Painters Paint: The Definitive Career-Spanning Interview (to date) With The High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan

Popshifter: To hark back to my earlier phrase “Golden Age”—it seems around this juncture, you and the guys had a particular freedom. You were able to tour on Hawaii, able to play this work in clubs (which seems so unusual and fantastic), and able to commit different, decidedly non-commercial ideas to record (e.g., linking all the songs together with a thread of instrumental/electronic sounds). Were you guys feeling like you were on a roll at this point in history?

Sean O’Hagan: We were lucky because all these extreme ideas were supported by a major record company who knew not that this would ultimately be thrown to the fringes. Your questioning is really forcing me to evaluate this period and I now realize that we were pushing manifestos, finger-wagging, to anyone who would listen and the message was “It doesn’t have to be boring, predictable pop; pop can be like this, the drums can sit back, the percussion can be textile, the horns can grow and swell, the strings can be sweet as jasmine; in other words, don’t be embarrassed; enjoy the sense of wonder that chords can bring.” We just expected the record company folk to jolly along with us, which was a great policy because they felt part of something big and different.

Popshifter: Let’s look at 1998’s Cold and Bouncy—a very electronic/club-sounding record. It would be your most electronic-sounding disc to date, and from there you would explore other sounds. There was a certain synchronicity to the arrival of Cold and Bouncy—you were championing folks like Mouse on Mars and of course your pals, Stereolab. There seemed to be a sort of kinship or renaissance at this particular juncture. What made you go whole hog into the electronics route at this time?

Sean O’Hagan: The moves on Cold and Bouncy felt natural. Yes, there was a kinship and what a great moment it is when acts in different countries resonate and complement each other and share ideas and sounds; we literally gave each other sounds. That’s fantastic when you think about it. Andy Ramsay from the Lab literally joined the Llamas on that record and created so much sound and taught us a whole new discipline in experiment. In Germany, Japan, the US, and the UK—not forgetting France (Super Discount)—a fistful of great records were being released. I hope one day this period will receive some attention.

Popshifter: Again, I have to give massive props to the female vocalist on “Glide Time”—that’s Laetita (from Stereolab), if I’m not mistaken? Gorgeous tune, of course. Here you’re really getting into that mid-Sixties Bacharach/Barry cinematic sound—the wordless vocal stuff that me and others love. “Glide Time” is stubbornly anachronistic and yet you make it very modern sounding! Was there ever a point where the record label was wondering why you were bringing 30-year-old art forms up-to-date?

Sean O’Hagan: The singer on “Glide Time” was Kelsey Michael. The modern-ness was helped by the drums being vocoded with an organ playing the chords throughout the tune. It’s one of my faves in our whole career. Yes, Bacharach and [Hal] David and Italian influences again. I think the record company was happy for those influences to be showcased at this stage. They thought we were something odd that they did not understand, but were very happy to let us run with it.

Popshifter: “Over the River”—an instrumental—is (to my ears) the heart and soul of Cold and Bouncy. How does an instrumental like that take shape with the other fellows in the band?

Sean O’Hagan: We heard “Over the River” in its entirety very early. We knew the horns would rumble and grow towards the end and the B section would be sweet and Italian. The band had to sit on that lazy swing, the mix of Wurlitzer and 12-string, a riverboat’s slow movement, then the wobble organ and key change. It was all part of the world we had been creating for a few years and again felt natural. The menace at the end is a nod to Bernard Herrmann.

Popshifter: And since I’ve mentioned the band as a whole, it’s only proper that we stop and give due credit to your pals: Jon Fell is, of course, your longest-standing comrade—a refugee from your Microdisney days. Could you speak a bit about him and the other fellows that have helped bring your visions to light these past 20 years? Obviously there’s great love and mutual respect between you guys—the music bears that out . . .

Sean O’Hagan: Jon Fell is the person I have known longest on this planet and it seems strange to think that we would not make music together. We have both discovered the music that makes the music (does that make sense?) together. Marcus [Holdaway] plays pianos and organs sings beautifully and taught me to arrange strings. He is a great cellist; we met building a wall (I was the laborer) 21 years ago. Rob has created a drumming sound and technique in this band that no other drummer can get near. He is a great musician, best singer in the band, so gets everything that’s chucked at him. Dom [Murcott] on vibes is a composer himself and provides some very cool MAX/msp moments on stage. Very versatile. Both Pete Aves and John Bennett are almost orchestral in their guitar delivery on stage that is so important to the sound.

Popshifter: In the same year, V2 issued Lollo Rosso, not really a straight Llamas record: six or seven artists (like Cornelius and Jim O’Rourke) tried their hand at remixing/re-flavoring Cold and Bouncy-era songs. The tunes get stretched and pulled like taffy until they’re practically ambient in nature. What did you think of this record and whose idea was this?

Sean O’Hagan: Lollo Rosso was very much what you did back then. Collaboration was always going on. We literally swapped tracks. We remixed each other, all very cool, a fraternity.

It was a nice recording experience that a lot of people wanted to see happen.

Click to read more about . . .

Santa Barbara
Gideon Gaye and Hawaii
Cold and Bouncy and Lollo Rosso
Snowbug and Buzzle Bee
Beet, Maize & Corn, Can Cladders, and the upcoming Talahomi Way

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