Bantrified Mutney on the Wings of a Chutner: Interview with Nurses

October 12, 2009 by nataly
Filed under Featured

Even with a slight fever, achy joints and perpetually runny nose, Nurses sounded amazing. It was just the cure I needed, and who better to administer it than Nurses! Not only is their music inspirational but they are also some of the nicest guys around. Willing to spend his birthday answering our questions, Aaron Chapman (singer) exudes kindness. Their highly visual sound is unmistakable. Each and every song is full of rich colors, textures and landscapes. Possibly this year’s best indie album, Apple’s Acre offers organic and extremely honest music. We hope to see a lot more of Nurses in the future and according to Aaron Chapman, James Mitchell and John Bowers; it looks like we will have that pleasure.

HEFF: Where did the name come from?

AC: John and I had been making music together for a quite a while and there was a poem that just kinda had the work that we were into at the time. It was a Saul Williams poem. But it wasn’t like there was some huge resonance necessarily, it just kinda happened and we thought it was the sorta name that didn’t sound like any specific genre… it kinda seemed like a blank slate in a sense.

HEFF: You are often compared to Animal Collective. How do you feel about that?

JB: I think it’s more likely that we share a few elements and a few inspirations. As far as genre is concerned I don’t feel genre literate.

AC: We kinda don’t think about that stuff.

JB: We like to write songs with a melody and harmony and try and create interesting worlds for those melodies to live in. I think that’s something that a lot of bands do. And they’re [Animal Collective] one of them.

AC: I mean every band that is smaller gets compared to bigger bands like that. And the next record we make it will probably be somebody else because it will probably sound different.

JB: I think a lot of people enjoy saying that things sound like the most hyped band.

HEFF: It’s easier

JB: Yeah totally. Rather than saying, “here’s the emotions that this music evokes” it’s easier to say, “this sounds like this.” This is kind of an attack on music journalism, but I think it’s a really superficial way of describing music. I can see where it’s a tool…but it’s almost always presented as snarky. It’s like oh well, then you’re writing like this. Lets all give each other a break.

HEFF: What’s the artistic process?

AC: There isn’t once specific process that things go through. I think we’re constantly thinking about music and thinking about our songs and ideas. A lot of ideas actually start out as visual… John and I, when we started making Apple’s Acre, we thought of a lot of fictional landscapes. We would talk about these color schemes or film references… like this feels kind of like this. We are not referencing you know like, going to a coffee shop like, every day things… it’s more of an abstract thing for us. We make music when we are inspired… A lot of times we just hit play on the cassette tape and record and kind of improvise…I think we are in tune with the creative process because it’s on our mind a lot and it’s our priority in life but at the same time a lot of the ideas were really spontaneous.

HEFF: Do you like being able to go through the process yourself? Kind of DIY?

JB: Yeah. It was the first time we’ve done it and it was a really fun thing. It felt good and we liked what we were doing. I think we’d like to work with other people. I mean we are excited to have James especially, in our group now. He’s a huge part of what makes me excited about doing new things. It was cool having the recording studio to ourselves so that if we woke up with an idea like within ten minutes we were recording an idea.

HEFF: Apple’s Acre is very different from your first album, Hangin’ Nothin’ But Our Hands Down. Your first album was more of a story and this one is more texture rich. How was the process different?

AC: It was a lot different. I think the writing was a little more like linear story-based type, lyrically anyway. We kinda of considered it a different band… like a rock band. On the new record we approached everything like we’re making music and these are songs…It’s a completely different process. It is hard to compare the two. I mean we were completely different people.

JB: We recorded the first one in a studio. We had an allotted amount of time. It was more of a traditional studio, producer. This one felt to me more like an art project, rapidly progressing as we went… It was like, “and over this landscape comes this color! And this color rises this way”. That’s Kind of a silly example.

HEFF: No, it sounds just exactly like that. You guys seemed like you fully immersed yourselves in this project. Do you feel done with it? Or are you still living it?

AC: It’s hard to say. It was such an important part of our lives for quite a while. Done with it, in the sense that we finished that project and there is kind of a bit of an exhale. I think it’s going to take a while to fully digest and like move on. This might sound weird but to me it was the most important thing I have done in my life at this point.

JB: Like wise.

AC: To finish it was like almost like postpartum, like having a baby.

JB: (Laughs) There needs to be a moving on, and we have a lot of ideas beyond this record. I want to say again, it’s really rad to have James along because he didn’t make the record with us and he adds an element that we’ve been searching for…It’s kind of a flavor and James is that. I am super excited for our next project.

HEFF: Did you enjoy playing Philly?

AC: Yeah. It was kind of awesome. I’ve always had a soft spot for Philly.

JB: Didn’t Ben Franklin invent sarcasm?

HEFF: (To James) How has joining the band been?

JM: It’s been pretty cool. I have a hard time only doing one thing, ya know? I tend to have a million directions at once, if I don’t I kind of go crazy. So, it’s kind of nice when you have somebody who has something going on to compliment it…I am super A.D.D.

AC: James does visual art that is really awesome too and made a lot of rad music before he started playing with us.

HEFF: What is your artwork like?

JM: It’s maybe a middle ground between folk art and graffiti art, kind of fantasy.

JB: Here is something about James that I keep saying; I think he is cool. He creates like really interesting visual landscapes that I have this weird version of stuck in my head for like three months and that’ the kind of thing that Aaron and I have referenced for so long and so it was really funny to meet James.

HEFF: What are you listening to these days?

AC: K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat. Its Javanese music. Its really really really pretty…kind of sad

JB: It’s ghostly

AC: We have been listening to a little bit more expansive things on the road cuz we’re driving for so long. One of the guys from Battles, Tyondai Braxton put out a record. I’ve been listening to that. We listen to Micachu and The Shapes a lot. There’s a folk singer, Michael Hurley.

JB: I think the last tour we might have burned it out but we were listening to this compilation called “Sound of Wonder”.

AC: It’s called Lollywood music. It’s like weird pop with an eastern filter.

JB: I got really stoked on Biggie Smalls the other day.

AC: I listen to Missy Elliot sometimes.

JM: Dylan a lot lately.

AC: A band that I think is really awesome is Family Fodder. Really cool British band in the 80’s. They were going on in the 80’s and sound like some Animal Collective stuff that is going on now. That band was doing stuff that didn’t get popular until Animal Collective or Deerhoof.

JM: I am really into that Micachu and the Shapes album.

AC: Our favorite contemporary record I would say collectively is Micachu and the Shapes

JB: Seeing them play live really made me happy.

HEFF: Any last words to your fans?

JB: Can I say something that might be hard to decipher? Bantrified mutney on the wings of a chutner.

AC: It’s a poem John wrote.

HEFF: Are we going to get an explanation?

JB: No. Hmm… Well our record, our record.