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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
 Posted - 12/22/2010 : 14:34:38
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Consequence of Sound.
Interview: Black Francis
BY ADAM KIVEL ON DECEMBER 21ST, 2010 IN COS
Black Francis/Frank Black/Charles Thompson IV is a man
of many accomplishments. Whether it’s fronting the
Pixies, producing records for Art Brut, releasing solo
albums, recording with his wife as Grand Duchy, running
a sort-of record label, or whatever exciting new task
tickles his fancy, Francis consistently proves his genius,
both lyrically and musically. And his newest release, The
Golem, is just another new form of that genius. Instead of
putting out another stellar rock album, Francis put
together music to accompany the 1920 silent film The
Golem: How He Came Into The World.
Hey?
Waiting?
Oh, no, don’t worry about it.
I’m at a friend’s house, and I just wanted to transition into a space here that’s more for business. But
there’s a very large black dog. We’ve not become friends yet. I’ll have to try not to talk too excitedly.
Okay.
First, I was wondering about the history of The Golem, how you came to the project. I read
that the San Fransisco Film Festival asked you to do something. Is that what prompted it?
Yeah. They had asked me to do something for a couple of years, and I was finally able to do it. It’s
sort of a regular feature of their festival. Every year they have…in March, thereabouts… They gave
me a short list of movies, and I think maybe I had heard of this particular film, or maybe at the very
least of German Expressionism or whatever. So, that’s why I think I gravitated to that title. Anyway, it
was the first time I’d ever done anything like that, and I enjoyed the whole experience. The writing,
the recording, and finally, the performance in the orchestra pit, there, below the screen, which is
something I’ve only ever seen on movies. To be there in that position, to be performing, was great.
And, of course, not having to be communicating to the audience, not having to project. I liked that a
lot.
I’d imagine that was pretty different.
Yeah. Totally. You do, I think, feel like you can get away with more, or something. I felt like I was…
the pressure was on to be good. But I didn’t have to look good…or smile. I think I was wearing a hat,
standing with my back to the audience. Everyone was so focused on the visuals, and, in a way, it
had my visual attention too. When you’re all kind of looking at the same thing…that’s kind of
interesting.
Was there any pressure to live up to the film, to fit the expectations it has, to be entirely
faithful to what the film is?
Well, no. I mean, it’s an old film from another time. I was really just doing what I suppose other bands
back in the day when they were performing to that silent film or other silent films would do, you
know? Because the music was just the musicians down in the pit playing their repertoire with
whatever new film was blowin’ through on the circuit. So there wasn’t any pressure. I didn’t feel
much…I mean, I wanted it to be cool. I didn’t want it to be too precious. And I think I accomplished
that. I mean, it was new for me to learn that’s what happened back in the day. With modern sound
film, you have all these sounds going on, so the context of the music is totally different.
YouTube - 01 The Golem (Black Francis) - Opening Credits.
It’s almost like the music is competing with everything else for aural attention.
Right, right. And the music, in a subtle way, can emotionally change the mood of the scene. But
back in the day, in silent films, it was just a local band playing their repertoire, which was much more
of a raucous affair, not a cinematic, precious sound score… It was much more “Hit it boys!” Anyway,
when they told me that, I was very encouraged. I didn’t feel like I had to…uh…change or anything,
put on velvet gloves. I could just be myself.
Was the songwriting process very different from your other albums?
Well, certain things were different because I was timing scenes. Having said that, I didn’t feel
restricted. I was trying to write songs, so sometimes the songs would carry over onto new scenes.
So it wasn’t really different, but it was kind of different.
Did the process make you feel like you’d be interested in scoring another film?
Yeah, but I didn’t…Yes, but…yes and no…I didn’t…I wasn’t scoring a film. I mean, I was, but in a
really abstract way. I wasn’t working with a filmmaker, trying to make his art more pleasing or working
with movie producers or anything. A little film festival gave me a couple of bucks to bash out some
music for one of their screenings. I’m not trying to minimize it; I’m just trying to say that it’s a totally
different experience. I would love to continue to do this as I did. That’s great. Having to deal with the
industry and movie producers…that just seems to be a lot of work [laughs]. I know people that do
that, and I don’t think I’d want to do that.
There are two different versions of The Golem. There’s the big box with four discs and
then the pared down “rock album.” Are there different audiences for each set?
No, I don’t think so. I mean, the special packaging has the original music and then a live recording
from the festival. We edited down the score, made it more of a rock album, got rid of some of the
smaller themes or incidental bits and pieces. We just kind of reduced it to the main songs and
themes. But it is a film, so we put out the DVD. The DVD, of course, is the film with the full score. It
isn’t like there are two different audiences; there are just two different experiences. Sitting down and
watching a movie is different from driving around in your car and listening to a record.
Is there something in particular in The Golem that
appealed to you? The supernatural?
Yeah. It’s beautiful. It’s mystical.
Are there any moments that you were particularly fond of?
When the rabbi has to go to the gentile court to plead his
case for not throwing the Jews out of the ghetto. They’re
looking at some of his visions, and it’s almost like a film
within a film. They’re all sitting there, looking at the
visions of the sages of yesteryear. They end up mocking
some of the figures from the rabbi’s visions. They kind of
cross a line, basically. This is when the building starts to
shake, it’s about to collapse on them, and they’re kind of at the mercy of the rabbi, and that’s when
he summons the golem, who comes in and supports the building. They’re about to go down like
Sampson…That whole sequence there is really great. And it starts off in a very mystical place, with
the rabbi consulting the stars.
At times, it feels like a combination of science fiction and traditional mysticism.
Right. He gets into all of the conjuring, the chanting with the golem. He gets out the old Babylonian
texts or whatever that are hidden away in his closet. He brings the golem to life, or out of his
inanimate state. He starts talking about…I forget which planet it is…maybe Uranus or something, but
it all gets very…very…mumbo jumbo [laughs]. And the scene with the demon and the smoke is
fabulous. I took particular pleasure in writing down a song over that stuff. I mean, that was just great.
There was some sort of more modern referencing going on. The demon scene, the song that I put
there for my soundtrack is something that’s very Rolling Stones, for me anyway. It had a Stones-y
kind of vibe. I mean, we’ve got the devil here [laughs]. So, you know.
How many times did you wind up watching the film?
Not that many times…I mean, maybe three or four times as I was writing it, and then we watched it a
lot as we were recording it. I didn’t watch it 50 times or anything.
So it’s not something you got sick of or anything?
No, no, no. When you start to look at something a lot, something that obviously had a lot of work
that went into it, you start to pick up on more nuances. You start to get into the actors, and their
faces, and the makeup, and their posture. And, of course, the actors in those kind of movies, there
was so much physical acting going on because they didn’t need to worry about delivering lines. It’s
all so…charade and pantomime. It’s very dramatic [laughs]. The guy who played the rabbi, he’s
great. When he shudders in fear, it’s like he’s doing some sort of yoga move, just bending over
backward and going “Oh no!”[laughs]. It doesn’t require the knowledge of any language. Anybody
can watch it and get what’s going on.
Do you have any favorite scores or soundtracks?
You know, I always liked that one that Neil Young did for
Dead Man. I suppose, probably, the opening scene that I
did in The Golem is very much inspired by that.
I’d had a feeling that was the case.
I think we were trying to go for a Neil Young kind of vibe. I
think it worked. That’s actually one of my favorite ones [on
The Golem]. It’s very… bom bom bom bom BOM. It’s very
matched to the scene.
I guess my last question is: What’s next on your agenda?
Well, my wife is producing the next Grand Duchy record, which is almost done. Right now, I’m in the
studio with a British band called Art Brut. I’m with them right now eating breakfast, getting ready to
go into work. And I made a record with a friend of mine from Brooklyn called Reid Paley. We
recorded it in Nashville a couple of months ago, but we’re not sure when it’s coming out. We’re just
trying to figure out how it’s going to be released. I’ve got this little website called The Bureau. We
sort of self-released The Golem DVD and a few other products. It just sort of started off as a place
to sell some shirts and CDs. But it slowly but surely started to grow into something. Slowly, without
trying, it’s become a sort of record label. I’m not sure where it’s going to take us, but we’re taking
baby steps to getting distribution in stores and that kind of thing. We didn’t mean to become a
record company, but you go, “Well, how can we make it better?”, and then you go, “Well, I guess
we’ve gotta become a record company” [laughs]. You know, we’ve got shelving and stuff. The
Golem thing was our first real release. It has a catalog number and everything.
You can make as many CD-Rs as you want, but when it’s got a catalog number, that’s the
big time.
Yeah [laughs]. That was the most satisfying moment, when we actually put catalog numbers on
some of these new things we’re putting out. It felt really cool. |
Edited by - Carl on 12/22/2010 14:35:30 |
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CoS interview, 21 Dec 2010.
