Kinski

Anyone well versed in the local music scene should be quite aware of the impact Kinski has had on our humble college town. Although they only visit us every other year or so, their influence can be heard year-round with local bands like West by Swan and La Fin Du Monde. Kinski once again has a new record to promote, Down Below It’s Chaos, and from talking with guitarist and occasional vocalist Chris Martin, it seems that Chico can expect a different Kinski this time around.

I used to listen to Airs Above Your Station a lot when it first came out. I’ve only heard “Punching Goodbye Out Front” from the new record, which is a lot different. How does the rest of the record compare?
It’s kind of a combination of some songs like that with vocals and a little tighter, and then also the more expansive kind of stuff. The stuff was kind of written a lot tighter when I brought it into the band. We were also more open this time to the guy that we worked with, Randall Dunn. We asked him to produce it, whereas before, I’ve always co-produced it. We asked him to really dive in. So he actually helped with the arrangements. We spent a lot more time in the studio. More so than normal.

You guys come through Chico quite a bit. I think this will be the fourth time you’ve played here.
Yeah, it’s pretty much all been through Conrad [Nystrom, of West by Swan]. We did a really long US tour years ago, the first time we played Chico, and he was in one of the support bands. We hit it off with him, and he kept saying we should come through. I think he called you guys to do an article the next time and did a bunch of press. He’s been really supportive with helping us set up stuff and it’s always been really fun. Normally, with every schedule, we just hit the bigger cities, but we made it a point to always play [Chico].

Chico appreciates it. I feel like there are a lot of bands in town that sound like you. Any tips for these brooding post-rockers from the pro?
[Laughs] Not really. It seems like the less we try, the more people like what we do.

Does that mean you’ve tried less on this record?
In some ways. We’ve been together a long time. I felt like with Alpine Static [2005, Sub Pop], it was something we really wanted to prove to ourselves. We worked really hard on that record. This record was sort of just a collection of songs and we weren’t quite sure what it was going to sound like. We didn’t worry about it that much. And people are saying that they think it’s our best record. It’s the one we’re probably the least tied to, in a way.

Is that disappointing?
[Laughs] No. I’m really happy. I think it’s just that we’re less worried and letting stuff just happen.



How did the tour with Tool go?
It went super well. We weren’t sure what to expect at all. We didn’t know if we’d get bottles thrown or booing or what. I wasn’t super familiar with Tool’s stuff either.

It seems like they have really devout fans.
Totally. There were people flying in from all over the country to see a handful of the shows. Somebody told me the opening bands don’t always go over well. Although, from talking with them, they’ve always had interesting people on tour with them. They’ve toured with the Melvins a bunch; I think they had Isis and Big Business. That band Melt Banana toured right after us. But yeah, it went really well. The crowd was really receptive. It was fun. We only had 30 minutes, so we’d go out there and do a nonstop blast for 30 minutes. We didn’t do any stuff with vocals, or really any of the new material. We did sort of like a greatest hits set, stuff we thought would go over pretty well. There were a couple of moments where we could improvise, but it was pretty structured.

Is there a lot of improvisation in your live show?
Not as much as there used to be. We’re a little bit tighter now. The longer the set is, the more we can mess around with it.

Speaking of improvisation, you guys recently did a live soundtrack to the silent film Berlin: Symphony of a City. How did that come about?
The Seattle Film Festival asked if we’d be interested in scoring a silent film. After watching and talking to them about different films, we suggested that one. That one was really perfect for us. Sort of just a day in the life of people in Berlin in the ‘20s. It goes day to night with a bunch of images that flow really well together. It was sort of perfect for our music. It was kind of a combination of improvising and reworking Kinski material and brand new material too.

Any parting words?
I probably should mention that one of the opening bands [for the Chico show] is this band called Unnatural Helpers, which I’m in as well. It’s this guy Dean Whitmore’s band, he’s the drummer and he sings. That band is opening the West Coast Kinski dates.

What’s that band like? I didn’t even know about this.
It’s pretty new. He just put out a CD and there’s a single that I’m on one track. I’ve been with them about a year. We just recorded, but it’s not out yet. It’s kind of like a Guided by Voices thing, actually. Just one-minute, really short songs. Really great garage punk-y pop.



I look forward to seeing that.
We’re really psyched for the Chico show. The last one, two years ago, was really fun.

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.