In Conversation
with
“Japhy Ryder and his band”…
Feb 05
A
little background:
Salutations to both Jimmy Possession from the excellent “Robots with Electric Brains” fanzine
And Pete who is part of Trilemma and also runs the excellent “Blue Minnow Records”, both
of which are responsible in their own way for this interview.
For those people who subscribe to “Robots and Electric Brains”, often with you being a subscriber, you
Frequently when you get their latest issue, you get extra things in the post like an extra CD
With the magazine.
On their latest issue, Issue 13 I think, also enclosed was a sampler from Blue Minnow Records
(Of which I have completely forgotten the name, but it was like something like “The Joy of…
“ Which included beside a excellent track by Trilemma, a excellent track by Horowitz
(Of which a interview will be forthcoming shortly), also a just as excellent track by
Japhy Ryder and his band, which made me think of Empress (which I interviewed ages and
Ages ago for “Setting Sun”) in almost the same innocent charm. Excellent.
Interested, I approached Pete over at Trilemma, who passed me Japhy Ryder
(aka. Ian)’s details, of which I then e-mailed and he got back to me pretty quickly with the following
Interview.
Thanks to Ian with this interview – I am sorry to read as you may be so yourself that Japhy Ryder is
Currently on hold, but with Ian also involved in which I am not allowed to mention here, he has lots
On the go still…
Why not visit the Trilemma website (http://www.trilemma.co.uk) and go and check out some of the
Japhy Ryder downloads (There are a number and some are excellent, believe me) or contact Ian
Directly on the following e-mail address and speak to him direct about some of the bands / projects
He is working on…
Thanks again, Ian
Regards
Andy N xxx
Setting Sun: How are tricks and what are you up to at the
moment?
Japhy:
Hello Andy. I'm good, thanks! How are you?
At the moment its uni and more uni for all of us... studying Beat culture, American intellectual history and so on. It's absolutely fascinating. Lots of lyrical inspiration...
Band-wise, we're kind of in the midst of an extended, perhaps indefinite
hiatus. I always conceive of the Japhy Ryder thing as being bound up with my
former existence as an arch sixth-form poet (some of our earliest lyrics are that
bad/mawkish). What with Uni, moving to Nottingham from rural Staffordshire
etc.. We’ve moved on a little, I think. I have another band now, and really
don't want to spread myself too thinly, in terms of song writing. Perhaps you
could say the recent "Best" of (hmmm!) was meant to be a bit of a
full stop. Having said that, I'm always writing - there might be life in the
old dog yet. We'll see.
Setting Sun: Can you tell us a little about the history of Japhy Ryder
and his band, who fired the starting pistol etc, etc?
Japhy:
Absolutely. It was just me, to begin with. I was playing with The Mittens (around 2000/2001), and somehow managed to accumulate a backlog of songs that didn't really conform to that band's Punky/New-Wave dictates (which did not, strangely, create tension of any kind).
Thus, Japhy Ryder was born. I wasn't going to let a substantial collection of what I considered to be pretty decent material gather dust in my bedroom.
It was probably the enthusiasm of Pete from Trilemma that convinced me to take the project further. Maybe the Japhy thing had been perceived as a bit of a joke in some quarters until Pete (and Rob Trilemma also) stepped in... I dunno. As I brought in a band - Terry, Phoebe and Dan, a bunch of friends - to bolster my inept mewlings with lo-fi goodness, the project became imbued with quasi-serious meaning, started consciously ripping off the Beats (see later question) and suchlike, in accordance with our name (doing them a disservice by all accounts!). We "released" (10 copies!) our first album, "All The Pretty Light Has Gone", on our own Furry Glove cassette label..Which I suppose was a bit of a joke... in 2001, I think. It's available on CD-R now, but really - it's rubbish! Second LP, "Palace Made of Sugar" is much better, in my opinion. As is the retrospective.
Setting Sun: And what music have you released to date and how people can get hold of these recordings?
Japhy:
There's a fair bit of stuff out there - "All The Pretty Light Has Gone" and "Palace Made of Sugar" (both 12 track cassettes, recorded on a knackered 4-track) came first. These were followed by a little compilation cassette we gave away at one of our gigs, containing a number unreleased tracks. Then came the infamous Furry Glove compilation (still available on CD-R from Blue Minnow, as are the other releases), which had some awesome stuff on it - Trilemma's "Fog Walkers", and Full Crumb's "She's a Scoundrel", namely. Most recently, an 18-track compilation has seen the light of day on Blue Minnow. Essentially, everything was self-released, available via email correspondence - which of course still applies! They all cost about £2 from Pete now, if I remember rightly.
Setting Sun: In relation to Japhy Ryder, who are your influences and
what music are you listening to at the moment?
Japhy:
I distinctly remember borrowing a friend's copy of the Spare Snare LP "Westfield Lane", probably 6 or 7 years ago, and being instantly struck, enamoured basically, with the concept. That being - an album of classic pop songs recorded on the most basic equipment. It just seemed to have warmth to it, which totally enhanced the appeal of these cool Beatle-esque numbers. The opening song ("Action Hero") consisted of one disgustingly distorted (2 string) guitar, a single snare drum, and a vocal. But the tune was ACE! That was it for me, really. After that I started to appreciate melodic stuff, which would perhaps not be considered conventionally "good", or whatever. Hefner's "Fidelity Wars" album was a massive influence, for example. Darren Hayman had this great knack of sounding like the most heartbroken guy in the world, and I fucking loved it. "I Stole a Bride" ranks amongst my all time favourites ("Good Vibrations"/"Waterloo Sunset"/Anything by the Beatles), without a doubt. Props must again go to the seemingly ubiquitous Trilemma, also. Basically, Rob helped me see through all that industry bullshit dictating what's a good record and what's not. 4-track cassette is good enough (in fact it's more than good enough if you think you have a good song). So yeah, I have Trilemma to thank for my D.I.Y inclinations.
At the moment my stereo is full of Buddy Holly ("Everyday"...yes!!!), Guided by Voices, Gravenhurst, Pavement, and the like.
Setting Sun: Do you do gigs? How do they compare to your studio
recordings? If not, do you have an idea how they will differ from your albums
etc?
Japhy:
We did three. The first was fairly successful, supporting Saloon and Jen Schande. Someone read a book on stage, if I recall. Ha! Shortly after this we played with King Creosote and the Fence Collective..., which showed us up a bit really! Kenny has such a wonderful voice. It was an enjoyable night, that's for sure...
The third, and final gig was a solo effort. I had the most godawful cold, and had to bail out after about five (excruciatingly painful) songs. Embarrassed is not the word. No more gigs for Jaffy!
I suppose the live set was pretty similar to the recordings - we never
used live drums for example. Just knocked out a bunch of slo-fi guitar ditties.
Setting Sun: Probably my favourite track off the recent Best off
album is “Last Night’s Wine” – Can you tell us a little bit more about this
song?
Japhy:
Unquestionably "Last Night's Wine". I think this is one of my
best songs, both lyrically and musically. Obviously it's still a bit rubbish, but
for someone with no talent I thought it was pretty cool! It's about watching
channel 5-esque pornography in some filthy hovel. Pure fantasy... I was really
pleased with the line about being fined by the video store, when I wrote it, as
well as the fact that it's in waltz time.
Setting Sun: I know there are beat generation connections with the
name Japhy Ryder - Is that any hint towards the origin of the name?
Japhy:
You got me! Yup... "Japhy Ryder" is Jack Kerouac's pseudonym
for the extraordinarily talented poet Gary Snyder, in "The Dharma
Bums". He is portrayed as this kind of crazy, solitary mystic. I just
loved the book. I love the Beats in general - currently researching for an
essay on the relationship between Jazz music and the form and content of
Kerouac's prose. Suppose I just appropriated the name!
Setting Sun: What’s next for you all? Do you have any more releases
planned / gigs etc, etc?
Japhy:
Sadly, no more releases or gigs are planned. But then again, you never
know. Gotta keep moving forward and all.
Setting Sun: Anyway, here are a few more lighthearted questions to
finish off with… Firstly, what would be your dream job if you were not a rock n
roll star?
Japhy:
Uhm... I wouldn't really say I was a rock and roll star (!), but I
dunno... probably a filmmaker. Films are ace. I just wanna meet Winona Ryder
really... that's the ulterior motive for my choice!
Setting Sun: Lastly, something a little lighter to finish off with (borrowed
from a pal’s Zine almost) Imagine you were ship wrecked On a desert Island and
could have (Clearly have second sight here - lol) The choice of having 5
records or Cds with you with a stereo of course - what would be your desert
Island Discs?
Japhy:
Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds" (or an early Best of or something)
Hefner - "The Fidelity Wars"
Pavement - "Slanted and Enchanted"
Of Montreal - "Aldhils Arboretum"
Belle and Sebastian - "If You're Feeling Sinister"
But really, my choices depend upon which day of the week it is!
