Tag: quintron

RSVP HERE: Automatic stream via Bandcamp + MORE

Automatic are an LA post-punk three piece composed of Izzy Glaudini on synths/vocals, Lola Dompé on drums/vocals, and Halle Saxon on bass/vocals. Their 2019 debut record Signal sounds like Suicide and Broadcast formed a supergroup to play at the end of a David Lynch film.

I spent a month in LA last February and my only regret is not catching their minimal synth soaked vibes live. Luckily they’re playing a few Bandcamp livestreams – the first being tonight at 7pm ET! – leading up to the release of their remix album out March 26, featuring new versions of Signal tracks from artists like Sudan Archives, Peaking Lights, John Dwyer, and Peanut Butter Wolf. We chatted with Automatic about records they will never get tired of, watching The Parent Trap 500 times, and custom fretless bass magic.

AF: How was the writing and recording process of your debut record?

HS: It was such a blast. We recorded with my boyfriend Joo-Joo Ashworth at Studio 22 and it was just so fun that we’re doing it again for album #2.

IG: It’s interesting to write so collaboratively because ideas evolve quickly and change as they’re passed between members of the band. You learn to be open to songs evolving. And we’re all pretty close so it’s fun. 

LD: Recording is my favorite part of the whole process because you get to really hear your song for the first time and add all the fun details. Writing with Halle and Izzy is amazing.  We’ve always made an effort to create a safe and fun space for writing. I think we work really well together, and songwriting pretty much happens very naturally. 

AF: How did your upcoming remix album come together?

IG: Peanut Butter Wolf, who runs [our] label [Stones Throw], suggested it as something to release during these unholy Corona Times.  We contacted artists we knew and loved and had them rework the songs however they wanted. Remixes are fun because other people do all the work. 

AF: What are your favorite pieces of gear? 

HS: My favorite piece of gear is my old Egmond bass that someone manually ripped the frets out of. I don’t play it anymore cuz I changed its magic strings and now it sounds terrible. But it’s a relic that I’ll keep forever and has nothing but also everything to do with my current bass sound.

IG: Maracas, the Holy Grail reverb, and my Moog Sub25 synth.

LD: I just superglued a Roland trigger to my kick drum and I love it! You can make it trigger any sound you like. 

AF: What non-musical things inspire you?

IG: My boyfriend has a cat named Pepe, and he’s got such a lust for life. Prowling animals in general.

LD: Fashion, movies and nature.

AF: What movies would you watch over and over again?

HS: Izzy and I both watch the LOTR trilogy on a regular basis.

IG: The sweet inner child in me likes LOTR and anything with magic. The dark demon inside wants to watch American Psycho or Repulsion. 

LD: I watched The Parent Trap probably 500 times from age 9 to 11. These days I like to watch a movie once… unless it’s Love Actually around Christmas time. 

AF: What’s a record that you’ll never get sick of?

HS: I’ll never get sick of Neu! or Suicide self-titled albums.

IG: David Bowie’s LOW.

LG: David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.

AF: What are your favorite bands to play with and/or see live?

HS: I think we all agree: Bauhaus. But I also loved watching Black Marble every night, one of my favorite bands.

IG: Yeah! Also, hmm. John Dwyer is always a maniac. He practices in the room across from us at our rehearsal space so we get to hear free Oh Sees shows.

LD: Oh Sees are always fun, and I definitely never thought I would get to open for Bauhaus! I got to play with my friend’s band, Body Double, and I was super impressed by their music and show. 

AF: What was your last show before COVID?

HS: Opening for Shopping at 1720 in Los Angeles! We had just circled back to LA and were about to pass it again when shit hit the fan. So we were extremely lucky in that scenario! I know a lot of people that were caught in terrible tour situations that day that basically everything shut down. 

AF: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the past year? 

HS: That capitalism is killing the earth and humans (duh, but I didn’t really get it before).

IG: I second that. I got pretty heavy into social/political theory. Chomsky, Marx, Foucault, Zizek. On a ‘chiller’ level, I got into yoga and meditation. 

LD: Staying open and curious and learning to love myself more. 

AF: What are your hopes for the next year? Next 5 years? 

HS: That everyone stops using Amazon.

LD: That people respect the earth and each other way more, so that humans, nature and animals can get their basic needs met. 

IG: Yeah it would be great if humanity stopped cannibalizing itself. But I’m down to make the soundtrack to whatever unfolds. 

RSVP HERE for Automatic via Bandcamp on 2/12 at 7pm ET.

More great livestreams this week…

2/12 Teeburr, Kola Champagne, Survivor Guilt (DJ Set)  via Elsewhere TV. 6pm Et, RSVP HERE 

2/12 Hyphenate with No Age’s Randy Randall, DJ sets by Action Bronson, Japanese Breakfast, Laura Jane Grace & more via Vans Channel 66 “On The Air.” 11am ET RSVP HERE

2/13 Proper, Eli¡ via BABY.tv. 6pm ET, $5, RSVP HERE

2/13 Mogwai via their website. 3pm ET, £15.00, RSVP HERE

2/13 Yeek, Jay Som, Ginger Root, Sosupersam via YouTube (88rising Lunar New Year). 9pm ET, RSVP HERE

2/14 Smashing Pumpkins, AWOLNATION, Portugal. The Man, Twin Peaks & more via JBTV Revolution Television Virtual Music Festival. 3pm ET, RSVP HERE

2/15 Shelter Dogs via FLTV. 8pm ET, RSVP HERE

2/16 Talib Kweli book launch via MURMRR. 7:30pm ET, $33, RSVP HERE

2/18 GZA, Scott Bolton, Sudan Archives, Quintron’s Weather Warlock, Via Imara via Atlas Obscura Rogue Routes. 8pm ET, RSVP HERE

Quintron and Miss Pussycat Return With Their First Album Together in Almost a Decade

On Lundi Gras, New Orleans duo Quintron and Miss Pussycat held their annual bash marking the day before Fat Tuesday in the French Quarter. This year, the theme was a crawfish boil, with Quintron dressed as a chef and Miss Pussycat and friends playing maracas in crawfish costumes. “It was really an amazing show and it was really the last show that we did,” says Miss Pussycat (aka Panacea Theriac) by phone from home in September. “We have the footage and it’s amazing and it’s all our friends that we can’t be around. It almost makes me cry to see it.”

Last Easter, the two donned their costumes again for a shoot in photographer Tony Campbell’s yard that would become the cover of their latest album, Goblin Alert, out on Friday, October 16. The footage from their February show was used in a new video for the album’s title track. 

It’s been almost a decade since Quintron and Miss Pussycat have released a joint album, and the two return in full-force on Goblin Alert with a collection of energetic, psychedelic garage rock jams.

“Quintron and Miss Pussycat is never off the burner,” says Quintron by phone. But, in the years following the 2011 release Sucre du Sauvage, the two became occupied with other projects. Quintron, who is also an inventor known for the Drum Buddy, started developing a new instrument called Weather Warlock, a drone synthesizer that unleashes sounds derived from the weather. “That’s been a big focus for the last several years,” he says of the project, which has also spawned its own band. 

Photo Credit: Chris Squire

Meanwhile, Miss Pussycat, who is also a visual artist well known for her puppet shows, released Anthropomorphizer: Puppet Show Soundtracks. She currently has art on view at Webb Gallery in Texas and as part of the group show, “I Forgot to Laugh” at Pensacola Museum of Art. For the latter, she made a series of papier-mâché maracas filled with aquarium rocks that are resting on pillows, since, she says, “they can’t do a rock show.”

Photo Credit: Allison Green

In some ways, Goblin Alert came together in a fashion similar to other Quintron and Miss Pussycat releases. “We go through our life, we live our life and write these songs based on what we’re living and what we’re going through,” Quintron explains. “Then, when it comes time that we have enough of them, it’s time to make a record and time to think about them and sharpen the points and put it on tape and put it out.” Most of the songs on Goblin Alert, he adds, had been part of their live sets for at least a year. 

Opening track, “Teenagers Don’t Know Shit,” began as a song for another short-lived band and, Quintron explains, the portion of the song that begins with “My name is Jesus Christ and I’m an alcoholic,” was initially a separate song. “It was intentionally written with the exact same structure and the exact same chords, kind of with the intention of marrying them together,” he explains. As for the meaning of the song, he says, ” I can say, for sure, I don’t mean that teenagers don’t know shit in any kind of finger-wagging, aggressive adult way.”

Another standout track, “Block the Comet,” was inspired by the Perseid meteor shower, which they saw while visiting Miss Pussycat’s family in rural Oklahoma. “It’s amazing,” she recalls. “You have to wait a long time and then you’ll see it and then you wait and then you’ll see another one.” 

What’s different about Goblin Alert was the legitimacy of the recording process. They recorded at Pulp Arts Studio in Gainesville, Florida with producer Greg Cartwright. “It was very fancy, the nicest studio I’ve ever been,” says Miss Pussycat. They also brought in a few extra musicians, including guitarist Danny Clifton, talk-box artist Benny Divine and drummer Sam Yoger. 

“I love drum machines. I love electronic music and I love that mode because I’ve been doing it for so long, but this was in a real studio with tape and an engineer and somebody else is pressing all the buttons,” says Quintron. “Somebody else is deciding what microphone to use for what and I just had to be me and more just singer-songwriter person. Having a drummer made it even more like that because I wasn’t having to turn the machine on and off.”

He adds, “Also, a live drummer, especially Sam Yoger, it’s like a big cushy pillow that you can fall into. That did something else to the songs that I really needed in my life, I guess.”

The dynamic gives the album a rollicking party vibe that can make you feel like you’re inside a sweaty Lundi Gras show like the one in the “Goblin Alert” video while you’re waiting for the return of tours. Better yet – the duo have just announced a Halloween Release Show that will stream live from NOLA’s DBA. “I miss everybody and I cannot wait to go on tour again,” she says. “I’m already working on a puppet show for a year from now.” 

Check out Quintron and Miss Pussycat via their website for ongoing updates.

PREVIEW: Quintron and Miss Pussycat @ Baby’s All RIght 10/31

quintron

Quintron and Miss Pussycat are bringing their extravaganza Halloween show to New York’s Baby’s All Right Monday, Oct. 31.

The Quintron/Miss Pussycat experience is one of barely controlled electronic chaos, “Swamp-Tech” dance beats, small explosions, incredible clothes, and entertaining puppet stories. They have been making genre-defying noise and hard rocking dance music in New Orleans for over 15 years, with 14 full-length albums that embody the psychedelic soul of traditional New Orleans party music filtered through a tough distorted cache of self-made electronic instruments.

Get your tickets to this radical Halloween show here. To get a taste of Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s awesomeness, check out their video for “I Hear Voices” below.