Issue #5

INTERVIEW BY KJ ELIZABETH

In a time where rock with out substance, and punk without ethics reigns supreme, I wouldn’t be the first to feel like the rough edges in music were being sanded away. For those who like to be challenged by music, rather than entertained, it’s fair to say that in the live music scene right now, the pickings are pretty slim. But salvation is at hand in the form of Melbourne three-piece, The Time Of The Assassins.

The Assassins are steadily growing a reputation as a strong creative force who play their music with integrity and authority. Aspen Michael Taylor (guitar/vox), Carisa Mellado (bass/vos) and Jason Lamerton (drums) recently returned from recording their debut LP in Chicago. I caught up with Michael and Carisa in late October to talk about the death of art…

First up, could you tell me about the origin of the name, The Time of the Assassins, I understand it’s taken from the title of a book by Henry Miller? What’s it about?

AMT: The Miller book is a study on the work of the mighty french poet Arthur Rimbaud, a personal hero of mine. The title of the Miller book is actually a line from a Rimbaud poem. Miller talks a lot about about how in the modern world, true art, in the grandest sense of the word, has been assassinated and that the importance of the poet/artist has been degraded in modern society.

He has this great line in the book, which really stuck a nerve in me where he says “To be a poet was once the highest calling; today it is the most futile one. It is not so because the world is immune to the poet’s pleading, but because the poet himself no longer believes in his divine mission”. And this book was written in the 1940’s! I’m sure all the great thinkers, artists and philosophers would be positively turning in their graves if they could see the current state of the world. This may sound kind of fatalistic or negative to some, but I sincerely believe that we’re in a state of emergency and people need to start dealing with this or else we as a society will pay a huge price, If you kill art…

CM: If you kill art, you kill the growth and development of our collective soul as a society, which turns us into machines.

AMT: Good little consuming machines!

How do you describe your music to people? I know there’s been a debate within the band on how to describe yourselves, and some people have questioned the punk label because you don’t sound like a typical punk band (whatever that is). Do you think of yourselves as punk?

CM: If I have to think of myself as anything that relates to today’s culture, I guess I would have to think of us as a punk band. Punk is more of an ethic to me, not a particular sound or fashion sense.

AMT: The way we live as people and the way we operate the band is deeply rooted in a punk ethic and aesthetic. I believe in getting off your ass and just living the life you want to live. We don’t wait around for anyone’s permission to do the things we want to do and we don’t rely on the support of any outside sources to do this either. We fund everything ourselves and try to have honour and respect in all our dealings with people and we are not interested in doing things on anyone’s terms except for our own. And as far as the actual genre of our music goes, people can refer to it anyway they want, that doesn’t concern me so much. In fact, I like the fact that we are not easily boxed in to people’s stereotypical views of what punk is or isn’t.

Since the release of the EP (under your previous name, The Dreamers), your music has taken a somewhat darker turn. What’s sparked this slight change in direction? Was it a conscious decision or has it evolved naturally?

CM: Michael and I have been making music together for over 10 years and our music has pretty much always been very dark and very strange, actually not that dissimilar to what we sound like now. A few years ago, we went through a stage where we wanted to explore more traditional song structures and that happened to be the same time we started the first incarnation of this band and started playing with Jason. After a while we naturally went back to playing darker, stranger music. We basically just follow our instincts in what feels right for us to play at different times. There are no rules on how our band should sound, we just do what feels right.

I could ask you the stock standard question of what your musical influences are, but it seems to me there are many influences beyond music, such as art and literature, that play a role in the band. Would you agree? What are these other influences?

AMT: I definitely agree. We’re all pretty heavily into art, film and literature. At the moment I’m particularly obsessed with the German filmmaker Werner Herzog, the French filmmaker Robert Bresson and the French writer/ philosopher Georges Bataille.

CM: My biggest influence is probably mythology. I am obsessed and possessed by Greek mythology in particular. I also love the work of Aristophanes, Nietzsche and various philosophers and Greek poets.

In a recent interview with Thylazine.org you talked about how music has been pretty superficial the past few years and it’s become cool to be depthless. I think this is something that definitely sets TTOTA apart from most other bands at the moment; your dedication to making great art, as opposed to entertainment. What do you want to achieve, creatively, with your music?

AMT: One thing I want to make clear is that we are not entertainers and our music is not entertainment. In fact, I detest the way that all art forms have been bastardized in the current climate and reduced to entertainment. I take art with deadly seriousness and we approach it with that seriousness at all times. When we play a show, we are not there to provide people with a good time or to facilitate their enjoyment. We are there to perform the work, I couldn’t give a fuck about providing people with a good time. If people want that type of experience there’s a billion crappy bands out there that have that as their objective.

We are trying to appeal to a deeper part of people’s nature and give them something they can really take away with them. I believe that entertainment has truly become the death of art and I want to see that change, so I am choosing to be part of the solution.

CM: My hope is to write music that takes the listener on some sort of cathartic journey.

I understand that music is just one part of your creative arsenal, what else do you do, besides play music?

AMT: Apart from the band, I personally have all sorts of things going on. I make experimental short films, I make these crazy little art zines and run the Kiddiepunk site as well as taking care of Dennis Cooper’s official website and other stuff. I’m pretty active creatively.

CM: Music is pretty much the centre of my world and always has been. I’m also writing a musical to be made into a film.

You recently returned from Chicago were you recorded your debut record with Steve Albini, why did you want to work with him?

AMT: We felt that Albini was quite possibly the only person in the world that could record this album the way it needed to be recorded. The songs on this new record are fierce, but they also have a real beauty to them. We kind of see them as more resembling classical music than contemporary song structures and we wanted someone that could capture their beauty without making it sound pretty, which is the way the songs come off live. The other thing with Albini is that his records don’t date because they don’t get caught up in the ‘hip sound of the moment’. It’s just a band in a room playing their songs and not much more in the way of studio trickery. That’s why, for example, the Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’ will always be superior to ‘Doolittle’ in my opinion. Because you listen to ‘Doolittle’ now and its production has dated it to a pretty specific time period, where as ‘Surfer Rosa’ could have been released yesterday or 10 years from now and it will still sound great.

Albini has quite a reputation, described by many as an asshole, how did you find working with him?

AMT: Working with Albini was really the most amazing thing. Here’s a guy that knows who he is, he knows what he stands for and he knows where he stands, and is a living example of someone that actually truly walks his talk, which is so fucking refreshing to me. He’s not full of shit, he doesn’t kiss ass and he is extremely committed to what he believes and the way he chooses to live. I’m sure if you were some megalomaniac rock star with a god-complex you would think he’s an asshole because he doesn’t play games. For us, it was just great to work with him. His methods and approach to everything was exactly what we wanted and he did a fantastic job capturing our band.

And is it true Iggy Pop called up the studio while you were there? Did you touch the phone? (sorry, had to ask)

AMT: haha! No, I didn’t. Sorry..

Are there any songs on the new record that you’re particularly proud of?

CM: Every song on this record is part of a journey. To say there’s one I’m more proud of is like favouring one child over another. We basically can’t do that, every song is exactly how it needs to be. I love them all equally.
What are your plans for the next 12 months and when can we expect to see a release from TTOTA?

CM: We will have an EP coming out over the next few months and we plan to tour extensively. We still don’t have a release date for the album, but it will be next year sometime.

www.thetimeoftheassassins.com
www.myspace.com/thetimeoftheassassins
www.kiddiepunkrecords.com