Post by ihaveaflamegun on Aug 3, 2004 16:44:01 GMT -5
article and interview by: Keven Hainey
If broken hearts, emotional anguish or murderous impulses are high on your list of interests, you may very well already be a fan of Xiu Xiu. Drawing from the personal experiences and private tribulations of themselves and friends, Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shoo shoo") create some of the most extremely confrontational and overwelmingly emotional music ever set to tape.
It's also some of the freshest sounding stuff around. Though Xiu Xiu's one ep and three albums (the latest of which is the critically adored Fabulous Muscles) occasionally recall '70s post-punk, '80s techo-pop and queer oriented music from all eras, the uncompromising complexety and originality of their songs place them in a league of their own.
As Xiu Xiu's songs are more often set deep within the heart of dysfunctional urban life, it seemed appropriate when the bands driving force, Jamie Stewart, asked me to call him on a payphone in front of a 7-Eleven in his hometown of San Josè.
Your songs are some of the most emotionally naked compositions I've ever heard. What is it that compels you to strive for these extreme levels of intimacy in your music?
A couple of things. The most basic thing is almost all the bands and composers that have been really important to me and the other people in the band have done that as well. We were finding that anyone who was doing things that meant anything to us were approaching things in that way, so it was natural for us to want to do that also. It also jusat feels right to do, in an explicable kind of way. When Cory McCulloch - the person who started the band with me - and I were putting Xiu Xiu together, we had played in bands previously and approached things in a more fictional way, and the songs were OK, but they never really came across in the way that we wanted them to. And then we started approaching things by writing really, really blatantly about actual things that were happening to us and around us, and they just started to feel right, so we very pointedly decided to continue to write in that way.
What do you think causes the violent urges and negativefeelings so many youngsters foster?
I think life is just difficult and people just do their best to stand it and part of doing your best to stand it is freaking out sometimes. It's a pretty reasonable response to how things can be sometimes.
What's the story behind that soft toy kitten on the cover of Fabulous Muscles
That cat is named Dr. Phil. Up until last summer, I had been a pre-school teacher for about 10 years and Dr. Phil was a big part of the class. I'm really not photogenic and hate doing photo shoots. I think we did almost 200 photos and only used Dr. Phil in that one, just as sort of a joke, and it was actually the only one that came out. So he's a lucky cat, I guess.
If broken hearts, emotional anguish or murderous impulses are high on your list of interests, you may very well already be a fan of Xiu Xiu. Drawing from the personal experiences and private tribulations of themselves and friends, Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shoo shoo") create some of the most extremely confrontational and overwelmingly emotional music ever set to tape.
It's also some of the freshest sounding stuff around. Though Xiu Xiu's one ep and three albums (the latest of which is the critically adored Fabulous Muscles) occasionally recall '70s post-punk, '80s techo-pop and queer oriented music from all eras, the uncompromising complexety and originality of their songs place them in a league of their own.
As Xiu Xiu's songs are more often set deep within the heart of dysfunctional urban life, it seemed appropriate when the bands driving force, Jamie Stewart, asked me to call him on a payphone in front of a 7-Eleven in his hometown of San Josè.
Your songs are some of the most emotionally naked compositions I've ever heard. What is it that compels you to strive for these extreme levels of intimacy in your music?
A couple of things. The most basic thing is almost all the bands and composers that have been really important to me and the other people in the band have done that as well. We were finding that anyone who was doing things that meant anything to us were approaching things in that way, so it was natural for us to want to do that also. It also jusat feels right to do, in an explicable kind of way. When Cory McCulloch - the person who started the band with me - and I were putting Xiu Xiu together, we had played in bands previously and approached things in a more fictional way, and the songs were OK, but they never really came across in the way that we wanted them to. And then we started approaching things by writing really, really blatantly about actual things that were happening to us and around us, and they just started to feel right, so we very pointedly decided to continue to write in that way.
What do you think causes the violent urges and negativefeelings so many youngsters foster?
I think life is just difficult and people just do their best to stand it and part of doing your best to stand it is freaking out sometimes. It's a pretty reasonable response to how things can be sometimes.
What's the story behind that soft toy kitten on the cover of Fabulous Muscles
That cat is named Dr. Phil. Up until last summer, I had been a pre-school teacher for about 10 years and Dr. Phil was a big part of the class. I'm really not photogenic and hate doing photo shoots. I think we did almost 200 photos and only used Dr. Phil in that one, just as sort of a joke, and it was actually the only one that came out. So he's a lucky cat, I guess.
