|
|
 |
Interview
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Global Rhythm, Interview >>
Back when the Berlin Wall fell and the Russian city of Leningrad reclaimed it's old name of Saint Petersburg, the founding members of Auktyon were very much the local heroes of the underground rock scene there, as they had been since the early 80's. The group has made a career out of stylistic change-moving between such eclectic genres as punk jazz, art rock, Russian folk and new wave klezmer- so it's only logical that their latest effort should find them collaborating for the first time with New York musicians. Downtown fixtures John Nedeski, Marc Ribot and Klezmatics trumpeter Frank London all climb aboard, while frontman Leonid Federov and crew strafe the walls with a high-energy onslaught of dizzying kitchen-sink rock that can turn funky ("Dolgi"), electro-fusionist ("Tam-dam") or damn-near burlesque ("Padal") faster than you can throw back a flaming shot of Stoli. Still shattering barriers after nearly three decades. Auktyon makes it easy to forget there ever was a Cold War.
By: Bill Murphy
How did you end up recording this album in New York?
We met Frank London at globalFEST in 2006. We didn't know him before, but Frank is such a warm person, and he's so quick to connect with people, that after a few hours it felt like we'd known each other for years. Our manager, Maz Milendorf, suggested that it might be interesting to record an album in New York, Frank immediately suggested bringing in any guest musicians we desired. He suggested Ribot, I wished for Medeski, and Max mentoined John Zorn.
But Zorn didn't make the sessions.
Zorn politely declined the invitation, but Medeski and Ribot agreed. Then [saxophonist] Ned Rothenburg's name came up when we were in the studio. [Double bassist] Vladamir Volkov had played with him at some festivals before, and had his phone number. We called him and he showed up the next day. Frank also came in for a day.
Did you rehearse at all? The whole album sounds like first takes, with everyone in the same room.
There were no rehearsals with the Americans; they didn't even know what was going to be recorded. And on a lot of tracks, that first take is what we ended up keeping, because that raw and spontaneous energy was exactly what I was looking for. Auktyon had rehearsed a few songs before our trip to the States-I think we might have even tried out one or two at a couple of oncerts. But the idea was to get in the studio and see what could happen.
Did you envision the album as going in any particular direction, or was it pretty much free and open?
I had the songs read, but I had no idea how they were going to come out. The melody and the lyrics were there, and maybe the rhythm, but that's about it. I know some of my musicians were scared of what was to come- a few were intimidated by the talent and level of musicianship of our guests. But I felt that this fear would bring out the best in them. It would mobilize them to create something that they didn't even realize they're capable of.
Were you ever worried about how everyone would interact, especially with the language barrier?
There was a great deal of silent communication, otherwise it wouldn't have worked. We had drums and bass in a separate room, but everyone else was in another room together-sax, tuba, double bass, keyboards, two guitars, a piano and Medeski's Hammond organ-and I was also singing. There are many great "dialogs" on everyone else also found a common language to speak on this recording. 05/15/08
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
