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The Vault In The Vault, you'll find a collection of old feature pieces from our back issues. Beta started in June 1999, so you'll find a veritable history here.
Xiu Xiu's heart of darkness
In 2005 music was so fragmented and so disparate a beast that music fans and critics could spend a fortnight debating what was good and what sucked, and still have no consensus. But the confessions and arguments concerning one band would likely come to a singular conclusion. People have agreed for close to three years that it'd be impossible for anyone who heard
Xiu Xiu's music to come away from it feeling ambivalent. Whether you
loved or hated it, your gut reactions to the art of this San Jose
experimental/post-punk quartet would be passionate, even violent. Certainly Stewart's no happy Joe. His songs are painfully autobiographical, marinated in dysfunction and conflict, and passionately performed in a voice that switched from morose whisper to primal scream yowl in two seconds. The band's debut 2002 album Knife Play came with a sticker featuring a quote by Stewart which said: "When my mom died, I listened to Henry Cowell, Joy Division, Detroit techno, The Smiths, Takemitsu, Sabbath, Gamelan, Black Angels, and Cecil Taylor." The band's fans cite Stewart's jaw-droppingly personal disclosures as a magnet. But Stewart speaks to more than a generation of depressed teens, his work has a mantle of cerebral abstraction that interests academics too. Drawing heavily from genres like punk, noise, ambient and folk, Xiu Xiu's players are a revolving cast, including at various times Stewart's cousin Caralee McElroy (who, strangely, is a fixture in Stewart's press photos, see above), Cory McCulloch, Lauren Andrews and Yvonne Chan. Stewart talks to Beta's Lee Chung Horn about his band's 2005 album, La Foret. First, are you aware that Xiu Xiu is "Silk Silk" in Chinese? Just imagine, billions of Chinese people would have this mental image of the band… Stewart: Wow, I like that a lot. "Silk silk" sounds kind of like something that a person in a coma would try to say when they wanted physical attention. How did you sign with 5 Rue Christine, your label? It was luck, mostly. Greg Saunter from Deerhoof whom we are friends with gave our demo that eventually became Knife Play to Slim, and he liked it, and put it out. It was pretty funny how easy it was because before that we'd sent it to about a hundred labels, and absolutely no one cared.
We still try to use unusual instruments but from touring a lot, we can all play a little more skillfully now. For better or worse. You know, there's something wonderful and powerful about stressful, primitive attempts at music that I miss a lot now. I think your new record has also become more acoustic and less electronic. Do you agree? Why the change? It just evolved that way. I don't think there was any thought behind it. Those were the sounds that suited those songs, that's all. There's a lot more percussion on this record. How does the songwriting and recording process take place for Xiu Xiu? It really depends on the song. I guess about half of them I’ll do entirely myself on the computer. Sometimes it can be really complex. I’ve actually collaborated with eight or nine people. On our new record, we did a lot of improvising with a lot of different friends and arranging all the different improvisations into songs. It’s kind of half and half between a total, single-minded, megalomaniacal computer-fest on my end and being obsessively collaborative. What is the weirdest thing you've ever read about yourself in the press? I never read about myself anymore. It is too distracting and confusing when you find out what people you don't know think about you. Many people, particularly indie musicians, have little good to say about the music industry. Do you feel that there's anything these days that's actually admirable? I'd say this: we are very, very lucky. Our label, publicist and booking person rule. Why do your songs revolve so much around death, depression and suicide? That is the life around me, sorry to say.
I haven't for about two years, but had for ten years. It was great being around children for sure, but children are not inherently happy. Their lives are more complicated than ours as they do not understand as much things that are happening to them but still experience things as deeply. I studied social work in college, and I was a social worker for about a year after I graduated. Jamie who do you think has influenced your singing/vocal style? It's very distinctive. That's tough to say. Lots of people. Morrissey, Nina Simone, kabuki singers, Ian Curtis, Prince, Otis Redding, 1950s and 1960s girl groups, Little Richard, experimental singers, Nick Drake, Jimmy Scott, Diamanda Galas, to name a few. Sorry, that's a long list. Several of my friends said yours was the voice of 2004. And that Antony of the Johnstons is the voice of 2005. What do you think of Antony and the Johnsons? Have you heard their record? I like his earlier stuff a lot. He has a very, very pretty voice, and is a deceptively good and interesting piano player. Your new record made it to the pages of Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times. Your old fans are going to think that really weird. Are you worried that you might become too popular? We do things the same way we always have, and people know that. So I am not worried. Is it hard to play the gamelan? Oooh. I can only listen to gamelan records, if that's any indication, any answer. Send your comments to info@betamusic.com.sg
© Beta Music 2006
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I understand your early records used a lot of unusual instrumentation because technically the band wasn't all that experienced at first. Do you think your playing styles have changed over the years?
Jamie, I understand you used to work with young children at a
preschool. Do you still work there? Does working with young happy kids help with the depressive thoughts?