#alig fodder

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INTERVIEW WITH A FODDER #8: ALIG FODDER, TOUR GUIDE

Been a busy year in Fodder-Land. First came the release of the fantastic album Variety in July 2013... then came the very welcome reissues of Monkey Banana Kitchen and Schizophrenia Party in January 2014... which in turn led to a European Tour, which took place over the month of May this year. 

The tour saw the "Schizophrenia Party" band of Alig Fodder, Grahame Painting and Bazz Smith, joined by new member Bee Ororo, visiting Switzerland, Germany and France, on their first tour in...well, in quite awhile!

Without further ado, let's hear about it from the people that matter most. Let's start with Alig Fodder, ok?

Which songs were played on this tour and what went into deciding which you'd focus on?

Set List: New Kind of Love Song. The Onliest Thing. Film Music. Bass adds Bass, The Organ Grinder, The Pain Won't Go, Savoir Faire, It's 1965, Silence, The Big Dig, Hippy Bus to Spain, Playing Golf, Dinosaur Sex, Backstreets of Infinity.

We had a longer list of songs to tackle - these were the ones we got round to - there were a couple of other songs that didn't work out.

The mini-residency in Perpignan: Other than the three Family Fodder sets, what performances did attendees see/hear?

Alig played an accordion set: tangoes, continental repertoire and balkanalia.

Grahame and Bee played a set of blues for Hofner guitar and voice.

Bazz played a set of his drum compositions.

Having only four people on stage must have necessitated a fair amount of rearranging, song-wise. Which songs do you feel benefited most from a streamlined Fodder?

You're not kidding. The main result was that the keyboards played 'bass' on most of the tunes. This worked better on some songs than others. I liked 'The Onliest Thing', 'Bass adds Bass' and 'It's 1965'.

It's been 30+ (true?) years since you've played live with Grahame and Bazz. Was there a familiarity there as you started playing again? Or does a break that long create an essentially "new" band?  

Well, we had a jam at New Year and built the tour idea from that. It was both really: like a 'new band' and also like something very familiar.

Which show/shows really stuck out for you on this tour?

The last night at Perpignan was good and most of the gigs after that were really good - although some of them had bad sound or feedback problems. For me the Cologne show, Stuttgart, Berlin and Hamburg were the best shows.

Which song/songs seemed to go over best with the audiences?

That changed from night to night - depending on which fans were there and which songs they knew. Sometimes 'Savoir Faire' sometimes 'Dinosaur Sex'. A newer song that went down well was 'Backstreets of Infinity' One tune that didn't go down quite so well was 'The Big Dig' (Gnossienne No 1; Erik Satie). That's probably because audiences prefer to see a singer than an instrumental performance. In the end we inserted that tune into 'Bass adds bass' - which solved the problem.

Favorite musical moments from the tour? 

I enjoyed Bazz's drum solo piece - probably because it was more fresh to me. I appreciated the fact that we all sang backing vocals (for the first time) and that Bee started playing some rhythm guitar on some tunes.

Favorite non-musical moments from the tour?

Nice views of the Alps from the Lake of Neuchatel. Excellent meals cooked for us by Moritz in Stuttgart.

Surprisingly good Pinot Noir in Germany!

What did you imagine this first Fodder tour in many moons would be like? How close was the reality to what you imagined?

It didn't work very well geographically or financially - but I knew that before we started. The drives were very long and tiring. The response was very good - which made the hardship worthwhile.

Having completed this tour, are you more or less likely to want to do another?

Yes, please.

What next for the good ship Fodder?

We have more releases planned - of new and less new material - but one priority is to work on new material for an entirely new album release.

Thanks, Alig!

Places to go:

Family Fodder Official Website: http://familyfodder.co.uk/

Family Fodder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familyfodder

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INTERVIEW WITH A FODDER #5: DOMINIQUE LEVILLAIN

In celebration of the hit new big album ‘Variety’ (plus the new reissues of 'Monkey Banana Kitchen' and 'Schizophrenia Party') and 30+ years of fantastic music, I present to you the fIfth in a series of Family Fodder interviews… introducing Family Fodder's post-punk era vocalist supreme, Dominique Levillain!

Places to go:

Family Fodder Website: http://familyfodder.co.uk/

'Monkey Banana Kitchen' and 'Schizoprenia Party' reissues: http://www.staubgold.com/en/albums/

Family Fodder (Unofficial) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familyfodder

Family Fodder’s “Variety” on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FamilyFodderTV

Interview conducted first week of January 2014.

How did you come to join Family Fodder?

This is a fairy tale....I l'll try to make short. In fact I first met Charles Hayward in 75 ... in the south of France. he was drumming for a group, Quiet Sun, if my memory is right. A friend of mine gave me that record and I started to play my violin on it and then had to sell the violin A few months later I arrived in  London because I couldn't live in France anymore. After a month or so, on a sunday afternoon I met Peter Bullen in the tube, we were alone in the coach no one else on the platforms, nor his nor mine. He lived in the street right next to the place I was going to meet a girl who was a canadian singer who spoke french and was involved with music, (she was just boring) ..... he asked me for a cigarette and I told him that I would give him a cigarette if he had in his case a saxophone   which he had!..... any way long story.

One day he took me to meet his brother's band, This Heat, who impressed me so much. later I had a dinner with Charles Bullen who played in that band, and still so impressed by this amazing people, very shy speechless most of the time I found the Quiet Sun record in the hundreds of records there.... Charles Hayward reappeared.... who let me play his drum kit, a very special treat indeed! no one could touch it.... Then I met Alig and asked him to sing with him. He was so different from all the people I met till then, silent and always playing music even on a 3 strings old guitar...... i went to the San Carlos studio which was a deep dark and dump cave where he lived with an other friend and I sang with a group of musicians... I don't know what I sang but Alig asked me to come again and then I started to be the Family Fodder first female singer..... but if you want the full story it is in the stripey record of FF... ("Savoir Faire: Best of" on Dark Beloved Cloud - Carlos)

  What were your influences (musical or otherwise) as a young musician during the early Fodder days?

Not much, classical music my favorite was Debussy, the beatles....the radio sometimes, nothing much really, but I used to spend hours in the desafected store of my family house and sang, improvising and pretending that I was on stage.... and singing was a natural state.  But along the period I was in this landscape I loved Eno,Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground... i am not so good with remembering names...

What was a typical week in the band like back in 1981 or so? Group meetings? Recording Sessions? Bowling? Trips to the cinema? Were the Fodder musicians more like friends or co-workers?

Group rehearsals, Recording Sessions,spending evenings listening to music or strange stuff like the Firesign Theatere or somethin like this, But i must say that I have always been quite a solitary person staying at home playing the piano listening to records at the same time as watching the TV and taking care of my first daughter Menelle who appears in Big Bad wolf... The relationship between us was very warm, that is my perception, very fusional. There were a lot of us really. I remember a session in the Cold Storage who was then just a huge fridge for the rehearsals of this Heat, but there too was the group Flying Lizards in an other part of the buildings... any way we had a big van full of recording equipment and we were playing all together , I don't know may be 20 musicians in different place of the site.... Never heard the result of this dodecaphonia But the musicians for the FF were changing We never had a permanent team, except from Alig and I.

What are your memories of "Film Music" taking shape? (It's my favorite song ever... and your vocal is just perfect, btw.)

It was as well the favorite song of my little Titus dog!!! I just had to start singing a bit of it and he was starting howling and then we use to howl together ! that was so funny! I used to really love singing it it was really a journey for me and I enjoyed the high pitches part of it very light and dreamy, vivid imagination.

Did Fodder play live much or were you mainly a studio concern? The shows that were played... what were they like?

A lot of rehearsals, and studio  then tours, which were great with a lot of friends all over Europe... and incredible relationship and a lot a funny stories.

What is your favorite of the Fodder songs you performed on and why?

My favorite song is Warm, because I was just so spontaneous and innocent It was so incredible to be singing the music was so original and ... warm... Then I liked very much Savoir Faire" I had this song in my blood I didn't have to remember anything it was coming out of me me just like perfect, the music was comfortable and joyful. There was an other song as well I don't remember its title and I dont think it had ever been released, Galapagos I think. that song was an incredible confusion of sounds and I could really make my way through it like in a complete jungle of noises I loved singin that one. But in fact I loved all the songs that Alig was making, they all were special and attractive and very poetical for me.

Have you made much music outside of Fodder?

A little bit with Vicent Fiedoroviczt, but no, singing was a story with Alig.

Are you aware of later popular bands like Stereolab who owe a clear debt to the Fodder sound... and, in particular, your singing style?

Yes and no. As I said my relationship with music was linked with Alig I am not really a musician, It happens that I met him and that helped me to keep alive.

How surprised were you to see Darlini joining the Fodder family in the '00s?

I was very happy, it was not so surprising for me but so glad that the story  of the Family carried on. Darlini is a real musician.

Do you ever get the desire to share new music with the world?

Maybe, who knows where my life is going to take me next.  I think of it, I feel sounds coming up in me, singing sounds like invisible stories with crystal bowls and loops of insects, birds and cast and GOATS... This is it !

Thanks a bunch, Dominique!

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INTERVIEW WITH A FODDER #2: ALIG FODDER

In celebration of the new hit album ‘Variety’ and 30+ years of fantastic music, I present to you the second in a series of Family Fodder interviews… introducing the legendary Alig Fodder!

Family Fodder Website: http://familyfodder.co.uk/

Family Fodder (Unofficial) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familyfodder

Family Fodder's "Variety" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FamilyFodderTV

10th of October, 2013:

In the early days of Family Fodder, who did you feel your contemporaries were? 

Do you mean contemporary influences? More or less of the same age? That would rule out earlier influences (Beatles, Kinks, Zappa, Velvets, Syd, Tamla), This Heat were an important influence - but by concentrating on 'pop' songs we were a bit different from them. We all liked Brian Eno, Talking Heads, The Pop Group, The Slits, Flying Lizards, 23 Skidoo and so on. In a less obvious way,  The Eurythmics and Siouxsie and the Banshees were also contemporaries. Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Lee Perry and Ennio Morricone were also big influences. Strangely enough, last night I dreamed that Lou Reed came round my house - I made him a toasted sandwich with falafel, melted cheese and salad; he really enjoyed it.

Of your early work, which songs/albums most represent what you were trying to achieve?

Nearly all of the singles! Also 'Monkey Banana Kitchen' and 'Schizophrenia Party'. I loved singles at a time when musicians were into albums. I wanted to do something as good as 'Strawberry Fields', 'Good Vibrations', 'Heard it through the Grapevine', 'I am the Walrus'. Still do.

Your work has taken in a number of musical styles. Do some songs start as genre exercises for you or do you just tend to follow your nose? 

When we did do genre exercises, they were usually tongue-in-cheek - and seriously inaccurate. But by now it has become normal to be eclectic. We all have access to a huge resource of styles, cultural memes, and historical artefacts - and it just keeps growing. Most recorded music is, and most people are, hybrid - we are all postmodern mongrels from a vast gene pool.

Indulge me briefly with tales of the writing/recording of 'Film Music' please? It's my favorite song.

Actually, I wrote that song for Hermine Demoriane - weird cabaret singer. For one reason or another, we never got round to doing it. Anyway the song was clearly FF - rather than cabaret. We recorded it in London with the 'Schizophrenia Party' band: Grahame Painting (guitar, perc. backing vox), and Bazz Smith, (drums) with Dominique Levillain on lead vocals. I played the synth and overdubbed guitar and backing vox.  I wrote the song on the piano at Dominique's house; it started with the lyric "Film Music is empty - it pleases me - come and see". Later I developed the verses - which are kinda surreal contradictory vignettes about a female film star in various exotic locations. Bazz and I recorded the backing to a click track - which was kinda weird, because there are quite a few time signature changes. Ian Hill does the vocal adlibs on the fadeout.

I have to confess to a bit of a blind spot regarding your work from the late 80s through the early millennium. Where should one start investigating this period and what should be expected? 

I became a professional busker (piano accordion) and lived in Europe - Italy, Switzerland and France. I never stopped recording, but FF was deeply unfashionable in that period. I think there were 15 years that I couldn't get a release. In the mid 80s I was touring with a band called 'Lo Yo Yo' that I started with Mick Hobbs (ex FF, The Work).

As a music fan, what do you most enjoy listening to that doesn't necessarily show up as an influence in your music?

A lot of African, Arabic and Indian music. Those guys are streets ahead!

Congratulations on 'Variety.' It's a fantastic record. What interested you about re-recording/re-framing some of your more recent (and not so recent) work on this album?

Thank you. 'Variety' came about by accident; it was a kinda elaboration of the idea of a band (Family Fodder) that has more 'Greatest Hits' albums than official releases. This one was going to be called 'Latest Hits'. Last year we did six download singles - one every month: this album collected (different versions of) those - in a traditional Tin Pan Alley way. I wrote a couple of new tunes and also remastered some material from that 'lost' period you referred to (1986-1999). There were originally quite a few instrumentals, but later it became clear that it was a record about songwriting and lyrics. The title alludes to an earlier, not entirely serious, album: 'All Styles' - but also to the rather antique kind of show business variety performances: a ventriloquist followed by a singer, a dance troupe, a comedian and acrobatic poodles.

How do you decide who sings a Fodder song? How do you choose your collaborators?

In the early days Dominique was the main singer; I wrote a lot of lyrics from 'her' point of view - like other lyricists I am often expressing an imaginary narrator as well as more direct, sincere, first-person situations. Many songs don't work for my voice, so I often looked for collaborators. Recently I've worked with Darlini Singh-Kaul (daughter of Dominique) and Mae Karthauser - both excellent singers/musicians with their own styles and material. I choose collaborators for their good humour and dedication - I don't believe they are in it for the money! On 'Variety' there are wonderful contributions from Professor Zoom and Bill Brand. Other FF vocalists have included Ian Hill, Lyn Alice and Felix Fiedorowicz.

What does the future hold for you musically, Fodder or otherwise?

Keeping on keeping on: Playing, learning, revisiting, composing, experimenting, celebrating, dreaming ................

There will certainly be some busking - weather permitting!

We hope to get the live band back together for touring soon - but we need more serious gig offers - they tend to come in ones and twos instead of the tens or twelves that we need. Everyone is older - with families and stuff- so it takes a bit more organisation than thirty years ago!

  Bravo, Alig!

[noircheri]

FAMILY FODDER - "Warm"

I love them and all of their bizarre half-nightmarish concoctions.