The Dead-End Alley Band Interview with Sebastian Sanchez-Botta and Javier Kou!

43 years ago listeners from across the globe took the needle off of their copies of L.A Woman, left with nothing but the harrowing vocal refrain of Jim Morrison singing 'Riders on the Storm'. Over four decades later, Peru-based psychedelists, The Dead-End Alley Band, are bringing it all back. Taking inspiration from the past, this group are creating some of the most authentic-sounding blues-based, stoner rock to come out of the South American continent in recent times. Enjoy the latest instalment in our continuing series of interviews out of Lima, Peru. (read instalments one + two). - Interview conducted by Daniel Sharman. 

Dan: Who is in the band, and who plays what?

Sebastian: Hi, Daniel. Well, this psychedelic adventure started with Javier Kou, playing guitars, bass and some vocal, and me, Sebastian Sanchez-Botta, playing vocals, organs, piano and some drums. Then, on the road, we added a couple of friends to perform live. They are Leonardo Alva on lead guitars, and Jaime Diaz on drums, so, the final line up is: Me on vocals and organs, Javier on vocals and bass, Leonardo on guitars, and Jaime on drums.

Dan: Where does the name The Dead-End Alley Band originate from?

Javier: Besides psychedelic music, I like some other genres and bands, so the name came up a long time ago between 2006 and 2007 when I was listening to Enrique Bunbury’s new album (in that time) in collaboration with another Spanish singer named Nacho Vegas. One of the songs of the album was ‘Welcome to El Callejón sin Salida’ and I liked the part of ‘Callejón sin Salida’ that in English is ‘Dead-End Alley’, so I just put the ‘The’ at the beginning and the ‘Band’ at the end and that was it: The Dead-End Alley Band. I saved that name for some years till I told Sebastian to start this project.

Dan: Some of the Dead-End Alley Band's songs are very organ-focused, not all too common in the often guitar-dominated world of neo psychedelia. What caused you to bring organ into the mix?

Sebastian: It’s because, our first influence to start making psychedelia were ‘The Doors’. Their music had a lot of Ray Manzarek’s organs presence, so we started loving that kind of mix between laced-cheesy-obscured organs with some delayed and fuzzy blues guitars.

Javier: Yeah, and also, in my opinion, the organ plays such a big role in the music we create, is like the nexus between the real world and the trip we offer.

Dan: Your sound contains a wide variety of band's, such as The Doors, The Deltones, Country Joe and The Fish, etc. What are some of your influences, and current favourite bands?

Javier: For the band, some other influences besides the ones you already mentioned are ‘Iron Butterfly’, ‘Phantom’s Divine Comedy’ and maybe some of ‘Vanilla Fudge’. Also when I have to create bass lines some of the influences are from Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and Black Sabbath’s Geezer Buttler. And talking about favourite bands, if I have to name 5 I would say: ‘The Doors’, ‘Alice in Chains’ (the old one without the new vocalist), ‘Alice Cooper’, ‘Héroes del Silencio’, and ‘Judas Priest’.

Sebastian: And for me, my personal influences in organs comes, besides Ray Manzarek, from classical music, some goth organs from Tim Burton’s movies, for example, or some sixties horror b-movies.

Dan: I notice that Javier Kou plays both guitar and bass on the records, how does this work in a live context?

Javier: Like Sebastian said, we had to add some people to play live, so, I play bass at the concerts, because Leonardo is so much better guitarist that I am.

Dan: Why was Leonardo Alva brought into play lead on the track 'The Cosmic Cry Out'?

Sebastian: When we included Leo in the band, we found that he is a blues man. He had a very sweet and sexy “hendrixian” way to seduce with his guitar. ‘The Cosmic Cry Out’ it supposed to be a very sensual track, so… the man with sensual bluesy solos must be there.

Dan: I feel like I'm interviewing a tonne of bands from Lima recently! First Montibus Communitas, then Spatial Moods, and now you guys! How do you feel about the Lima musical scene?

Sebastian: I have a personal feeling about Peruvian’s rock and music as well. I think that the most representative sound of Peruvian rock is the psychedelia from Traffic Sound, Laghonia, Los York’s, etc. Then, combined with the popular ‘chicha’ (psychedelic cumbia), it seems to be that psychedelic sounds are representative from this country. Is not weird, at the end of the day, to find out that we are living in a psych rock camp. A lot of bands here love having a psych sound in their style, and finally you realize that psychedelia is good looking outside, but in Lima, it lives in a very underground world.

Dan: What guitars were used on the Odd Stories recording sessions?

Javier: I like the question, man! Hahaha, Ok!, we used 3 different guitars, a Thomas guitar (A vintage Japanese copy of a Mosrite guitar), an Ephiphone Hollow Casino and 1968 Univox, provided by our friend, brother and co-producer, Chino Burga (from La Ira de Dios).

Dan: Also, what organs/keyboards were used on the album?

Sebastian: Since we started playing and recording, I play with a Farfisa Fast 5 organ, from 1969.

Dan: How about amps and effects (for both organ and guitars)?

Javier: Vox pathfinder and Marshall.

Dan: In a more general sense, what were the Odd Stories recording sessions like? Why did you decide to overdub the sound of rain onto tracks like 'Blue at a distance'?

Sebastian: We used to record in our home studio. Also, we record some tracks in some friend’s houses or studios. For example, drums were edited and mixed at Jaime Diaz studio. ‘Blue At Distance’ is a track with some feelings of loneliness. The story of a lonely guy walking through the streets at night, under the rain. We thought the sound of rain could increase that feeling of loneliness we wanted.

Dan: Who created the artwork of Odd Stories? And what does it depict?

Javier: Sebastian came with the whole illustration, and I made the work in photoshop.

Sebastian: It's an "odd story" too, hehe. The first song we composed for this album was Devil's Mask. It was my favorite song, and also, I told Javier to have that song as a single for the album. I thought the album will be called 'Devil's Mask', so I draw this weird guy with a 'diablada' mask, representative from the southern highlands here. When I wrote the lyrics and thought the story of the song, I decided to use that mask, because it's very crazy. It looks very mad and psych, too.

Dan: What's next for The Dead-End Alley Band?

Javier: Actually we are working in some demo's for the 3^rd album, I guess we have the songs we want to record in a close future, but I would like to have more songs so we can choose some of them and save the others for b-sides or compilations with other bands. That’s all I can say about.

Dan: Is their anything else you would like to say or any shout-outs you would like to make?

Javier: Hmm, not really, we are preparing the official release of the LP here in Lima, also some labels here are working now on the CD and Tape editions of the ‘Odd Stories’ so it will be a complete album release, a big party (or slaughter… hehehe)! Also we would like to thank to all the people who have been supporting us since the beginning, I won’t say names ‘cuz it may take too long, and thank you for the interview and the time.

Sebastian: Just hit “play” and let yourself get carried away by a night of pure madness!!

Check out the fantastic new Dead-End Alley Band record, Odd Stories, here. 

Also, make sure to like the band's Facebook page to keep up to date, here. 

Spatial Moods Interview with Jorge Apaza!

Prepare fly to outer-space and sample the blues rock atmosphere with Lima-based band, Spatial Moods. Hailing from the same city as one of our other favourite experimental outfits here at DYEP?, Spatial Moods carry the same South American twang which makes their music especially refreshing to listen to. Hearing their current discography, which boasts two full-length LPs and one live EP, I decided to catch up with Arturo from the group to delve into their spaced-out warblings a little deeper... - Interview conducted by Daniel Sharman. 

Dan: Where do you hail from, and who is in the band?

Jorge: The band was formed spontaneously. Gean Karlo Vargas, and me have always been meeting to compose and plan musical projects. In October 2012, he moved to live in Italy, and a day before he travelled, we recorded all afternoon with Daniel Rojas on drums, to whom Gean Karlo had introduced me to weeks before. Gean Karlo Vargas was on bass, me on guitar/vocals, and Arturo on saxophone. We loved the recorded album and decided to go on. This was "Spatial Moods I". In November, Daniel [Rojas] moved to Cusco [Peru] and the same thing happened, two days before he travelled we recorded an entire album during the night, titled  "Spatial Moods II".  This time with Carlos Betancourt was on the bass. 

Only after, when I edited, and mixed the record did we invite him to the project and publish "Spatial Moods I" in February 2013. We invited Arturo Qnuispe to record saxophone and atmospheres for both albums. Months later, Spatial Moods was invited to a event of psychedelia, but neither Gean Karlo Vargas or Daniel Rojas were in Lima, so we got Fleks (bass) and Is Te (drums) and stayed in the band. Then the current alignment is: me on guitar and vocals, Fleks on bass, Is Te on drums, and Arturo on second guitar and percussion.

Dan: Lima, being the capital of Peru, must have a vibrant music scene. Can you tell us a bit about what it is like to be part of that?

Jorge: Many very good bands are appearing, and not just only in the capital. Basically on the internet all these bands get to be publicized. We have a good circle of friends' bands with which we share and organize small concerts. Even so I feel that the music culture in Peru is still very low, there is not much demand and not much gain. Basically what we do, we do for the love of art. This has a lot of good in it, because you get to see much love in what is done. The same members of the bands are the managers, they are the recorders, they are recorded in their homes, they burn their own CD's, and they drawn their own album covers. All with their own hands. And good, but the money is also a very important factor for the speed at which your band will be released.

Dan: Spatial Moods records its album's live, why is this the way you choose to do it?

Jorge: When I say live I am referring to all the musicians playing at the same time and no instrument by instrument overdubbing. It is the same on both recorded albums. Drums, guitar and bass all recorded at the same time. Subsequently we overdubbed our voices, effects, and other instruments that help us give more atmosphere to the recordings. Also, it is in our style that we communicate a lot bodily, with signs, etc. it seems to me that it all sounds more real and more sincere, despite the fact that it may be possible to make mistakes, but at the end of the day these mistakes will also give the recordings a very special touch.

Dan: You write outlines for your songs, but then jam the rest out live. Why is this, and can you tell us more about this style of writing?

Jorge: More or less what was going on is free jazz. We agree on the riffs and structure created previously and then we improvise on top of these giving signs for changes. So it was in that way we recorded our first album. Basically, we created a riff and then improvised around it.

Dan: Spatial Moods' sound is sort of blues rock meets proto-psych experimentation. What are some of your influences, and what inspired you to put a saxophone into the mix?

Jorge: Gean Karlo Vargas (bassist for the first album, Spatial Moods I) told me that when we were recording the first album he was thinking about the song "Dizzy Moods" by Charles Mingus. Listening to the recordings, I find that the bass resembles it, although with more space, which is why we call ourselves "Spatial Moods". With regard to my influences, I am greatly influenced by funk, experimental music,and the blues. Basically bands from  1960's and 1970's. The saxophone was subsequently recorded for filling in some gaps in the recordings and we applied lots of reverb to make it more atmospheric. The reason for adding it was precisely that Arturo had a saxophone available and we were thrilled to try it out in both the first album and the second was as well. Same with the recording of voices and keyboards.

Dan: Can you tell us how you decide on the names of the jams, or 'moods'?

Jorge: Yes, more or less what I am guided by is what I am hearing when I listen to the recordings, or what it makes me remember. We do not worry too much about the names. In the case of "Test", is so called because it is just that, a test, 100% improvisation. In the case of "Goodbye"  it was because it was the first to be recorded and the recording was like the "goodbye" to Gean Karlo Vargas, who moved away the next day.

Dan: What guitars were used in the albums?

Jorge: In the first album, my only electric guitar, a Japanese-built 1992 Stratocaster and Gean Karlo Vargas used his jazz bass. For the second album, I recorded with the same guitar and Carlos Betancourt recorded with a Ibanez Gio bass.

Dan: And amps and side effects?

Jorge: We use a Marshall JCM 2000 for the guitar, and for pedals we used a ProcoRat, Ibanez TS9, Boss DD3 and an Ibanez wah (WH10). For both albums, the bass used a Hartke HAS3500 and a wah, although I don't remember the model. For the second album it was just with the amp, without any effects. We placed the wah effect in some parts of the hour-long mixture.

Dan: What about other instruments, such as the far out sounds heard on tracks like 'mom'? 

Jorge: In the song "mom" the background sounds that are heard are only my own voices doing harmony with fairly reverberated signals. In several songs I did that and also I overdubbed with synthesizer sounds as in "angelic Moods" and "ouroboros Moods", which are the more experimental songs so to speak.

Dan: What is the next for Spatial Moods?

Jorge: The next step is new topics and further refine our songs for when we play live. Much of the songs are from bands of different alignments but the feeling is the same.

Do You Even Psychedelic? would like to thank Jorge for taking the time to complete the interview, and Arturo Alonso Quispe Velarde for setting everything up. 

You can find all of Spatial Moods' albums here for download.

Also remember to like the band's Facebook page to keep up to speed, here. 

Captain Beefheart: Electricity (Single Review)

Released in: September 1967

Genre: Blues psychedelia/Desert rock

Record Label: Buddah Records

Medium: Vinyl, CD, Cassette, Digital Download 

Recorded at: RCA Studios, LA

Let's dive back to the past for a slice of quintessential, late-sixties madness from the Captain and his Magic Band. Released on their stunning début album, Safe As Milk, (the album which I still see as Beefheart's magnum opus, in spite of what the general consensus might say), this track is a perfect example of the insanity of the Captain being held down and vocalised in a way more accessible than his later material by a band of only slightly less crazed musicians. 

The track opens with a tumbling open riff, before sliding into eerie, reverberated slide guitar accompanied by atmospheric cymbal crashes and the morose vocal delivery of Beefheart himself (this is an opening phrase typical of the group, juxtaposing one lively upbeat melody with another, more sinister, one). Once these first few lines are finished, Van Vliet cries out the tracks namesake in his signature, Howlin' Wolf-esque tone, plunging the track into momentary silence. However, this purely works as a precursor to the kick off of the main body of the track, the thumping bassline picking up and driving the percussion and guitar sections into more familiar blues territory. 

Beefheart's vocal is now accompanied by wailing theremin, an instrumental display which evokes the soundtracks of many 50's, and 60's, horror and sci-fi films (it is said that Beefheart originally wanted the sound of grinding buzzsaws, but due to to limitations in technology had to settle for theremin instead). The lyrics of the songs are, like much of Beefheart's music, mostly nonsensical, and strive more to conjure up a wild atmosphere of electricity and thunderbolts, than a distinct vocal narrative.  

The pace of the song picks up at certain points to give the song a more structure feeling, but descends into a dust-covered freak breakdown in the end, with the theremin adopting a wobbling, staccato attack, and Beefheart simply groaning and wailing along to the beat. 

It is worth noting that the grounded feeling of the song is largely due, I believe, to the bass work of Jerry Handley, whom actually left the group when he felt the music being created for Trout Mask Replica, widely accepted as Beefheart's greatest work, was too avant-garde. It is also worth noting that the track suffers greatly from the fact that it is recorded to 4-track tape (apparently due to the engineer finding the higher-track equipment in the planned studio for the record too confusing), making it sound quite thin and weak. For this reason, searching out a live version, or a demo of the song, is a worthy endeavour. 

Review written by Daniel Sharman.