This weekend, the Black Angels headline the first Austin Psych Fest at the Red Barn, and event that frontman Christian Bland has long wanted to organize. Since the release of Passover in 2006, the sextet have become the premier representatives of Austin’s resurgent psych scene, which includes many of the bands lined up for Saturday’s fest like Ringo Deathstarr, Horse + Donkey, and the Strange Boys. The Fest also serves as the christening for the new venue/art space, the Red Barn, which we expect will become the center of many more fantastic events to come. Also on the horizon for the Black Angels is their new album, Directions to See a Ghosts, due out in May on the awesome Seattle imprint Light in the Attic. We spoke with Bland about the Fest, the new album, and exactly what the relationship is between the Viet Minh and Black Angels.
Interview: The Black Angels
Austin Sound: So tell us a little bit about how the Festival got started and what the impetus was.
Christian Bland: My buddy Adam and I have been talking about doing something like this for a couple of years now, so the vision has been around for a while and it finally happened this year. This Red Barn property, he’d been looking at for about 5 years, and this January he was able to finally figure out who the owner was, and the owner is really into art and also a musician, so it really turned out perfect. So Adam now has the lease on this big red barn. He and I are kind of a partnership – I’m more the art side and he’s more the business end of it. But he finally got this place, and the idea has always been to have it the week before SXSW so that our friends’ bands that are coming in from all across the country can just come a couple days earlier and stick around and make a little extra money.
AS: What is the Red Barn? What was it originally and what kind of space is it?
CB: I don’t know what it was originally, but to me, it’s like a big airplane hanger. It can probably fit about 900 to a 1000 people, so it’s just a huge red barn. It was being used for storage before, but we renovated the inside and painted it all white, and the idea is that it’s just going to be a place for the whole multi-media experience, with the music and we’ll have our projectors going on all the walls, just full out psychedelic.
AS: Are the bands doing their own projections, or are y’all handling it all?
CB: We’re handling it. We’ve got all the projectors, so we’ll probably be doing that all day.
AS: Are y’all planning to do more events at the Barn too?
CB: Yeah, exactly! We’re hoping that this is kind of a kickoff for what will be a regular venue.
AS: So do y’all have a bar set up in there and everything too?
CB: Oh yeah, we got a bar.
AS: You know, have to ask about the important things.
AS: How do you feel about the psych scene in Austin right now?
CB: I think there are a lot of bands up and coming that are starting to get into that style, which I think is awesome.
AS: There definitely seems to be a kind of resurgence. What do you think that you would attribute that to, if anything?
CB: Well, it’s my opinion that psychedelic music was born here in Austin back in about 1966 with the 13th Floor Elevators. So I think there is just something special about the city and that’s part of the resurgence, that people understand that and that it’s important for us to remember that heritage. And that’s why we’re doing this Red Barn thing. The idea is to kind of model it off of the Vulcan Gas Company, which was the first psychedelic venue they had around here. So, that’s what we’d like it to be. It just seems like a perfect thing, because the place holds a good crowd and downtown and on Red River you have Stubb’s that holds about 2,500, and Mohawk or Emo’s that I think the top they can go is about 700, so it’s kind of right in between. And of course, not only do we want to have musical performances there, but also more of an avant-garde theater. We just want strange things going on there, interesting weird stuff.
AS: I wanted to ask you about the new album, too. When are y’all expecting that to come out?
CB: It should be coming out May 13.
AS: Great! So it’s all wrapped up and everything?
CB: Yeah, it’s all completely done.
AS: What might we be able to expect from it?
CB: Well, I would say that you’ll be able to tell it’s the Black Angels. It’s the same sound that we had on Passover, but I think that we’ve expanded upon it. We’ve each gotten better at our instruments and experimented playing different instruments, so on some of the songs it’s not the normal lineup of what it usually is. We’ve been listening to some different things, so that will have a little influence on what it sounds like too.
AS: What kind of stuff have y’all been listening to?
CB: A pretty wide variety. Some old 1930s and 40s blues to 50s rock n roll, to new bands that we’re into, like the Psychic Ills. And of course all the 60s psychedelia – mix that in there as well and that’s what you’ve got. You’ve got the next album: Directions to See a Ghost
AS: Is the new album coming out on Light In the Attic [Records]
CB: Yeah.
AS: How did y’all get hooked up with them?
CB: It was probably SXSW 2005, and they saw us, and we signed with them. They’ve been really great.
AS: Y’all were one of the first contemporary bands that they worked with though, right?
CB: Exactly. They’re a reissue label, so we were their first touring band. Since they signed us, I think they have a couple other touring bands that they’ve signed.
AS: What about tour plans for the album?
CB: In May we’re going to be heading over to England. It will be our third time, but our first to actually headline. We went over there last year in February with the Black Keys and in July with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. So this will be our fist time to go on our own, and we’ll be there for three weeks. And then when we come back we’ll tour around the US for the new album. But going over to Europe in May, the new album want actually be out, so we’ll be playing a lot of Passover stuff when we’re over there.
AS: Can you tell me a little about how the Viet Minh came about and what that project’s relationship is to the Black Angels?
CB: The way that that formed was, when we lived in our old house over on the Eastside about a year and a half ago, some of us still had jobs during the day. Stephanie really wasn’t around during the day, so Alex, Nate, and I didn’t really have anything do and would just go to the practice room and start playing. So that’s what the Viet Minh is, just the three of us, and it’s pretty much just a free-form freak out, whatever happens. And it’s kind of become a think tank for the Black Angels. A lot of the songs we’ve created with the three of us have become Black Angels songs. So when you come see [the Viet Minh] live, pretty much what you’re seeing are Black Angels songs in their early stages. So the third album will actually have several Viet Minh songs.
AS: Y’all also did the trailer for the At War documentary, which was pretty awesome, but I was wondering how much a political aspect is consciously put into the writing.
CB: On Passover, it was more conscious maybe. You know, the war was a definite theme there on Passover, but to us it was more of a general, encompassing thing, not just the war in Iraq. I think that we sing songs about the human condition, and that goes throughout our music and the war is definitely a part of that. There are hints of that on the Directions to See a Ghost album as well, but it’s certainly not the main theme. I think the main theme, actually, of both albums is just a fear and paranoia of the world we live in today. For me, I grew up a preacher’s son going to church every week, so just the ideals of if you sin, you’re going to burn down in hell, just that kind of idea that you’re constantly living in fear of life in general. I think that’s kind of a prevailing theme throughout our music. I think we talk about broad terms so that each person listening can relate it to their life.
- Interview by Doug Freeman
Mp3 from Passover:
The First Vietnamese War
Websites:
www.theblackangels.com
Myspace
