Three Imaginary Girls - Jade Tree

What's new with Panda and Angel {hint: new songs!}

imaginary dana — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:18:30 +0000

The band just emailed us with some great news. They've been in the studio for the past month and a half with Ben Kersten (Grand Archives) working on their next full-length. And {this is the best part}: They posted four new tracks to their MySpace page.

Snowden on Tonight's CSI: Miami

fat asian baby — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:00:59 +0000

Finally a reason to watch CSI: Miami!

Are These Arms Are Snakes the hardest working band in Seattle?

elle — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:13:33 +0000

Fresh from a 10-month long tour stint, from Europe to the US to Europe again, I caught up with These Arms Are Snakes' guitarist Ryan Frederiksen and bassist Brian Cook at Capitol Hill's basement-esque bar Redwood the night of August 22nd. This summer was no vacation for the hardworking local band; besides touring nonstop, they also took the time to hit the studio for a never before announced track for a cover album and planning a collaboration album.

Although home now, the break won't be long, as they plan to enter the studio later this year to record their third full length. I suppose I was quite lucky then to catch a night with the band, albeit two of them as the other half, Steve Snere and Chris Common, were already running around busy. Besides the opportune time, this was my very first interview ever -- and with one of my favorite bands no less; I don't know how often that happens for aspiring journalists.

Here is the inside story on their recent tours, the aforementioned exclusive information on the cover song, their opinion of today's local music scene, and perhaps a confession to hallucinogenic influence to their music?

Tell me about your European Tour this past summer
Ryan: We were originally supposed to do five and half weeks in Europe, and then we were offered a Mastodon tour here in the US. We flew back to Europe for festivals we were invited to play over there. We were only invited to play one here, Block Party.

What would you say was the best part of the tour?
Ryan: We went to Scandinavia, which I had never been to before. It blew my mind. No complaints.
Brian: Yeah, and the Czech Republic was great, we played a festival there. It was half straight-edge bands and half anarchist bands. We were kind of out of place there. It was actually a really good show.

And the fans weren't like, "Who the fuck are these guys?"
R: That's what we thought was going to happen, the crowd was at about 3,000. And it was outdoors. But it went over really well.

I read about how on the US tour this summer, you were having trouble with your van, and band members were getting sick. Was there ever any similar trouble during the European tours where you thought, 'Oh no, we're in a foreign country and it's all going to hell'?
R: No it's usually pretty cushy over there. We rent our backlines, so we don't have to worry about our equipment breaking. We have a driver/tour manager, they have 2007 Sprinters, so we didn't have to worry about that breaking down, or driving.

So it sounds like a European tour is much better than an U.S. tour, they treat you a lot better.
R: In a lot of ways; they're two different beasts.
B: Yeah, it's more comfortable for us, but ya know...

...You are on the other side of the world...
B: Exactly.
R: Plus, I only speak English, so it kind of sucks going to other people's countries and not being able to speak to them. And then THEY apologize for having bad English and I'm thinking, 'Why are you apologizing!? I'm in your country.'

You had mentioned in a previous interview feeling as though the Seattle music scene is in a slump.
It doesn't seem like there's many bigger bands coming out right now. It seems there aren't too many interesting younger bands. We're trying to figure out some all ages shows in the area; but who do we ask? We could ask our friends who we've played with a thousand times, or we ask, you know, these younger bands who sound like My Chemical Romance or Aiden, you know..

...wannabes
B: Yeah. There are a handful of smaller independent experimental and noisy bands that are pretty out there. But it just seems the music community is aging, and there's no one to replace them.

That's the next thing I was going to ask--It seems the Seattle music "generation" you guys came from is sort of imploding. Pretty Girls Makes Graves and the Divorce just broke up...
R: And now the Blood Brothers.

Yeah, and now there's a rumor the Blood Brothers days are numbered.
R: But those people will stay active, I'm assuming. They're all pretty determined.
B: I believe they all have new bands now, actually. All the Blood Brothers members are in new bands.

You sort of feel like this is just the new phase for them then? This isn't such a bad thing?
R: This is the background they come from, this is all they know. Same with us, if we were to break up, it would be the same thing. We'd all definitely find new things. I really want to concentrate on [music].
B: When we get that far into our career, I hope we're still doing something interesting, not doing anything stagnant. I don't care if we're touring once every five years, as long as it's whatever is healthy and interesting for the band.

I heard you're going into the studio later this year. How is the writing coming along, musically and lyrically, as opposed to your prior releases?
R: Well, we know what we don't want to do, which is just replicating what we've already done. We're just going to keep pushing ourselves and making it interesting for ourselves. We feel like we've done a good job of shying away from making the same album over and over so far. We've only just started writing, however; it's kind of hard to just jump into it. It's a long process to figure out what exactly sounds good and put all the parts together.
B: Steve had a good idea on Oxeneers in regards to what he wanted to do lyric-wise, but for the most part we don't really go into the writing process with a theme in mind. Once the CD starts to be recorded, we start to notice patterns of recurring ideas and draw rationalizations about what the album is about from there.

Tell me about the split CD with Pelican.
R: It's actually going to be a 7". They redid one of their songs, and then they sent us all of their files for us to add our own parts to it. Then we're going to redo one of our songs, and send it over to them for new parts to be added.

You did that on stage with them, for the European tour, correct? Joining each other on stage.
R: I only did it once, but he went up there a couple times with them in London.

How were they to tour with? I just caught their show last week, and they seem like crazy guys to hang around.
R: It's nice because they're mellow, but they still want to go out and have fun. We're all in the same age group, so it's not like we're touring with a bunch of kids who don't really have any concept of life. B: We have a similar background, which makes it nice.

What is the deal with the Nirvana cover album you did a song for? Both: How did you know about that?!

Erm..sorry, I'm using my insider knowledge...
Both: Haha, insider information. Yeah, we hadn't really made it public yet.
B: We did a cover off of In Utero, "Heart Shaped Box."

Oh really?! How awesome, that is my favorite Nirvana song!
R: It was for the record label Robotic Empire, they're doing a cover album of In Utero with different bands. We provided sort of our interpretation of the song.

What was your decision to be on the album, is Nirvana a band you admire?
B: Oh yeah, they are definitely a band we all like. It was a bit tricky, we all came in with different ideas of what we wanted to do. Some of them really didn't work.
R: We chose three different songs we all wanted to do, we argued and deliberated which one we wanted to do.

How is Steve's Kurt Cobain?
R: Nah, he really didn't try that, it would just be pointless. He did a really awesome job singing for it his own way.

I guess that is how covers should be, putting your own spin on it. Which other bands are on the album?
B: Broken Social Scene, Young Widows, Daughters,... Baroness or Priestess?

Do you know when it will be released?
B: We were only the third band to confirm being on it, so I don't think for awhile. There haven't been any formal announcements on it yet.

Last Thursday's show, Steve was thrown into the keyboard, knocking the microphone into your nose...
B: Yeah, it's still sore.

I've seen you at Neumo's before, Steve jumping off the ladder, running around crazy. What's the worst time he's ever gotten hurt?
R: We think he broke a couple of ribs in Portugal.
B: He was thrown into a monitor, and was in pain for quite a while. The monitors are angled like this [shows me with the napkin dispenser a 45degree angle of the monitor]. He just sort of crawled off stage into the back. You could feel the ribs weren't really lined up right, especially compared to the other side. He couldn't take any deep breaths for awhile afterwards.

Has there ever been a point in a show where you're just like, "Ok, this is enough, it's getting way too crazy"?
R: Paris was like that.
B: Every once in awhile there's shows where people need to back up. We got shut down after only four songs in Paris. [At this point their very way too nice PR Joan joined us. This was the first time she had met them too.]

How long have you been working for them as publicist?
Joan: Uh, only about a month and a half, joining my buddy David.

What got you interested in taking up the job as publicist for them?
J: I'm amped Dave was working with them already, and I'm amped I get to work with them. [Then we all cheered to the future of Joan's career as their publicist.]

Well, I uh, don't have any more questions...except for one more: I was going to ask you guys about mushrooms. I hear rumors...especially about the song "Corporeal," that it was recorded while on mushrooms, and that Chris ate mushrooms with [an anonymous tipper] before a show. Is there some truth to these statements?
B:...possibly.
R: We...dabble in psychedelics. Allegedly. I won't confirm or deny.
B: I think we'll leave it at that, with a little mystery. I'll talk plenty about getting stoned and drinking a bunch.
[Then two seconds later Brian shares:]
B: I ate some mushrooms at Wilco last night. [Oh, busted!!]

After this, the discussion turned to Wilco, Ryan's lack of excuse for the drunken show at the Can-Can and Steve dancing like a burlesque dancer, the awesomeness that is Pelican and their stoner crowd, the Vera Project, and the delicious food at Redwood, just in time for Arthur & Yu to play on the jukebox. The busyness hadn't skipped this half of the band either -- Brian said he had an early morning flight the next day. Oh, and they thanked me for not asking them what their band name means, as every other journalist makes it a point to include; also for not mentioning Botch.

TAAS07sep.jpg

We...dabble in psychedelics. Allegedly. I won't confirm or deny.

Panda & Angel

Erik Gonzalez — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:00:00 +0000

7.9

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000FUF85C/wwwthreeimagi-20

panda06may.jpg

Nothing like gloom to help brighten a Pacific Northwest spring! Not that there's anything wrong with that when it comes from Seattle upstarts Panda & Angel. They bring a little shoegazer to roost here in Puget Sound on their self-titled debut EP on indie stalwart label Jade Tree, and as if to fill the hole created by recently defunct Denali, Panda & Angel harkens to the sound of Lush with a more aggressive bent.

The key to shoegazer was that although the distortion and wall-to-wall sound that defines the genre is what people associate with it, it is really the melody that drives the songs through the noise. Panda & Angel get that, and the opening track "Mexico" lilts with a gentle melody that slowly morphs into a rumble as Carrie Murphy's vocals rise above the din. The guitars are joined by a variety of instruments that give it a bit of a Lush-meets-Joan of Arc feel. While "Mexico" has an almost uplifting tone, "Dangerous" is more desperate and takes its cue from My Bloody Valentine with monotone vocals over clashing guitars. The tension builds across the song as Carrie sings you wish you could take it back/wanting something you can't have as Josh Ackerley's guitar hammers away. The juxtaposition of "Dangerous" with a song like "China" exhibits the dynamic range of Panda & Angel, where the roaring guitar and monotone vocals are replaced by a quietly strummed guitar and gentle, hushed vocals where Carrie warns that I'm going to move to China/and disappear. The strongest points for Panda & Angel lie in the melodies they construct over the tumult. "Ohio December 24th" demonstrates that fully with a flourishing musicality of strings, guitar, chimes and other knick-knacks. This spreads into "A Thousand Whispers" that has a Liz Phair-type melody wrapped in a thick shoegazing racket as if Liz grew up in England rather than the States. The song glides back and forth from a quiet, plucked guitar line to an all out onslaught from all direction, yet never loses itself in the noise, a tricky thing to do sometimes when you have a propensity for sonic detonations.

Panda & Angel dance a fine line between the distortion that wraps many of the songs and a gentle melody that drives them. If their debut EP is any indication, they can navigate this border with a deftness that is beyond their brief existence as a band. Maybe all the dark and grey gets to people more than we want to admit, but with upstart bands like Panda & Angel and Mon Frere, at least Seattle can boast a resurgent indie music scene.

Panda & Angel dance a fine line between the distortion that wraps many of the songs and a gentle melody that drives them.

Often Lie

Chris Estey — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 07:00:00 +0000

6.5

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009WWLY2/wwwthreeimagi-20

statistics05jul.jpg

"So instead of wish fufillment, we get an acknowledgment of our wish."
-J. Niimi, Murmur ( 33 1/3 book series)

Denver Dalley plays guitar for Conor 'Twinkling Peepers' Oberst's side project the Desaparecidos. Denver lives in Omaha, and is friends with all the angry weeping oversexed boys there who tuck themselves under the wing of sound-shaman A.J. Mogis for the Saddle Creek label. Mogis recorded this nine-song album as well, and DD sent it to Tim Owen, Jade Tree founder and extraordinary photographer, who knows a good thing when he sees one (click!).

Statistics is Denver's private party with some friends, and Mogis helped on guitar and keyboard, getting all up in it with The Sparkling Mope like he's known for. Like Oberst and Tim Kasher (the bad vibes of the Good Life), the Dalley probably snogged his first uncaring girlfriend midway through Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and is all grumpy-wumpy about Her Changing Her Mind and Seeing Him For What He Really Is. The title of this record says it all. Just the facts, ma'am — and I've always LOVED Jane Austin, so let me spend the night in your dorm room. I won't try anything. I promise.

The Desaparecidos means "the Disappeared" and that's probably how the fella feels playing for Conor, whose personality you probably sense in the parking lot of the party he's decided to crash. Often Lie sounds like the frustrated, but musically eloquent Run, Lola, Run supernatural scream of someone who has to wait his turn, doesn't feel he connects, and wants to leave his recording gear behind and jog briskly to true love, even if it's kind of dumb and always in trouble.

The eloquence is in the morning-after vocal melodies, the foam of note perfect just-right six string sea shimmer, the never-overwhelming tapestry keys, the dramatic drums of Doug Van Sloun and Matt Baum. Trust me: This could be HUGE. It sounds like something the kids would gobble up with a spoon. "Final Broadcast," "Say You Will," and "Begging To Be Heard" all sound like HITS! But the lyrics never quite break out of their shell, and at least a couple lines could have used an editor ("Your eyelashes wish their way to the floor").

Robert Smith is a proper inspiration, kids. But listen to "Catch," which slowed down and got goofy and playful with the descriptions, or the wonderful romantic imagery in "Just Like Heaven," with its transcendent storyline that YOU KNOW is going to end miserably, but we have The Moment (the power of now) FIRST.

Statistics is failure calculated, let's sing to failure. I could ask: Let me smell a little of the stinky cheap perfume from the night before, Denver, like Bob would have. Don't just show me the bruises on your knees, show me how you got them. But I know it's not your aesthetic, and you and Mr. Owen will do fine with this. I just feel you'll have much more to say when you capture that moment in its frame, and not just talk about the passion.

Dalley probably snogged his first uncaring girlfriend midway through Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and is all grumpy-wumpy about Her Changing Her Mind and Seeing Him For What He Really Is.

TIG on KEXP for April 2005

three imaginary girls — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:00:00 +0000

Saturday April 2nd, Three Imaginary Girls stopped by the KEXP studios to play some tunes during the local Northwest music show, Audioasis. This time our gracious host was DJ Abe Beeson who, in addition to having a fabulous DJ voice {which we already knew}, is a super-nice fella with a passion for cassette tapes {and Sabre!}.

Here's our set list, with a bit of off-the-air imaginary commentary. If you want to hear the songs and our on-air ramblings, go to the KEXP Streaming Archive, and select April 2, 2005 at 7p to hear our set. Listen soon as the archive will only be up until April 15,2005 {give or take a day}.

{7:04} Pomeranian - "Pom Pom Pow"
Any band that names a song "Pom Pom Pow" deserves a listen, and when the remaining tracks sound like Pomeranian, you're gonna giggle and dance and maybe throw something breakable and then laugh as it shatters. Pomeranian offers dance beats, screams, and catchy riffs, and the resulting sound is much like their canine namesake: yappy, brash, loyal, and cute. And their website kicks ass.

The funny thing about Pomeranian is that we keeping judging them. And, erm... they keep losing. Not because they aren't winners. We first met them at the Seattle's Cutest Band competition, where they were really cute, and really good, but didn't win. Then we encountered Pomeranian front-guy Emory Lu at Iron Composer last year. He was competing against Paul Jensen {of Dudley Manlove} and we were the three judges... and again, we voted against the man from Pomeranian.

But the thing is — we love the Pom!

{7:06} Panda and Angel - "The Disco Song"
Panda and Angel is a super-group of sorts, featuring, among others, Josh Wackerly {of the band S}, Carrie Murphy {of the band Touchdown Eagle}, and Sera Cahoone {of the band Carissa's Wierd}. Their songs roam from brooding lo-fi {"Woolfe"} to shimmering lite-electronic instrumentation {"The Disco Song", which we played tonight}. They're gonna be opening for Horses {another Carissa's Wierd alumni band} and S at Neumo's on April 7th.

{7:10} Corbin Gets It Right - "Bottom of My Closet"
Bellingham's Corbin Gets It Right play infectious indie-pop on their self-released album The Color Scheme, which was produced by Cameron Nicklaus of the Pale Pacific. This track is called "Bottom of My Closet."

{7:16} Luke Temple - "Someone, Somewhere"
Singer-songwriter Luke Temple releases his debut full-length Hold a Match for a Gasoline World on Mill Pond later this month. The song we played, "Someone, Somewhere", shows off his gorgeous vocals and stellar pop-folk song-writing skills. Talents such as these elicit {fair} comparisons to Sondre Lerche, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon. As one brilliant writer once said, "With his perfect (and I do mean perfect) vocal pitch, and his crisp-linen songwriting, Luke explores his relationship with himself, others and his maker in a way that shows wisdom beyond his years."

HEY! That quote came from the review of Luke's EP that ran on Three Imaginary Girls.

You can't quote our own website!

That's like Internet incest!

I can, and I just did. I can't help it if Salvatore Santos is so much smarter than I am.

{7:20} The Cloves - "Ignored"
Anyhoo, next up we played The Cloves' song "Ignored" from their recently self-released their debut album Waiting for the World to Be. Fans of Doves, Travis, and all things Brit-radio-pop flavored should pay attention and pay their respects. Even their cover-art looks all retro-70s British. We all just missed their Seattle CD release show on April 1st {boo!}, but you can catch the Tacoma CD release on April 10th at Jazzbones, with Doxology {yay!}.

{7:23} Love Hotel - "Ahoy Supercool"
Love Hotel is the band with a most impressive Northwest pedigree, with band members hailing from Harvey Danger, Severna Park, and the Typing Explosion. Love Hotel write smart pop-songs in the vein of Exile in Guyville-era Liz Phair. The track we played tonight {"Ahoy Supercool"} even references losing a lighter and a map, a clear reference to Phair's "Divorce Song". Front woman Sarah Paul O'Campo's smart-mouthed, independent — yet vulnerable — lyrics, and her husky, clear vocals remind me of Jenny Lewis {Rilo Kiley, Postal Service}.

{7:27} The Senate Arcade - "Problem"
We played a sneak-peak demo from the Senate Arcade, called "Problem." No, you can't get this song yet. No, they don't have a release date. Or an album title. Or a label — yet. So don't even ask me. 'Cause I don't know.

I do know their next show is at the High Dive on Fri, May 20th with Verona and Juhu Beach.

After a six-song monopoly of the airwaves, Abe took a turn, playing us "Sever Heavy Hands" by Psychic Emperor. Each of us oooh'd and aaah'd over the new project from Tristian from the Vells and Jeremiah from Modest Mouse.

{aside to Imputer Records: your imaginary friends would very, much love it if you would send us a copy for review. Thankyouverymuch.}

OK, out with the new... in with the cassettes! Because April is local music month at KEXP, each Audioasis show will have a special theme'd portion to celebrate a particular piece of Pacific Northwest music heritage.

Abe chose to focus on late 1980's - early 1990's cassette phenomenon. With that direction, we sniffed around and found boxes of contenders to bring with us. It was difficult, but we narrowed it down to four songs that deserve their own altars at the EMP.

{7:48} Oklahoma Scramble - "Mine"
Oklahoma Scramble was an Olympia, WA band that existed for a brief time in the mid-1980's. The band, consisting of Jennifer Seymore and Argon Steel, only recorded five songs {which pretty much only saw the light of day via fortuitous friend-to-friend tape exchanges} and played two shows during OS's 1986 to 1987 lifetime, but still made an impression.

In 1987, Calvin Johnson {K Records, Beat Happening and Jenny's neighbor}, released some Oklahoma Scramble songs {including "Mine"} on one of K Records' first releases - a compilation cassette entitled Birdcrash in 1987. Besides the OS songs, the cassette also had tracks from Spook & The Zombies {featuring a pre-Seaweed Aaron Stauffer} and instrumental tracks by Calvin Johnson's the Go Team {see below for more information on the Go Team}.

You can find another Oklahoma Scramble song {"Boy"} on the first Yoyo studio compilation Throw which was released in 1992. Other reasons to pick up Throw sampler include rare tracks from Heavens to Betsy, Bratmobile and Crayon.

{7:51} Kicking Giant - "Teen Angel"
There were a few Kicking Giant songs that were in the running to bring with us, but this one won out because no matter who was in the room, we'd all be on our feet spazzing out by the end of the first verse.

This song, "Teen Angel" was recorded at Yoyo Studios and originally released in August 1991 on a hand handmade cassette, Drum Girl Dream {a short run that was primarily given to friends and such} and later released for public consumption on tape as Secret Teenage Summer in late 1991 on Loose Leaf.

In the band consisted of Rachel Carns {who has also played in The Need}, and Tae Won Yu {who has moved on to solo work under the name the KG}. You may also recognize Tae for his designing accomplishments - most notably for designing your favorite Built to Spill cover art.

{7:55} Rich Jensen - "Nice Pagan Go!"
The oldest pull from our Cassette Closet, "Nice Pagan Go!" was released on a tape entitled The Animal Box in 1984 {during the cassette-only days of K Records}. Although Rich Jensen released a series of tapes around this time, nothing beats the line "Beacha-beacha-beacha-beacha-Steve" of this song, "Nice Pagan Go!". You might also recognize Rich's name from his grunge-era days at Sub Pop, his co-founding of Up Records, or his founding of Clear Cut Press.

I like nice Pagans too.

{8:02} The Go Team - "Keep-A-Way"
Last song — and we barely got to play it, so thanks again to Abe for letting us sneak this one in — was the Go Team.

The Go! Team?

Nope, not *that* one... not the newfangled, "I'll add an exclamation point after the second word and I've got my own original band name" folks... this song, "Keep-A-Way" was brought to us by the Go Team that doesn't have an awkwardly placed exclamation point and were the original GTs.

The Go Team was:
Calvin Johnson, Tobi Vail {Bikini Kill drummer}

AND, during the course of their history, a rotating cast of characters including: Kurt Cobain {Kurdt Kobain}, Rich Jensen, Lois Maffeo {Lois, Courtney Love - the band}, Billy Karren {Bikini Kill guitarist}, David Nichols {The Cannanes drummer}, and Louis Olson {who was in one of the earliest incarnations of Some Velvet Sidewalk}.

"Keep-A-Way," was released in 1989 on the cassette-only / never reissued on CD album Archer Come Sparrow and features a minimalist line-up of only Calvin and Tobi.

I have old cassettes too. They're by Def Leppard and the Scorpions and I think they're melting in my mother's garage in South Florida about now.

That's probably for the best.

Indeed. And KEXP is the best! We can't wait to go back on the air. Our next appearance will be May 7th, again at 7p for Audioasis.

KEXP.jpg

Saturday April 2nd, Three Imaginary Girls stopped by the KEXP studios to play some tunes during the local Northwest music show, Audioasis, including Pomeranian, Love Hotel, The Cloves, and many more.