by jim gellatly after surreal dream · 2015-05-16 · 10. moon never rises 11. world undone 12....

56 .............................. Friday, May 15, 2015 1SM

Restart. Packed full ofmelodic anthems, it’s ulti-mately pop music that rocks.

It seems to have gonedown a storm up and downthe UK. One Last Secret havebig ambitions.

Liam said: “Unlike a lot ofunsigned acts, our songsseem more suited to arenasand stadiums. There’s some-thing that just doesn’t feelright when we perform songslike Light It Up or You Took MeAway in smaller venues.”

Among their favourite gigswas supporting one of SouthAfrica’s biggest bands, TheParlotones. Wesley said: “Wewere the only British bandsupporting them on their UKtour. For every other gig theyhad their own support, butbecause we’d supportedthem the last time they werein Glasgow, they asked if we’dopen for them again.”

Fraser added: “The firsttime we supported The Parlo-tones, my guitar broke mid-set. Somehow it turned out tobe an amazing night and Iwalked away from it com-pletely satisfied. Funny howsome things turn out.”

One Last Secret return toScotland after their Londonadventure to play a headlineshow at King Tut’s in Glasgowon June 4. They’ve organisedthe gig as a thank you to fansfor helping them win theCamden Rocks competition.More: www.facebook.com/onelastsecretl Jim presents Drivetime onXFM Scotland, Monday toFriday, 4-7pm.www.xfm.co.ukwww.jimgellatly.com

ONE LAST SECRETWHO: Wesley Scott (vocals/bass), Liam McNamara (gui-tar/vocals), Fraser McBride(guitar/vocals), Darran James(drums/vocals).WHERE: Kilmarnock.FOR FANS OF: Foo Fighters,Stereophonics, Feeder.JIM SAYS: Ayrshire rockersOne Last Secret have justsecured a slot at this year’sCamden Rocks festival.

The brainchild of former 3Colours Red guitarist ChrisMcCormack, the all-dayer onMay 30 takes places across20-odd venues in the Londonborough.

One Last Secret join thelikes of Funeral For A Friend,Skindred, New Model Armyand The Twang at the eventand are due to appear at thelegendary Dingwalls venue.

Selected via an online com-petition, the band scoredmore than double the publicvotes of their nearest rivals.

Wesley said: “We’re justabsolutely over the moon.The support has been amaz-ing. We’ve never really gonefor online band competitionsor battle of the bands typethings. We’ve always feltbands should be recognisedfor their talent rather thanhow many friends or fans theycan get to vote online.

“But the opportunity to playin London, and making theTop 50 of 3,000 applicants,made this more special.”

First getting together in2011, the band recentlyreleased their debut album

Something for the WeekendSomething 2

By JIMGELLATLY

NEWMUSIC

Weekend

I started strummingafter surreal dream

CALEXICO

TRACKLIST1. Falling from the Sky2. Bullets & Rocks3. When the Angels

Played4. Tapping on the Line5. Cumbia de Donde6. Miles from the Sea7. Coyoacán8. Beneath the City of

Dreams9. Woodshed Waltz10. Moon Never Rises11. World Undone12. Follow the River

EdgeOfTheSun

EXCLUSIVEINTERVIEW

By POPPY COSYNS

JOEY BURNS, frontmanof Calexico, cites thatbig fiery ball of energyin the sky as the maininspiration for eighthalbum Edge of the Sun.

The band’s line-up is fluid,expansive and scattered. ButTucson, Arizona, has alwaysbeen Calexico’s spiritual (and forsome members, actual) home.

Joey and percussionist JohnConvertino first started playingtogether in the early Ninetieswhen they joined Howe Gelb’spioneering alt-country bandGiant Sand.

They went through a numberof musical incarnations togetherbefore sticking with Calexico in1997 and have since earned ahuge following, an utterly distinc-tive, Latin-influenced sound anda veritable army of collaborators.

Edge of the Sun features animpressive roster of guest artists.Neko Case, Band of Horses’ BenBridwell and Sam Beam fromIron & Wine are the better-known contingent among agroup of 17 singers and playerswho contributed to the album.

The resulting 12 tracks arejoyous, rich and complexarrangements that incorporatethe sounds and ideas of arambling and fascinating cast.

Despite it being recorded in theMexico City suburb of Coyoacán,the Latin elements on the recordare for the most partmore subtly executedthan on previous Calex-ico albums.

SFTW spoke to Joeyabout his relationshipwith John, taking theEdge of the Sun on theroad and taking inspira-tion from a nightmare.What’s the idea behindthe album title?It embraces several ideas.The first is one of light orenlightenment, another isthat our band lives in the regionof the US where we experiencea lot of sunlight.

It is addictive and harsh. Thesongs have that contrast too,with dark themes in the lyricscontrasted with bright qualitiesin the instrumentation.How does it compare withyour previous work?I’m really happy with it. It feelslike a good blend of all influ-ences past and present. We had20 songs mixed and had todecide which were going on thealbum and which were going tobe slated for bonus material.

So far, the first month of tour-ing these new songs has beenimpressive. We have seven musi-cians on stage, so we’re able todo a lot with the arrangements.How did Mexico help toinspire the album?We love Mexico. I wish we couldtour there more often or visitmore frequently. I have beeninterested in the history and cul-ture of indigenous cultures of the

Americas forsome time so

getting to finally hangout in Mexico City was a biginspiration. I wish we could havestayed longer as I am sure itwould have led to even moreideas and collaborations.

One of the most inspiring tripswe made into Mexico City wasto visit a friend of ours, whowas helping build and designmusical instruments for artistPedro Reyes. He’d been giventhe broken pieces of guns, seizedfrom the drug cartels by thegovernment, and wanted to makesomething more positive andcreative out of the fragments.Calexico has had many line-ups but you and John havealways stuck together.John is a great drummer, lis-tener and arranger. He doesn’tapproach the drums in a typicalmanner, but he can deliver a lotof interesting and unsuspectedsurprises along the way.

Not only is his technique inter-esting to watch during the liveshows but his ability to phraseand leave space in his perfor-mances can be breathtaking.

How did his move to El Pasoaffect things?He is only five hours away fromTucson and loves driving hisvintage 1958 Volkswagen Kar-mann Ghia. He is much happierbeing in the Southwest than theMidwest. His move hasn’t reallyaffected the making of albums.

There are other band memberswho live outside Arizona as well,two of them live in Europe. It’salways a happy mini-reunionwhenever we meet.Why did you call on SamBeam for Bullets and Rocks?Sam kicks ass. When we fin-ished recording the basic tracksand added the rough vocals, Iimmediately thought of Sam’svoice layering together with mineto build a wall of sound.Tell us about the contributionsfrom the other collaborators.We’ve been friends with NekoCase since 1999. She nailed theparts to Tapping on the Linethen added some higher registervocal lines on top, which reallybrought out more of her voice.Everyone in the studio looked ateach other and smiled.

One of our friends suggested

contacting Band of Horses,whom he is friends with. Wewere looking for someone tohelp sing the backing vocal —the really high part — for FallingFrom the Sky. The next day Ireceived an email from BenBridwell. He was super friendlyand recorded it beautifully.What’s the story behind Whenthe Angels Played?I asked my friend Pieta Brownto email me some lyrics andthere was one tune that called tome, When the Angels Played.

One morning I woke up froma surreal nightmare and startedstrumming these chords andhumming this melody out in thecourtyard, beneath a massive ashtree that was named Goyo.

I walked into the home studioand without saying anything toJohn recorded this track.When you and John set out,did you expect to be going 20years later?No, we were just happy to beplaying music and getting thechance to travel and collaboratewith like-minded musicians. Thesame is true today.4