It's always nice to hear the story of somebody's life -- this is Chairlift's oral history, shared backstage post-show at All Points West. Even though they were playing the Queen of The Valley, AKA APW's 3rd tent, at this point in their career, they could have easily played the larger second stage.
"When I was a kid, my parents bought a bunch of tapes to supplement the Disney tapes I had, and one of them was La Traviata, and I remember the gypsy scene with the gypsies being debaucherous, dancing on the table-tops and I remember thinking that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen."
Thus begins the trajectory of Caroline Polacheck who, on a muddy Sunday found herself sitting under a tree across the Hudson from Manhattan talking with a spazzy magazine editor...I'd met her briefly at Bonnaroo where she saved my life with a bottle of water backstage. Looking at his early experiences, Aaron cites an influential daily double-dose of Michael Jackson, (I can't believe I just typed that) heard once on the ride to school in the car with Moms, than again on the ride home.
Bassist and drummer Patrick Wemberly was not present for this so his input was missed, as during the conversation Caroline and Aaron interject during the other's comments with questions of their own: Aaron asking Caroline about Twilight Zone episodes, Caroline reminding Aaron during his autobio to mention his father, a Hank Williams-loving, Vietnam pilot turned banker who taught him how to play guitar but never told him what he should do or shouldn't do, which, as regards Aaron's musical development benignly left him to develop his own guidelines in finding his dharma, which he did, starting with a tape recorder, which he used to record small "p" small "s" pet sounds from the various animal friends of his boyhood.
Surprisingly Chairlift was seeded not at art school, but instead in an economics class at a Colorado campus where these two, who were as Caroline puts it "very conspicuously not into frat parties and football", kept to the back of the class with a shades-clad, leather-jacketed Aaron bumming lecture notes from Caroline, which led to Caroline playing back up on Aaron's solo project "which was kind of folk-based" she recounts From there, they found themselves in Elliot Smiths former studio in Los Angeles, but ultimately, art school led Caroline to NYC and Aaron subsequently left school in Colorado and together they found themselves in a "dingy moldy basement in Williamsburg" next door to Grizzly Bear, TV On The Radio, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Dice and later, MGMT who had our space"
Usually, if you ask a band about the evolution of their sound, you get adjectives, instead of a rich and lucid, aesthetics-based analysis, in this case delivered by some mellow and self-aware cats who, through about a years worth of twice-a-week studio visits crafted "Does You Inspire You": "We started making music that was ephemeral and pretty and Folky and Pysch at the same time -- but not Freak Folk; not on the lines of Freak Folk, but like, layering and loops and pop melodies. The introduction of Patrick created kind of a Hip-Hop backbone of drums and bass, and that changed our sound forever"
Caroline views DYIY as reflective of how much they were growing as a band, rather than reflecting an artful effort to genre-hop: "I think its a picture of a year for us"... "Not so much a picture of a year to me" Aaron adds, "As much as it's just songs we love that we just had to put on this album because if they didn't go on this album, they probably wouldn't go anywhere." Which seems hard to believe, given what a reward "Does You Inspire You" turned out to be...Next up: words and photos from all 3 days of All Points West, plus Chairlift filmed at Bonnaroo and All Points West, plus more video from All Points West.
Loading...
its because she's from france. no joke
DimebagsLeftToe 1 month ago
shes gorgeous but her armpit shock me a littleXD
fariz90 1 year ago
this is my first time seeing these people. I shall go and check out their music... and i am way too lazy to stay up and read the (more info)...
i found this video looking up grizzly bear stuff...
MrFairygodmother 1 year ago
She's beautiful but I dont understand why she doesn't shave her arm pits That just isn't normal for a women lol.
linneyblair 2 years ago
They are such beautiful people in every way possible, and that for sure reflects in their music and how they present themselves.
TheTimepiece 2 years ago
Brilliant! She's luminous and has such self presence. They seem very unpretentious and real, I love how the plane is flying overhead as he's talking about traveling in a plane. Great video!!!
telosvision 2 years ago