An Interview With Adam Crisp
Former Frontman of The Best band you've never heard of;
ELLE MILANO
Former Frontman of The Best band you've never heard of;
ELLE MILANO
Currently in a band (wittily titled) The Pre-marital Sect and also his own Solo-project Entrepreneurs
L=Luke (Interviewer)
A=Adam Crisp (Interviewee)
L: Your recent, albeit fairly understated, output from Entrepreneurs and The Premarital Sect has been totally varied and substantial. It really feels far removed from Elle Milano already. What's your perspective on this rate of change? Did your work under Elle Milano finish a while before you started your new projects?
A: Well over the last couple of years I’ve finally decided what I like. For instance; if you're going to be a band: sound like a band. And if you're going to work on a computer in your bedroom, don't try and sound like a band. So, the two tangents of my musical output have gone in more extreme directions. Hopefully. In the past the music that’s got released was written years before or something ridiculous, what you hear now was at least done sometime in the last six months, hah.
L: Do you think that either of your new groups will reach a stage where you could start playing gigs again any time soon?
A: Right now I have no intention of playing Entrepreneurs or The Super-Ego (beats/electro/etc project) live. Not ruling it out further down the line though... The Premarital Sect however is all about being live. Its the first band I’ve done where the recordings and the live set are the same thing. We're getting pretty close to being gig-ready, which is exciting. Its not gonna be pretty.
L: I hope that I don't seem like I'm missing the point here, but do you think that you'll ever go back to any of your music from Elle Milano, either live or in recordings?
A: It depends what you mean, if you're referring to FM- friendly indie rock then I doubt it very much. If you're literally referring to the songs of Elle Milano then definitely not. Never look back.
L: Your lyrical style is incredibly distinctive and observant, are there particular lyricists that you feel a strong connection with? You often wear your Mark E. Smith influence on your sleeve.
A: I think I’m more influenced by Mark E. Smith's attitude than lyrics. Undoubtedly I’ve been influenced by obvious things in my younger years- Kurt Cobain, Thom Yorke, Ian Curtis... but nothing consciously. I prefer to just spurt stuff out and worry about it later. Truth be told; I don't like writing lyrics much, its not something that seems to come very naturally to me, but I do my best.
L: You've spoken about your enjoyment of Girls Aloud pretty frequently. What am I missing out on never having gone out my way to listen to them?
A: Nah mate, they got old years ago. The second album was great, about 2004 or whatever, but I haven't raved about them since then I don't think. Lets never speak of this again.
L: Everything from your new sounds and your less-than-public releasing of new music is a far cry from the relative conventionality that Elle Milano often inhabited. Is there any specific reason behind this, or has it been more of an unconscious decision?
A: Well its only 'less-than-public' because I have absolutely no backing right now. Hang on, are we talking music or marketing? Musically speaking I just make what I’d want to hear. It bores me to death how guitar music repetitively regurgitates itself. I recommend everyone goes and listens to “Los Angeles” by Flying Lotus ten times in a row. I'm going to at least try with Entrepreneurs to do something different, for better or worse. And The Premarital Sect will hopefully stand as an example that you can just make a racket for the sake of it.
L: Have you made any remixes other than the completely reworked snippets of your own music that appear in some of your latest stuff?
A: Haha, yes I did a rushed and not very good remix of No Scrubs - TLC, and have a pretty phat house track predominantly using a Japan sample. I'm not that into remixing but i'll do it for filthy $$$$$$$$$
END THE FED
Thanks go To Adam Crisp for his time and Luke for his permission to use this on here.
L=Luke (Interviewer)
A=Adam Crisp (Interviewee)
L: Your recent, albeit fairly understated, output from Entrepreneurs and The Premarital Sect has been totally varied and substantial. It really feels far removed from Elle Milano already. What's your perspective on this rate of change? Did your work under Elle Milano finish a while before you started your new projects?
A: Well over the last couple of years I’ve finally decided what I like. For instance; if you're going to be a band: sound like a band. And if you're going to work on a computer in your bedroom, don't try and sound like a band. So, the two tangents of my musical output have gone in more extreme directions. Hopefully. In the past the music that’s got released was written years before or something ridiculous, what you hear now was at least done sometime in the last six months, hah.
L: Do you think that either of your new groups will reach a stage where you could start playing gigs again any time soon?
A: Right now I have no intention of playing Entrepreneurs or The Super-Ego (beats/electro/etc project) live. Not ruling it out further down the line though... The Premarital Sect however is all about being live. Its the first band I’ve done where the recordings and the live set are the same thing. We're getting pretty close to being gig-ready, which is exciting. Its not gonna be pretty.
L: I hope that I don't seem like I'm missing the point here, but do you think that you'll ever go back to any of your music from Elle Milano, either live or in recordings?
A: It depends what you mean, if you're referring to FM- friendly indie rock then I doubt it very much. If you're literally referring to the songs of Elle Milano then definitely not. Never look back.
L: Your lyrical style is incredibly distinctive and observant, are there particular lyricists that you feel a strong connection with? You often wear your Mark E. Smith influence on your sleeve.
A: I think I’m more influenced by Mark E. Smith's attitude than lyrics. Undoubtedly I’ve been influenced by obvious things in my younger years- Kurt Cobain, Thom Yorke, Ian Curtis... but nothing consciously. I prefer to just spurt stuff out and worry about it later. Truth be told; I don't like writing lyrics much, its not something that seems to come very naturally to me, but I do my best.
L: You've spoken about your enjoyment of Girls Aloud pretty frequently. What am I missing out on never having gone out my way to listen to them?
A: Nah mate, they got old years ago. The second album was great, about 2004 or whatever, but I haven't raved about them since then I don't think. Lets never speak of this again.
L: Everything from your new sounds and your less-than-public releasing of new music is a far cry from the relative conventionality that Elle Milano often inhabited. Is there any specific reason behind this, or has it been more of an unconscious decision?
A: Well its only 'less-than-public' because I have absolutely no backing right now. Hang on, are we talking music or marketing? Musically speaking I just make what I’d want to hear. It bores me to death how guitar music repetitively regurgitates itself. I recommend everyone goes and listens to “Los Angeles” by Flying Lotus ten times in a row. I'm going to at least try with Entrepreneurs to do something different, for better or worse. And The Premarital Sect will hopefully stand as an example that you can just make a racket for the sake of it.
L: Have you made any remixes other than the completely reworked snippets of your own music that appear in some of your latest stuff?
A: Haha, yes I did a rushed and not very good remix of No Scrubs - TLC, and have a pretty phat house track predominantly using a Japan sample. I'm not that into remixing but i'll do it for filthy $$$$$$$$$
END THE FED
Thanks go To Adam Crisp for his time and Luke for his permission to use this on here.
2 comments:
Yo Ben, I think you should definitely check out that Los Angeles album by Flying Lotus that Adam recommends, it's powerful stuff.
Luke, don't you remember like a billion years ago when you originally did this for my zine.....? Ergh, it's of no use to me now.
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