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losing today '97
interview with jeff & julie

What greater satisfaction than to get the chance to interview bands one is
a huge fan of?! Although they are young and so far have written and
released only one CD, "the hating tree", they have long held a place in my
personal favourite listening hit parade, and thanks to this interview have
confirmed for me that they are entirely sincere in their inspirations. I
hope that many of you on reading this interview, will now have the chance
to discover the mysterious attraction of the flowing yet longing melodies
performed by this splendid American trio: In the meantime let's look
forward to hearing their new work, which hopefully will be out very soon.

LT: How did autumn start? Could you briefly tell me your history? What
did you listen to before you began creating your music?
JEFF: 4AD stuff mostly: Dead Can Dance, Xymox, This Mortal Coil, Cocteau
Twins, Modern English. I also really like New Order, Lowlife and all the
others (Bauhaus, Cure, Sisters, etc)

LT: How do you develop your musical ideas?
JEFF: They grow. Usually Neil has an idea that he plays and we start
messing around with it from there. It's definitely a group effort.

LT: When you write songs do you consider the timbre of Julie's voice?
JEFF: Not really. Julie's voice has a huge range, so we don't really worry
about it, she probably does though!

LT: What kind of instruments do you currently play?
JEFF: I play bass and a little bit of cello. Julie is very skilled at the
piano aside from her vocal duties, and Neil plays guitar, classical and
electric, along with some keyboards and he ends up doing all the drum
programming too.

LT: Do you think you will use a drummer in the future?
JEFF: That would be great if we could find someone. The scene here is very
small, and drummers are very hard to find. But we do like the fact that a
drum machine is easily transported and is never late for practice or gigs!

LT: Does every member of the band contribute equally in the song writing?
JEFF: Pretty much. Neil does the guitar and drum stuff, Julie does her own
lyrics and vocal parts, I do my own bass lines. Julie and Neil work
together very well helping each other write parts and exchanging ideas.

LT: What is "the hating tree"? Your lyrics are very cruel, are they
real-life experiences?
JULIE: More than anything else, the lyrics have been a medium through which
I have dealt with a lot of things that have happened in my life. They are
all very personal, even though I sometimes use metaphors and illusions to
convey the experience itself or the emotions it evoked within me. The
concept of "the hating tree" came about when I realized that the songs we
were putting on the album as a whole, represented a very difficult period
of my life, a time in which my circumstances led me to a place where I
became aware of myself as being very dead inside, very sad and very bitter.
"the hating tree" metaphor is really a metaphor for that part of me that
was, at one time, swallowed up by my depression, by my anger. People are
quick to think that I wrote "dark lyrics" to be all "gothic" or something
like that. My lyrics come from my experiences, and that's all.

LT: Has it been difficult to find a label for your records?
JEFF: No, we weren't really even looking when Tess records picked us up.
We had planned on releasing our stuff through our friend's label here in
Minneapolis. Tess just came along at the right time and took us away.

LT: Is it important for you to work under an indie label?
JEFF: Yes, we're not used to having things done for us. (advertising,
promotion, booking, etc) Being with an indie label lets us control and
even help out doing those things. A major label would more than likely try
to do EVERYTHING, which takes some of the fun away from being in a band.
Indie labels make you feel important enough to get your music released, yet
still forces you to do a lot of work! I don't think I'd want it any other way.

LT: What kind of relationship have you with Tess records?
JEFF: It's a great relationship; There aren't many other bands on the
label, so everyone gets treated very well. It's nice being able to call
the Tess office and simply ask for the president and he jumps on the phone!

LT: What about the current dark scene?
JEFF: There isn't much of a dark scene here in Minneapolis, but we try.
Overall I think the scene is growing and I think we're in a good position
to go somewhere with the new support.

LT: Do you like "Heavenly voices" bands? (chandeen, love spirals
downwards, Jack or Jive, Black Tape...etc)?
JEFF: They're all excellent. I hope that someday we can be on a heavenly
voices compilation.

LT: Do you prefer dark wavers bands (This Ascension, Ninth Circle, Faith
and the Muse?)
JEFF: Yes. I'm not too much into the heavy/rock goth stuff.

LT: Which bands do you like to listen to at the moment?
JEFF: Cocteau Twins, Lowlife, Red House Painters, Slowdive, Claire Voyant

LT: Which is your preferred dark band of the past (cure siouxsie, sisters...)?
JEFF: Sisters. "First and Last and Always" was the first album I ever
purchased in 1985 when it came out, and I still listen to that album today.
I don't care for the "floodland"/"Vision thing" sisters at all. All of
the bands you mentioned definitely have a big impact on my tastes musically
though.

LT: If you decide to make an album of all cover versions, which songs would
you chose?
JEFF: No idea! We've never really considered doing a cover. We all like
"the figurehead" by the Cure, but beyond that we've never done any covers,
even at practice.

LT: What about the British, American indie scene?
JEFF: The British scene is what brought me into this music, and I still
respect it today. The American indie scene is growing very strong.
American music hasn't done much since Christian Death, but within the last
few years, it has really exploded with some great bands.

LT: Do you think you will use the benefits of technology in the future?
(dark-electro-ambient-album)
JEFF: Probably not too much. We're not too into keyboards/ambient stuff.
We use our drum machine for only drums.

LT: What sort of response have you received from your live gigs?
JEFF: Definitely good responses. The crowds are still pretty small,
because we're not very well known, but the people that do show up tend to
like us...

LT: What are your touring plans?
JEFF: We're touring the states this summer [1997], and hopefully touring
Europe in the fall or next year. We will have a new album out next year as
well.