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NAEVUS/KNIFELADDER – Split
CD NAEVUS / KNIFELADDER – Split CD (CD 2004) (Terra Fria/Resurrection Records)
NAEVUS´ opener „Less Than Queer“ is a typical Neofolk-track with acoustic guitar and a nice melody. It is a cover of a David E. Williams track, by the way. „The Devil“ has a certain feeling between oriental music and a waltz and sounds a bit darker, in my opinion, one of the best songs of the band yet! Third piece is „Don´t Boil (Version One)“, much more minimalistic and possibly the right song for a campfire late in the night. KNIFELADDER offers „Retina (Last Gasp Edit)“, a remix of an older track, which comes over more experimental and dark an can make your bowels churn, really thrilling music with a Soundtrack-feeling (for films like „The Crow“). A fantastic musical piece which surely will be loved by fans of early Six(th) Comm. „Oblivion (Anti Valium Remix) has more Industrial influences, somewhere between Einstürzende Neubauten, early Skinny Puppy and Nurse With Wound combined with many samples. Very dark and, as said in the info-sheet, nihilistic. The last KNIFELADDER track „Faultline (Anti Valium Remix)“ is the most straight song, what does not mean, that it has anything to do with Pop-music. On this Split-CD it seems, that KNIFELADDER are the „winners“, but NAEVUS present their many-sided work very good, too. A fine release to discover to great bands. (A.P.) Before Naevus you played in the band Winter... how and why did you start the new project Naevus? Lloyd: Winter consisted of three people – Joanne, myself and a guitarist called Dominic. He moved away from London and became immersed in New Age nonsense. I don’t think he was very interested in the band towards the end. Winter only existed for about a year and a half; we released two demo tapes and never performed live. Towards the end of Winter’s existence when it looked as though the band was coming to its end, Joanne and I tested the water by releasing a guitar-free demo tape under the temporary name Riddlehouse. Then we set about preparing the material that would eventually come out on the first Naevus album in 1999. We wanted a clean break with our previous projects, so we felt that a new band name was needed. What have been your aims with Naevus in the beginning and did you realise them?
Joanne: Initially we had a fairly clear concept of what Naevus’ aims were – to produce engaging, intelligent music – although when working on the songs which eventually became the ‘Truffles of Love’ album, we had no set idea about the form the music would take and the nature of the sounds we would use. This is largely still the case today. Pivotal elements in our music have always been Lloyd’s lyrics and vocals, my bass, and more recently, acoustic guitar. These basic elements are used alone or with other sounds and instruments to create very varied songs, which range from very big, elementally harsh epics to more introverted acoustic songs. Beyond these contrasts remains our overriding aim to write intensely focussed songs with a strong European sensibility. Our aims remain the same, but we have become ever more concise in our expression of these ideas. We always wanted as many people as possible to hear and appreciate our work. Again, this remains the same. Better distribution for ‘Behaviour’ will help us to further realise this. Naevus is often compared to bands like Death in June, Current 93, Sol Invictus and Swans... how much do these bands influence Naevus in fact and which other influences do you have? Lloyd: Death in June were certainly an important influence. I heard their music for the first time in late 1997 and it suggested new possibilities to me of how music could be made which was melodic, experimental and intelligent, all at the same time. Also, up to that point, I had had an aversion to guitars, but Death In June’s acoustic guitar arrangements were inspirational. I am not interested in the technical side of producing music and they were using the guitar the most basic tool to convey the song. I also admire the way that Douglas P. combines sexual innuendo with grandiosity in his lyrics. Swans weren’t really an influence early on. I loved their first album ‘Filth’, but I hadn’t heard their later material. After some of the songs on the first Naevus CD were compared to Swans, I went out and bought the ‘Various Failures’ compilation and loved it. So Swans have probably been an influence on our subsequent albums ‘Soil’ and ‘Behaviour’. And as for Sol Invictus, I can’t really comment – I’ve recently become their drummer! The sound of their ‘Against the Modern World’ album was certaily an influence on our first two albums though. Ultimately, the most significant influences on me have been Magazine, Wire, Joy Division and various bands from the post-punk era. Joanne: Apart from bands Lloyd has already mentioned, key influences on me ever considering writing music were The Slits and other (mainly female) punk bands, such as The Raincoats, X-Ray Spex, and also Lydia Lunch and her bands 8-Eyed Spy and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. While it would be hard to find any obvious trace of the influence of these bands on Naevus, I still believe strongly in the punk music-making ethic, and certainly some of the intense directness of these bands can be found in Naevus. Your first album was a private release, your second one was released by an Italian label... how did you come in contact with them and didn’t you find a label in England, who would have been interested in your music?
Joanne: There are very few British labels working in this field of music, so we never really expected to find a British label, and since most of our audience seems to be in mainland Europe, it made a lot of sense to take up Radio Luxor’s offer. The formation of Operative Records came about because a substantial amount of new and innovative London based bands/projects (e.g. Knifeladder, Muffpunch, AntiChildLeague) were having to look elsewhere for label support. The time was right for something new to develop. How can we imagine your live performances... simply music or do you use any show elements? Lloyd: What you see on the stage is just us, as we appear in our day-to-day lives. I don’t see the point in putting on some sort of false display. If people want to be visually entertained, they should go to the theatre. I do try to wear a clean shirt for each performance though. Joanne: We aren’t a performance group, and want audiences to listen to the music and lyrics rather than be distracted by anything irrelevant to our aim. How did you come in contact with Karl Blake and John Murphy, who did some contributions to “Behaviour“? How did they influence the sound of Naevus?
Do you think of any collaborations with other musicians? Lloyd: I’d very much like Karl and John to contribute to more Naevus recordings in the future. Outside our own material, I’ll be drumming for Sol Invictus at some shows toward the end of 2002; I’ve been asked to contribute some guest vocals to some Kirlian Camera material; and at the moment I’m writing some lyrics for Shining Vril. Joanne: Naevus will always be just Lloyd and myself, but so far all of the people who’ve collaborated with us in some way have made very valuable contributions. We’ll definitely be doing it again in the future- we’re fortunate to have so many interesting musicians involved with Operative Records we can approach. Outside Naevus I’m very involved with new industrial project White Dog, which was formed by myself and Gaya Donadio of AntiChildLeague a few months ago. We performed at The Other Sex festival in Prague last month, will be performing in London later this year and hope to have an album out before the end of 2002. There are thousands of CD releases every month...please tell us, why people should buy YOUR album! Lloyd: Because it is one of the best albums ever made. Joanne: It’s an intelligent, powerful and engaging work. What can we expect from Naevus in the near and far future? Lloyd: We’ve been recording almost non-stop from mid-1998 up until the start of this year, so I plan to have a short rest from writing new material. We have a few live performances coming up which I’m looking forward to, particularly our next one, which will take place in the Verge, Kentish Town, London on 11th August. Andrew King and David E. Williams are also performing on the night; they are two singers that I greatly admire and it should be a very good evening. Joanne: ‘Soil’ and ‘Behaviour’, our second and third albums, were released in fairly quick succession so I think before beginning the fourth album we’ll work on a series of EPs. I also hope we’ll be returning to perform in mainland Europe in the not-too-distant-future. Anything important, I forgot to ask? Anything, you want to tell our readers? Lloyd: Thanks to Alexander for the interview. For any more information on the band and our activities, please visit www.naevus.co.uk. (Operative Records, www.operative-records.co.uk , www.naevus.co.uk )
There is no chance, not to think about bands like Sol Invictus, Skin, Current 93 and Swans, but these are all fine bands, and nobody should feel ashamed to be compared with them. I really like the opening track „While You Sleep“, which has an introduction like the early, more experimental Current 93 and then develops into a Swans sounding track. Also track 3 „Visions, Rushed“ is really great, very minimalistic with samples of running water, nice keyboard sounds and a hammering bass. What else can I say about this beautiful release? Nothing at the moment, but soon, there will be an interview with NAEVUS. Until then, order „Behaviour“ and visit the website of the band. (A.P.) (S.P.K.R., spkrec@hotmail.com)  Maybe
some of you readers remember the Gothic-Rock band Winter, which has
released two nice Tapes back in the mid 90s and then disappeared. Two of
the bandmembers , Joanne and Lloyd, then formed NAEVUS and released a
couple of CDs. „Soil“ is their second one and it is really great. I
read in other reviews, that they sound like Death In June meets Swans,
which is not really false, but for god´s sake, they are sounding not like
the millionth Death In June clone, ´cos I don´t like this band very
much, but more like the Swans in their „Love Of Life“ period, which is
really fantastic. Powerful acoustic guitars combined with deep male vocals
and wonderful melodies. The songs are mostly not too fast, but they have a
very powerful production. Well, it is Neo-Folk, but some kind, that I
really like, ´cos NAEVUS have a really own style and atmosphere. Just
listen to the really good „A Nausea“ and you know, what I mean. What
makes NAEVUS different from most of the typical Neo-Folk acts is, that
they also use some interesting electronic effects like in the beginning of
„Health“. So „Soil“ becomes a very many-sided album, which could
be described as a perfect mixture of Swans and Current 93. Check it out,
if only you like one of these bands. And don´t forget to visit the
homepage www.naevus.co.uk
!(A.P.) |
And
finally here is another fine release of England´s NAEVUS, this time a
Split-CD with the project KNIFELADDER. Each band has three tracks on the
CD and it comes in a really nice black PVC-CD-Box, limited to only 500
copies.
Lloyd:
Lloyd:
Lloyd:
Finally
here is the long awaited third album of Englands Neo-Folkers NAEVUS, and,
well, there hasn´t changed too much. But I am sure, fans of the bands will
be happy with the new CD, and so am I. It is still Neo-Folk with lots of
acoustic guitars, driving drums and electronic influences. NAEVUS worked
with well known musicians like Karl Blake (Sol Invictus and others) and
John Murphy (Vril, SPK...) on some tracks, what makes „Behaviour“ a bit
more many-sided than the last album „Soil“. Also the production is a bit
more powerful.