They Believe in Rock 'n' Roll

Head down to Tower, purchase the über-hip, alt-rock rag with "ROCK IS DEAD" pasted on the cover beneath two tousle-haired Frenchmen. Rest assured that while the easily swayed and jaded listeners may buy into such a hollow, manufactured philosophy, there are plenty of bands that still believe rock 'n' roll music is ripe for deeper and further exploration.
Take for instance Seattle ambient / noise enthusiasts Kinski, whom would be among the first to convert the non-believers. While one might be lulled by their songs' gentle, repetitious cycles, they only stage a false sense of security, imminently crushed by a brutal torrent of sound. Kinski embraces the subtleties and shadows that eventually morph into new textures and unpredictable corridors and pathways, proving that they are frightening in their ability to surprise and throw the listener off balance.
Kinski initially formed as a three piece in 1998 with Chris Martin (guitars, intermittent vocals), Lucy Atkinson (bass), and Dave Weeks (drums). The following year saw the band releasing their first album Spacelaunch for Frenchie while attracting an ever-increasing Pacific Northwest fan base. The band then expanded to a quartet with Matthew Reid Schwartz providing guitar and keyboards. Between tours with Hovercraft and Silkworm, Kinski sandwiched in enough quality time to record their latest Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle.
Recorded with Kip Beelman (Sleater-Kinney, Unwound, Juno) Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle has been putting rock critics in the uncomfortable position of having to climb out of the cool booth long enough to get excited about an album and band that deserve it. Alternative Press magazine recently dubbed Warm Turtle as "Cosmic rock that moves from sparse, beatific tranquility to motorik propulsiveness to volcanic bombast, eluding clichés wherever it goes."
Kinski draws the occasional comparison to Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine, though the band sees themselves more as brethren to Japanese Psychedelic bands, Acid Mothers Temple and High Rise, not to mention American tar-pit plasterers Bardo Pond. My first time hearing Kinski was last December in San Francisco when they opened for Silkworm. Their performance left me winded and bewildered and set the bar quite high for any band following to top. Perhaps the most apt way to describe the band's live show was given by the Seattle Weekly The Stranger: "Kinski routinely stupefies audience members with its passion and overarching force. Show goers love the band because Kinski is so energetically heightened - the kind of band you feel at the soles of your feet."
With a single being released on a U.K. label and a Japanese tour only weeks away, Kinski will be stopping by Chico's Senator Theater. I recently caught guitarists Chris Martin and Matthew Reid Schwartz (and to a lesser extent, bassist Lucy Atkinson) on the Northeast leg of their U.S. tour to answer a few questions.

How is the tour going? Any bands, or cities stand out in particular?
Chris: Chicago was really fun; we played with our friends Silkworm. And there was a show in Dearborn at Stormy Records, which is run by Windy and Carl (ambient / noise recording artists) that was small and intimate, but really nice. There was a huge storm outside and we did kind of a mellow set.
Matthew: Our show last night in NYC at Brownie's was great - and our first of five shows with Major Stars.

I imagine it was strange to set eyes upon the recently changed NYC skyline.
Chris: You don't really notice much 'till you get down to the financial district. It was still pretty intense down there. But New York itself has been great. We've had a couple days to wander around.

Regionally, where does Kinski seem to draw the best response?
Chris: Well, definitely in the Pacific Northwest, which is because we're from there and play in Seattle and Portland all the time. San Francisco has always been pretty good. We really like Cleveland, too.

While Kinski is preparing to tour Japan and has an appearance on a Japanese compilation, would it seem that Japanese audiences are more 'educated' to consume noise and impressionistic sound?
Chris: I'm really not sure. I know that Japanese bands that we've played with have a huge knowledge of rock. Acid Mothers Temple always buy an enormous amount of records when they come over. They love shopping in Seattle. Just stacks and stacks of records.

While I am aware that the band members hold day jobs, if given the opportunity to solely pursue Kinski, what would this open the band up to? Would it be a positive, displacing other aspects of daily living to pursue one's passions more fully?
Chris: It would be great to solely pursue the band. I barely work as it is, but when we get back from Japan, I'm going to be really broke…but that's all right.
Matthew: I think we'd all welcome the opportunity to pursue music full time. So much of the band time as is, is taken up with the business aspects of setting up tours, promotion, et cetera. More time to focus on music would be a gift.

Do you consider yourselves artists or musicians? As such, do you feel a responsibility to an audience to 'perform,' and should bands be conscious of what they are presenting visually as well as aurally?
Chris: I don't think bands should worry about anything but the music. I don't care if a band doesn't say a word, doesn't move, plays in the dark. I find a lot of things like films and videos going behind bands distracting. The only responsibility I feel to the audience is to play a good set of music.
Matthew: To echo what Chris says, we spend a good amount of time considering how to put together a set. Into that consideration come a variety of factors: the setting, our moods, the evening as a whole.

The New York Press stated that your songs have 'an exhilarating element of surprise.' I discovered the same thing when witnessing the band last December. Is this 'element' something that is orchestrated through songwriting, or organically felt and kept with the composition?
Chris: I think it is orchestrated in the sense that we want to try to do things that we haven't heard before. We throw out a lot of stuff that seems a bit typical.

While audiences might feel euphoric due to the bands' mastery of quiet to loud, how do you keep the emotion vital in performing the songs every night?
Chris: It's hard if the shows are small. When there is a good crowd, we always seem to play off them. I would say the attitude of the crowd decides how vital the show is going to be.

How important is equipment to the Kinski sound?
Chris: Gear is a pretty big part of our sound. The alternate tunings are only on the guitars, not the bass.

Earplugs?
Chris: We try to wear cotton when we play live. It cuts out some of the volume but not nearly as much as the foam earplugs. None of us can play with those.

How do you describe your music to your parents?
Chris: Noisy, guitar rock.
Matthew: My parents have seen us. And while perhaps we are the loudest experience in their lives, they were struck by [in their own words] 'how beautiful the music was.'

Here's a groundbreaking question…Kinski is slated to tour for a full year, but the band may only bring a handful of albums. What would those include?
Chris: Ash Ra Temple, Fats Domino, Mouse on Mars.
Lucy: John Coltrane Ballads, Kinks, Agitation Free.
Matthew: Masada, and if Chris and Lucy would let me, Tom Waits.

Explain the pleasant and /or frustrating thing about reading one's own press.
Chris: I look for anything negative, even in a positive review and obsess on it. I'm trying to stop reading reviews altogether.

English writer Alexander Pope once asked 'Who critiques the critics?' Comments?
Chris: I've read about [a] critic, I think he writes for the New York Times, who has some thesis going that people should stop playing rock music when they turn 30. He wants to see young people playing rock. If that's the case, I'd only like to see young people writing about it. Writers pushing 50, telling musicians when they should stop playing music. It makes me sick. Keiji Haino is in his 50s. I'm really glad some idiot didn't guilt him into stop playing music. No one rocks harder than that guy. (Not even the Strokes.)

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.