This week Will Sergeant of Liverpool postpunk band Echo & the Bunnymen chats with moody-minimalist Chicago husband-and-wife duo My Gold Mask, aka Jack Armondo and Gretta Rochelle, about the parallels between Sabbath and Joy Division and their mutual love of Lynchian simplicity. Echo & the Bunnymen play the Vic on May 17. My Gold Mask play Ribfest Chicago on June 10 and Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park (opening for Blonde Redhead) on July 21 18.
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Will Sergeant: Every song’s different. It kind of creates itself, starts its own story. It’s a funny little process. I think the best thing to do is not think about it too much and let it flow. With the minimalist thing, I always find, what’s the point in filling up every possible hole? Space is quite good in a song. You can get what you’re doing with a couple of notes, rather than loads. For much of the world, Black Sabbath will still sound great because it’s just dead, heavy chords. I used to think Joy Division sounded like Black Sabbath quite a lot.
Well, it’s a similar idea, isn’t it? Kind of dark chord sequences.
Are there ever songs that you record in the studio as a band that you later have to figure out how to execute live?
We still play small clubs. We’re doing a small club tonight, the Paradise in Austin. Playing-wise the small clubs are better, but sometimes you do an amazing show in a big place. We still do festivals where there’s big stages. We’ve got loads of festivals coming up.
