: What was your favourite song to perform?
Alley: My favourite song to perform is probably…you know what, ‘Wired for Light’ is definitely one of them, and another is ‘My Cabal’.

Access All Areas.net.au: You’ll be touring Australia in April, how meaningful is the tour to you?
Alley: Number one, I’ve never been there. Everything that I’ve heard is amazing. It’s such a great place – people are great – it’s a beautiful country. I just wanna go because like I said, I’ve never been. I can’t wait to hang out with the Speak and Spell guys ‘cause they’re really fun and it’s just gonna be really, really a good tour for us.

Access All Areas.net.au: What is your favourite song off the album? Why?
Alley: Mine is ‘Prince of Peace’. It’s really funny that song came from just like a beat, you know what I mean. For some reason it’s really hard to explain why it’s my favourite song. It’s just my favourite melody. And my favourite lyrics out of the whole record.

Access All Areas.net.au: How was the process of writing that song?
Alley: It was really fast. I think it was just a definite, very clear moment of inspiration. That happens very quickly for me.

Access All Areas.net.au: Your album has garnered great reviews. Was this a surprise? How important was this album to you?
Alley: It’s always surprising not because we don’t think it’s good. Just because you know, when you’re so involved with something and you’re so inside something, it’s kind of really hard to see it from the outside. So you kind of get stuck in this place of, “Well I think it’s really good but is it something that’s gonna speak to people?” ‘Cause you never really know ‘cause obviously it speaks to us, we made it but it’s really important for me to have people relate to it. You know, I don’t really see the point otherwise to make music.

Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that vocals are very important to you and your music. How did you first discover your voice, your harmony in the band?
Alley: Actually, I remember my mom told me that I was singing before I could talk really. She said that I had songs memorised before I even knew what I was singing. I just had all these sounds memorised, all the words, and I just think it’s all come just very naturally. Music is always in the house. My dad was an opera singer. We grew up in the Church. There was a LOT of singing (laugh).

Access All Areas.net.au: So did Claudia and you always sing together when you were younger?
Alley: Oh definitely, she was the only child that I was raised with. I had other brothers and sisters, and they were older than I was…so she was my playmate, you know.

Access All Areas.net.au: How would you describe the creative chemistry of the band? How do you work together on a song?
Alley: We all live together so we’re always kind of working individually, you know what I mean…so it’s kind of impossible to just work on something without the other one hearing it. There’s a lot of feedback in that way. You might be working on I don’t know, like a certain texture, like a beat or something like that. I always have lyrics books with me, journals, sketches, an idea book and things like that. If I hear something, I’ll pull one of those out (laugh). It’s one of the more fun things to do, to just sit there and kind of just riff with somebody…it’s a really, really cool feeling, kind of feel like you did something.

Access All Areas.net.au: Songs like “Wired for Light” and “White Elephant Coat” are good story-telling and the harmony gets under your skin. Where do you draw inspiration to write your songs?
Alley: It’s weird… I write about my life and just how I see things. It’s basically, exactly as I see them. I have people tell me it can be kind of like an abstract way of writing. But I actually think I’m being very direct. I think maybe I’m wrong? (laugh).

Access All Areas.net.au: Maybe that’s how you think in your head? How you process things?
Alley: Yeah, that’s exactly it!

Access All Areas.net.au: What did you want the world to see or know by listening to your album?
Alley: That’s a good question. I honestly just want them to hear it…I mean I didn’t really think about what I wanted them to know. I just wanted them to like it. But I’m not like…you know “this is gonna be alright kind of thing”. You can find beauty in the most mundane thing, something that you feel everyday [turns] into something beautiful, you know what I mean. I really feel like we love taking things like that – the whole idea of bringing of life with Alpinisms. A theme that was running through my life. I was reading this book about Hermann Buhl, he was a mountain climber, he kind of totally redefined inclining or not what inclining was, and climbed up in style. It was a very mindful, very artful, very graceful way of climbing that used no oxygen tanks, no ropes, nothing like that and I love the idea of taking something that’s so physical, so direct and making something almost ceremonial you know, and just a real art. Really, a very beautiful thing. So yeah I probably answered like 5 questions (laugh).

Access All Areas.net.au: That’s alright! What has been the more challenging aspect of being a music artist?
Alley: Probably - not being hard on yourself. It’s really hard. You’re very, very critical of yourself, which I’m not suggesting it’s unique to artist – it’s pretty much something that everyone goes through. But it can get out of your head you know. I guess it’s just being connected to what’s going around you and not kinda letting the movie in your head get the best of you…I think that’s how you lose that connection with an audience or with the people around you.

Access All Areas.net.au: The music industry is increasingly competitive and demanding. How do you keep up, especially in this economic climate and when CD sales are dropping?
Alley: I guess just focusing on the right things. I guess you can only really focus on what you’re doing at the moment. It’s really weird ‘cause if you start focusing on all that other stuff then you’re not really creating what you wanna create. You’re kind of just creating things that put out the fire – it’s like now this has to sell, this has to be done now, so I feel like we’re not really making things from a really creative place. It becomes like a chore.

Access All Areas.net.au: Do you see another album coming up soon?
Alley: Yes definitely. We’re putting some time in summer to start writing. The next record is full of a lot of ideas; we had a lot of sketches already put together.

Access All Areas.net.au: What changes would you like to see in the music industry and within your own music?
Alley: In my music, I just basically wanna keep making creative decisions that are not based on habit. It’s really easy to get into that. It’s kinda like, Yeah I broke a lot of habits with this record, so am I gonna try to make a record that’s just like this one because I wanna keep on breaking habits? ‘Cause that in itself is a habit (laugh). You know I kinda swim in this whole mess but I kinda makes sense, right? Yeah, as far as the music industry goes. I don’t know what it’s like to be given this kind of money to make a record and I don’t know what it’s like to lose it. So, I’m pretty happy right now.

Access All Areas.net.au: Just quickly, what would you like to say to your fans in Australia?
Alley: Can’t wait to meet you!

Interview by Sandy Tan

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

It’s heady times, for their somnambulant, dream-pop is coming to your front door! Lush and rich, with a host of textures and the voices of angels, School Of Seven Bells delivered at the end of last year a debut of immense grandeur in Alpinisms. With a production sound drawing on Phil Spector, My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins, it is one of those albums that has the goose bumps a-tingling down your spine and your imagination soaring to the mountaintops.

The band members - Claudia and Alejandra Deheza (ex-On!Air!Library!) and Benjamin Curtis (ex-Secret Machines) - promise to bring all the magic captured on their record, and more; assuring us there is a level of ‘muscle’ to their live show that is likely to wrap you in a strong, shaking musical embrace and pull you off your feet. Wear some heavy shoes lest you get blown away…or just go with it.

www.myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

Every Time I Die
Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
Download in 2005. it was such a great vibe the entire day and people seemed to really get into our set

Favourite Artist you’ve seen at a Music Festival?
when I was younger all I did was listen to bad religion so when I finally got to see them on a warped tour it was life changing.

What’s your ideal Festival line-up?
4 bands, 20 minute sets, free nachos and beer

What are your tips for attending Music Festivals?
Pace yourself. When we played ozzfest in 2004 there were dudes getting kicked out for being too drunk at 11am. You bought the ticket, at least take the ride