 |
| |
|
| |
Interview
by SashaS
1-8-2003
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Kosheen's Sian Evans: brill frontwoman |
|
A kiss of age
Kosheen reinvent ‘dance hall’
Several weeks before the Kosheen’s second album release date the band played a trio of London shows: one at The Scala and a couple of ‘specials’ atop the BT Tower. They were previewing their sophomore disc ‘Kokopelli’, named after a prehistoric deity found in cave art in the US. The follow-up to the 2001’s ‘Resist’, it has already yielded a single ‘All In My Mind’ on 28 July, finds the Bristol based trio on a time’s junction.
The band may use the edge-of-the-art techno-beats but they create the feel of an old dance hall. From the opening wash of notes, without singer’s presence, they cook funky rhythm that makes even the most jaded media-types join in the mass-jive. Sian Evans’s arrival brings temperature up with the hits’ singalongs, moshing a bit, simply soaking general bonhomie! Evans look on that stage much bigger, not only the proverbial larger-than but actually taller. Offstage, she chain-smokes and is on a shy side.
“The new album is not a great departure, we haven’t turned our backs on our roots,” Evans’s Welsh lilt colours explaination. “The final part of work on an album is doing the radio edits because the boys still write for the dance floor, songs that last 12 minutes! Which is great, they have so many ideas, and they need to compact it and raise the vocal. I love mastering the album because you make sure that everything is right.”
The boys are Markee Substance (er, Mark Morrison) and Darren Decoder (i.e. Beale) who bring shape to the musical backing. But, the recent concerts were opened with ‘Blue Eyed Boy’ that appeared to homage the Status Quo’s ancient hit ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’.
“Our creative process works in different ways,” Evans continues analysing, “and there are five songs on the album I wrote on a guitar. Beautiful melodies I’ve been working on for years and have the people who don’t stamp on it and destroy. They are confident to enhance that beauty by adding beats; it is a very giving process and there is never, ‘I don’t wanna do this’. If one person objects to something we try it out and after a few listens you realise that it is better. So, no major dramas.”
Humanity’s pane
The delightful Sian Evans comes from a musical family: her granddad had composed for and conducted a male voice choir and she sang in jazz and R´n´B outfits as soon as matured to teenagehood. Taking part in a ‘rave-scene’ she meet the other two members who, onstage, are rather statuesque. The lady is the heart, soul and focus of the trio, sounding something between Siouxsie Sioux and Eartha Kitt.
Do you feel the album’s scope increased after experiencing different cultures first hand?
“You know, it’s the first time I travelled this country, as well,” Evans then gets into Welsh tourism propaganda but we’ll spare you. “I’ve been to some extraordinary places and met some extraordinary people and am still drawing from these experiences as well as my own childhood and growing up in Wales.”
“Then, going around the world, it has enriched me incredibly and amazed me how similar we all are. The same laughter, the same tears, pain, dreams and how similar certain cultures are, like Welsh and Thai. And to be fair, most of what I’ve seen has been from a bus or a hotel room. The main inspirations for this album have been touring and working with the band, being away from home and coping with changes in my life.”
“We are still exploring the same thing we’ve been exploring on the first album, exploring each other’s musicality and bringing out… The first album was something very instinctive and we didn’t care whether a song fitted a genre or not, there was never a question of leaving something behind because it didn’t fit… Out first album was accepted exactly for what it was, this mix of different backgrounds and musical influences. I come from the very organic Welsh background, Mark is from Glasgow, he is from the city, Darren is from Hicksville, a country-boy…”
Prison called providence
The band’s already collected trophies along the way: Best Single at the Drum&Bass Awards, platinum albums (1 million sales) and a Brit nomination. Is there any asperity to success, the loss of privacy, perhaps?
“That’s the major adjustment, the loss of private life,” she sighs/exhales another lungful, “and fans feeling to have the right to go and intrude on whatever you are doing. I’ve made a lot of people proud from being unemployed to… When you are in such a situation for a long period of time you can lose sight of ambition, goals and when someone from your circle goes and follows a dream, it is so empowering and encourages you to try to realise your dream.”
“From one minute, not having a pot to piss in, to the next minute of having a mortgage, having a career of the band and being a manager… We have no manager and have to take care of all aspects of business and you have to keep on top of things.”
Aspiring to create something different, do you feel disheartened with the whole Pop Idol TV-scene?
“It is all an ambition without regard for talent. I wouldn’t like to sing someone else’s songs unless it was somebody I really loved. I’ve never agreed with pushing children into the spotlight and they should find their own way. It is tempting fate, they should call it Fate Academy!”
Hype-addicted acts masquerading as industry-issue ‘stars’?
“Yes, you start to believe in what is around, in what you created. It is a public image, not the real person but the two get confused. A lot of people are put into a false sense of reality and it is bad because these people are not developing their own style but are being taught to do it certain way. The whole business cheapens the music as a whole but I guess that is such a massive industry and bosses need to make a buck.”
“As long as there are customers buying the records, it’ll be exploited… My argument is that if you give people quality they’d take that rather than the massive dross that is pushed their way. I’m very pleased that there hasn’t been a big marketing machine behind Kosheen and everything we’ve done has been down to music. Quality of songs, music is what we are known and liked for.”
Awards and nominations, do you need such, ‘official’, corroboration?
“Our profile has been greatly raised by our live shows and we’ve earned a reputation for playing really exciting shows. Being nominated for Brit was really great, surprising but it was also great because we represented the indie-side, the dance side and that hardly ever gets nominated. But, we are not about the awards; it was a good night and I really enjoyed myself.”
“It is good to have some fun and it is very important for the band’s coming out of the underground. It is cliché but the Awards are not why we are in this business. You know, I didn’t want to sign with BMG…”
What put you off? Whitney Houston?
“No, I’m such a hippy at heart; I’m not a corporate person and was really scared because majority of people in music are businessman… There are still some who are in it for the love of music. Well, we are…”
*
Tour dates:
30 September – Academy, Liverpool
01 October – University, Newcastle
02 October – University, Sheffield
04 October – Academy, Manchester
05 October – Academy, Birmingham
15 October – Academy, Bristol
16 October – University, Exeter
17 October – University, Cardiff
19 October – Guildhall, Southampton
20 October – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
SashaS
1-5-2002
Kosheen album ‘Kokopelli’ is released 11 August 2003 by BMG
|
|
|
