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May 1992, Convulsion 2
The first big review of the Cranes was a double page centre spread for MM in July 1990. Since then they been in and out of the press, most recently for supporting The Young Gods, (Matt's favourite band), with comparisons and references being made to bands such as Nick Cave, The Swans, The Birthday Party, and such like. Their releases to date have been a series of 12"s followed by the release of their first album The Wings of Joy.. For a full run down on all their releases to date see the end of this article. Their first release Self non Self starts explosively with One from the slum,followed by the somewhat ironically titled Joy lies within. Beach mover puts fear in your heart, while Focus breathe is perhaps the best song they have ever done, in my opinion. This record really sets the tone for all their other releases, and helps to put the rest of their records in context, I dare would be listeners to try listening to this record in a dark room...alone. It will destroy any understanding you have of fear. Their next release, Inescapable marked the change from record labels (Bite Back to Dedicated), as well as the transition to a more flowing style, both in lyrics and music. However the most marked change came with the release of Wings of Joy, which was much more subtle, contained new instruments, and the dubious anthem Tommorow's Tears. The Cranes sound is one of pounding power, and their live set couples this with excerpts from the videos in the background and strobes that blink you in and out of existence in time with the music. Unfortunately their set also contains Tomorrow's Tears which proved to be a fuck up on almost every date on the tour, naturally the discussion went straight to this as I met them backstage.
On that subject Matt quoted their lighting engineer "It's fucking shit, drop it!" and continued on with "And the worst part is everybody usually claps when we start to play it."
Alison began "It doesn't really fit in, volume wise, with the rest of the live set, because it's a gentle song and we're just not very good at playing it. I wasn't going to play bass and sing on that because it is a bit tricky, but, at a gig last month we had a bass player in. We were going to have one for the whole tour but we couldn't afford it, so I just had to struggle on and play myself... I just stopped singing because I fucked the bass up. We've only played it properly once on the tour so far!"
Why then, we asked Jim was Tomorrow's tears released as a single? "It was going to be Leaves of Summer, or Starblood, but various people advised us to release TT. It turned out to be bad advice, the radio people would have prefered Leaves of Summer of something like that."
As to where Starblood in all it's versions (both at the end of side one on Wings and on the free 12") recognized it from somewhere before they heard the album: Jim said "It's from a John Peel session, it's from the second, the first was Inescapable. The second version, that was just mucking about really, playing in the studio. We were going to call it the "Dance Mix" but they wouldn't let us," he added "No Sense of Humour, some people".
Anyone who bought Wings at the time will have also recognised a couple of other tracks on the 12",I asked about Fuse and Self-non- Self, both titles to previous releases.
Jim: Fuse is from that cassette (now deleted and unavailable) Self-non-Self has actually been released, it's on a small Belgian compilation tape from 1988, no ones got it and the blokes dead now.
Alison: It was going to be on the album, but it's one that got left off in the end.
It is clear then that the album and various 12" released at the time were all in the running for being on the album. They all could have been on it, as they are all from the same session. So if you want to hear their latest songs you have to buy all the new 12"s. Ha...
Anyone who has heard the Cranes before the release of Wings of Joy would have no doubt been more than surprised at the change in sound. Naturally I wanted to know why?
Alison: We were shaped by the instruments around; because when you start if you have a guitar and a piano then that's what your sounds gonna be based on. You start within your own limitations, your own ability or lack of it.
Matt : You're talking to someone who can't play a guitar
Jim: About last Christmas we started using different instruments, and a different mood started coming out of it, keyboards and things we've not used before. It's just like discovering new things.
Alison: We wanted our own sound really.
Matt : Do you remember Cha Cha Escneta. It sounds like `Missions Impossible' (so much for being rock stars eh?). Knowing the Cranes partiality to Nick Cave I decided to mention the recently screened Ghosts of the Civil Dead- a film based on a prison lockdown in the U.S. where the prisoners end up either dead or in cages. The film deals with which way causality runs, i.e. are the prisons there to keep us safe or to breed violent men who will justify the existence of bigger and better prisons? The film is elevated by the soundtrack, which is excellent, if not disturbing. When I mentioned similarities between the Cranes and some of the soundtrack Jim went a little quiet.
Alison: I've seen bits of it; I've heard the sound track
Jim: Yeah, I noticed the similarity, but I saw it a while back
Alison: But they are favourites of ours, we don't base ourselves on Nick Cave, but I was really blown away when I first saw him.
Even with the good press, any comparisons made between the Cranes and other bands can only do harm if only because it scares the band into changing in an attempt to remain unique. One thing that has remained unchanged is Alisons style of singing, and her unmistakeable voice,or has it?
Alison: The first two songs we did my voice sounded as it does now, but then I went through an awkward phase. . . this is really early on . . you can't accept your own voice, and you try and find something else . . . but you just end up with what you've got, what come's out naturally. Each release I think, right, this time I'm going to make my voice sound really clear, I'm going to write something that I really want to say. What usually happens is Jim writes the music and then we record on an eight-track or four-track, and everything I've decided to write goes out the window . . . because the easiest way for me to write is to put down what comes out the first time I hear it. Sometimes there will only be about 4 lines that fit into it, the rest are made up as we go along, whatever comes out; so sometimes there are parts I kind of change each time I sing it.
Upon mention of the artwork and their Artist, Robert Coleman. Alison promptly lauded the man; firstly about the cover for Wings of Joy.
Alison: The face with the clock is the face of a statue on Self-non- Self', half is my face, half is a statue. He took pictures of me and an `angel' and merged them. It's funny with Robert, because he has usually not heard our songs when he does the covers, but almost invariably we like what he has come up with, and there's a link, like on Espero, it has a spanish feel.
The Cranes at the time had little or no plans for much, except touring. Playing the Albert Hall (on the advice of Levitation (who were also present at the interview) `You're an orchestral band, we can't wait till you play the Albert Hall, you need that Mega Sound. Just an intense sound', hmmm.) One extra little note, also courtesy of Levitation, the `primal' interviewers, Alison doesn't sing when she orgasms.
Reviewed by Chris Peck
© Convulsion 1992
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