Blonde Redhead: An Interview with Amedeo Pace

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Experimental pop band Blonde Redhead – featuring Japanese born Kazu Makino (lead vocal and guitars) and Italian twin brothers Simone (drums) and Amedeo Pace (guitars and vocals) -- was discovered by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and gained a cult following with it's self-titled debut in 1995. Since, the trio’s popularity has continued to grow and its most recent album “23” was released in April 2007 to rave reviews. Blonde Redhead makes a lot of noise, producing sounds similar to Portishead mixed with Brainiac, and is a must-see live. Guitarist Amedeo sat down with SuicideGirls after the band’s recent Lollapalooza gig to talk about their new album, a horrible experience on Conan O'Brien and food.

Mike Hammer: Have you guys played a lot of festivals?
Amedeo Pace: Yeah.
MH:
Do you have a most memorable festival, either as the best or the worst?
AP:
Actually, we just played Fugi in Japan and it's so beautiful there. I think that's been the best so far. Just the environment, it was at a ski resort and Japanese people are very respectful and clean, it felt amazing to just walk around, it felt safe. And the sound was good, the PAs were good and the lights.
MH:
You guys have played Japan a lot I imagine, since Kazu is from Japan. Is there a difference in the way the music is received? You mentioned the culture being a bit different, do they get into the music and appreciate it the same way as we do In the U.S.? Does the music translate across cultures? I know you just played in parts of Europe recently too.
AP:
Yeah, I think it does. I think with us, we have a pretty honest crowd - well not honest, but just… pretty, devoted to us, no matter where we go. They just seem to be happy to see us no matter where we go. We just went to Israel, they'd been waiting for us a long time and we hadn't been able to go.
MH:
That was in Tel Aviv right? How did it turn out?
AP:
It was amazing. They were so happy we were there and they knew all our songs and started singing.
MH:
Even though Blonde Redhead formed In the U.S., you and your brother grew up in Italy and Kazu grew up in Japan, so you have some international perspective - even beyond your touring in other countries. Are the 'scenes' very different in other countries? Are the fans different, or what they listen to mostly, or do you see a lot of overlap in each part of the world?
AP:
I think there is a lot of overlap. I think people who come to see us are usually interested in the same bands it seems like - good bands like Arcade Fire and Interpol and LCD Soundsystem. Bands that are really trying to create something new and exciting. It seems to be everywhere. Then of course every country we go to they love some of the bands from that country and will tell us about them and introduce us to them and they advise us to listen to certain bands that are really good.
MH:
Have you ever worked with, or met a band you wanted to work with or listen to, on tour?
AP:
We just met Beruit on tour, when we played in Spain. We really liked him. We just met a few minutes, but he came to our show and we talked to him for just a while, but he seems like a really nice person and I think I would like to get to know him.
MH:
You guys have been around a while, are there still people you want to work with?
AP:
There lots of people you meet always and they become part of your family.
MH:
You guys first worked with Sonic Youth with drummer Steve Shelley, you were kinda discovered by him - and you've worked with Guy Picciotto from Fugazi do you still talk with them, how did those relationships come about?
AP:
Steve, if I see him I say hi, but I don't think we've seen him in a really, really long time. I think maybe they were playing in Spain when we were playing and they came to see us, but I didn't get to talk to them. We are pretty out of touch. Guy is a really good friend and so are Ian and Joe and Brendan (the other members of Fugazi) and when we go to DC usually they come see us there, yeah... I really like them.
MH:
Speaking of other bands, you mentioned LCD Soundsystem and in Chicago at Lollapoolooza you guys were scheduled to play right before LCD Soundsystem, did you stick around and watch them.
AP:
Yeah, well actually we ran and got something to eat - cause we hadn't eaten in two days.
MH:
That's not good.
AP:
We hadn't eaten a full meal, we picked on things and I was so hungry I was about to faint after we were done playing, but I could hear them play.
MH:
So you guys been touring that much you haven't been able to eat.
AP:
We had lunch the day before, then we left and we got into Lollapalooza and we had a million things to do. It wasn't really two days without eating, more like 36 hours.
MH:
You said festivals are hard to play, and you just did Lollapalooza, which used to be a touring festival but is anchored now, do you think people don't like festivals as much anymore is it too hard economically to organize them, what do you think?
AP:
Well, I think it's a great idea, I do think it's really fun for everyone, but it must be really hard to organize, just having bad weather, a storm or something, you'd lose tons of money, so it's risky. I can't imagine one that moves around - that would be even harder. But, when it's right, like in Japan, it's really amazing, cause you feel like you're part of something that's really amazing. Like Coachella (annual festival in California) this time was really good…
MH:
How do you guys get involved with the festivals? Are these things you requested to play or do the organizers contact you? Like at Lollapalooza you were on the MySpace stage -- is that cause you love MySpace?
AP:
No, they just get ahold of us. I'm not sure why we were on the MySpace stage, I think they just sponsored that one. But afterward we did a signing and we met some people from MySpace and took photos with them and I think they were going to have something special with the band on MySpace and they might broadcast something. I've gone on MySpace like three or four times, it's not something that I've done a lot, but I guess I'm going to have to check It out.
MH:
Are you on the Internet a lot?
AP:
Yeah, if there's a band that I want to find out about I get obsessed with them and try to find everything about them and find them on YouTube or MySpace or their Web site so I can listen to their shows live, just out of curiosity and learning. So I'm not completely retarded, but I don't like to spend too much time on the Internet.
MH:
Are there some sites you visit everyday or so, that aren't music sites?
AP:
I'll check the Italian news sites a lot.
MH:
Do you get back to Italy a lot?
AP:
We go at least once a year and we play quite a bit there to, so we end up going maybe two or three times.
MH:
Is the food in Italy really 100 times better? What are the differences? I've never been there.
AP:
You kind of have to go to understand. You go to a supermarket and it's like, the basic supermarket has the most beautiful vegetables and fish and it's not expensive there, I mean, it is a little bit but it's just part of life just to have good food and good vegetables and people love food and are constantly talking about food, and it's really quite different. Even when traveling, on the highway, you stop at a gas station you can shop better than any U.S. store, cheeses from all different regions, and the specialty of the area, whatever... But, I like a lot of cities, I like cities in Holland and I love Paris and many places.
MH:
OK. You guys were on Conan O'Brien a couple months ago. It was your first time on late night TV in the U.S. how was that?
AP:
It was fun, but they kind of destroyed us with the sound mix. It was pretty terrible. Which was really unfortunate cause we put so much time into it and we even brought equipment so they wouldn't mess the sound up, and the still managed to make it sound really stiff and empty and there was no kind of dreaminess to it.
MH:
That's too bad, because 23 has a bigger soundscape than some of your past albums, you kind of opened up the barn doors. Is that a perception you wanted people to have.
AP:
Yeah, we wanted it to be special and big sounding, and we are learning how to do these things ourselves as we go on, so… it's almost like we never had enough time to expand it with all the things we wish we could explain and expand it with, as far as recording, and we only have so much time. So, the sound of the album is great, but I'm sure if we had more time we could even go further and ever album with us is different because we always want to move on with what we do musically and sound-wise.
MH:
You spent about a month recording 23. Are those eight hour days, full time, non-stop.
AP:
We spent about three weeks in one place and two weeks in another place, so a little more than a month. And usually we would start at 12 noon and finish at 1 a.m.
MH:
Is it still exciting making music? This is your seventh album -- is it fun to go put in all those hours or is it more like a job nowadays. Is there still that magic in there.
AP:
Yeah, that's what's good about us. When it happens for us it's really quite amazing, so it is always exciting. At the beginning we were doing things unconsciously a little more and we would only have three or four days to record an album, and the next one would be like a week or so. So it was difficult. So it's still exciting but we have to work hard.
MH:
Is the goal to buy your own studio one day and have infinite time to record?
AP:
I'd love to have a studio.
MH:
So you are involved a lot more now with the recording, have you gotten involved with the videos for your music? I saw some videos from Mike Mills for songs on 23[/]. How did that come about?
AP:
He kind of took on that and did it himself. We told him he could and we gave him a little bit of money and he did like five songs, pretty freely, and it's very cool.
MH:
Has that happened before? People just approaching you and asking to do videos?
AP:
People are allowed to do what they want with our music. Go out and make videos for us. But, for Mike we gave him a little bit of money, very little, and we had an agreement. But most of our budget we spent with Melodie McDaniel (who directed videos for the Cranberries, Madonna and Tori Amos, as did still photography for the films Seven and Love Jones) to make the video for 23.
MH:
How did the concept for that one come about and were you happy with It?
AP:
She contacted us and said she wanted to do it and told us what she wanted to do, and we didn't pay that much attention, but our label (4AD) told us we should do it with her and we went to LA, we talked to her on the phone a bit before, then we met her and she was really amazing and the video came out really amazing. You can see it on the YouTube or MySpace.
MH:
Do you like to participate in the videos and artwork and that portion of the creativity, or do you mostly stick to the music part?
AP:
I like the music aspect. We all have different strengths within the band. I think I function the best and I work the hardest when we start to make music and record and write it and I become very detailed and obsessive about it. Kazu is very detailed and creative that way, she looks like she's not thinking about anything and then she is and she comes up with something. She came up with the cover for 23.
MH:
What was the idea behind the cover and the title of the album?
AP:
The title came from the song "23" and the cover, we just thought It would be nice to have a title for the album that was short, because we always have such long titles. We always do things cause they feel right, without thinking about it or trying to explain them. It's not for us to tell people why we do things or what it means. A lot of accidents happen with us, that's sort of the nature of the band. We have different minds and we have to arrive at a place where we all agree on something. So even If someone has a very strong, distinctive idea, the other two might have to say, “Woah, calm down.”
MH:
Does that happen a lot? Is that a lot of the writing process, you guys bring in separate ideas and fight over them then meld them together?
AP:
Usually, I bring the main idea, the chords and the melody and I work with Kazu and we try to see if it's something she could sing and then we start arranging it and putting drums to it.
MH:
Is there a lot of arguing or head-butting on things though?
AP:
Sometimes, but not too much.
MH:
A lot of critics and music people are saying this might be the album that finally makes Blonde Redhead huge, does that matter too you guys, to be labeled as that level of success? Do levels of success matter?
AP:
Yeah, they do of course, but it's not a good thing if you don't grow, if you remain in the same clubs, playing for the same amount of people. So it's important for us to know that things are changing, just as much as we are musically, things around us are also changing.
MH:
You have gone from smaller labels too middle on Touch and Go and now bigger on 4AD, is there a final goal, a place you want to reach or are you just going along with it?
AP:
No, we're not going along with it, we're working hard and thinking about it all the time, what's the best way for us and the best situation for us. 4AD has been good and supportive to us, and gives us the freedom that we need, but it might be nice to have something more… to grow little bit more. We've always done things that we can handle and that's been kind of a blessing to us, our growth has been very gradual and I think with this record we are almost able to step to a different place and be very comfortable. To get some money to buy a place, none of us own a house, to get things that you want to have. I would love to own a piece of land.
MH:
30 years from now do you wanna have a big house in the Italian countryside with a recording studio?
AP:
I see myself In Scotland or Iceland, somewhere where there is lots of green and lots of rivers.
MH:
Still in a band, still touring you think?
AP:
No. I like horses. So maybe just raising horses. That would be fun.