With of Montreal’s new album ‘Skeletal Lamping’ on the horizon – get it into your ears on October 20 – Clash has been chattering with band founder, lynchpin, frontman and much more, Kevin Barnes.
Our interview with Barnes will be published in issue 32 of Clash magazine – in stores from November 6 – but as a taster here’s Barnes talking about the band’s live shows, and how they’ve changed since the Georgia-based outfit’s audience grew after the release of last year’s ‘Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?’ LP.
How have the live shows changed in the last year or so?
The shows have become more celebratory, more of a communal experience. You have people who dress up and really make a night of it. And that’s what we hope for – to create an environment where people can escape the day-to-day aspects of their lives.
Do you have any big plans for this tour?
Yeah, definitely. We’ve been rehearsing for two months and we’re very ambitious about what we want from the show. We’re kind of viewing it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience; we want to add a very strong visual element to the performance. In the United States, we’re able to do a lot more. In New York we’re going to have five projector screens and the venue’s going to be transformed throughout the show and we’ll have four or five performance artists who we’re going to be interacting with.
At Field Day (day-long London festival) in August you trashed your guitar – was that just part of the show?
Well, you know, I’m a big fan of ‘60s stuff, Pete Townshend… I had that guitar for like ten years and I was just feeling like smashing it because it felt like a good thing to do.
But did you feel any remorse?
I felt like maybe I should have given it to an audience member, because then it could’ve lived on. It’s sort of a sacrificial thing.
of Montreal play London’s Koko on October 16 as part of a brief European tour – get tickets via ClashMusic.com HERE. Pick up issue 32 of Clash magazine to read more of this interview.
