September 2003
As one or two of you may know, I am currently subscribed to a sometimes
weird but always interesting fanzine called Robots and Electric Brains
(of which I recommend a subscription too without doubt!)
When I first subscribed to Robots.. earlier in the year, I received in
addition to my magazines, an extra CD by Trilemma. I had no idea
who they were, and put it to one side to listen to it when I eventually
got round to it.
Fast-forward a few months and I eventually listened to it and was
Really surprised by it. From pretty basic guitar rock tracks, the
Album also seemed to contain some pretty cool instrumental
Sound track sort of stuff like the last track Tear Gasometers which is
Pretty haunting and other stuff that kept reminding me of
A male version of Air. Lovely stuff!
The interview came quite quickly after that after stumbling onto
Trilemma s officialwebsite
which contains some great mp3s,
I must
Admit and speaking to the two guys, of which the result can found
Below!
Thanks again!
Andy N xx
Setting Sun: How's things and what's happening at the moment?
Trilemma:
It's been a bit slow for us this year 'cos a tape machine died. So,
even though we've been writing a lot of stuff, not much recording has gone
on.
This should be remedied now though, and stuff will be going down to
ferrous oxide, DAT and cdr., etc. ASAP.
Setting Sun: From looking at your excellent website, it is clear you are a busy lot,
but clearly they are people who wouldn't have heard off you, so could
you introduce yourself to us, tell us who fired the starting pistol etc, etc?
Trilemma:
Thanks for the compliments on the website. We need to add more stuff
really, as a lot of it's a bit dated.
In terms of who we are and why we're doing what we're doing, it goes
something like this:
Pete had some recording gear (primarily a Tascam 484 8-track to
cassette machine) that was sort of gathering dust. Meanwhile I had a few songs
knocking around. I wasn't sure if Pete was up for a project, so we met
and bought a few drinks, talked about what we were listening to
(Sparklehorse, Elliott Smith and Low being some shared ground, including older stuff
like Velvet Underground, punk and indie-schmindie, etc. etc.) and decided
that we could do a lot worse than end our shared boredom by using the equipment
and ideas we had between us.
Setting Sun: Why Trilemma as a name? It is certainly unusual?
Trilemma:
It's not intentionally unusual. Pete chose it from a short list of
about 10 I shoved under his nose one night. So no great story there, I'm afraid.
But since then I grafted on a whole slew of ridiculously abstruse and
pretentious meanings, again because of boredom. So it kind of means
something like the stasis of the dialectic, or a circular zeitgeist.
Not a dilemma - but a trilemma. No going back, no staying in the present, no
moving forwards. History as knackered Ford Escort, kind of. Etc.
Setting Sun: What stuff (tunes wise) have you been
listening to recently and what are your influences for Trilemma?
I guess from the sound of your CD, it is quite wide ranging...
Trilemma:
Well, I've already mentioned some stuff. But that's the tip of the
ice-berg really. Back in the day I used to be incredibly fundamentalist about
these things - so, like, when I was 16-18 I was a Husker Du nutcase. I
wouldn't listen to anything else and would insist that others listened to them
as well. I was insanely evangelical about it. A tedious wanker, by all
accounts. So no change there then. But slowly, slowly, the creaking,
rusting portals of my mind began to inch open. My Bloody Valentine came in,
then The Pixies, then older stuff - like The Misunderstood, Scott Walker and so
on.
I have to cite Joy Division in all this too.
Later, I got utterly swept away by Portishead. Since then I've had a
pretty vast Krautrock phase (mainly Can and Neu), and got into soundtracks
(Morricone, Barry, Schiffrin, etc.), plus early-mid '70s funk.
Setting Sun:What's the story behind your mail order only CD Push....
that was given away with the fanzine "Robots with etc.."
It is really quite an breath-taking CD, and certainly deserves more
than the incredibly limited pressing of 100!.
Trilemma:
I'm glad you like it. Thanks for that.
Well, Jimmy Possession - the editor of REBs - has been pretty good to
us right from the start. Also we really do love paper-based fanzines -
that's a long-standing thing. So those 2 things combined, basically doing a
'release' that was purely for REBs seemed like a good idea. I think the only way
we'd consider extending the number of 100 would be if someone offered to
fund a vinyl pressing. But that would involve significant re-mixing and
re-mastering on our part, partly because it could be a lot better in
those departments but also because vinyl's a big thing. The sounds have to be
as good as possible, due to the fact that it's the hallowed format!!
And basically I don't honestly think me and Pete have really got the
appetite for re-visiting that stuff and getting the mixes and mastering up to
scratch. It's tedious, boring and very repetitive work, plus we have
only the very most rudimentary, entry-level compressors (the dreaded
Behringers). All in all it would be a hideously vile task.
Setting Sun: Still, thinking about that CD - What is the story behind the last
track on the CD "Teargasineters", as it is truly a haunting track when
the synch kicks in.
Trilemma:
Yes, it was a bit of a risk - it came from a very small and
insignificant idea. I'm glad you describe it as haunting. Oh - it's actually called
Tear Gasometers. Sometimes a preset sound on a keyboard or organ inspires
some little phrase or ditty. It's not that you sit down to write something
consciously or intentionally. It's just one of those long evenings when
beer funds have run perilously low and your friends have decided you're a
divvy because you keep phoning them while they're in the shower, having a
shag or whatever. So you fire up some piece of gear and sit there piddling
around.
Quite often you hit into something before you even know it. Some of
these bits of stuff you can buy these days are just amazing, in terms of the
sounds and feelings they throw out. Admittedly there're always several
hundred completely soulless pre-set sounds for every one that contains
pure genius. But you have to dabble with it for a while. It's not hard work
generally. The hard part is programming these fuckers - but we don't
ever do that. We don't do midi. We are card-carrying idiots and don't plan on
changing that any time soon. Well, I have said I'd like to buy Pete's
Atari 1040, so if I do I'll have to end my days of idiocy. But I dunno. That
shit is scary. I can't really be arsed. I feel safe and at home with tape
machines. What I really need is a full-time assistant that can
programme stuff for me. A little midi-droid that is quick and intuitive and
doesn't ask damn fool questions.
So anyway, that's where Tear Gasometers came from. Just doodling on a
keyboard - a Roland XP60 to be precise. A horrible device in many ways,
but one which I'm duty bound to milk for all its worth after dropping 1.2k
on the bastard. Fucking OUCH.
Setting Sun: I guess from your notes, you are roughly based around the Stoke area?
What is the local scene around your area? Have you been to any good gigs
lately?
Trilemma:
The local scene is good, by and large. However there're a lot of bands
that still perceive it as some kind of competition - which is always
guaranteed to kill it. The Mittens are a total pop blast and as for other gigs,
the Hidden Cameras were excellent both with and without dancers and orchestra and the Kills were fantastic.
Setting Sun: What s next on the horizon for you? Any more releases on the way?
Trilemma:
We're getting tracks together for a release on Fence Records - part of
a series of mini albums by different people.
Details are here:-
http://www.fencerecords.com/tunes/picket_fence.htm
Away from Trilemma we're involved with recording other bands - we've
recorded the Mittens debut 7" and are working with Japhy Ryder and
His Band on an album. Our Blue Minnow Records compilation cd is taking shape too.
Setting Sun :Lastly,
something slightly less serious to finish off with perhaps
"Imagine you were ship wrecked on a desert Island and
could have (clearly 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?"
Trilemma:
Rob
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Portishead - Dummy
Sparklehorse - Vivadixie
Joy Division - Closer
Cinemaphonic library music compilation - compiled and released by
Emperor
Norton Records
Pete -
Low - Secret Name
Hidden Cameras - The Smell Of Our Own
Joy Division - Closer
Velvet Underground - 3rd album
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One