MALCHICKS

Rip It Up, Issue 184, 1 November 1992, Page 4

MALCHICKS

A few things have changed in the Malchicks camp since their formation in 1989. Drummer Lorna Kittel has been replaced by 18 year old Jason Ennor. Bass player Coralie has changed her hair colour from peroxide blonde to brunette as she finishes her studies at teacher's training college and (they agree as we munch nachos at the Mexican Cafe) their sound has evolved.

"We're taking time over it now instead of just throwing together songs and assuming that they're going to sound as we think they're goling to," explains Matthew, one of the band's two guitarists, "We're spending more time on each part and a bit more on the arrangement. The theory is that the songs get better." And more complex? "There is that tendancy. It's a bit of a danger with a lot of

sound thus: "Really loud fuzzy guitars, floaty vocals and funky drums." When asked if they're susceptible to influences, Matt says yes and Coralie says no (although she likes the

"YOU TALK TO A LOT OF BANDS AND YOU FIND THAT THEY'RE ALWAYS ARGUING ... WE DON'T," ADDS SIMON, 'WE RE ALL WATER SIGNS,"

bands who try and do something new and put a bit of originality and complexity into songwriting. It tends to go off in that prog direction." Or into dreamland, which is closer to Malchicks territory. Although it's pernicious to form equations between one band's work and another's, listening to the Malchicks is, at times, like listening to the reverberations of a head-on collision between My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth: guitars are noisy and dissonant or mournfully harmonious, while Coralie's delicate voice flutters in and out of the soundscape like a lost butterfly. Jason describes their

Smashing Pumpkins). "I get absolutely sick and tired of some comparisons made by some people who are just way off the line," she says heatedly. She adds that when she is playing on stage she has to be on a certain plane where she doesn't think too hard about what she is doing. "If you're distracted, you start to loose it. I don't interact with the audience that much. I'm not trying to get it on with everybody in the audience. I'm doing my own thing." What is the Malchicks' dymanic? "Very amoebic," says Goralie which she demonstrates with a

descriptive hand movement. "You talk to a lot of bands and you find that they're always arguing and that's where they get their dynamic from. We don't." adds Simon, the band's other guitarist. You're a harmonious band, then. "We're all water signs," continues Simon, "it's really weird. Except for him." He points to young Jason but no, Jason reveals to the table that he is in fact an Acquarian. Well how do you like that! There is something watery about you, I volunteer. "You mean wishy-washy," says Simon. No, more calm and ripply, I reply, hoping I haven't said something rude. A gentle, wavery feel. Uh . .. back to the terra firma of favourite types of music. "I'm into strings," reveals Matt, "any kind of interesting string music, whether it be fuzzy guitar based or classical. Harpsichord music's’ really cool. Anyone who is doing anything interesting with guitars, whether it be the Gordons or the Birthday Party or Band of

Susans. And some of the New York guitar experamentalists like Glenn Branca. I've got a Glenn Branca symphony and there's one movement of it which is about ten minutes of just one constantly rising note. It's so discordant most of the time but when it finally hits a true harmonic note it's beautiful!" The Malchicks are not exactly prolific (a discussion ensues over how many songs they have written this year. Simon says four, Matt says seven, they agree on one a month) but they are very happy with the sound of Lotus, only their second foray into recording after the inclusion of BFM Alternative Top Ten hit 'Vanilla' on last year's Freak The Sheep compilation. As for making a dent in the international scene, well, the Malchicks are already being played on radio in Moscow. That's right. A friend of Coralie's who did a masters degree in Russian is now resident in the onion-domed city, hosting a radio show and involving himself in the underground music scene and he's playing their song. How's that for Perestroika!

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