Henry Dartnel: "Or maybe I'll die tomorrow ..."

On February 15, the British group of Young Knives will perform in the SELECTOR LIVE parties in SELECTOR LIVE . Recently, the eccentric post-punk-trio abandoned the contract with the record label and recorded in the garage using home-made instruments the album “Sick Octave”-almost the best career in ten years.

- At the beginning of the album, the child sings and counts - whose whose is it?

- My. He simply staggered around the studio, sang something in the microphone, and I did a few takes and put them on each other. It seemed to me that this is very close to how we work.

-Does anyone have children in the group besides you?

- Two out of three people. DAD Rock Forever! Although no, DAD Rock is probably Dire Straits , Bruce Springstin. I would say that we play Dad Postpunk - Papin Postpank, no matter what it means.

- It sounds very optimistic. How do children perceive your music?

- Well, you know, the children in the figure are all. But they perfectly portray interest. Like the wives-when they tell you that you wrote something good, you are surprised. Because usually no one admires, does not repeat how great you are and the only one. Which in itself and not bad - you do not lose control of yourself.

We used everything we could find on a farm in the neighborhood.

- How did your wives react to the fact that you decided to leave the label and record a new album yourself?

- They supported us. Because this is a huge pressure - first they give you a lot of money, and then they want to return it back, preferably with profit. Great Britain is a small country, it is very difficult to remain a financially middle group. You must bring a lot of money.

- Is it true?

- Well, yes. I would be forced to write pop singing. Or maybe I’ll die tomorrow - and then, they will say that this dude tried to get into the charts all his life unsuccessfully? Better let them say that he played very strange, but honest music. We recorded the previous album in Los Angeles for 60,000 pounds-so what? All the same, most songs were originally recorded houses on a mixer worth 1,500 pounds. Of course, we can say that in expensive studios, microphones are better - but who is now worried about hell?

- You used the Octave One synthesizer of your own assembly. How do you know how to construct synthesizers?

- We had an electronics lessons at our school, where I learned to solder microcircuits. In general, this is not a very large synthesizer - only four pens, there are no keyboard. Two LFO , vibrato, pitch. Of course, I can’t collect a difficult tool. I just sometimes want to achieve some sound, and it turns out that the pedal for this costs three hundred pounds. And on ebay you can buy all the components and scheme and make it yourself - and this will cost only twenty.

- You used other home -made tools when recording an album ...

- Yes, percussion, for example. We used everything we could find on a farm next door - steel pipes, a gas cylinder from which you can extract a variety of sounds - it is heard on the record everywhere. Metal sheets suspended to the ceiling. We wanted to achieve a more industrial sound.

- And how were the songs themselves recorded? Often there is a feeling that these are successful pieces of some joint improvisation.

- With some songs it was. Green Island Rad Raw appeared when we rehearsed, being very drunk. So much so that the drummer dropped the sticks several times during the recording. But, ultimately, we wanted to record something raw. It was uninteresting to make a polished record with songs that fall into the radio format.

We recorded the previous album in Los Angeles for 60,000 pounds-so what?

- If I met you on the street, I would have decided that you are graduates of the physical's office or are engaged in other exact sciences.

- Our drummer has a degree - I, however, do not remember what he studied specifically. I finished the philosophical, my brother (Thomas Dartnal - Basist The Young Knives . - Ed. ) - art critic. We have a fairly secondary education. Sorry, if you disappointed - you probably thought that we had a magistracy in microbiology behind our shoulders. We have been playing together for a very long time - at first it was not clear what would come of all this. We did not know what to do to get into this business - we just waited. Before we were at least a little interested in us, six years have passed. We lived in the van, worked in some temporary works. Initially, they played more melodic music, with folk intonations. It seemed to me that my voice was not suitable for a post -punk - too quiet, or something. But they began to notice us, it was when we realized that we could help, began to play something more aggressive.

- And about the weather. The other day I read that some areas of London were flooded due to heavy rains. How is it in Oxford?

- Shit. I live on a hill, there is nothing yet. But some roads also flooded. The city is located next to the Thames - it spilled. They say that this is the most rainy winter in the history of meteorological observations - that is, in 250 years. In the West, many villages suffered from precipitation. On the other hand, in Australia, everything, on the contrary, fades from the sun.

- Where to find salvation?

-Probably somewhere closer to Russia.