In Conversation with

The Oedipus Sisters:

June 2006

A little background: 

This interview was a discovery by complete

Accident literally. 

I can remember a few months ago looking

For downloads from an act ‘Setting Sun’

Interviewed at the start of the year called

‘Music for One’ who is well worth checking

Out in her own way, but I can remember following

A link through to another page on Fat Cat Records

Which had a demo archive on it off acts that had

Sent their demos into them and I downloaded

Two tracks by ‘The Oedipus Sisters’ and was

Really impressed by them as in their own way

They seemed to fit in perfectly into the 

Instrumental experimental soundscape sort of 

Acts that I have been interviewing a fair bit

Of recently. 

I received a e-mail through from Steve, who

Is part of the group (I must admit I am still unsure

Who is in the rest of the group) and this interview

Followed through pretty quickly after that.

For more information on the – please go to

Their website on – 

http://freehosting.hostrave.com/p/oedipus/

Or email Steve directly on [email protected]

Cheers again to Steve – I cannot believe

You have not got signed up yet… 

Cheers

Andy N 

Setting Sun:

How are tricks and what’s happening at the moment?

The Oedipus Sisters:

Things are ok – The Oedipus Sisters remain an enigma -

A disclosure waiting to happen!

Setting Sun: 

Can you next tell us a little about the history of

‘the Oedipus sisters – how they started off etc etc

The Oedipus Sisters:

The Oedipus Sisters were born as a walk in the clouds

really. 

We don’t in reality have a history.

We essentially sought to make music that mattered to

us – and fuck everybody else. If anyone chose to

listen fine – if not – then listen to something else.

An album was recorded but never released – a demo sent

to Fat Cat Records – we heard nothing for about a year

– then they came back to us and said they liked what

we were doing – could they put the tracks on the demo

archive page of their web site. 

Setting Sun:

What are your influences and what are you listening

to at the moment.

The Oedipus Sisters:

In musical turns I like people like John Cage, Derek

Bailey and Jimi Hendrix. I like people who make you

think about the order of things – screw things up –

create something that is essentially their own.

I’m listening to at the moment - Scott Walker – the

drift and The Harry Partch Collection – Volume 1

And a cd of antiphonal chants from Persia. 

Setting Sun: 

Do you play gigs etc? If not, how could you see

yourself approaching them.

The Oedipus Sisters:

We have thought of playing gigs – but the notion of

watching us doesn’t appeal to any of us. Perhaps, with

a backdrop of visual images or films. None of us is

Elvis really!  

Setting Sun: 

Probably my favourite song of yours that I have

heard is ‘Fuck me Eve’ – Can you enlighten us with the

story behind that one.

The Oedipus Sisters:

Is that a compliment Andy? If it is – thank you. ‘Fuck

me Eve’ is my Mum and Dads favourite also. They both

say that ‘it’s the beat and no doubt like all new

things it takes time to get ‘in tune’. 

Oh no – ask Mr Freud – or is that FRAUD and his

fantastical assumptions on consciousness. I’m a big

fan of Sigmund’s Model Of The Mind and the dynamics of

personality. It’s a wonderful stab at common sense

really – and more to the point, instinctively humans

appear obsessed with genitalia and sex. Fuck me Eve is

a love song!

Setting Sun: 

What is the inspiration for your name “ The Oedipus

Sisters” – I think I have a slight idea why but can

you enlighten us a little bit more. 

The Oedipus Sisters:

Oh – but – The Oedipus Sisters has such a lovely

‘ring’ to it! I wanted to have a band with ‘the’ in

it!

Neuroses – not flowers – and the story of the

legendary Oedipus, son of a king and queen in ancient

Greece. I’m not in the habit of reciting Greek Legend

– go buy a book!

Setting Sun:

What’s next for yourself? Do you have any more

releases in mind etc, etc?

The Oedipus Sisters:

A holiday with the girls in China. We have a thing

about walls – Berlin was a thrill! 

As I said before we have an unreleased album. 

We thought Fat Cat might offer us something what with 

all the Oedipus Sisters downloads on their web site. 

But nothing has materialised as yet! 

We would like a small independent record company 

to offer us a deal. Prepared to invest in some 

interesting packaging for our little plastic

discs. And I suppose we could press up an album

ourselves – but we don’t really want the cd boxes

filling up our houses. 

Setting Sun: 

A few more light-hearted questions to finish off

with…Firstly, where you from? What’s the music scene

like where you are from? Have you seen any good bands

/ acts recently?

The Oedipus Sisters:

I’m from a small village called New Inn – Nr

Pontypool, S Wales. The music scene – well there

doesn’t appear to be one, except for the drunk in the

pub and the Ipod generation in the park. It’s kind of

a one-horse town with the tumbleweed rolling down the

high street. I heard of this guy called Dave from

Cwmbran who plays a bicycle and metal sheeting with a

violin bow – sounds interesting! 

I saw Antony and The Johnsons in York last year and

the Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang as part of York’s

Chinese New Year Celebrations. 

Setting Sun: 

What would be your dream job if you were not a rock

and roll star?

The Oedipus Sisters:

I’m definitely not a rock and roll star! 

When I was a little boy I wanted to be a 

Train Driver.

If the sounds dried up I’d settle for being 

an undead Brunel or perhaps Noam Chomsky.

Setting Sun: 

Lastly – Imagine you were on a ship wrecked on a

desert Island and could have the choice of having five

records or cds with you – what would be your desert

island discs?

The Oedipus Sisters:

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

Django Reinhardt – The Hot Club Of France

David Bowie – Low

The Dambusters – Soundtrack.