Interview- The Garland Cult

Band: The Garland Cult Interviewer: Julie Johnson Date: 2-9-06

GC: Hello, how are you doing? Have you had a good start to the New Year, 2006?

Hello! We're very well indeed and very excited about this interview offer. So far, January has been really excellent for us. The www.thegarlandcult.com website was launched, we signed an album/2 singles deal with Ninthwave Records, we completed a remix for Fr/action, a cover of Attrition's 'A Girl Called Harmony' (UK milling selling Goth band), featured in Side Line news, completed an interview for Chaindlk and now one for you guys. Not bad for a new band really, is it?

GC: Some of us may not know who The Garland Cult is, can you tell us more about the make-up of this project?

Well, to quote our own website. Here's what we are really all about.

'THE GARLAND CULT: AIDAN CASSERLY//LAR KIERNAN. AN ELECTRO MUSIC PROJECT THAT LIKES TO INJECT A BIT OF STYLE AND COLOUR INTO TODAYS INSIPID POP-MUSIC. A BOLD MISSION STATEMENT TRUE - BUT AT LEAST THERE'S NO FLASHY AND MISLEADING PRESS RELEASES - THE GARLAND CULT ARE FOR REAL! INSPIRED BY THE FILMS, ACTORS, SINGERS, PRODUCERS AND ART THAT THEY ADORE, YOU'LL FIND MP3'S OF TRACKS FROM THE DEBUT ALBUM 'PROTECT YOURSELF FROM HOLLYWOOD', AS WELL AS A VIDEO FOR ONE OF ITS SONGS ON THEIR WEBSITE. OCCASIONAL NEWS UPDATES, WHEN BOTH THE MOOD AND THE NEWS ARIVES FROM GARLAND HQ IN DUBLIN, IRELAND. THANKFULLY THEY DON'T TAKE THINGS TOO SERIOUSLY, JUST SERIOUSLY ENOUGH.'

GC: How has your past work in Empire State Human prepared you for The Garland Cult?

Being part of a band like ESH really helped us get our demo's listened to, helped us approach and work with remixers/producers and also gave us the self belief to see us through the details and song writing tasks very smoothly. With The Garland Cult about to debut with the 'Impossible' single, then the album 'Protect Yourself From Hollywood', it's a good sign we're keeping focussed and seeing the material through on all levels, artistically and schedualing.

C: What does The Garland Cult allow you to do that you might not have been able to do with ESH?

Write more material, collaborate with other producers, DJs and song-writers and release it all under a brand new name. Even to the point of incorporating a different electro sound. We like the idea of doing diverse music, and having a certain sound it can't be an easy thing to do. But having nothing to live up to (except song quality)we can take complete turns, with style.

GC: What does The Garland Cult plan to do within the music scene? What is in-store for the listening audience in 2006?

Ninthwave Records have signed a distribution deal, and stores are part of that. As well as pushing 'Protect Yourself From Hollywood' through the usual on-line channels, there scope to incorporate even more shops too. The 2 singles planned (the first being 'Impossible'), these are for DJ/promo useage, with a handdful for physical sale.

GC: It seems like your able to balance the two projects, how do you manage this?

The key to any undertaking is hard work, first and foremost. Time management is crucial too. There's no point saying to yourself, I want to write a new song and then complaining you haven't the time, when the opportunity arises. Thankfully, we move very quickly with regard to writing the tracks. Finding the producers is time consuming, but also not impossible. QUBIQ is a producer that was someone who came to us via the Dead or Alive tribute album 'Rocket'. He's someone we want to continue our association with. John Giacobello is again, a friend to us from his Count To Infinity days, when ESH remixed him and then Jogn produced for us.

GC: I am sure you are ready for people to compare your music still with ESH, and what are you ready to say about that?

The big association will be with Aidan's distinctive vocal sound. The songs are still pop, but there's a more colourful tone, and possibly the music continues that vein. Glamour and art are also more evident. So far, the general mood is that it's somewhere between early ESH, 'Pop Robot' with a contemporary underbelly. It's kind of hard to explain, but we're open to comparison, criticism and perusal, where needed. Hand on heart, we love the album. It's something we'd buy ourselves. We deliberatly want Aidan's vocals higher in the mix with The Garland Cult material, as well as giving producers more freedom when working on the tracks and mixing. It's important for team spirit, to enthuase the project.

GC: With The Garland Cult, what kind of door is open?

We do see it as a project, that works with outside producers, but we got some remix offers and ave complete some 'remixed by The Garland Cult' tracks. That's something that wasn't expected to happen. 6 months from now, we'll be able to answer that question more accurately.

GC: Can you tell is more about the danceable approach to the new album 'Protect Yourself From Hollywood'?

Thankfully, every track is dance floor orientated but not at the expense of the songs. The Laura Brannigan cover 'Self Control' (produced by John Giacobello) is very electro, with a 60s drum twist in the chorus. 'Impossible' and 'Style' are stompers. 'All Good Things' opens and close the set, and both are very different. Godlike produced the 2nd mix and Baxendale did the first one. That's quite a sad song, there's a melancholic feel to the melody line and its quite a sad song. We wrote song that for a film script a friend of ours has written (called 'Sisk'). It won a big award in Cannes last year and is scheduled to start shooting in August 2006. Ideally, we want people to put the album on at a party, and want it to play through.

GC: Playing live, what can we expect?

There was talks of a London date, which we're really hoping will happen. Live isn't the reason we exist, so nothing's certain.

GC: How do you feel about doing covers?

Love them! 'Self Control' is one that worked so well. Also, John Gicaobello wrote a song called 'Like A Riverboat' which is special to us too. We're also thinking of recording an EP of Dead or Alive covers (3 or 4) later in the year. We've also done the Attrition cover 'A Girl Called Harmony' and that was warmly received by Martin in the UK.

GC: How are you viewed in Dublin, where you are based?

We're like secret agents, we're totally unknown at present here in Dublin, Ireland. That's actually exciting for us, to be existing but not known. We're the Moulder and Scully of the electro world!!

GC: What are you game for in 2006?

First things first, to get the 'Impossible' single out and then the debut album 'Protect Yourself From Hollywood', followed by a 2nd single. We're also hoping to start recording the next Empire State Human album 'Paparazzi' the end of 2006, as well as begin work on another album for The Garland Cult called 'Cruising'. 'Cruising' will contain some jazz/pop style tunes, as well as some electro too. So, when you think about it, we've quite a lot to do yet.

GC: Anything else you would like to add like, why the title of the band? How you do remixes, your connection with Ninthwave Records or anything else you would like to share?

The Garland Cult name, comes from Judy Garland and the androgenous fans who followed her live circuit performances in th 50s/60s. It's got a great ring to it (!!) and the name suits to high-camp pop feel of the music. We do remixes for other bands, with very simple gear and a few drum machines (well, we've 12 in total). ESH were originally signed with Ninthwavve Records back in 2001 and stayed there until 'Cycles' was written. We've always kept in contact with Dave Ricards and he loved The Garland Cult tracks we sent him in 2005, and he then gave us an offer we talked about and liked and we haven't looked back. We keen to get the website site known www.thegarlandcult.com and there's free MP3s to listen to, and regular updates. We've even a forum, if any wants to link up there etc.