PETER ASTOR may still be remembered fondly for his work with Creation Records heroes THE LOFT and THE WEATHER PROPHETS, but with DAVID SHEPPARD he's breaking down new barriers as both THE WISDOM OF HARRY and now ELLIS ISLAND SOUND. E.I.S have just released their eponymously-titled debut album and TIM PEACOCK talks to them about soundtracks, remixing, Krautrock and strange Klaus Kinski movies...
Peter Astor is the kind of quiet maverick we totally approve of at Whisperin' & Hollerin'. Your reviewer keenly followed his progress with THE WEATHER PROPHETS during the 1980s and since the mid 1990s, he's very successfully re-defined his position in the scheme of things with new sonic partner DAVID SHEPPARD. Their "song"-based project THE WISDOM OF HARRY have already made two notable LPs with "Stars Of Super 8" and "The House of Binary" before we got to ELLIS ISLAND SOUND.
"There again, it's not gonna sound like OCEAN COLOUR SCENE, though," he laughs, "so don't worry. It'll still have lots of things going on."
To get back to the album, your radical overhaul of the MANIC STREET PREACHERS' "Ocean Spray" closes the record. Like Andy Weatherall were you fans from way back? That track (concerning the death of James Dean Bradfield's mother) was a harrowing one to choose to tackle...
"Actually, we're not huge fans," David contradicts. "I've never knowingly owned an album by the Manics."
"Our involvement came through James (Dean Bradfield) though. He's a bit of a keen record buyer and he'd liked the early EIS EPs. He got onto us actually."
"Certainly our version of the track bears little relation to the original," he continues. "There aren't any vocals now and it's a lot more meditative rather than melancholy."
Of course THE MANIC STREET PREACHERS' legend has at least partly been built on their sometimes chaotic live performances. Can David and Peter see ELLIS/ WISDOM becoming regular live competitors?
"Well, we've already taken WISDOM OF HARRY to the States and I do enjoy the actual playing side of it," replies Peter.
"I don't enjoy the other aspects, though. Sitting in a plane terrifies me, plus all the nonsense surrounding it...especially being away from my family."
"Perhaps if we can get an orchestra in with ELLIS ISLAND SOUND we'll get into it, but we hate all the nonsense usually associated with electronic groups live, y'know..people standing onstage checking their e-mails. That's not performance in any way, it just sends audiences to sleep."
ELLIS ISLAND SOUND have got into the act of a fashion recently, however, DJing with labelmates DOVES on their celebrated UK tour. Did you enjoy this?
"Yeah, DOVES were very good to us personally," agrees David.
"I can't say I knew too much about them previously, because it's not the sort of thing I'd listen to on a regular basis, but DOVES are undoubtedly an impressive band."
"We played a bunch of funny records to warm up the audience," he continues, with something approaching mirth.
"We'd mix in TELEVISION with THE FALL, strange house records, THE PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA. I mean, surely you like to play FRANK SINATRA after CAN?"
Sure thing. I mean, why the hell not?
"Exactly," grins David. "Besides, I think people were just milling around in the hall when we were DJing...but there was some appreciative head nodding going on!"
One final question about remixing. You've also done a version of TWO LONE SWORDSMEN'S "Spine Bubbles" for the WARP Records Box Set. Do you think Warp will be seen as revolutionary almost in the way Punk is now viewed?
"Yeah, they've a definite sensibility," Peter muses. "They're amazing in that they've got their own atmosphere and I like the idea of them bringing together disparate people. Now ex-indie kids from 10 years back could become Warp kids. Having said that I'm not keen on everything they do by any means."
Finally, then, considering ELLIS ISLAND SOUND'S obvious cinematic qualities, if you were given any choice of director, who would you choose to score a soundtrack for?
"Ooh, interesting one!" gushes Peter.
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"I'd have to say STEVEN SPIELBERG...lots of money!(Laughs)"
"Seriously, though...WERNER HERZOG..something like "Aguirre:The Wrath Of God" (movie featuring the notorious KLAUS KINSKI about a band of Spanish conquistadors searching for gold in the amazon - film Ed)."
"I've always related to movies with John Cassavetes (versatile sadly late actor who featured in "The Deer Hunter" and "The Conversation" amongst others - Ed), plus newer stuff like "Dogma." There again we could always try a Macaulay Culkin movie, scoring it with a repetitive, CAN-style drone-y rhythm. That'd really be great!"
Wouldn't it just! In the meantime, check out "ELLIS ISLAND SOUND" to check out this fascinating duo's structured, but anarchic rhythmic touch. Disappointment is definitely NOT on the aganda.
I suggest to the pair that I loved the atmosphere of "Stars Of Super 8" and that I can understand why they sometimes get Krautrock comparisons. Were the likes of CLUSTER and CAN a starting point for your sound these days?
"Hmm, yeah CLUSTER and NEU! especially...we'd certainly have them in common, " says David.
"They'd certainly be listening favourites or ours. We've been investigating the same kind of drum machine sounds and that whole rhythmic thing. The sonic qualities of vintage equipment really appeals to us."
In evolutionary terms, too, I suspect that discovering samplers and immersing yourselves in your home studio during the mid-1990s may have been something of a turning point?
"Yeah, I think it was. It's certainly a way of arresting control for yourself without spending thousands of pounds in the process," muses David.
"It really was a massive turning point," emphasises Peter.
"Before that, it was always a question of standing over someone's shoulder and forcing them to do things. The last WEATHER PROPHETS recordings were made with the clock ticking and didn't achieve what we wanted anyway. Now it's possible to realise the sounds in my head."
Clearly, these sounds are both complex and melodic and are certainly realised by ELLIS ISLAND SOUND'S debut album: a self-titled affair on Heavenly that collects both the duo's original groove-based instrumentals and also their remix work for a number of influential friends.
For instance, how did you end up working with REGULAR FRIES? Your re-working of their track "Cyanide" is startling. Did they give you free rein?
"Yeah, they did and that's how we generally approach remixes," admits David.
"Pete says it's like DNA technology," he continues, laughing.
"You take a fragment and build it up. We take what we like intuitively. The FRIES thing was done almost subconsciously, really. As it progresses, it could go in any number of directions. "Cyanide" now sounds quite like Philly soul. But it could just have easily come out like a NEU! track. That's the beauty of our method of working."
Talking of which, do you and David have set methods of procedure, Peter? Or do you just pitch in when someone has an idea?
"Well, there's no set boundaries," Peter states.
"It's evolved itself...ELLIS ISLAND SOUND is entirely collaborative. WISDOM OF HARRY comes more from my songs. The next WISDOM OF HARRY record will be more acoustic-based songs, but it will still have electronic textures."
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