Un Etretien avec Mark Mortimer: Part Trois

. . . And so, we arrive at the third and final installment of our Mark Mortimer interview trilogy. In the final act, DC Fontana's founding Father talks Meshkalina, Art and Soul and . . . the future!



SF: DC really seem to place a large emphasis on art, or as you call it 'art and soul'. This almost seems like a lost concept on many modern bands. Why do you think that is?

MM: Actually the ‘art & soul’ slogan initially started life as a self-deprecatory in-joke but it soon evolved into a cute sound bite to express the fact that we do see ourselves as creating art though I hasten to add, not in the shitty lame way which would make you want to slap someone!

But it’s an important part of the band and we do see ourselves as more than just songwriters and musicians and it’s why we spend so much time and money on making sure our records have a cool look and are value for money and why we paint pictures with our video output.

This is why we really revel in working with talented photographers, dancers, painters, film-makers, graphic designers, costume makers, performance artists, lighting wizards, folk-dancers and much more besides.

Being in a group should be so much more than knocking off a few chords and lyrics – it should be an exhilarating ride and a proper look into the heart of the group’s raison d’être in an honest and candid way.

We are always keen to work with people who are awash with original and interesting ideas and people who can take on board our own individual personalities and help twist things. This is another great thing about having such a large group in terms of numbers: you get so many different personalities and artistic temperaments and diverse trains of thought.

Thankfully we all get on really great so we don’t have to bash ten shades of shit out of each other to create something musical or artistic.

On the ‘Six Against Eight’ video – which we turned into an eight-minute short film – we paid homage to Pat McGoohan and his ‘Prisoner’ TV show and on the more recent ‘Meshkalina’ video we wore hand-crafted animal masks while having fun exploring our love of late 60s and early 70s folk-horror movies like ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘Blood On Satan’s Claw’ etc. The ‘Abbesses’ video sees us taking elements of ‘The Avengers’, “The Girl On A Motorcycle’ and some of those late 50s nouvelle vague movies while we force our collective tongue into our cheek and have a laugh.

But the music side is clearly vital and obviously there are times when just picking up the guitar, cranking the amp up loud and letting rip in a sort of primal rock & roll way is enough.

Why do I think this is a lost concept on some bands of today? In short I am not really sure though I think that sadly in today’s fairly mundane modern world where the music industry has imploded it’s pretty sad that some people are more interested in generating clichés or re-hashing what’s happened before.

The thing is: there are lots of great people making great music today so it’s not all doom and gloom by any stretch but the problem is these people, including ourselves, getting our voices and ideas heard and seen.

SF: Who’s idea was it to cover Traffic Sound’s classic ‘Meshkalina’ and how worried were you about doing it justice?

MM: I was already well into Traffic Sound and have always been partial to Latin vibes and South American psych but Rob Bailey, the head honcho with the New Untouchables had suggested it might make a great track for us and I agreed.

If you play a cover version it’s important not to be lame and with ‘Meshky’ we injected our own thing into the veins of the song so that new highs and lows course through it and help give it a new freshness, a new lease of life. Our version is definitely a DC interpretation. Again, as I’ve already said, what’s the point in re-enacting the past?

As Dobie Gray once sang, “the original is still the greatest” so it’s a good thing to be worried about doing it justice. Like everything in music people have subjective views so the public will make their minds up but we did try and do the song justice.

In all honesty though, we’ve had a really great reaction to our own take on ‘Meshkalina’ and it’s become a live favourite so I think it's a case of mission accomplished.

SF: And finally, what does the future hold for DC Fontana?

MM: We will be heading into the studio before and after Christmas to record new material towards our next releases and I hope we can release an EP next spring with the next DC album coming as fast as we can possibly can after that.

A lot of it sadly depends on available funds because it costs us a lot of money for us to do the interesting things we do and everyone in the music world is really struggling right now so it’s a case of trying to fight your way through the jungle of cash crap as best as you can.

The days when a group can go into a studio for a month or two and record a whole album in one fell swoop are gone unless someone somewhere is pumping money into you but everything we do is self-financed so inevitably it will take us time to make the next album as and when we can afford to do it.

I think we’ve made great strides this year and we will be looking to keep building on what we’ve achieved so far, spread our music as wide and far as we possibly can and continuing to make interesting music and art.

* DC Fontana's new album La Contessa on DCTone records at www.dcfontana.com *

Until next time,

Keep on Keepin on,

Baia

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Un Etretien avec Mark Mortimer: Part Deux

In the second part of the Mark Mortimer interview trilogy, the DC Fontana lord talks influences, seeing past the sixties and the ever so simple task of combining the songs of eight different musicians...

SF: Can we expect the Italian and French tunes to be unveiled live in the UK or are they for European audiences only?

MM: We’ve already played a couple of the tracks sung in French on stage in England but you’ve got to be careful that you don't come over as being all clever clogs or pretentious!

SF: How does the songwriting process work in a band containing eight members? An article on the DC website mentions that almost every member is currently writing songs for the next album. That sounds like mayhem.

MM: With such a large group you’re bound to have a wide range of influences and ideas being thrown into the cauldron which does help people realise why our music can be quite diverse and eclectic. I would much rather have too many songs than too few but the trick is to try and mould them all into one cohesive sound which knits together so it doesn’t sound like several different groups.

 At the moment we’re in the VERY early stages of writing songs for the next DC album and it’s true that all eight members of the group are contributing to that while our producer Donald Ross Skinner is also adding songs to the pot. Donald wrote ‘Snake Charmer’, our first single and also ‘It Don’t Worry Me’, the B-side to ‘Meshkalina’. He’s an excellent composer so it’s great having his tunes as well as our own.

Scott, our keyboard player, is another fantastic songwriter and he and I have probably written the majority of the band’s tunes so far. An honest appraisal of the situation is that it’s a blessing that we’ve got so many talented people in the group and everyone brings different strengths to the table which I find inspiring.

SF: There's obviously a large 60's influence in DC's music, ranging from funk and soul to far flung psychedelics from every corner of the Earth. What was it about that generation that really struck a chord with you?

MM: Our music is influenced by an enormous wealth of wonderful music that dates back 300 or more years and not just the 1960s but I guess why that era in particular holds so much charm and appeal to us is because both melodically and artistically the bar was set ludicrously high.

 If you listen to records made in the 1960s, and it doesn’t matter what genre either, the playing is usually amazing and there is a quality and an honesty in the performance which is sadly less prevalent today. Even the faceless and often unknown session men and women of those days were totally on it and producing magnificent performances.

DC Fontana - Six Against Eight

 It didn’t have to be incredibly complex stuff – some of the best music ever made was the simplest and made by the least talented musicians but they all had this vision and love of music which meant they could punch way above their weight and create nuggets, real sonic gems. I think songwriters back then could compose without any hang ups and they expressed themselves with an exciting, new-found freedom which meant there was an enormous amount of great music being created in a rapidly increasing number of new genres.

They were sonic pioneers and this is the thing I have total empathy and appreciation for as a musician and songwriter myself.

 For example on the title track of Six Against Eight the strings were strongly influenced by Lou Reed’s ‘Street Hassle’ from 1978 (which you can check out in all it's glory here...), while on ‘Switchblade Love’ we asked our orchestrator Christian Badzura to immerse himself in not just late 60s Scott Walker but also the mid 70s stuff by the Walker Brothers too.

You can definitely hear some influences of Julie Driscoll throughout our music and our singer Karla is a devoted disciple of her so you can imagine how chuffed we were to find out she (Julie) loves our music and even wrote the sleeve notes for ‘La Contessa.’ To me this is already tangible success for the group!

The past may sometimes inform our present but I have zero interest in re-enacting it or reviving anything. The older I become the more relaxed I am with my own era which is of course NOW and I prefer to add a new link to an old chain and there is a hell of a lot more to the sound and direction of DC Fontana than the swinging sixties. I really can’t see the point in us becoming merely a tatty photocopy of a link in the chain.

. . . Swing by tomorrow for the third and final part of the interview where Monsieur Mortimer talks 'Meshkalina', Art and Soul and what the future holds for DC Fontana . . .

Until then,

Keep on Keepin' on,

Baia

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Un Etretien avec Mark Mortimer. Part Un

The Midlands; an area of England best known for it's coal, industrial revolution and inflicting Lenny Henry and Jasper Carrot onto the World. It's also an area with a penchant for unearthing seminal British bands. From Dexy's to Sabbath, from Zeppelin to The Specials, middle England has spoiled us rotten down the years.

In keeping with this rich musical tradition , the old Kingdom of Mercia has provided us with another little gem. In fact, perhaps little isn't the correct word, as DC Fontana are a sprawling octopus of a band. Fusing everything from French cinematic jazz to South American psych and beyond, England's finest new Mod troubadours have just released their second LP La Contessa.  In keeping with the band's love for the continental, La Contessa is an Italian and French reworking of debut album Six Against Eight, complete with several new compositions, including new single, the instrumental 'Abbesses'.

The Soul Kitchen managed to catch up with bassist, founder and songwriter in chief Mark Mortimer for a special three part interview, tackling the subjects of the new album, kung fu, Parisian burlesque dancers and the future...

Soul Kitchen: Firstly, in the video for new tune 'Abbesses', you try your hand, unsuccessfully, at a spot of Kung Fu. Be honest, did you perform all your own stunts?

 Mark Mortimer: Of course! We do all our own stunts! Although my fight-acting was more of the “put ‘em up! Put ‘em up!” variety and I could hardly do it I was laughing that much. We staged the fight scenes in the middle of the road behind the church and we were continually interrupted by these dainty old French ladies taking their poodles on an early Sunday morning walk and before long a vintage vehicle rally came rolling by with dozens of these old cars driving past as we acted out the Avengers-like chops.

We had played a lively gig the night before in Paris and then foolishly only had a couple of hours sleep before setting off to begin the film shoot near the Sacré Coeur church so we were all a bit, err, bleary-eyed to say the least. As well as that the girls had nowhere to change so they climbed into their kinky cat suits in bushes just yards from one of Paris’ most popular tourist hang-outs.

Mimi (De Montmarte, France’s leading burlesque dancer) and Steve, our trumpet player, were particularly convincing with their fight scene. Steve stood there wielding his nun chucks like a violent expert and I thought to myself, maybe he has a darker past than I had even dared to think was possible.

SK: The new album, La Contessa, features Italian and French reworkings of songs from your debut album Six Against Eight. How was that as a recording experience? Something you'd be willing to do again?

MM: La Contessa is something I am proud of because it’s ludicrously ambitious and extremely unusual for a band from central England making a record that is sung mostly in French and Italian but I really think it works. I’ve always felt our music had a distinctively cinematic edge and as we were recording in Liverpool I spent hours dreaming up imaginary film storylines and plots while listening to the tracks we were creating.

While in Liverpool we flew out our friends Kicca Andriollo and her partner Oscar Marchioni to hang out with us and I originally thought we could have Kicca sing one or two tunes in French or Italian because she is bilingual and though coming from Vicenza in Italy now lives in Paris.

 When we play in France they sometimes join us on stage which is always amazing as they are both amazingly talented and they’ve become dear friends of ours. In fact ‘La Contessa’ is dedicated to their new born baby girl Loulou who entered this world just as we were finishing the record off.

As it turned out doing the foreign versions in Liverpool was made easier because the studio engineer, Ashley Martel, is a French guy so he could help translate the lyrics easily.

Kicca sang all the Italian material and lots of the French with Karla adding some more French vocals and then we contacted an actor called Michel Rousseau from Carpentras in Provence and he did the spoken word thing on my musical poem ‘Les Fantômes du Père Lachaise.’

He intuitively knew what I was after and managed to inject this Jacques Brel vibe into the track which was spot on.  Along with the Mellotron choir, accordion, psychedelic ebow guitar and Steve’s Spanish flavoured trumpet (which in itself is very Brel) we got it exactly how I envisaged it.

The poem describes how the ghosts of the famous and infamous rise from their tombs in the cemetery at Père Lachaise in eastern Paris when its gates are locked at night and they all hang out, dance around, and make fun of the tourists as they head off to the brothels and bars of the French capital. Michel also did the voice over on ‘Six Contre Huit’ and it lent a Serge Gainsbourg feel which tickled my Francophile funnybone immensely.

Whether we’d do this again is another story but it’s been great to do something so unpredictable and off the wall as releasing this album.

SK: Has your French or Italian improved since recording the album?

MM: Oui Oui and a 'good moaning' to you!


. . . Swing by tomorrow for Part Deux of Mark's interview.

Until then,

Keep on Keepin' on,

Baia

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