THE ANTI-POP REVOLUTION IS HERE! An Interview with Chris Triggs of the La La Lettes

I first heard the La-La-Lettes a number of months ago when my buddies in Thee Rakevines gave them a shout-out on Twitter. The band hales from Colwyn Bay, Wales, UK, and somehow manages to fuse two seemingly irreconcilable modes of expression by being both intensely experimental and fun at the same time.

Give their 2020 albums Easy Peasy and April a listen, and you’ll hear clear echoes of the Byrds, Syd Barrett, and the Rolling Stones, while 2021’s ONKY and i Godge, Goj, Gols and Gods explore musical territory best exemplified by acts like the Velvet Underground, the Residents, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Full disclosure: As anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows, I recently had a chance to work with the La-La-Lettes on their double-A-side single, “Song 71 (You Didn’t Love Me)”/“J’ecoute La Radio,” which calls to mind a cross between the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. I used the opportunity to chat with Chris Triggs, the brains behind the band, about songwriting, music production, and his creative process.

I know of four La-La-Lettes albums and a handful of singles all released over the last two years. You seem to have come out of nowhere! Were you doing anything else musically before the La-La-Lettes?

 Yes, but years ago. I’d been either writing and recording for about 20+ years, climbing the ladder of Hardware recording items, ‘Tape recorder’/’Four Track’ and then ‘Cool Edit Pro’. Then about at the end of 2011, the Time/Sony computer I worked on blew up, and I thought it was time for a rest, which carried on until late 2019. I thought I’d miss it, but my son who was born in 2005 was at an interesting age by 2011 and his life took over mine and I didn’t miss the guitar, writing or anything. Strange really, thinking about it now, but I didn’t write anything for years at one point.

In late 2018, I fell into a real dark hole, and 2019 was my year of hell. Luckily, in December ’19, I was talking to my sister, and she suggested taking up music again, it was like a ‘lightbulb moment’, throw all my pain into music ‘brilliant’. Although my issues were still raging, picking up the guitar helped. I think that’s why ‘Easy Peasy’ sounds so edgy, I was getting a ‘lot out’. After finishing that first album, I didn’t want to let it just lie, so I decided to put it on Spotify etc, which led me to Twitter.

It’s amazing how therapeutic music can be! I’m picking up a strong 60s vibe in a lot of your music. Who are some of your favorite bands from that era, and why does that music resonate so strongly with you?

I just followed the trend when I was a kid, listening to stuff like The Police, Blondie and all that. Then one day I was watching TV and this advertisement came on for a new Beach Boys compilation, and that’s when I heard (a snippet) of ‘Good Vibrations’ for the first time. I guess that was the Siren calling. That was it, Beach Boys forever almost. I realized quite early on that I wasn’t just listening to the songs, but making out the sounds of the guitars, the bass, the amazing drums (probably by Hal Blaine) and of course those vocals. It just spoke volumes to me. As time went on, I listened more intently to my dad’s Beatles LPs, being knocked out by the sounds created on ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘I Am the Walrus’ etc. They were just gorgeous sounds for my delicate ears. Then I sought of discovered other bands, that friends/colleagues suggested, The Byrds were next, I love David Crosby’s songs (still do), and all that stretched into other avenues, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and the Papas, that whole Californian late 60s thing was it for me. Then also late 60’s Motown stuff, Tammi Terrell (greatest voice ever). It was a 60’s thing, tape hiss everything, just beautiful.

Does the name La-La-Lettes have special significance?

No! Hahahaha! At the time I was about to put Easy Peasy online and realized I required a band name, I was reading an article about The Faces who have an album called Oh La La. So I used ‘La-La’ and thought ‘Let’s call it that’ and I wrote ‘The La-La-Lettes’ adding an extra ‘T’ and ‘E’ to be silly. Means nothing lol.

But also in line with some of those great 60s bands like the Marvelettes! Along similar lines, your titles are fascinating. Where did ONKY and i Godge, Goj, Gols and Gods come from?

Years ago, there was a game show called ‘Strike it Lucky’ and one Christmas they did a kids edition, which I remember being hilarious. One question asked to one little girl was, ‘Who was friends with George and Zippy in the (kids) TV show Rainbow’, people from the UK will know the answer is ‘Bungle’, BUT this little 4/5 year old said “ONKY”, I just howled with laughter and the name stuck.

‘Godge’ is a little more tricky. In the late 90’s I did an album called ‘An afternoon with the Gods’, which I did on 4-track. Anyway, when I was doing ‘Godge’ I noticed a similarity in the songs of both albums. I didn’t want to call it ‘An Afternoon with the Gods 2’, I didn’t want a connection, so I made up the word ‘Godge’ and elaborated. I’m not sure, but I think ‘Godge’ actually has a definition,  I think it means something along the lines of ‘punching wind’. In the lyrics of ‘Oh, how we used to laugh’, there’s a part which says ‘pushing against the tide’, which was weird if the meaning of ‘Godge’ is correct.

As a musician—and, more broadly, as an artist—you make a lot of decisions that I’d describe as “anti-pop.” A lot of the sounds on i Godge, Goj, Gols and Gods are jarring, and you’re not afraid to release music that strays off the grid in terms of key and tempo. Those decisions, I have to say, really make your music come to life. What’s the rationale behind them?

“Anti-Pop!!!” What a cool description. I must admit I was on a bit of a roll during the making of ‘Godge’, most of the riffs, chord sequences and ideas came before I’d written a word. It’s a huge mix of influences on that album. Dylan, Beatles, Sex Pistols, Beach Boys of course) and others. So I was really spoilt for choice over stuff I had available, and just had to cram it all together. Lyrically, every song on ‘Godge’ is about someone I know, and to be honest, I’m very proud of it.

I guess I look at a high percentage of bands/artists I’ve discovered on Twitter as “Anti-Pop”. I like to think of us all as the ‘”new wave”, The Kintners, Lunar Plexus, Temporary Longterm Positions, Fendahlene, Thee Rakevines, Blank Cassettes, The Last Ghost, Oplaadtijd, McDead, Touanda, Moistule, Miss Kitty and Rubber Clown Car and the work you’re producing are just some excellent examples. They’ve all done incredible stuff, all different types of music too, brilliant albums, everything. It feels good to be involved. THE ANTI-POP REVOLUTION IS HERE…

Let’s hope so! I feel like the public appetite for interesting music—music that breaks rules and challenges the listener’s expectations—just doesn’t exist. To put it crudely, there isn’t really a market for it. No one’s banging down the door for the kind of music that you and I and others like us make. Which raises a question I think about from time to time regarding my own music: Why make it? And, of course, what keeps you going?

I love the thought of a blank canvas, to paint a picture, to make it interesting and ‘happy’, I keep going because of this. I’ve always been the same since I was a child, inventing, creating, I can’t stop it, it’s a passion. You’re right of course, there’s no market for us lot, lol. But I believe something will happen, doors always open on a journey.

The latest single, “J’ecoute La Radio,” is sung in French. What was behind that decision?

Lol, I work in the Oil and Gas industry cataloging maps, and one day I was working on some French data and I needed to translate a couple of words on ‘Google translate’, which I’ve done hundreds of times before, but this one day, I was just in a funny mood, and began writing words/lyrics onto google translate, which is just a silly idea really. I put the lines into order on a file and printed the sheet. I just fancied doing something different to see if I could do it. Musically it took 3 attempts to get the melody right, it was originally an earworm (a nasty one too).

Needless to say, I’m impressed with your output. Four albums in two years! What’s your recording process like?

Very instant. I have no patience with recording. It’s a ‘now or never’ attitude. Even when I’m recording, I look for a bit of improvisation, mad really, as sometimes when I come to doing the bass or 2^nd guitar I forget what I’ve done!

I’m always looking for that one ‘word’, ‘rhyme’, ‘riff’ or a ‘weird chord’ even to help make a song interesting enough for me to like it. As said earlier with ‘Godge’ I had loads of things ready before writing a word

“J’ecoute” was perhaps took an hour, acoustic guitar/vocal, bass, drums, vocal/vocal/vocal/vocal/vocal, electric guitar, Marc Schuster yaaaay. Easy Peasy, love it.

Me too! And speaking of your creative output, what do you have in the works?

I do have a 5^th album “Obsession” ready to go. But, I just love working on instinct at the moment. I recently did an E.P. in two days (Days of Winter), and I keep looking for the next song, the next single. I have an idea for something along the lines of a ‘Bo Diddley’ tune for a Protest song, but we’ll see.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Chris!

MCCC on the Air Interview

Huge thanks to Michele Cuomo for interviewing me on Montgomery County Community College on the Air! In this interview, I talk about music, teaching, writing, the Beatles’ White Album, my new book about the Beach Boys, and my good friend Tom Powers. I also share a demo of asong I’ve been working on, “Someday Soon.”

Listen to the interview here: MCCC on the Air Interview

 

James Revels III: The (Renaissance) Man with the Plan!

To put it simply, James Revels III is a renaissance man. Across multiple blogs – including The Evolution of Eloquence, Pyromaniac Productions, AudioSeXXX, and James Revels Composer – the Dayton, Ohio, native’s mission is to showcase a wide range of creative materials from such diverse fields as science, art, math, music, and writing from young creators. He’s also an accomplished musician and poet whose work (as noted elsewhere) is inventive, cinematic, glitchy, poppy, and dreamy all at once. Curious as to what drives a creative individual like James to champion not only his own work but also the work of others, I dropped him a line with a few questions, and he was kind enough to respond…

You have a lot of irons in the fire, so to speak. What motivates you to keep at it—not just with the blogs, but with your regular YouTube posts and prolific musical output as well?

I’d have to say the pleasure of creation is what motivates me. Those “Eureka” moments that come from finding new ways to utilize the information learned, those journeys of going from novice to proficient in a skill and those connections created by exchanging the creative experience with others is invaluable. Not sure what job or dollar amount compares.

As I noted in my introduction, your interests are wide ranging, encompassing not just right-brain “creative” endeavors like music, art, and writing, but also left-brain pursuits like math and science. How do you see all of these disciplines as complementing each other? What’s the connection?

The way I see is that left brains and right brains are both modes of creation. Left-Brainers discover and design the rules of the world. The Right-Brainers “play” in those worlds and find new ways to use the left brain designs. For example, in music, the mathematicians, scientists and coders engineer the music programs, music equipment, and organize theories, while the recording artists, composers and sound designers “play” with the engineers’ creations to create new music experiences. Without the engineers no one could record but, without the artist there’s nothing to record.

All of your blogs strike a supportive and generous tone, and the business plan for Pyromaniac Productions stresses the idea that you’re trying to differentiate yourself from the “divide and conquer” ideology of many businesses. Why do you think it’s so important to take this approach to the music business—and to life in general? Along similar lines, what’s wrong with the more “traditional” way of doing business?

This is a perfect question because this is what I believe to be the Holy Grail to success in the digital age. It’s important to take a cooperative approach from not only an ethical standpoint, but even a mathematical one. In network theory, as you add nodes (people) to your network, the connections increase exponentially. This is why “6 degrees of separation” is possible. Not to mention, many social media algorithms, especially Facebook and Twitter, are based around Sharing/Engagement. I applied strategies of cross promotion and collaboration to all my social media, by connecting with people of similar interests and goals, such as yourself, and finding ways we can help spread each other’s message. In my opinion, this connection and collaboration process is what builds great communities from the musical to the general.

As for what’s wrong with the “traditional” way of business, it’s too egotistical. This meme “Ego vs Eco” sums it up perfectly. Company’s forget they are part of an ECOnomy, not an EGOnomy.

What kinds of services does Pyromaniac Productions offer, and who is your ideal client? Is there anyone in particular that you’d like to work with?

Right now we offer audio production services. This includes recording and editing. We also offer affiliate marketing services, in which we promote artists via social media. We have a Fiverr campaign detailing such a service. (Also shout out to Devaughn, Mariah, and Deja for help with blogs/Fiverr video!)

My ideal client is the up and coming artist. I’d love to work with ylxr. He’s a producer from Buffalo, NY. I heard some of his songs on YouTube and I think he’s awesome. I’ve connected with him a bit on Twitter, but I’m honestly too scared to ask for the collab yet. It’s almost as bad as asking a hot girl on a date, lol!

Turning to your own creative endeavors, how would you describe your music and poetry?

My music is poetry because I try to take a main theme and flesh it out without belaboring the point.

My poetry is music because the longer poem usually has a sense of rhythm and structure akin to hip hop while the shorter pieces are ephemeral like sound.

Is there a common theme that unites them?

I noticed time is a common theme in all my works. My book of poetry is titled Yesterday’s Tomorrow, the durations of songs determine how I tackle compositions (short and layered vs long and varied), and I think a lot about the infinity of time yet the finiteness of the moment. It gets deep sometimes, lol.

In terms of music production, I know we’re both fans of Reason—and that you’re as excited as I am about the imminent release of the latest update. What do you like about that particular platform, and how does it contribute to your creative workflow?

I loved the streamlined look of Reason since I pirated it back in the Reason 4 days. (Sorry, Propellerhead, but I’m a loyal customer now so you still got my money, lol!) I liked how intuitive it is to use. I remember hopping right in and having no problem with the interface and making short melodies quickly. I also like the how it emulates an analog rack which makes it easier to map the signal flow with all those cords from the back side of the rack. I also love the sound bank because the presets sound so rich, and the combinator which gives the ability to group instruments together to make a super instrument of various synths. Finally, when Reason gained the ability to record on version 6 or 7, it became the only DAW I used. FL who? lol

Any tips you can share with fellow Reason geeks like me? For example, I’ve noticed that some of your tracks do interesting things with shifting tempos. How do you get that effect? Are there any other tricks you like to use to add texture or ambience to your music?

Definitely! The tempo shifts are a result of automation. Automation is a method by which you can change a knob’s value mid-song. Hold “Alt” and click on most buttons in the rack and it will create an automation track and outline that knob in green. Hold “Alt” and click on the tempo and it will create an automation track and you can shift the tempo mid-song. A chief way I like to create texture is with Control Voltage or CV. It’s like automation, but it’s generated by the synth itself. It’s a little dense to describe in text. Good thing I created a YouTube tutorial describing it. #ShamelessPlug

Looking ahead, how do you want to grow Pyromaniac Productions?

In general, I want to expand into video production and online streaming. I already edit all my videos, but I’m not confident enough to go professional yet. I’ve been dabbling in twitch streaming my playlist of music compositions so I feel these too are around the corner once I have the resources to build a team.

On the Science and Math side I eventually want to work with other organizations and host programs and create content to help adults and children apply these field in everyday life.

On the Art and Music side I want to eventually gather a team of animators and make animated music videos similar to the one I created below, as well as have an in-house roster of musical talent. I have my eyes on a couple local artists, but right now I’m setting up ground work so it’s a profitable venture for the artists in question.

And what’s your own personal goal as an artist?

My personal goal as an artist is politics. My ultimate goal is mastering the art of repairing, developing and maintaining a healthy community. I hope to eventually be chosen to become Mayor of Dayton, in order to help solve the problems of its citizens while developing a culture around science, art and math. This way the city can hire the brilliant minds from within, creating city pride, as well as reducing the cost of outsourcing to outside private institutions. I’m graduating from the “Neighborhood Leadership Institute,” a leadership program sponsored by the City of Dayton, next week. I hope that with that knowledge and the wisdom from building Pyromaniac Productions I can gain the trust of the community. Win or lose, I plan on helping the city for the long haul.

Anything else you’d like to share with your fans, potential fans, or potential clients?

Yes, I’d like to let everyone know they can contact me up anytime with their work or possible collaboration ideas. If you tweet me @jlronthebeat or email me at jamesrevelsiii@gmail.com I’ll respond ASAP. I love meeting other creatives. I hope to hear from you!