The Yelephant
07-20-2003, 10:55 AM
JC: “Zwan’s strongest feature is the live interpretation of the songs. We’re going to bet on that on our next record; record a lot of songs live. The first record was a statement, to get a foot in the door. Streamlined and pop. Our plans for the next album are more in the direction of Mary Star of the Sea-like tracks. The long threaded epic songs. We didn’t want to confuse people from the start, so we kept it simple.”
But even on the debut album, the connection between Jesus, I and Mary Star of the Sea has been recorded live.
JC: “You’re right. That was Dave’s baby. He came up with a transition to the drop-D part. But after that it was a frame of a basic idea of the vocal line. What we did then was to record the bass and guitars as a frame for the arrangement and I did a drumtake over that. And around that we built up the song.”
DP: “You were doing that drumtake and I was in the control room of the studio. And no one could believe what they were hearing! [Pajo’s face turns to total amazement when he says this, “jaws dropping”] and then you say: Was that alright?” Holy Shit! Like that was alright!”
JC: “Yeah that was all one take, that part. And that’s what we’re looking for. More of those spiritual moments, instead of that completely thought-out work.”
So we can expect more of those instrumental tracks, even a little into the direction of Mogwai, for instance?
DP: “That could be possible. There’s so much potential in this band, so many possibilities, directions.”
JC: “We’re not confined to one direction. We’re all old enough, we have so much experience playing in bands. This moment we just want to be on stage and rock. And there’s nothing wrong with playing rock for large audiences. I still love that. But there are so many other options. I like to lock myself up in a studio for six months and immerse myself in playing. To explore the boundaries of my drumming, to dig deep inside my head… that’s very important for my musical growth. You can’t play the same song every night and expect miracles to happen. You really have to find the spiritual side of it; dive into your mind to formulate and cultivate these new ideas.”
Talking about recordings: in September [or perhaps earlier because of the premature return of the band] the recordings of the new album start. A record that will be put out under the name Djali Zwan.
JC: “That’s just going to be a DVD. There won’t be an audio-CD, just a video of the recording-process, live in-studio footage.”
Djali Zwan is the more modest and acoustic incarnation of Zwan. Given the work David Pajo delivered with his brilliant project Papa M, it seems that there will be a lead part for him in this record.
DP: “It’s the style I feel comfortable with. It’s also in line with my solo work”
JC: “We’re going to rely on Pajo’s handy work for the next record. It’s of course right up his alley. And hopefully Dave will sing a lot of songs. We really want him to take the lead part in this. He just knows what he’s dong. Zwan is a band with a big diversity of musical talent. Everyone has a different angle and has strong features. So we want to exploit David and Paz more, musically speaking then.”
And then there are rumours of more incarnations of Zwan. There is talk of a hard, metal variant, a more ambient, film music/soundscape variant and perhaps even more. Chamberlin was rumoured to write songs.
JC: “That’s right. Billy and I worked at home at some soundtrack material for the Chicago Bears. I’ve got a more jazz-like b a c k g r o u n d. So we might go into that direction. We just want to interact with everyone’s strong features. Because if you’ve got a band like Papa M, or a rock band, you’re at risk of being labelled as something. People get expectations based on the name. The advantage of having different band names to us is that when people buy a ticket for a Djali Zwan show they won’t expect Lyric or any other songs from this album. And that’s a good way to go for us. This way we can really spread out our wings and fly into any direction. Without pissing anybody off. There’s certainly some prog-rock material on the way. And apart from that we’ll just see where it ends. We’re taking it one album at a time.”
But even on the debut album, the connection between Jesus, I and Mary Star of the Sea has been recorded live.
JC: “You’re right. That was Dave’s baby. He came up with a transition to the drop-D part. But after that it was a frame of a basic idea of the vocal line. What we did then was to record the bass and guitars as a frame for the arrangement and I did a drumtake over that. And around that we built up the song.”
DP: “You were doing that drumtake and I was in the control room of the studio. And no one could believe what they were hearing! [Pajo’s face turns to total amazement when he says this, “jaws dropping”] and then you say: Was that alright?” Holy Shit! Like that was alright!”
JC: “Yeah that was all one take, that part. And that’s what we’re looking for. More of those spiritual moments, instead of that completely thought-out work.”
So we can expect more of those instrumental tracks, even a little into the direction of Mogwai, for instance?
DP: “That could be possible. There’s so much potential in this band, so many possibilities, directions.”
JC: “We’re not confined to one direction. We’re all old enough, we have so much experience playing in bands. This moment we just want to be on stage and rock. And there’s nothing wrong with playing rock for large audiences. I still love that. But there are so many other options. I like to lock myself up in a studio for six months and immerse myself in playing. To explore the boundaries of my drumming, to dig deep inside my head… that’s very important for my musical growth. You can’t play the same song every night and expect miracles to happen. You really have to find the spiritual side of it; dive into your mind to formulate and cultivate these new ideas.”
Talking about recordings: in September [or perhaps earlier because of the premature return of the band] the recordings of the new album start. A record that will be put out under the name Djali Zwan.
JC: “That’s just going to be a DVD. There won’t be an audio-CD, just a video of the recording-process, live in-studio footage.”
Djali Zwan is the more modest and acoustic incarnation of Zwan. Given the work David Pajo delivered with his brilliant project Papa M, it seems that there will be a lead part for him in this record.
DP: “It’s the style I feel comfortable with. It’s also in line with my solo work”
JC: “We’re going to rely on Pajo’s handy work for the next record. It’s of course right up his alley. And hopefully Dave will sing a lot of songs. We really want him to take the lead part in this. He just knows what he’s dong. Zwan is a band with a big diversity of musical talent. Everyone has a different angle and has strong features. So we want to exploit David and Paz more, musically speaking then.”
And then there are rumours of more incarnations of Zwan. There is talk of a hard, metal variant, a more ambient, film music/soundscape variant and perhaps even more. Chamberlin was rumoured to write songs.
JC: “That’s right. Billy and I worked at home at some soundtrack material for the Chicago Bears. I’ve got a more jazz-like b a c k g r o u n d. So we might go into that direction. We just want to interact with everyone’s strong features. Because if you’ve got a band like Papa M, or a rock band, you’re at risk of being labelled as something. People get expectations based on the name. The advantage of having different band names to us is that when people buy a ticket for a Djali Zwan show they won’t expect Lyric or any other songs from this album. And that’s a good way to go for us. This way we can really spread out our wings and fly into any direction. Without pissing anybody off. There’s certainly some prog-rock material on the way. And apart from that we’ll just see where it ends. We’re taking it one album at a time.”