Russell Dean Stone makes great music, he’s unsigned, unforgiving and quite possibly a gay witch. We caught up with him one afternoon on the banks of ‘Old Father Thames’.

Russell photographed for EVB by Jeff Hahn

Richard Welch: You have described your music as “a portal, or a glass elevator, or a megabus to another dimension”. What do you mean? And why a megabus rather than a shortbus?

Russell Dean Stone: I think the only way to answer this is by listening to Willy Wonka/Gene Wilder’s rendition of ‘Pure Imagination’ .

Richard: You live in East London, how has its vibrant club and music scene influenced you and your music?

Russell: That’s a difficult question to answer. East London is going through an invasion as it gets rapidly redeveloped as the trendy part of London. Undoubtedly, growing up in London generally has been an incredible influence on me, working for magazines like Sleazenation fulfilled my teenage dreams growing up reading The Face and wanting to be part of that world. Then being part of the Kash Point club scene, meeting people like Richard LaRue, Nobra, Matthew Stone, etc. I don’t want to be pigeonholed as an East London musician though, that wouldn’t feel right. I’m not part of any scene. I’m in love with London, but in terms of my music I don’t feel like that comes from geography, it comes from inside me and the people I work with. I want to build my own world with my work.

Richard: Like many musicians collaboration is central to your ethos, can you explain why it is so important to you?

Russell: I don’t want to do everything myself, or I should say by myself. Collaborating is a way to combat being alone. Besides, I’ve been lucky enough in my life to be acquainted with some very talented individuals. My dream is to work with them all and build my own Haus of Stone.

Russell Dean Stone (feat. Rat Scabies) – ‘Leather’
A reimagining of ‘Mack the Knife’, inspired by Al Pacino in Cruising

Russell Dean Stone – ‘Summer Song’

Richard: Does your fashion background inform what you do or have you exorcised those demons?

Russell: I have never been interested in fashion, I am interested in style. Style doesn’t require money it requires taste. This New Year I threw out all the color from my wardrobe and gave it away in an act of teenage rebellion. That I think was definitely exorcising past demons. Now there is only black.

Richard: You recently recorded a track, ‘Leather’, with Rat Scabies of The Damned on drums - do you think we need more musicians who use a stage name?

Russell: No! That’s partly why I decided to use my real name to perform under. I was tired of the endless ludicrous band names. My work is me and it’s my life and it’s all the time. It’s not a stage persona. I don’t relate to other musicians or artists who need to pretend to be someone else. I don’t want an alter ego. Rat, however, is a living legend and in my opinion a true contender for the title of Greatest Living Drummer. If anyone has the pleasure of meeting him I suggest they swiftly buy him a Guinness.

Richard: What are some of the more obscure tools you’re using to make music?

Russell: I don’t think that in terms of what my band and I have been playing, that we’ve been doing anything particularly exotic. I think the obscure tools maybe come in the form of the inspiration for the music, which I would say, for me at least, are film and poetry. I’m a complete cinema junky and it’s a real source of inspiration for me. Dario Argento and British ‘Kitchen Sink’ films are flavor of the month: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Taste of Honey, Made in Britain. As for poetry, I go to bed with Billy Childish and Sylvia Plath regularly.

Richard: Jeff, who shot you for this interview, said you were lovely and down-to-earth, yet your photos look like you’re not one to mess with. Which is more true?

Russell: Merci beaucoup! It is a little known fact that I’m actually a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Richard: It would seem you’re very interested in the occult. Where did your interest start, and do you practice witchcraft?

Russell: It’s more of a spiritual and aesthetic affiliation. In London right now there is definitely a scene that is, stylistically speaking, into the occult, mysticism, science fiction, goth. I’m turned on by Kenneth Anger’s work, Egyptian legends and I read New Scientist magazine religiously. Spiritually speaking, the occult and the writing of Aleister Crowley definitely interests me. A lot of what he said makes sense. On a really basic level it’s about empowerment, change, free will. But it’s a fascination for me - I’m not a witch.

Richard: You like to use the word magick over magic. What’s the difference for you?

Russell: Magick is essentially defined as an act of intentional change, no matter how small or mundane that might be, and I am all for change!

Richard: S or M?

Russell: Sha Man

Richard: What are you currently working on?

Russell: Today I finished my first video, directed by Rory DCS and shot by Balthazar Klarwein, to accompany my song ‘Lucifer Rising’. The song itself is an obvious reference to Kenneth Anger’s film of the same name, and the video is a sort of dream/love letter to Anger, as well as 70s horror movies, and the inspiration his work has been to me.

When I first heard the music of Air France I felt high. High in that way you feel before a big night out. It’s that heady mixture of anticipation, trepidation and the knowledge you will soon be laughing, dancing, being cheeky (on all levels), and generally not caring about a thing. Feeling like that I knew I had to do a little more digging, the more I heard the more I liked. We first connected  back in mid-2009, sporadically exchanging nonsense and trying to work out when we could get together and chat. It took over nine months but finally they pried themselves away from their studio in Gothenberg, Sweden, and over a bottle of rosé I threw Henrik and Joel some questions.

Air France photographed for EVB by Ida Lindström 

Richard Welch: Hi. So, how did you arrive at Air France as the name for your band?

Henrik Markstedt: Umm, I’m not really sure, it was Joel’s idea.

Joel Karlsson: We hadn’t decided on a name for the band, and the first EP was going to be pressed and, you know, actually, I can’t remember, but it ended up on the record!

Richard: Have you ever traveled on Air France?

Joel: Yes, it was really good, they serve fine wine.

Richard: You boys met at school in Gothenburg, is that correct?

Henrik: Yes, in the equivalent of high school I guess. We were classmates and just became close friends. We started a band with some other kids, but it was a guitar band. It was quite different from the music we make today.

Richard: How did you move from guitars to electronics?

Henrik: We realized we couldn’t play the guitar!

Richard: What electronic music first inspired you?

Henrik: Saint Etienne, New Order - that was like 15 years ago.

Air France - Collapsing at your Doorstep

Richard: Are you guys together - are you a couple?

Henrik: No we’re straight. It’s funny because when we were last in America many people thought we were together. Maybe it’s because we look like we should be a couple?

Richard: Yeah you do look like a little couple-y, maybe that’s why?

Henrik: When we went to Moscow, people thought we were twins! Gay twins!

Richard: You have to be careful in Russia, it’s not the safest country to be gay!

Joel: We heard we are quite big with the ‘gays’ in America. It’s not the same in Sweden - our biggest fans are people that are very…

Richard: …very straight?

Henrik: Yes. Very, very macho straight people!

Richard: In other words, gay! I think, like politics sexuality is a spectrum, a circle, where opposite ends of the spectrum are actually not so far away from their polar opposite.

Henrik: Yes , I think that’s true.

Richard: Maybe the reason you are popular with gay audiences, despite your Swedish charm and looks, is that your music has a positive and carefree nature. I’d call it Balearic pop?

[Editor’s note: Yes, we know that not all gays are into being positive or carefree, and they don’t have to be charming and attractive… but… you know where we’re coming from, WE HOPE!]

Henrik: Well, we’re happy if it’s because of those qualities.

Richard: Your music has been described as post-rave bliss, nu-Balearic and perfect pop. How do you guys describe it?

Henrik: We take it with a pinch of salt. We never set out to do a Balearic record, or whatever.

Joel: When people started calling it Balearic, we Googled it and still don’t quite know why it is!

Henrik: We just wanted to make the record for a long time and that is how it ended up sounding.

Richard: Sweden has produced quite a few bands that have a similar style of music. Bands like The Tough Alliance, El Pero Del Mar, Studio, jj and CEO. Do you think there’s a reason for that, or is it just a coincidence?

Henrik: I guess there’s a million reasons you can come up with about why… um… we’ve never felt like we are part of a scene here. I wouldn’t say there’s a movement. I guess some people influence other people, as always.

Richard: So you don’t all hang out in the same places?

Henrik: Oh god no! We’re at work all day.

Richard: What do you do?

Joel: Right now we’re recording our new album, and we do that about five hours a day, and then we go to our part-time jobs. I’m a market researcher.

Henrik: He talks to people who have rented a car and asks then if they are happy!

Richard: Despite the fact that Sweden obviously has great customer service it’s hardly famous for its warm weather or its beaches. Yet your music is reminiscent of blistering  sun-kissed days… which I guess is where the Balearic tag comes from. Where does that feeling come from?

Air France - No Excuses

Henrik: I think its a misconception that Sweden is quite cold, right now it’s 70 degrees out, we’re sitting on the lawn having a glass of wine…

Richard: …yeah, right!

Henrik: We don’t have many beaches but we have cliffs that are very smooth and we like to lie on them. Of course it’s not as warm as the Mediterranean. I don’t know where our longing for warmer places comes from. I’ve talked about this with my therapist - she can’t give me any medicine, but she listens. And she just goes on about my childhood, Freudian I think. Its odd because I do yearn to escape but at the same time I love it here in Sweden.

Richard: Have you thought of getting on a plane and checking the world out?

Henrik: Actually neither of us really like flying, which is weird when you consider we’re called Air France.

Richard: Your debut album ‘No Way Down’, came out in 2008, and was very well received. How has it sold, and where’s the weirdest place you’ve found you have fans?

Henrik: Well it’s not such a weird place, but when the album came out this guy from America from a magazine called The New Yorker contacted us and said they wanted to review it, they liked it… well… I didn’t know what The New Yorker was and so I didn’t send them a copy! We of course now know it’s a great magazine, and we read it now… oh well.

We also have a lot of fans in Mexico, and we can’t understand why! Poland and Mexico are, like, our biggest territories. We went to Warsaw last year to do press, etc, and were picked up at the airport by this guy in a rusty Trabant, also known as an old Soviet-era rust bucket. On the way to the hotel he thought it would be fun to drive into a park and show off his hand-break turns in the snow… it really set the tone for the week. A very crazy weird week.

Richard: Was he drunk?

Joel: We hope so!

Richard: So the new album, how’s it going, and what are the release plans?

Henrik: We don’t really do plans, it’s a very slow labor. Progress is being made, but its very slow.

Richard: Is that indicative of the way you work and record?

Joel: Well, It’s all done but we haven’t recorded it yet. It’s done in the head but not on the table, if you know what I mean. To match the sound in ones head with the sounds on a laptop can be hard, but I think we work better under pressure. Maybe we need some more pressure. I’m waiting for it to kick in.

Richard: Who’s head is it in?

Joel: Well, both of our heads, and that’s a problem too because we don’t always have the same thoughts, even though we look like twins and act like a couple.

Richard: Um… yeah, so how do you share the head?

Henrik: It’s hard, very very hard. Of course it’s all about compromise, but more often than not we’re both on the same page.

Richard: When it comes to recording do you have specific roles?

Joel: We usually just sit in front of YouTube and search for hours for something we can steal and get away with. We change stuff so much that it’s not recognizable. It’s more like recycling. If something is good it should be re-used and re-interpreted. To me it’s more fun to do it this way, rather than to learn to play the guitar and play something.

Richard: Can you let us know what the new album is sounding like? How would you describe it?

Henrik: Like something stolen, something blue, something old and something new. Like walking down the aisle, nervous and yet confident that the one you love is waiting at the other end.

Joel: Once we’ve recovered from what we’ve done, I always want to do something that’s a rejection of what we’ve done in the past, partly because I’m so fucking sick of all the obviousness, and too restless to do the same thing all the time. But also because it’s been deeply instilled in me that pop music and everything around it is about daring to push the boundaries, daring to play a bit, and having the courage to challenge. But there’s been times when we’ve been close to finishing a song, and suddenly panicked and thought “fuck, this sounds like Air France, I can’t believe it’s true!” When that happens I just want to give up and go on a long fucking holiday that’s not in Gothenburg. But I guess you have to accept that our souls do not quite understand how our brains are thinking. It’s obviously a slow process.

Air France - Never Content (Friend’s Tropic Thunder Edit)

Richard: Do you have any featured guests?

Henrik: Yes, we do. A few ladies and a few gentlemen. But it’s all very hush-hush. I really want to tell you, because I am very excited about it, but if I did our management would call the cops and have me deported.

Joel: The police will come along and take us for a ride, and when we get home we’re gonna get fried.

Richard: So… what’s the release date?

Joel: The plan is to complete it this summer - we’re getting pressure from our publishers and manager?

Richard: Is it true that you don’t like to do remixes as a rule? Here at the EVB office we love your Saint Etienne remix.

Saint Etienne - Spring (Air France Remix)

Henrik: Ur, we like to do them but we get so many offers and we really don’t have so much time. We need to concentrate on the album, otherwise it will go on forever and we’ll hate the songs, and hate each other! So we concentrate on that, we can’t have too many distractions on the side.

Richard: Do you plan on going live, as a band?

Henrik: Ah. We always say “yes, eventually” on this question. But what I want to know is, exactly when does this “eventually” turn to “now”? I wish I had an answer. I really do. Joel?

Joel: Well, it’s become a thing that we do not do concerts, so we should keep it that way. Actually, we would probably just want to go up there on stage and be like “Hello, we are Air France and we are going to fuck you up”, but we don’t know how! None of our favorite artists have been very good live bands, or maybe just too reluctant to set out to make their audience happy. But I’m starting to feel ready, and when I am I’ll just stretch out my arms and love every second of it.

Richard: I remember a while ago you said you don’t DJ, but I recently saw pictures of you DJing in Russia, and you’re about to DJ at PS1.

Henrik: We do actually DJ sometimes. We went to Iceland a few weeks ago, and we’ve played in Chicago and Toronto - we wanted to come to New York but couldn’t afford to fly down, so we are very excited to be playing at PS1. We had a great time in Chicago, we played in this small, scruffy ‘hole in the wall’ club where were supporting our friend Jens Leckman.

Richard: Which artists and bands are you currently most into?

Joel: Oh, this is a difficult one, I have music in my ears from nine in the morning (mostly birds chirping at that time) until I go to bed. I have listened to The Radio Dept’s latest record a lot recently, and when I heard ‘Never Follow Suit’ for the first time I couldn’t tear myself away from it, so I took it to a Gothenburg club that night and stood in a corner and listened to it on my CD Walkman and drank beer all night. I wasn’t invited to the after-party that night.

Right now I’m listening to Wild Nothing’s ‘Chinatown’, Cults’ ‘Go Outisde’, a hip hop song that seems to be called something like ‘Country Shit’, a Scottish group called The Blue Bells, some Caetano Veloso, Korallreven, and thirteen UK garage classics I downloaded the other week. What about you Henrik?

Henrik: Unfortunately, Air France. Jesus Christ, it’s gnawing at me like a hungry cat that wants attention. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. But when I have to shut it all out I listen to stuff like Francis Lai’s Emmanuelle 2 soundtrack. Beautiful and calming music.

Richard: If you could fly anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

Henrik: I would like to see the Maldives before they sink into the ocean.

Joel: Oh, everywhere, but just now, Kentucky, USA, because it’s the birthplace of a funny guy called Paul Wathen. He’s like a brother to me.

Richard:  The next time you come over, we’ll have an EVB party, and you must play live…..?

Joel: Great, we’d love that very much.

Air France  spins a rare  DJ set at PS1 Warm Up Saturday, July 17 (they think they go on around 6:30). Afterwards they’ll be DJing a midnight set at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. We’ll be there enjoying the 20 beers, and the other cheekiness they promised us!

Thomas Dozol is a considered, charming French guy who spends his time between New York, Paris and Athens, Georgia, and a talented emerging photographer who has, for his New York City debut exhibition, managed to capture people in the raw, private and unprepared. The combination of vulnerability and natural beauty, informed by his use of light to create an intimate experience is powerful - powerful as much for the sheer beauty as for what it says about public and private identity in a world increasingly obsessed with image. We sat down together over Campari and sodas and chatted about his art, relationships and prefernece for watching over being watched.

Portraits of Thomas shot for EVB by Michael Stipe

Richard Welch: How did you end up in New York? What’s your story so far?

Thomas Dozol: I studied in Paris and was in college forever. I guess I’m a late bloomer. After college I went into theater, and then, around 2001, I realized acting was totally burning me out so I came to New York for a change and a break. I found acting here was very difficult, mainly because of the visas and stuff. Also, I didn’t really know if I still wanted to act. I became friends with The Citizens Band, and started photographing them. I’d been taking pictures for a few years, and I realized that I preferred shooting to being shot.

Richard: How was the transition from being in front of the lens, to being behind it?

Thomas: I always felt I was really bad in front of the lens. I liked theater - you can’t see the audience in a theater. The bigger the stage the better. You have to be so focused in theater that you actually forget they’re there. Part of what I love about taking pictures is that it’s about caring for the people I photograph and making them feel comfortable, because I’m really not. That’s my focus in general when I take portraits.

Richard: You’re socially uncomfortable or…

Thomas: No, no, no, I’m only uncomfortable when someone takes my picture. I’m terrible at being photographed.

Richard: Oh, okay. So your blog - it pretty much documents your life I assume?

Thomas: Yeah, but I started that when I was preparing my first show in Atlanta. It started as an experiment leading up to the show, but then it just kept going, because once you start a blog, it needs constant feeding.

Richard: We know all about that! Speaking of food, you seem to always be at dinner!

Thomas: Ha! There are a lot of dinners! And a lot more dinners to come!

Richard: Is it difficult to keep the blog fresh?

Thomas: I shoot on film, so there’s always a weird delay until the film comes back.

Richard: You only shoot film?

Thomas: Yep, everything is on film.

Richard: You’ve shot for French Vogue. What did you shoot for them?

Thomas: I was shooting portraits. I don’t shoot fashion, so it was just, like, stylish girls in their apartments with their stylish things.

Richard: When did you decide you wanted to live in New York?

Thomas: I made the move in 2003 or 2002, I’m bad with dates, something like that. My boyfriend lived in America, and it was getting complicated going back and forth.
Richard: Your first show was in Atlanta and it was titled I’ll Be Your Mirror, which I assume developed into your recent New York show?

Thomas: Yeah, I started a project, and as it progressed I thought, “okay, I want this to be my first show.” I worked on it for about a year before I started shooting, and I kept getting delayed. I just needed a deadline, and that was the show. But once I did the show I realized I was only halfway there.

Richard: The show was titled Entre Temp, which is travelling to São Paulo in the fall, means “in between”. Can you kind of expand on that idea?

Thomas: I guess it’s about capturing moments that are not defined by their activity or what’s going on. It’s really supposed to be a thing that goes by really fast. Something that’s not really meaningful, and usually when I ask people they go, “oh, I don’t know what I do.” Usually they have to think about it. You just go through the motions, and then while you go through the motions, your mind is already somewhere else, and I can grab your body in a different amount of tension.

Richard: For that series, all of your subjects are flushed after having had a hot shower.

Thomas: Exactly, that’s why I started the project. It was about the blood to the skin. I wanted people to be raw. I think it’s getting harder and harder because we all now have so much control over our image. People have become accustomed to being snapped and snapping their friends all the time… you know, people always have that face, or expression that they know. I wanted to move beyond that, I get super flushed and I hate it because I can’t control it, and I was like, “Oh, that’s the point.” I’ll put people in a situation where they have accepted a loss of control over their physicality and look.
Richard: In a world of social media many people on the one hand seem to be crafting a complex and idealized image of themselves, while on the other hand the notion of personal privacy has been virtually eroded. Before I met you I Googled you, and you probably Googled me…

Thomas: Which is sort of why I have a blog, because it allows me to control the information that’s out there. You want to be able to present it otherwise it’s going to come from somewhere anyway, so you want to try to have control of your output. The Google thing is kind of fascinating. I think it’s great, actually, because you have an idea of a person before you meet them. It makes for less awkward silences. It gives an end, but once you meet them it creates a parallel.

Richard: How do you think the concept of privacy is changing?

Thomas: I’m not sure I actually understand it. I think for people who are, like, ten years younger than me, it’s a different world I can’t really comprehend. The way I think of privacy is probably a different concept than theirs. I don’t know what their concept of privacy is now - it’s probably what you edit, what you choose to put out there. You control the output more than protect it. Just re-edit I guess, because it’s going to come from the internet at some point.

Richard: How did you cast your subjects? Many are recognizable - are they all your friends?

Thomas: Are they real friends? Yeah! Actually, not all of them. It started with just friends. Originally I wasn’t going to shoot anyone that was recognizable. I kind of shied away from that because I didn’t want it to be all about celebrity, then a friend of mine was like, “just ask the people that you like.” It seemed contrived of me to take that out, but I treated them the same way. The nudity element caused the tension - that was very interesting to me.
Richard: The French are traditionally very comfortable with nudity and intimacy.

Thomas: Yeah, we are. I’m not. I’m a bit more comfortable taking photos of nudity.

Richard: Did you shoot these people in their morning, whatever hour that happened to be?

Thomas: It ended up being whenever people could fit me in. Scheduling was the hardest part of the project, because it’s kind of hard in the morning, and plus, all these should develop alike, so there was also that factor. They were really taking the showers to get them… in that headspace, usually in the morning. The shower has enough of an effect that people were in their own heads. It was really a short time that I had for them to be totally unguarded.

Richard: And how was it shooting more well-known people compared to shooting people who aren’t in the “public arena”?

Thomas: Honestly, the hardest people to photograph are the photographers. The photographer friends. Those were the hard and difficult ones. The “known” people, like… Michael [Stipe] was complicated… just because, I don’t know. Gwyneth [Paltrow] was great, she was like “whatever… what do you want me to do”.

Richard: Did you find that the celebrities never wanted to take off their ‘mask’?

Thomas: I think what’s interesting is that it’s not just the celebrities, everyone has a way they control their own image in the same way that a celebrity might, and I like the tension. You’re still able to see how much people try to control anything seeping through. I like when you are able to see the two in one image.

Richard: Your show in New York was at Envoy Enterprises, where most of the shows are by gay or queer artists…

Thomas: Everything is queer!

Richard: Do you think that’s a positive or a negative. Is it self-ghettoization?

Thomas: Well, you work with some of their artists and photographers. I first went to check out the work of Paul Sepuya, and that’s how I found out about Envoy, and I really liked it. It seemed to me like there was a sense of empowerment of queer culture in general. I just wanted to be part of that. The art world can be shockingly compartmentalized - it’s kind of ghettoized. But at the same time I was, like, “great, I’m queer!” There’s nothing wrong with that, and my work is not going to be defined by that, but I’m just happy to be part of that community. But I like the question of Envoy being a queer gallery, and how people are very still wary of it. I think it’s a totally valid and interesting question. I don’t feel gay whatsoever because I feel that “gay” isn’t very specifically determined. Culture-wise it doesn’t define me.

Richard: So you don’t consider yourself “gay”? You prefer “queer”?

Thomas: I mean, yeah, I sleep with men, or however you say it, but it just seems that “gay” is very… the way it’s perceived now is very culturally specific.

Richard: You mentioned shooting Michael was “complicated”, so how was it for you and him to be shot by Todd Selby, taking into consideration your dislike of being in front of the camera?

Thomas: Right, did you notice how bad I am at being photographed?

Richard: No!

Thomas: Okay, fine.


Richard: So, for the Selby shoot you’re in your home, you’re private space. I imagine that being the partner of somebody who is very recognizable, they often treat their home space as a sanctuary, something they might not want to share with the world?

Thomas: Well, two things. Firsty that was a long time ago, and that was before Todd was so successful. I just found his website through… I can’t really remember how I found it, but I was clicking through and was thinking “this is amazing,” and, then Michael wanted to spend a whole night looking at every single apartment - so we were obsessed with it. Then we were at an art show with a friend who was like, “Oh, I know Todd,” and I said, “Oh, he’s amazing. We would love to be part of that.” And we were moving that week so we had piles of stuff everywhere - it was like an installation. It was so crazy, and we said “we’ve got to document this, this is perfect.”

Richard: There are a few comments that…

Thomas: I know! people were commenting, like, “they’re such slobs!”

Richard: Especially for gay men!

Thomas: We’re not very typically gay, but… so, yeah, that’s what it was.

Richard: Being in a relationship with someone who’s famous - is that difficult?

Thomas: No… It’s great! Being an actor, that was weird, because there’s such a stigma… I was always thinking, “oh, I can’t be a gay actor in a gay relationship with someone famous. That was a problem then. Actually, that was when I was thinking about it. But as a photographer, people can see your work and judge it. No, I haven’t had any bad reaction from it at all.

Richard: Which contemporary artists are you inspired by?

Thomas: Paul Sepuya, I love what he’s doing and his vision. Wolfgang Tillmans is definitely someone that’s a total inspiration, and Taryn Simon. I would say those three in photography.

Richard: Finally, what are you working on at the moment?

Thomas: At the moment, I working on a series of still lifes. I haven’t started shooting yet, I’m prepping, but I’m going to be shooting large format which I have never done before, just because I want to make it more complicated - why not?

Standing at over six feet five inches Chris Kittrell is closer to the height of an adult alpaca rather than of his stage namesake Baby Alpaca. After sitting down with him for a few cups of tea you soon uncover a warm, gentle and deeply talented artist whose music allows you to escape to the places you’d much rather be, and as his great performance at the recent EVB-hosted happy hour at Pussy Faggot confirmed, you’ll soon be escaping much more with him.

Photographs and video portrait of Chris shot for EVB by Jessica Yatrofsky

Richard Welch: You played some new tracks from your debut EP True Heart at the Pussy Faggot party last month - how did that go?

Chris Kittrell: It was our first Manhattan show. The crowd had a great energy, and I think that’s one of the loveliest things a musician can hope for. I’ve also never played such a male-heavy audience.

Richard: Collaborative, peace and fun loving, living free, making music from whatever is laying around, ethereal dreamy kind of psychedelic music, and designer of feathered jewelry. It all sounds very hippie on paper, but unlike hippies, it all comes together for you in a good way. Are you a kind of ‘new’, hippie?

Chris: I would say there’s a generation of “a new kind of hippie,” but I wouldn’t say that I’m the first! I’ve come across a lot of free-spirited people that love collaboration and are really in touch with nature. But then there are so many degrees of what that might be, and I feel like when it comes to me, I’m doing it in my own way. I’m really in touch with nature but I also have a strong fashion background which in many ways could be viewed as anti-hippie. So, I feel, like, while embracing nature, I also embrace fashion and beauty and a lot of things that aren’t completely natural to the earth, but maybe are completely natural to myself.

Richard: What do you think the “new kind of hippie” should be called? No doubt someone will coin a label for them - maybe you can do that?

Chris: Baby Alpaca!

Richard: Collaboration at the center of what you do. Why is it so important to you?

Chris: I love people and love what other people do. In our super connected age, collaboration is the norm. Collaboration makes life much more full. It has more sides, more view points. When you bounce ideas off of one another the idea grows. Once a candle of an idea is passed along to more and more people they throw their wood onto it and it becomes a full-fledged fire. It’s kind of, like, if you do something by yourself then it’s just yours, but when you do it with a family of people - a family of creative artists - then its all of yours’ and you can see every little part that everyone contributed.

Richard: Baby Alpaca, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Polar Bear, Panda Bear, there’s kind of…..

Chris: Animal magic!!

Richard: Yeah! How did you join the zoo?

Chris: I bought a sweater that was made out of baby alpaca, and it inspired me to write a song called “Baby Alpaca” based on how amazingly comfortable the sweater was. I’d never actually seen a baby alpaca, then I looked them up, and saw similarities between them and my look at the time. I had been traveling and my hair was grown out - it’s naturally curly so it was big and pompadourish, much like an alpaca. Kind of like helmet hair you could say. I hadn’t named my music project so it was just a natural thing, like, “Oh, I should just call it Baby Alpaca!”

Richard: Speaking of comfort, there’s been a resurgence of restaurants serving classic comfort food. Are you making comfort music?

Chris: The music is definitely very comforting.

Richard: It also has an escapist quality to it. Where do you like to escape to when you’re making it?

Chris: Ever since I was a child the place I escaped to is my Grandmother’s farm in Ohio. I used to go there and walk around in the woods and sing to myself. It’s one of the most comforting places that I like to think of. I feel like I’ve gotten so good at being comfortable I can kind of be comfortable anywhere now. It’s not really something that I have to turn on and off. I would like people to feel and hear comfort in my music.

Richard: You play an autoharp. How did you come to learn that instrument?

Chris: Well, I had been traveling with a lot of musician friends, and was in this second-hand music store and happened across one, I had never seen an autoharp before and just started playing it in the store. It was out of tune and really old and there wasn’t a tuner with it but it was really cheap so I bought it and I started playing it - out of tune. Eventually I ordered a tuner and was sort of teaching myself how to play it, watching a lot of videos of people that used to play it and I discovered I used it in a much different way.

Richard: It kind of links back to the farm and the country, doesn’t it?

Chris: Yeah, it definitely does, it’s fitting for me to play and also the sound it really fitting. I was looking into playing a harp, but it’s their size…

Richard: It’s quite a lot to hold between your legs!

Chris: Yeah, they’re huge.

Richard: How do you escape when you’re in Bushwick. Brooklyn is about as far away from a rural idyl as you can possibly get.

Chris: Yeah. I feel like my best escape is through music. When I’m not somewhere where I’m physically escaping, I think that that’s what I do - I make music. And like you said, my music has an escapist quality. Music, and also fashion, is the way that I do it. It allows me to be who I want and defy gravity, or just not think about what’s around me and just make songs. That’s the most creative I feel I can get. I mean, you can do drugs or something else, but those all seem to end up badly for most people, so it seems like music is my best escape.

Richard: Your escapism to me doesn’t seem to be about totally disconnecting yourself from a reality. It’s seems to be more about enhancing your reality.

Chris: Yeah, it’s about finding a reality worth being in, trying to surround yourself with people and friends, and hanging in the places that have a certain type of people, but you do have to sort of escape from where you are if you’re going to eventually find that.

Richard: Your music feels very free form and organic. Do you have a song writing and recording process? How does it work?

Chris: I like to to have a fully developed song and idea before I start recording. I like to play it on my aut harp or accordion, making up chord progressions, or I’ll make beats with my feet while playing the autoharp and sing, and I’ll record it on my iPhone. However, I rarely ever listen to those recordings. I think I use them as a crutch. It’s one of those things where I know, “Oh, I can go back to them, and hear all the words I sang last night on the roof.” But I tend to actually remember the whole experience, and it has almost becomes like a check that I do with myself, like if I don’t remember the words and I don’t remember the chords, maybe they’re not worth remembering.

When other people come in to play with Baby Alpaca I don’t give any direction. I only like to play with people that get it. I like people that fit in, and I don’t have to worry about. I feel doing it any other way would just hinder the whole creative process.

Richard: And is it difficult to find musicians who “get it”, ?

Chris: It’s been extremely difficult. My biggest struggle is finding people that are free and know how to let go, but are also grounded. I’ve gone from meeting musicians that are so free, though really all they are is ‘fucked up’, through to classically trained musicians that just don’t get the sound that I’m going for. But since I’ve been living in Bushwick I’ve made some really close friends thatI know will become solid, long-term musical collaborators. There are some people, like my brother, who started out as a classically trained musician that I would play with, who through playing with me a lot, and me dealing with him and him dealing with me, we ended up developing a great musical understanding of each other. I feel like he’s changed a lot since he’s been playing with Baby Alpaca, which is a cool thing to see, because he’s someone that I really love and care about in so many ways other than just musically. I think it’s the freedom that Baby Alpaca has that gave him freedom to let go and find himself. He’s in Japan now, so he’s become so free he’s gone!

Richard: Tell us about your jewelry and fashion collaborations
Chris: I was shopping in Clifton, a college town in Cincinnati, and came across some really interesting pieces of jewelry by Vein. It turned out that the designer Linda and I have a lot of friends in common, but we only found out when I was wearing her jewelry and she recognized it and now we’ve become really close friends. She started making pieces for me that I would wear to shows, and I had been working for a home accessories label called Middleton, which uses lots of natural materials… so, we started doing a collaborative jewelry line, which we call Vein & Baby Alpaca.

Richard: And what future collaborations do you have planned?

Chris: Future? We’ll definitely continue to do the jewelry, it’s been selling very well, and lately I’ve been planning with a few friends who work at The Row [The Olsen’s label]. I worked there last spring, so it’s kind of how I know everyone there. We’ve been working on ideas for performance-wear for Baby Alpaca. We want to develop a really strong visual aesthetic that embodies everything we’re inspired by: nature, found materials and of course comfort. It’s also definitely got a strong unisex feel - being able to lose gender and lose your mind and lose what you are.
Richard: Back to the music, tell us about your new single, “Beware the Woods”.

Beware the Woods - Baby Alpaca

Chris: I wrote “Beware of the Woods” a couple of months ago on my roof in Bushwick. It’s about the masculine being lost in lust over the feminine. “She’ll take you to the garden with the flowers/you’ll take off all your clothes and lay for hours”. In love, time can disappear. When blind in the arms of another, you become lost.

Richard: When do you plan on releasing your debut album?

Chris: Summertime! Can’t give the exact date, but it’s on its way. There’s going to be a song called “Dark Vodka” which is a mix of the song “Vodka Lemonade.” An alternate video is in the works too, to come out at the end of the summer.

Richard: And finally, you said that Baby Alpaca was a little like John Coltrane’s “A Few of My Favorite Things”. What are a few of your favorite things?

Chris: I love champagne. My dog Apple. I love her, she’s the most comfortable pet. And I love beautiful boys and girls who like to have fun… just like the von Trapp children. I like dressing up in curtains. And I like finding people. My most favorite thing is finding someone on the same page I’m on.

Baby Alpaca will be performing with PAPS, Thursday May 13, at Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, 8PM
and opening for Brahms, Tuesday June 1 at Pianos, 158 Ludlow St, New York, 8pm

Other than Ikea’s meatballs, which are always lukewarm at best, Sweden is really hot right now. It’s got good looks, clean air (barring some Icelandic ash), great designers and a thriving and varied music scene. Adding to their stellar roster of blissed out pop, the label Sincerely Yours, home to jj, The Tough Alliance and Air France, (who will soon be baring all in an EVB exclusive interview), now bring us CEO. We don’t know too much about CEO, actually that’s a lie we know loads of things about CEO, but still know nothing. This is what we were sent… in addition to the amazing video!

ceo arises in 1981 and 1891. in 3064 and tomorrow. after ibrahimovic and before nectanebo II. before the dark ages and after spring break. before time was, ceo is.

ceo arises in miami, hell, holzschlag, the andes, sparta, chianti and wall street. in the antennae galaxies, kungsmässan, flushing meadows and the mariana trench. before space was, ceo is.

you may call me sophia, yukio, fanta, eric, kiki and krishna. and wii and whitney.

ceo is the photosynthesis and a an aria, it is silence and virginity lost in a gang bang.
ceo is a bird in space and ceo is the space in a bird.
ceo is saliva, patrón, november rain and panic. it is a relief, a citrine and it is broken dreams.
ceo is the harlot, the prince the snake and the shaman. in a spyker c8 laviolette. and on a mirage.
ceo is raspberries and chlamydia, it is the shadow and it is a clapping game.
ceo is auroras and charlotte casiraghi. it is laser beams and a home by the ocean.
ceo is a lost love and rihanna’s voice. it is hibernation, the spectacle and every breath you take.
ceo is platinum and it is valium, it is a quasar and it is a lie. ceo is a breech forest and a slamdunk.
ceo is the ashanti and ceo is seinfeld. it is eucalyptus, neon and a smile.
ceo is a war zone and a sanctuary. it is dukkha, dilla and the body of light.
ceo is cashmere, sweat, zooxanthellae and a stiletto. it is implosion technology and it is the match point.

ceo is you and you are me and i am ceo.

in eternity.

Our East London friends Cottweiler have just launched their A/W 2010 collection, with this delightful, very hot and very ‘English’ film, directed by Sarah Chatfield, that captures their passion for British subculture.“Shot against the bleakly familiar backdrop of playing fields, the video evokes memories of childhood as it follows three friends through the mundane rituals of free time, blending playful aggression with sinister intimacy.”We were given a sneak preview of the pieces and as always, they’re very cute, and very English. Unfortunately they are still unavailable in New York, so it’s a trip across the pond if you want to bag some of their ‘garms’. But don’t fear we’ve just reprinted the super dirty tee they designed for us last fall. We only have a limited quantity, so get to our store - it’s first come…

“British youth culture is always where we start our collection, it’s where we’re from. This season’s collection was inspired by falconry, after we both saw a photo of a skinhead boy with his pet bird. We felt this evoked the mood of what we wanted for the new collection - youth, ownership, identity. All pieces are made from British cloth - heavy tweeds, wools and waxed cotton, leather trims and brass fittings reflecting falconry hoods. The jersey pieces are sports inspired. We wanted to achieve a look that was ‘fresh off the playing field’ with quilted joggers over shorts, caps and sleeveless sweatshirts. The outerwear pieces, most notably our tweed tracksuit, combine british street culture with traditional rural tailoring, expressing a clean, tailored sportswear look.”