In
Conversation with
September
2006
A
little background:
Salutations to my friend, Bela Emerson for her
Assistance with this interview.
I find certainly more and more nowadays while
I interview bands and acts on Setting Sun, most
Of the acts I discover are through other acts which
In most cases become friends and they often
Recommend acts to me or in the case of Drei
Actually are kind of side projects / other bands
That acts are involved in.
Drei are one such example.
Like I said at the top of this interview, I have
Had dealings with the excellent
Bela Emerson for a good few years after meeting
Her through somebody else at another gig
And was hooked almost straight away.
I have seen her play live a good four or five
Times since each time completely different
From her shows solo which can be some of
The evil sounding improvised music you
Could hope to hear from other nights playing
With a Brazilian boss nova tribute band and
Then with Poolcleaner who are a ace
Sound-scape band and Drei.
Drei are something else altogether certainly.
Where Bela’s other projects can be haunting
By the extremes she sometimes goes, her work
With Drei is totally different with her friends, Kirsten
And Sherry making music which has elements of
Beth Gibbons (Portishead's singer’s solo work)
Mixed with Nina Simone and perhaps even
Tom Waits in a odd sense alongside with
About four or five acts I am useless to compare
With.
Either way, Drei are an amazing act to
Watch.
Upon recommendation from Bela, I saw them
Play live in
For more information on Drei, please
Go to
http://www.myspace.com/dreiladies
Special thanks to all.
Best Wishes
Andy N
Setting Sun:
How are things and what are
you up at
the moment?
Drei:
THINGS ARE GOOD, WE HAVE STARTED PLAYING
GIGS AGAIN THIS YEAR AFTER ALMOST A YEAR OFF,
AND IT FEELS BETTER THAN EVER.
Setting Sun:
Can you next tell us a little bit about Drei, how you all
met or who
fired the starting pistol be it for a better
word etc?
Drei:
FROM WHAT I REMEMBER, DREI STARTED WITH
ALL OF US CASUALLY SAYING WE WANTED TO PLAY
TOGETHER, AND THEN GETTING TOGETHER TO JAM AND
FINDING THAT SONGS OR IMPROV IDEAS CAME PRETTY
QUICKLY TO THE 3 OF US. WE'VE ALL PLAYED TOGETHER
IN DIFFERENT PROJECTS.
Setting Sun:
Music wise, what are you listening to at the moment
and
what are your
influences?
Drei:
right now I am listening to tunng's
album, "mother's daughter
and other songs" which is a bit like beta band meets
boards of
Other flavours of the moment, Tortoise and Bonnie Prince
Billy's album, Françoise, Outkast, Ray Charles, Ruth Brown,
Roberta Flack, Micah P Hinson, it changes all the time ...
AT THE MOMENT I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO A FAIR
AMOUNT OF DRUM 'N' BASS, SWING JAZZ, AND
REGGAE. MY 1 YEAR OLD SON LIKES THEM ALL AND
INSISTS ON HAVING
INFLUENCES...TOM WAITS, PJ
ARETHA FRANKLIN, FREE IMPROV, ROLAND KIRK,
CAT POWER, NINA SIMONE...etc
Setting Sun:
I know from seeing you play live recently that you
obviously play
gigs on some
kind of regular basis - how do these compare to your
recordings / releases? Is there
one you prefer over the other?
Drei:
OUR RECORDINGS ARE AS LIVE AS POSSIBLE. THE LATEST
CD, 'TO MEET YOU' WAS ALL RECORDED LIVE IN MY LIVING
ROOM WHEN I WAS 9 MONTHS PREGGERS.
We are doing about a gig a month, or slightly more at the moment,
and I love the live Drei experience , the interplay between us is really
vitalised and we understand each other's musical parameter's pretty
well now, so we can play instinctively together and let the music
take over.
Recording is always a bit of a bitter-sweet experience, the strive
for perfection pitted against time, financial and energy constraints.
I think the last recording was pretty successful as it was a real pig
to get organised as we were all so busy, when we finally got down
to it, we worked really well, and it was great to have Sherry on
board, she helped it run pretty smoothly. I couldn't say I prefer
one or the other cos they appeal to different parts of myself.
Setting Sun:
Have been listening a fair
bit to your CD ‘Drei to meet you recently’
since I bought
it of Bela at your recent
tell us a
little bit more about the sessions for this CD including
where the idea
for the title for it came from, which I thought was
very, very
clever indeed?
Drei:
THE CD WAS A MIXTURE OF SONGS THAT WE DIDN'T
HAVE RECORDED YET, AND IMPROVS THAT WE CAME UP
WITH THERE AND THEN. SHERRY (WHO RECORDED US)
JUST PRESSED RECORD WHEN WE WERE JAMMING.
WHEN WE WERE TRYING TO COME UP WITH A TITLE, WE
WANTED IT TO BE CONNECTED TO THE LITTLE BODY INSIDE
ME THAT WE WERE ABOUT TO MEET.
Yeah, on to meet you, "without", and "any day now" were
improvised
and captured live, you gotta picture a very very hot august day with
a small busy room full of equipment and three women trying to
make the precious time we had together count for something, and
I think we achieved that. "In floozie pursuit" came out of a piece
that was devised for a theatre company production we worked on,
improvising alongside the actors improvising, devising the piece, it
is a great live number, and pretty hard to capture as a recording in
such heat and a wee space.
Setting Sun:
interest too?
Drei:
THERE ARE 3 OF US..WHAT MORE CAN I SAY...NO WE'RE
NOT GERMAN...
I am a big fan of German language and culture and this may have
influenced the decision somewhat!
Setting Sun:
What’s next for yourself? Do
you have any more releases in
mind etc, etc?
Drei:
WELL, I'M MOVING BACK TO
STILL EXIST, JUST IN A DIFFERENT WAY. MAYBE
WE'LL TRY TO RECORD SOMETHING BEFORE I GO.
WE'VE ALREADY DISCUSSED COMING TOGETHER
ONCE IN A WHILE, JAMMING A BIT AND THEN GOING
ON TOUR. WE'RE THE KIND OF BAND
THAT CAN DO THAT.
I imagine we will record again, hopefully in the New Year,
we have got at least one track that would be good to record
while it is still so full of energy, and many sketches we
may or may not formalise.. and we are doing a tour at the
end of October/early November which we are all
very excited about.
Setting Sun:
A few more lighthearted questions to finish off
with…
Firstly, what would you be your dream job if you were
not a rock and roll star?
Drei:
I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING I'D RATHER
DO THAN PLAY MUSIC !!
I would always want to be involved with music but I am
also very interested in visual art and the written word so
if I could pick, I would like to be involved with publicating,
something provocative and substantial with great
aesthetic vision.
Setting Sun:
What has been your best / worst experiences of been in
a band?
Been in a band myself I've had some fun to tell
certainly so I
could guess you
are the same...
Drei:
HMMM...BEST EXPERIENCES ARE OUR LIVE SHOWS,
ONE THAT STICKS OUT FOR ME WAS AT THE
ONE IN
PRETTY SWEET TOO.
I CAN'T THINK OF MUCH BAD STUFF, I SUPPOSE
WE ALL HAVE BEEN PRETTY GRUMPY FROM TIME
TO TIME AT OUR REHEARSALS, BUT IT'S PRETTY
ENTERTAINING REALLY, CUZ WE ARE ALL
GOOD MATES WE JUST LAUGH AT EACH OTHER.
My best experiences are when it all comes together and
feels really like we made something happen, when there
is that magic of the sum equalling more than the parts feeling.
My worst has gotta be lugging around bits of drum-
kits on
public transport on an inadequate trolley, guaranteed to make
me slightly flustered, but I can't justify or afford to get a car
and I try to accept this humbly.!
Setting Sun:
What would you like to be doing when you are 60?
Drei:
STILL ROCKIN.
Having a creative output I am proud of and a varied
life with lots of adventures
Setting Sun:
What will you be doing when you
are 60?
Drei:
STILL ROCKIN!
I don't know yet what's around the corner
But I hope I'll be with Kirsten on that one
Setting Sun:
Lastly, something light to finish off (Borrowed from a
pal's zine almost) – Imagine you were ship wrecked
on a desert
second sight
here – lol) the choice of having 5 records or
Cd's with you
with a stereo of course- what would be
your desert
Drei:
AT THE MOMENT I'D CHOOSE COLTRANE-
OLE, TOM WAITS-RAIN DOGS, WHAT
ELSE LADIES?
Oh, that hellish question, do you know how much time I
have spent trying to answer that but never succeeding,
it's like trying to organise the ultimate compilation mix.
I know two that never leave the list are Jeff Buckley
"Grace", and My Bloody Valentine "Loveless" ,
beyond that I start to flounder, Nina Simone? but
which album? or should I cheat and pick a compilation
of her best? and
maybe some orbital or some roots manuva?