Wednesday, June 19, 2024

free your mind talks to crystal castles, april 18, 2008.

 


!everything below is translated from french a translation!


when i arrive at their record label (pias), the previous interview has not yet been completed ... the journalist is 10 minutes late. i hope they are not too tense. it's my turn, i'm going back to the room where the interviews with the press are being broadcast. a room without personality, without soul, with a window that overlooks the courtyard of the haussmanian type building. as we see hundreds of them in paris… 

at first glance, they are a little stressed. indeed, while i am installing the camera, they ask me not to film! however, i had checked with the press secretary that they were ok to film, and she had told me yes ... great, we will adapt. finally, i let the camera run in a fixed shot, on the wall, just to at least have the audio recording. i need it to do the translation afterwards. the interview can begin…

fym: who is crystal castles?

ethan: we are crystal castles! my name is ethan kath and she is alice glass. we are originally from toronto (canada).

fym: what does crystal castles mean?

ethan: initially, there is this she-ra tv show. she-ra is a girl who lives in a castle made entirely of crystal. we never watched the show. on the other hand, we once saw the she-ra commercial and it said: "the fate of the world is safe in the crystal castle". it also said: "the crystal castle is the source of all power". when we saw and especially heard this, we thought "we are crystal castles!" and even today, we still haven't seen the tv show!

fym: what are your sources of inspiration?

ethan: we are fans of the stooges, new order, joy division, sonic youth... there are also these noisy bands like aids wolf( a canadian band that sings in french )

fym: what is your take on the canadian electro scene? 

ethan: in fact, we started crystal castles in total isolation. we weren't paying attention to anything else. alice recorded tests on the microphone, and we immediately had a contract. and it was gone... i don't even know what's going on in canada right now. 

alice: it doesn't exist for us, somehow.... 

ethan: there may be some fantastic bands, but we don't know anything about them... besides, if someone wants to make us a little compilation...!

fym: actually, i have one in my bag! how do you work?

alice: we haven't been in the studio for a while… 

ethan: there are many ways for us to make songs. Initially, we were just trying to make some noise. we tested a whole bunch of tricks... are you familiar with the concept of circuit-bending?

fym: absolutely yes! it's strange as a coincidence because i just posted a video last month about circuit-bending. you know, there is this very popular toy that is widely used in circuit-bending, i forgot its name...? 

ethan: speak & spell

fym; that's it! 

ethan: the oldest recordings (2004) were made from circuit-bending. then we gave up and started working from broken keyboards. because you see, if you buy a new keyboard in the store, you have the same sound as everyone else .... so there you have it, i compose instrumentals from broken keyboards and once finalized, i give her these pieces so that she can do what she wants with them, talk on them, sing .... that's how we made the album.

fym: i might have a little better luck with the french electro scene: do you have an opinion on that? 

ethan: what is happening with the french scene at the moment is incredible. we made a remix for kitsuné. we will also work with playpaul, he will do a remix for us.

fym: no collaboration with ed banger?

ethan: no, but we are friends with justice. we know them, they are very nice.

fym: i don't know them personally, but they are certainly very nice! are there any scheduled dates in france, i didn't find the information on your myspace page? 

alice: you never know things very far in advance. style the week before, you know? 

ethan: we always do things at the last minute (last minute people). in any case, i will love to come back here, i really like this city.

fym: why? 

ethan: it's beautiful here. we're from toronto and frankly, it has nothing to do with.

fym: and the people? however, parisians have a reputation for being haughty and unpleasant… 

ethan: really? no, we've always been very nice to each other. are you from paris?

fym: no, i'm from the south of france and my friend is from the paris suburbs. he's not a real parisian! and the blogs, do you read some of them?

ethan: no, we don't have time. we're still in a van driving around.

fym: and does this life suit you: to be always on tour and not have time to do anything? 

ethan: we love playing live. this is what we prefer… 

alice: that way we don't have to see family or friends!!

fym: thank you crystal castles for your time and availability. 

ethan/alice: thank you!

interview by freeyourmind france

photo by alexis arragon 


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