My Brain's In My Skin
"The moronic government advisor who belatedly got the sack for basically and quite stupidly saying black people were less intelligent than white people inspired this rip roaring absurdist dismissal via the use of The Creation, another illusory concept. I'm mixed race and brown and channeling the spirit of Mark E Smith also wonder where the brain goes if you're somewhere in the middle of the skin colour spectrum ;) As well as a few other musings", lässt uns der Künstler wissen.
Alles beginnt mit leichten Synthklängen um dann immer schwermütiger zu werden, es wird immer dunkler, darker Synthsound macht sich breit, unterstützt vom marschierenden Rythmus, die Lyrics machen nochmals einen Schritt in Richtung Finsternis. Cineastisch aufbereiteter Dark Wave, leicht psychedelisch mit industrial drum patterns im Gepäck macht sich "My Brain's in my skin" auf um eine neue Hymne des Genres zu werden. Alternativer Dark-Pop von seiner besten Seite, präsentiert von Jem Doulton.
Jem Doulton
He plays drums with Thurston Moore and Róisín Murphy. As well as live he's on Thurston’s singles Cease Fire and MX Liberty, and the albums Spirit Counsel and By The Fire. Jem toured with Róisín’s band for 7 years, and he's involved in a lot of psych-rock, free improvised stuff in London too. All that means he'd met very distinctive and powerful musicians.
So he made an album featuring all of them. It’s called Perfect Picture – He's set to release it song by song over the course of a year as a sort of serialisation and journey that slowly reveals itself: who's playing what where, imagery, social media kookiness.
Project special guests in alphabetical order:
#SamAyres #LukeBarlow #BenjiBouton #DemCastellanos #BenDoulton #DebGooge #RachelKenedy #AgatheMax #JamieMcCredie #ThurstonMoore #TomRelleen #KevinToublant #AlexWard #MichaelWinawer.
Extra special guests are Joe Winawer (Mike's son) with the Fountayne Road Choir of N15 (aka Little Italy).
The interview
Who inspired you to make music in general?
I was drawn to music from a very early age, smashing up all the wooden spoons on the good sounding saucepans until my grandparents and mum had enough of having to buy new spoons all the time. At 5 I was given a "toy" drum kit and I haven't really looked back since.
I guess if you have that drive in the first place, making music and forming tunes is a natural progression. Of course there are musical heroes everywhere who have inspired me along the way, too many to write down and from right across the board but then also my friends and colleagues I have had the opportunity to play with in all the bands/projects I've been in over the years.
...and especially to "My brain's in my skin"?
This song was born out of a conversation with a good art school friend Yolanda. We were incredulous about how this government advisor in this day and age a) believes black people are less intelligent than white people and b) that it took ages for him to get the sack once this thought was revealed. It says a lot about the country at present and from my perspective nothing too positive.
Yo spat out the words "it's not as though my brain's in my skin" and as we laughed at the absurdist thought, I said I'd make a 'song' with that as the starting point and there it exists with Thurston Moore and Kevin Toublant on guitar and atmosphere, bass and Moog respectively. My then flatmates "Little Italy" did the shouting chorus during a slightly boozy lockdown evening (perfect attitude for the sentiment) and my oldest mate's kid Joe Winawer came to Abbey Road to do his part.
The track has this special atmosphere, how did you create this sound?
The dark arts! There are a lot of effects ultimately and on very good sounding instruments in the first place. If you can find a way to create depth and space whilst not losing the attack, this is a zone I aim to inhabit often. I guess a bit dream-like, not quite real.
It also helps if you can ask guys like T and Kev to come in and play instruments I can't play while bringing with them their attitude and brains to the party alongside Dem Castellanos of The Oscillation, who has a unique musical identity too and who mixed and co-produced the thing. Having a conversation and drawing on everyone's ability is central therefore.
What is your creative process like?
For this set of tunes and/or solo stuff, I'm reasonably good at judging when the feeling is there to even try. It has been just messing around on a piano/keyboard and something sparks and you stay there with it. Though it can be a sound or emotion jumping out from somewhere. There's usually a riff or set of chords of which you build around but that could then be subsumed by the more rhythmic aspect which in turn then impacts where the chords or melody go.
I guess it's a back and forth and you understand when it feels right. A lot of it is about conveying a feeling/attitude and even at that point you're not necessarily going to know what the lyrics will be about but sometimes you've known that from the start. So all in all I guess there are slightly different approaches that also all feed into each other. Either way, it's a great journey!
"My brain's in my skin" is a great mixture of different genres, do you have a favourite style or are you open to everything?
Thanks! As I think Duke Ellington said, "there are only two kinds of music: good or bad" or words to that effect. And I guess then there's a whole debate about subjectivity but ultimately I try to be open to everything. I know I'm not entirely, I can't see myself getting down to incredibly saccharine pop or drill music but you never know.
Things stick in your head without you even knowing what it is and they then reappear and you've realised your brain has done something without telling you up until that point but you have a recognition that that 20 seconds of music you heard in the petrol station shop two years ago, had an influence.
What is the most useful talent you have?
Outside of music? Though it would be argued by some that music isn't all that useful ;) I used to paint a lot but art school kind of put me off though I'm sure it'll come back. I like to cook.
...and the most useless talent?
Isn't that an oxymoron? :)
How do you feel the Internet (especially Social Media platforms) has impacted the music business?
Mostly that people think music should be free! But saying that, at the same time it allows for people to get stuff out there which is obviously more democratic. The problem is then how to get people other than your mum to listen to your stuff, which becomes even trickier given the sheer volume of music out there.
Jem Doulton is...?
...a nice guy. I try to be positive despite the political situation and I think people shouldn't have to suffer. We only live once and if there's joy to be had, we should have it (not at others' expense though).
I play in quite a few projects all quite different and it's a pleasure to bring what I can to each of them. The two guys people will know that I have played for for the last 8 and 7 years are Thurston Moore and Róisín Murphy, for T, both live and recordings i.e. the last two band albums and a couple of singles, and for Róis as part of the live band;
I have an enduring "math" rock duo with guitarist Alex Ward called Dead Days Beyond Help; drums for psych rock band The Oscillation; marimba, vibes and percussion in Melos Kalpa; keys and vocals in Fuse Box City; drums in industrial jazz band Forebrace; various other things behind the scenes, recordings and things not yet publicly launched.
What’s next for you?
Hopefully some live shows this autumn! Continuing to leak out a solo track a month (last Firdays) until March 2022 and everything that arises because of that.
I've finished recording album 2 so putting that into shape and I can feel album 3 is in the air approaching me from somewhere. They'll all be quite different. Launching some of the behind-the-scenes things... And then beyond that, hopefully surviving being a musician :)
