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May 2002, HybridMagazine.com
It's very seldom that you hear of a band continuing to maintain the quality and passion of when they first began. The Cranes happen to be one of the select few. Over the years they've written several exquisite albums which contained their childlike female vocals over clever atmospheric music. hybrid magazine caught up with founding Cranes members Jim and Allison Shaw and asked them a few questions about their current release Future Songs as well as their future plans.
Justin Schneider: How did Future Songs come about, and how would you compare it to your previous albums?
Allison: Well we worked on it quite gradually and we had a bit of a break after the last album. We spent a lot of time just trying out different sounds and things and rejecting a lot of music that we did. We worked on the album in our home studio and after a while we had three or four songs that felt like they were going in a certain direction and we built it from there really until we had enough songs for an album. I think this album is different because the last album was more guitar based and we recorded that album kind of as a live band. This album was pretty much just Jim and I trying things out in a more studio-based album.
Jim: It's more of the way we used to do it initially when we first started with means of recording them, so it's really much more of a studio album, defiantly more then the previous one. The roots of the album are more back to how we originally did stuff when we first started.
JS: Now that you have your own label (Dadaphonic) are you going to sign any acts or is it just a outlet for your own albums?
Allison: We would like to work with other bands, but these past few months have been quite difficult with our own stuff, but we do eventually want to release other groups, and we're looking at a couple of groups at the moment that look very interesting.
Jim: In real terms were just not set up yet, it will be at least until our next album comes out really before we're in a position to be on our own. Lots of stuff we need to sort out before that starts happening, but yeah it's definitely a big breath and we set up Dadaphonic as a vehicle for the Cranes, and over the years we've come across lot's and lot's of bands and we just figure a small label...
Allison: It is nice to do things independently again after being on BMG for a long time, and we thought we've been through that whole thing and we defiantly didn't want to be hooked up with a large company like that at this point. We just thought we wanted to do something independently.
JS: I was wandering if any of you have any side projects?
Jim: I've got side projects coming out my ears (Laughs) it's just about getting round to finishing them. There's always been talk of an instrumental sorta film-ic score type of thing. But yeah, Alison does some songs with other people and I do sing a little occasionally but my voice is terrible so...
Allison: Jim works on film music kind of projects a lot. I sang on two other things recently. One thing was with a French producer who actually did one of our remixes on our remix CD, the Submarine EP. He's called Dimitri Tikovoi and he asked me to sing on one of his own tracks for an album that's coming out in Europe. The other song is with a singer called Michael J. Sheehy and he's playing with us in Philadelphia and New York on this tour and he's got a new album coming out and I sang some backing vocals on one of his songs. It's kind of a country type song and it's called "Dark Country Moment" and it's a little bit like Mazzy Star but with a male singer, and I sang some backing harmonies on that one. It's actually quite nice to sing with another singer which I haven't done very much of.
JS: I know that the Cranes had a lot of time in between this album and the last. I read that you (Allison) were taking drama classes and the other members were doing other things, I was wandering if you two ever figured out what you would do if the Cranes never formed or if you decided not to continue as the Cranes?
Allison: Yeah it was weird. After we finished the Population Four album when we weren't really working as Cranes, it was weird because it was all that we ever had done all of our lives since the age of 18 we've been doing Cranes. And it was weird when we hit that spot when we weren't doing Cranes, it was quite a shock, we didn't know what to do. So I had to think about what I wanted to do and that's why I did the drama thing.
Jim: I tended to walk just round and round in circles in my room and bump into the occasional chair. (Laughs)
Allison: It's quite hard for us not to do music because I think it's kind of a natural function just because we're so use to it. But I think we'll always do music in some form or another even if we're not actively touring or whatever, but we'll probably write songs.
Jim: It certainly won't be 5 years before the next album, more like one (Laughs). I think we're looking at January actually.
JS: I was wondering what current music do you two listen to? Have there been any bands that you discovered that you really like or recommend?
Jim: Well, the band that recently played with us in Portsmouth was pretty good. They were called Gillkegger, and they were a really great band from Portsmouth, and we were really surprised to see such a good band. They're a really young band that just started out so I doubt that they have any records out just yet.
Allison: I probably listened to dance music more over the last few years then any thing else. I like Boards of Canada; that's one of my favorite bands. I really like the new Neil Halstead album and we've toured with him before. I'm glad to see he put out a really nice album.
Jim: I tend not to listen to an awful lot of music, just generally when I put something on it will be just whatever when people are around, but if I'm on my own it would usually be something like classical music or Tom Waits I guess all across the board.
JS: Yeah he has two new albums coming out.
Jim: Yeah?
JS: On May 7th.
Jim: Yeah we just did a photo shoot and the photographer just photographed Tom Waits the day before.
(Allison to Jim): You're a big fan of Tom Waits.
Jim: Oh I'm a massive, massive, massive Tom Waits fan.
JS: How would you describe a Cranes show? And would you consider releasing a live dvd or CD?
Allison: They're actually recording the New York show at the Knitting Factory, but we're always a bit nervous about live recordings. For instance, say we were doing a tour and every gig on the tour went well, the one that wouldn't go well would be the one being recorded. So we've never actually had a recording that we thought was good enough to release. We're hoping that some of it will be good enough to release and they might be showing some of it on MTV.COM, we're not sure.
Jim: I get the feeling that it will be cool because I think the present lineup and crew is probably the best we've ever been I think. And the gigs we've played so far for the Future Songs album have all gone really well. I think if there is a place to get live recording and film I think it would be this time in New York basically, so fingers crossed.
Allison: I think the shows are quite atmospheric, at least that's what people say we sound like.
Jim: It's quite a mixture. We're playing quite a lot of songs off the last album on this tour which we haven't really done much over the years. This tour is kind of an odd mixture of songs and we have to be careful how we order them. But I'd say this tour we're playing a lot more of the last album then we ever had before. They'll be a good mixture of old and new.
JS: What are your plans for after this tour?
Allison: Well we've been asked to play a show in the summer on July 27th in London in Hyde Park and it's with The Cure. We haven't played with The Cure for ten years, so it's kind of nice that they asked us to do it.
Jim: Immediately after the tour I'm coming back here and hang out here for a week or so in New York before I fly back. Then we're going to start writing new material and we're also going to try and write while we're on the tour as well. It's always a good time after a tour to start writing new songs. Touring is the most fantastic thing, especially in a country like America. I kind of always feel inspired. So after this tour we can get back and start recording.
Interviewed by Justin Schneider
© HybridMagazine.com - 2002
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