In between playing shows and promoting their band, R13 caught up with Geraint, Ben and Elias from The Stopmotion Men to find out what makes them tick.
R13: Who does what in the band?
B: Geraint sings and plays guitar, Ben plays piano and Elias plays the drums and runs the films.
R13: For those who haven't heard of you, tell us a bit about the history of the band.
B: I'd put an advert up in a local music shop, Gamlins in Cardiff, G saw it and gave me a call. We met up and talked about the bands we loved, the gigs we'd been to and played, and the films we'd seen, but it was only when G put on an old demo of his stuff that I knew this was the one, his voice just soared out of the speakers, it really blew me away.
R13: How would you describe your sound?
E: Film inspired alternative rock
R13: You're not just about the music though; tell us about the visual aspect of the band.
B: We project films at the shows that have been edited in-time to the music. These films follow the narrative of the lyrics, sometimes closely, sometimes broadly. We make the films with a film maker and close friend of ours, Alun D Pugh (www.allstarfriends.com). Alun shoots, directs and edits all the films.
R13: Was it always your intention to combine music with film or did things just evolve that way?
G: When Ben and I first started writing together it was very heated! We had distinctly different angles on music; there were a lot of ideas, influences and material floating around. We found that the starting point we both felt closest to was a love of film scores, so we started writing with that in mind. This made the creative process very free because film music has no stylistic genre limitations. By combining those ideas with our love of alternative rock and in particular the Seattle sound of the early 90's we came up with this 'cinematic' sound. As we started to get theses ideas down on tape we got really strong visual ideas, sometimes from the lyrics and sometimes from the music itself, so we just thought why not make these ideas into films and project them live, so we did!
R13: What other artists and filmmakers have influenced you as a band?
G: The list is very, very long but I suppose it would be artists like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Danny Elfman, System of a Down, Smashing Pumpkins, Martin Grech, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Damien Rice, Yann Tiersen, Gustav Holst, Tom McRae, and filmmakers such as Tim Burton, Chris Cunningham, Darren Aronofsky, David Lynch , Jonathan Glazer, in fact most of the Warp stuff, we could go on for some time!
R13: Do the songs always come first or do you ever write with visuals in mind?
B: I personally always get an image in my mind when working on a
musical idea, this sometimes gets reflected in the film but more often than not just gets a mention in the 'working titles' of the songs such as 'Space Tanks' and 'Pirates'. As rule we write the music and lyrics then meet up with Alun to work on the films.
R13: The tracks on 'Three Songs' have a really strong narrative, do you think this helps people to connect with the visuals?
E: I think it's the other way round. The films support and help people understand more quickly the narrative within the lyrics.
G: At this level, live venues aren't always the best place to pick out every word or sometimes even the sentiment of a song. The films help us get across the finer points of what we're trying to say.
R13: Do you intend to work with Alun on all your own films or are you interested in working with other filmmakers?
E: We are always looking for more people to work with because Alun is already overworked and underpaid! Having to shoot, direct and edit all these films to such a high level is a huge task for him. It's worth noting that we didn't have a budget for any of the films, no one was paid for their work, everything was done out of a belief that what we were doing was something special. However, so as not to become repetitive part of the appeal of the films was to have different people's interpretations of the words and music at different shows, so yes at some point we will work with other directors.
R13: Which director would you most like to score a film for?
B: I think it would be more inspiring to work with a new director so we could add a something fresh to the genre. It would be incredibly difficult to step into the shoes of someone with an established style and method such as Danny Elfman or John Williams
R13: Your songs and the films made for them work well as a package, do you find it hard to play live without visuals?
G: Not at all, we are first and foremost a rock band, granted we have some slight variations on the theme but the bands that inspire us are the bands famous for captivating, energetic live performances, so that is our focus, however we find the films give us and added angle of creative expression which we love.
R13: It must be technically difficult putting the two together for a show, have you had any mishaps?
B: Yes from collapsing screens to broken cameras Elias seems to take the brunt of the problems, we seem to break a lot of gear (I'm currently on piano number 3). I think some people come to see us expecting some quiet little art band, we aren't!
R13: What kind of crowd reaction do you usually get from a live show?
B: It varies from all out jumping about to deep concentration on the screen, we just like people to enjoy themselves and maybe think a little bit, although rocking out is all good!
G: It's easy to misjudge what an impact films can have on a live
performance, seeing the film cut to black as the music drops, then burst back to light as the music moves up to a crescendo, every beat echoed by an edit of a frame. I can think plenty of times where I've found myself gazing at the screen; it can get quite hypnotic, like a dance.
R13: Your demo is 'Three Songs' and 'Three Films' on two CDs, how did you find the process of putting this together?
B: We like to try a lot of ideas and combinations so we constantly change the songs and films with new mixes, and different artwork and tracks. The system we have with recording, printing and burning is very DIY (it's all done in our bedrooms) which lends itself to these constant changes.
R13: What can people expect from the CD/DVD and why should they get hold of a copy?
B: I think people can expect something that is not generic, a sincere and fresh take on alternative rock music. The sound of a singer, a guitarist, a drummer and a piano player with a distortion pedal in a room with a whole lot of energy.
R13: What's next for The Stopmotion Men?
E: From the 1st of May we are starting a free CD promotion, so we can get uncompressed versions of the songs into the hands of people who really want to have a listen. To get a copy just go to our myspace page and email us your postal address and email address and we will pop a copy in the post, free. We will be touring around the South West for the beginning of May, then back to Cardiff for a handful of shows then no doubt off to play in London. We will also be recording a couple of new songs with Offshore studios in Cardiff, and making a new film with Alun so pretty busy for the next 2 months.
Check out the band while they're still playing in a small venue near you!